Grand Canyon image from Flight Level 360

A recent trip between Memphis and Las Vegas reminded me why you should ALWAYS carry a camera and look out the window often. You just never know what you will see. This photo is worth a 1,000 words so I won't write any more at the moment!

Onwards & Upwards,

Rob Bremmer

List of planes flown

I thought it would be fun to list all the aircraft and simulators I've flown. Here is the complete list. The Aeronca Chief was by far the most fun, followed by the Great Lakes. There are memories and stories attached to each, but that can be for a later post.

Aeronca (2)

7AC (Champ), 11AC (Chief).

Aerospatiale (1)

Rallye.

Beech (7)

BE-77, (Skipper), C-23 (Sundowner), C-26 (Sierra), A-36 (turbo straight-tail Bonanza) ,

V-35A-TC (turbo-V tail), BeD76 (Duchess), B-55 (Baron).

Bellanca (3)

8KCAB (Decathalon), 7ECA (Citabria), B17-30A (Super Viking).

Blanik (1)

L-13.

Cessna (12)

C-150, C-152, C-172, C-172R, C-172S, C-172RG, C-182, C-182S, C-182RG, C-206, C-177, C-T210, C-320.

Diamond (2)

DA20, DV20 (Katana).

Great Lakes (1)

2T1A.

Grumman (5)

AA-1A, AA-1B, AA-1C (Tr2Õs), AA-5A (Traveler), AA-5B (Tiger).

Kachina (1)

Varga.

Maule (1)

M-5.

Piper (14)

PA-22-125 (Pacer), PA-28-141 (Cherokee), PA-28-151 & 161 (Warrior), PA-28R-180 (Arrow),

PA-28-181 (Archer), PA-28-181-R, PA-28R-200 (Arrow III), PA-28RT-201 (T-tail Arrow IV),

PA-24-250 (Commanche), PA-32-300 (Cherokee-6), PA-38-301T (Turbo Saratoga),

PA-30-B (Twin Commanche), PA-44-180 (Seminole), PA-31-350 (Navajo).

Robinson (1)

R-22.

Rockwell (2)

RC-112A, RC-114(Commander).

Schwieser (3)

SGS-2-33, SGS-1-26, SGS-2-8 (TG2).

Simulators (11)

ATC-510, ATC-610, ATC-710, ATC-810, Pacer Mk II, F-14-D (NASMiramar full motion and dome),

PCprograms, Macintosh programs, Frasca 141, AST-300, E-2 (NASMiramar full motion), F-14 (visual only).

Stinson (2)

108-1, 108-3 (Voyager).

Onwards & Upwards

Rob Bremmer

Flying - The Quick Escape from Los Angeles

A friend just got a job in Los Angeles. A dream job - creative, fulfilling - his work will appear in the movies, he knows it, he already knows the title of the film he is working on.

But he lives in LA, and not in Oregon. As a few of you may know, LA can get hot, smoggy and just downright annoyingly brown-skied too often.

The solution? Use a small plane, and fly to Catalina or Big Bear. In less than an hour you can be at either location!

Think it's too pricey? Nope! Here are some options:

Go out to an airport a small one, not one of those annoying time-sucking big ones, with a few hundred dollars. Get a flight instructor to take you and two friends to either destination. Have a fun day, and the flight instructor will have fun too, he or she gets to fly!

Another option: Learn to fly. Easier than you think. about $4,500 if you do it right (more on that subject - if you ask), and then it costs about $150 per flight hour, and you take three friends. Planes charge by the flight hour, so that is an hour there, an hour back, and no charge for the plane while on the ground, unless it has a rental minimum of three hours or so.

Another option: Buy a plane. Spend $20,000 to $50,000, get a decent basic four seater, used but in good condition. Now it costs you about $50.00 for either destination, assuming you have your license. If you do this right, the plane can be a tax right-off, and you can sell it for more than you paid for it when you are done. Aviation can be that way.

So next time you are in LA and the traffic is bad and the air is brown, remember, clear air, fun and excitement and relaxation of small resort towns, diving, sailing, other sports - all can be yours, and it is as close as a mile away - straight up.

So that's how you do it. Now, what are you going to do about it?

Onwards & Upwards!

Rob Bremmer

A Scary but true story with a happy ending

And here is one from real life - I was a Chief Instructor on a cert. ride with the FAA and I'd had everything thrown at me including left and right engine failure while flying IFR under the hood. We were approaching McMinnville on the ILS with one engine reduced to idle thrust and I went to lower gear at the outer marker and it wouldn't go down so I said "look my situational awareness tells me to utilize all resources available in the cockpit, and you are one of them. Would you please undo whatever you just did to the gear?" And he responded, in a low voice, "I didn't do anything to the gear, the simulation just ended." And I took the hood off and we trouble-shot (electrical issue) and got the gear down working together.

Onwards & Upwards,

Rob Bremmer

New video spreads the word about flight!

When you look at the history of aviation and compare it to something like automobiles it's clear to anyone observing, autos got the lion's share of attention from marketing.

