N51

We achieved another milestone this week.  On December 2nd 2010 I signed a piece of paper, handed over a check and the bank, my wife & I bought N674PS. We've had her for a full year now and if anything I've learned to enjoy flying even more. This weather has been incredibly lousy, but even so we's had some good statistics:

• Hobbs: 122.1
• Height: 10.500' en route to Ohio
• Speed: 122 TAS between Pottstown and Quakertown (TAS check)
• Longest leg: 392 miles, 4.2 hrs

Today I started on the new year. Crisp clear air, I wanted to do a VOR check and visit another local airport. I've noticed that Solberg has been quite busy on on the Common Traffic Airport Frequency so decided to find out why.

When I got to the airplane there was still a bit of frost on the northern side of the plane, so I took a few minutes to polish that off before starting the rest of my preflight. She's getting ready for another oil change and the dark black oil was just a bit under halfway after she burped. I added some antifreeze into the bottle the last time out and that still looked good. The biggest discrepancy right now is dirt. I hesitate to do any deep cleaning, don't want water to find someplace where freezing could cause a problem. She starts fine, but idle is a bit low. Maybe I'll have Harry take a look at that during the oil change.

A beautiful day to fly. Clear cool air only increases the airplane's performance. Level off and clean up "my office" for a 20 min cruise over to SBJ using the VOR for navigation. I made some course changes to see how the autopilot would respond and was pleased with the results.  Approaching Vansant (9N1) I heard a call that glider operations were under way so maneuvered behind the pair to get a good look at the separation. Looks like fun.

N51 was busy. Two in the pattern and two more waiting to take off. Runway 04 was in use and I entered on the 45 behind a Cessna turning base. A nice landing at a very pretty airport. I can see why it stays busy. I taxied back and waited for two before departing. Climbed up to 3500' and did a few intercepts into the VOR. Convinced that everything is working properly I dialed in Butter Valley in the 696 and pushed the button to follow the magenta road.

Someone was in the pattern at home. (That's a bit unusual for 7N8) I flew the whole pattern using a crosswind entry instead of my normal straight in from the reservoir. After landing I noticed two men on the line of parked planes watching my return. After shut down they stopped by to talk about light sport operations and to get a good look at 4PS. Nice guys.

I can only hope we'll have a few more days like this bfore the weather turns ugly for the winter season.  I still need to check about moving down to N47 for a few months. But today, it was just perfect to be a Butter Valley.