A Man and His Airplane

I didn't mention it in my earlier post but, after I went flying with my father, I noticed that I was missing one of the cowl fasteners as I was putting the plane away. It's position is just in front of the windshield as it curves on the left side, and holds the cowl to the airframe. This is not uncommon with older planes like mine and isn't a big deal if it's only one or two since they're numerous enough to keep the cowl secure. Last week, a couple days before my flight to Willapa Harbor, I went out to the airport to see if I could get a replacement. I took a couple of pictures of the existing fasteners, and also took a couple of them out so I could take them with me over to the shop to serve as examples. At issue is that there are a couple of different types on my plane. They are all of the camlock type; most have a single slot for use with a flathead screwdriver, but some of them have Phillips heads. Most have a small flange that they fit into, but a few have a la...

 The weather around here has been, for the most part, pretty poor. We had several inches of snow from each of a couple storms that passed through. While pretty, it makes for poor flying. There was a day that may have been nice enough, except there was still enough snow and ice on the ground that I didn't even want to try pulling my plane out of its hangar, let alone taxi around in poor conditions for braking. I did go out to the airport to check on the plane last weekend, and there were a couple of planes that did take off while I was there, but I didn't want to chance it. Today dawned bright, clear, and glorious. While there is some snow left where it had been piled up by people shoveling their driveways and sidewalks, the roads have been clear for a few days. There was no question that today was a flying day. However, I wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been yet, and not just fly around the local area, or over the San Juan Islands like I've done several times already. A...