Autos are now integrated into every aspect of daily life, and planes are not. There is no comparative right of passage for flying such as getting your drivers license when you turn 16, unless you take extraordinary efforts to make it happen.

The reasons for this are many and clear, yet far beyond the scope of one blog post. What is certain is that any efforts made to correct the silly yet damaging myths which float about willy-nilly in society and are clung to as facts by the average non-pilot should be championed, and such is the case with "A Pilot's Story" being developed by Rico Sharqawi and Will Hawkins in Watsonville, CA.

Using a Piper Arrow, they travel, fly, interview pilots and create a script to show the wonders of flight and illustrate anyone with the knowledge of how to start and the will can do so. I'll look forward to following it's development and distribution!

You can read the full story by writer John Sammon, at this clickable link. If you want to help another learn about the pleasures of flight, make a small donation on this site to help take a child flying, or take one flying yourself and write to me about the expereince and I'll post your story on this blog.

Onwards & Upwards!

Rob Bremmer

Perspectives from a flight with a young child

Few things make me feel more philosophical when I fly then taking a young child, and watching their reactions, particularly as they explore their visual world and try their hand at the controls.

Low level flight, and by low level I mean under 5,000 feet, is where the action is – at least in terms of appreciating what you can see in the natural world outside the cockpit. A recent low level flight through the Willamette valley supported this idea quite well. A still morning with visibility under a quarter of a mile and ceilings under 100 feet. I knew on the way to the airport it would be both a wait and that it would clear; the fog had that cheery bright glow which only seems to occur right before the sun breaks through, and indeed it DID breakthrough, bathing the freeway and cars in sunlight and shadow beneath a blue sky before popping back into the fog again.
Sure enough, it did clear after about a 30 minute wait at the airport. First movement was a landing Baron off the ILS. Next a fellow Cessna pilot warming up, and us, waiting to lift off in a venerable Cessna 152. At takeoff the sky was scattered and visibility was about 10 miles below the clouds and unlimited above. We climbed out at Vy for practice and settled into maneuvers routine. By then the sky was clearer and the natural wonders began appearing . On the way to Mulino , a local area airport, the sun glistened off the river and over the green fields wet from the recent rain and still radiating wisps’ of fog in some areas. A few touch and goes and we were heading back, when we saw two hawks fighting, at our altitude and about three plane widths away. Both were red-tails, and one was on his back, talons up and wings outstretched, with the hawk on top flapping towards him, claws facing down. Their muscles rippled beneath the feathers, you could see the waves of energy flowing through them in their exertion; you could also see their flight feathers, the long feathers at the tips of their wings – flexing and twisting as they maintained their balance through their duel. The tail feathers on the hawk on the bottom were widespread like a fan. They twisted, to counteract the body roll induced by a defensive movement made with its wings.

All of this could be seen in a split second as we went by. Remember, we were flying too, and climbing at about 80 knots. The hawks could only remain in our view angle from about the 11 o’clock opposition to the 8 o’clock position and they were very close to our aircraft so they went by in less than a second, yet the image was so powerful it will remain in my memory, perhaps for a life time.
Like the late night commercials say, “But wait! There’s more!” A few minutes later, practicing short and soft fields into Lenhart, another Willamette valley airport famed for its small size and tree lined approach and departure, I’d just completed a soft field landing on the grass and now, having taxied back, was on soft field and short field (combined!) take off roll, which demands considerable focus at Lenhart; the soft field really is soft, and the trees at the end of the runway really are there. My focus was all attitude and airspeed until reaching Vx, whereupon I relaxed pitch and trimmed for Vy. Upon stabilizing at Vy I looked out to enjoy the view and the conifer treetop to my left was bent over at the top, under the weight of a bald eagle. These are really large birds; there is no mistaking it. He turned and cocked his head slowly towards the plane and I could see his eye move. The bird did not flinch feather or twitch one muscle. He was aware of our presence and our presence did not matter to him. Then we were past yet still reveling in the moment. Just another moment flying, the most spectacular activity possible on the planet, certainly in the view of many pilots.

Onwards & Upwards!
Rob Bremmer

Where to go for Antique Aircraft parts

What if there was a store where you could buy parts for your antique aircraft - you know, the one that went off the assembly line over 50 years ago?
Well, there is! and it is called Aircraft Spruce. I never knew they existed until I bought an Aeronca Chief (11AC) in the mid eighties, and decided to install compression tailwheel springs. There is something a little bit like being a kid at Christmas when your package arrives. You may not know this, but as an owner/operator of an official antique aircraft you can make arrangements for supervision with an A&P, which allows you to do the installation work of non-aerodynamic parts (such as tailwheel springs) and then he can certify the work and log the maintenance after he inspects it. It's a good way to really get to know your aircraft and the inspection process too.

Onwards & Upwards!
Rob Bremmer

Launching Student Award Fund!

Helping a struggling student obtain a goal, or helping someone awaken to their potential, is always a good thing! Here's how you can help.

