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The family that flies together...

The weather wasn't great today, but it was nice enough to go for a local flight, and my wife went with me for the first time since 2004, shortly after I got my private pilot license. It was a bit windy, but there was little crosswind so we had no problem taking off from Harvey's relatively short runway. As we climbed, it became rather bumpy, with the wind changing direction several times. It was a bit better when we got to 3000' MSL, but still not very smooth.

I kept the flight short. I headed southeast for a ways, then turned north, then came around the north side of the airport to the west, and finally headed back in to land on runway 15. Despite it being a bit windy and gusty, I made a landing that I'm very proud of, touching down smoothly and slowing in plenty of time to exit at the taxiway, instead of having to go to the end of the runway. Overall, Ariel performed beautifully. I love that plane more every time I fly it.

The flight was only about 25 minutes, but I was really glad that I was finally able to take my wife with me. She enjoyed it, but she wasn't a fan of the turbulence so I won't take her with me again until the wind is calmer.

On a negative note, it appears my landing light bulb has burned out. So that's another item to add to the list of things to fix. I'll call up the shop and let them know. I'd like to upgrade to an LED bulb, but I'm not sure what that entails. I don't know if I can get a drop-in replacement, or if it requires some additional electrical hardware to be installed.

Comments

  1. GaryMarch 22, 2021 at 5:10 AM

    I replaced my front landing light with a Handexn, PAR36 Aviation Grade LED Aircraft Landing Light. https://www.handxen.com/product-page/par36-landing-light-with-screw-terminal

    Best price and it does a very good job.

    ReplyDelete

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