Straight as an Arrow

Received an email from Ahart yesterday. A new Arrow II is going online, and since next week is the big boys trip to So Cal, the new Arrow is cheaper and it's time to fly something new I've scheduled a check out.

My boys are excited about flying the new bird. Anything that has retractable gear is automatically more interesting. (Have to admit to similar feelings)

Almost more than the flight I look forward to the eventual naming of the aircraft by my sons. All of the the planes so far have been given pet names. Laney and Hawky for the Cessnas, Action Speed for the DA-40, and Mooney; it already ended in a y, so it was left as is. I don't make the names, I'm just along for the ride, as it were.

I didn't get any indications on the name yesterday when I told them of our change in rides, but I'm certain we'll have something setup by the time we leave. I look forward to it and the time away with the boys.

Medical

Along with my BFR it was time to renew my medical this week.

I don't use the same doctor as Hamish, but somewhere there must be a rule. If you're to become an AME you must be a character.

I spend most of the time in my doctor's office discussing his families trip down to Catalina, and the weight and balance concerns of his little old 172.

Document in had I'm stamped and approved for another two years.

Boys Day

I had planned a boys day away from the house to give my wife a much needed day off, and it finnally happend last Saturday.



We chose this last Saturday to coincide with the a model rocketry launch put on the the Lunar Rocket Club. My oldest, who is into all things flight, has built and launched a few rockets.(I had done this hobby when I was younger and it's still fun) My youngest even picked out a rocket the last time we visited the hobby store to get parts for his broken Vendetta car. Plus with school, and the usual extracurricular activities, we hadn't had time for this hobby in awhile.

The launch went well, the little guy had four successful launches and recoveries with his new toy. We lost one of my older son's rockets due to the high winds, and we forgot to cut a spill hole in the recovery chute. It ended up in the power lines about a mile from the launch site.



Afterwards, I planned on driving to the airport to see what was up. Ahart was having someone from Diamond Aviation do a show and tell on a new DA-40XL. It looks great, some nice additions with the longer baggage compartment and motorized adjustable rudder pedals . It would be nice to have one of those available on the flight line.

It's nice to see the aircraft companies innovating. With both Cirrus and Diamond pushing each other and now Cessna with it's NGP platform. I like what I see. Now if we can keep those in government from screwing the whole thing up.

Anyway, after chatting with Dave from Diamond, we wandered in to Ahart and I found that the SP was open for the rest of the day. After a quick online check and some deliberation the boys decided to head to Columbia.

I had never flown into this airport, even with being one of those, "places you have to go fly to" in No Cal. My last visit was a sixth grade field trip some thirty years ago now.

After securing the plane we wandered into the terminal office, a short bathroom bathroom break and we were pointed to the nature walk which lead us into town.

It wasn't too warm, and it's only about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile into town, but with one little guy who's alread had one activity in the day. We had to take it slow with a few stops.

Once into town we hit the shaved ice drink place and everyone was revived. Columbia charter is it has been preserved to basically resemble it's state as it was during the gold rush era. The park service has done an admirale job, with the nod here and there to tourisim to keep the important dollars flowing.

The boys enjoyed peering into the dentist office and fire house exibits. Unfortunalty, with our combined late arrival and not seeing it till after we had been in town for awhile, we didn't get to pan for gold. I had to promise that next time we would do this first.

One note about time, Columbia streets do roll up early. By five most things were closing down for the day. We ended up having dinner at one of the old time saloons. My older son enjoyed the thought that he was eating where the gold miners had once done the same. The food was good and the price wasn't bad for a tourist area.

After we filled up on food we did the walk back to the airport. Next to us in the tie down area was a grandfather and grandson who were on the way down to Disneyland in grandpa's RV-6. they were off to the campground area near the grass runway. I didn't have info on it other than what I had read about it on AirNav, so I passed that info along and wished them a good trip. My boys liked the idea that you could camp with your plane at an airport. Another year or two and I think we can pull off that kind of trip.

A short flight home and two thumbs up son's and smile on my wife's face from having a good day off.

Life is good.