I've set up a donation link. Donate anything, even a dollar. When a significant amount is reached, and I figure $1,000 is a reasonable threshold, I'll make a donation to help some student obtain a flying goal.

I am motivated when I think of how hard it was for me to obtain flight hours, equipment, books, training - every aspect of flying had a cost and it was not easy to do it. It took me a long time, and I had no assistance. There were people I met who could've have benefited even more than I, from assistance and I'd like to help some of those students. I'd also like to help awaken young people from difficult backgrounds to the wonders of flight, and the experience of learning to control an aircraft, and observing your world from a new perspective.

While the account is growing, I'll be looking for the best way to help a student or young person, and I am open to suggestions from you, the reader. I am particularly looking forward to reporting the results - how we have together actually made a difference. Let's see what type of a difference we can make!

Onwards & Upwards,
Rob Bremmer

Tailwheels! The Critical Link

Learning to fly tailwheel aircraft will make you a better pilot and be richly rewarding, but you must pay attention to the most critical part, the tailwheel assembly and the springs.

Flying a tailwheel aircraft is exactly the same as any other airplane - in the air! For takeoff, landing and taxiing however, it is exceptionally different, and it takes a refined set of skills to safely and comfortably operate one on every flight. But before we get to the skills, let's look at the components. From my experience owning and operating an Aeronca Chief for about 400 hours and teaching many others to safely operate their own tailwheel aircraft, there are several critical areas to examine.

First, look at the springs. The illustration shows compression springs installed, and typical tension springs not installed but next to the compression springs for comparison. You should use compression springs, for several reasons. Compression springs in their unactivated state, or when the rudder is neutral, are not applying any force on the tailwheel. They only apply force when the rudder is moved left or right, and then only on the side of desired movement. Tension springs, on the other hand, apply tension all the time, so if one breaks, (and tension springs are typically more inclined to occasionally break) the broken side whips free and the tension on the other side pulls the tailwheel to the side. Not good at critical points of a landing or while taxiing! Compression springs also give better handling. When you are taxiing with a tension spring, and you push rudder, it stretches the spring and the wheel thinks about moving then responds, in a springy sort of way. When you do the same with compression springs, the response is tight and immediate, which means as pilot and operator, you get immediate feedback as to whether you need more or less rudder input; you don't have to wait and see what will happen. Also, compression springs are typically thicker. Thicker metal outlasts thinner metal every time.

Next, the wheel must track straight and sit straight on the ground. A worn wheel where one side of the tire is angled and higher than the other, is a sure sign of a badly angled wheel, and while this can be compensated for with rudder pressure and brakes, why do that? It is like driving a car that's out of alignment. Most tailwheels on antique aircraft and some newer aircraft that I have seen have some misalignment and tracking problems. If you have any doubts about your tailwheels alignment and tracking, have your A&P check this out thoroughly. Since many older tailwheel aircraft have the same assembly they've had for 40 years or more, you probably should just buy a new tailwheel assembly. They are only a few hundred dollars, and the performance and peace-of-mind benefits are immediate and well worth the cost.

The next step is to examine and restore every component of the steering system. Those tailwheels are tiny, in comparison to the rest of the aircraft, yet they take the most beating. They are also the most exposed to weather and since the plane tilts 'downhill' towards the tailwheel, when they are sitting on the ground all condensation and rain runs down and drips on the components. When I say restore all parts of the steering system I mean start at the rudder pedals. Look at the bearing surfaces. Replace the rudder cables with new cables; I prefer stainless steel, since it is more corrosion resistant and part of the cables do run to the outside of most tailwheel aircraft. Check the cable guides along the entire path, they must be smooth and straight. Check the exit pat through the fuselage, there should be the smallest hole possible, it should not rub, and it is best if there is some type of shield to reduce the chance of bugs or moisture getting inside. Check the bearing and attachment points at the rudder horn, the entire system should be in good shape, not loose, no corrosion, and the bearings should be in good shape. Any bolts should be safety wired. The compression springs should be well attached to the rudder horn, and should have no slack and be equally taught going back to the rudder steering assembly. If you pay attention to all these areas, you will know your aircraft at a new level, and you will have a new sense of security and accomplishment as you operate your airplane.

It might be useful for you to know how I came to this position on tailwheels. In the late '80's I bought an Aeronca Chief. It had flown for years, successfully, yet the previous pilot just got used to the tailwheel quirks and foibles. One day I was looking closely at the clevis bolt connecting the rudder cable and there was a small spot of brown. I 'scritched' at it with the screwdriver in my hand, and instead of it cleaning off, like I expected, the clevis snapped in half! It was corroded nearly to the core and their was no sign of that on the exterior. This is what sent me down the path of straightening and replacing everything, and it was a fantastic decisions. For only a few hundred dollars and a weekend's worth of time, the steering immediately improved, tight turns were suddenly easier and did not need brake-assist, and the peace of-mind was very good.

If you came to me and asked me as an instructor to teach you tailwheel flying, (I am available, by-the-way) This is the first conversation we would have, as we looked closely at your tailwheel.

Onwards & Upwards!

Rob Bremmer