Sunday, May 13, 2012

100 hours

Last week I spotted this really cool Funk project on Ebay.


I have always liked the Funk, this is a B75L with the geared Lycoming GO145-C3 engine. Beyond odd ball, but right up my alley ! Check out the metal in the cowling.



You would think it would be updraft cooling but it's not. Air goes up, turns 180 degrees then exits at the back bottom of the cowl.  This project just happened to be right across the Delaware River from my friend Dave's airstrip, so I decided to fly the Cub up for a look/visit. Friday was forecast to be clear with some gusty winds so I left early to beat the turbulence. I left at 8 am and went direct to St. Marys MD 2W6 , I only made 55 knots on this leg. I then shot through the gap between the restricted airspace and the 30 mile ring. I climbed to 3500 feet for this over water leg and made better speed with almost a direct crosswind. I landed at Delaware Airpark 33N right at 11:00 , the crosswind landing was a little bouncy, but we got down in one piece.  Here is a shot of Dave's Cub and mine at 33N.

  
We are parked into the wind, you can see the trees that made that right crosswind interesting ! We spent a couple hours looking over the Funk and other airplanes he had for sale , then we had an excellent Crab cake sandwich at a place called Sambo's. It was right on the dock and you could watch them unload the catch while you ate! It took all the will power I had to get away with out making an offer on the Funk, just too many projects. We left and made the short flight across the river to Dave's strip 7NJ9. Here the wind was down the runway but with the trees close on both sides it was still challenging to get er down. We got the airplanes together for a group shot.


You can see the narrow runway behind the planes and the trees that make it interesting. Here are Dave's Cub and Pitts S1C , his friend's CASA Jungmann and my Cub. In this shot Dave's hanger / shop is in the background.


The next morning I got up early to beat the turbulence on the way home. I took off at 7:45 , climbed to 2500 feet and flew all the way to St. Marys without one bump ! Here are a few shots, say are you sure you torqued those rod bolts?


Over the Delaware river.


The tach reads 100 rpm fast, so about 2275 rpm, 95 indicated, GS was 78 knots at 2600 feet to go over some class D airspace at Dover. Oil pressure runs about 35 psi and the temp is about 150 it was cool in the morning , the heater is on ! The g's are from bumps during taxi. Here's my new fuel gauge, 10 gallons remaining.



Here I am crossing the Chesapeake Bay you can see the LNG facility and storage tanks. I have never seen a ship off loading. You can see Patuxent River  NAS in the background.  It was nice of them to leave a little gap for aeroplanes to get through.


My fuel stop is just ahead at St. Marys County, MD.  I love credit card fuel, that way I'm only a bother to myself for  5 gallons of fuel ! The flight to JGG was just as nice with just a little turbulence about 30 miles out. The Cub ran smooth the whole trip, and we turned 104 hours on the tach.

No comments: