Skip to main content

Even the big boys have fun once in a while

I'm still waiting for my engine to be re-installed on my plane so, in the meantime, I rented a 172 this past Saturday to keep my hand in and make sure I didn't get too rusty. Because it had been long enough since I'd rented a plane from Snohomish Flying Service, I had to take an instructor with me. While the FAA has no problem with me hopping in a 172 and taking it up, SFS has their own currency requirements driven, I suspect, mostly by insurance requirements. Other than the added cost, though, I didn't mind as it gave me someone to talk to and share stories with as we were flying around.

While we were up there, something pretty cool happened. After we took off we headed southeast toward Snoqualmie Falls at about 3000 feet. We flew past the falls then turned around and headed back. This plane, N734LQ, is equipped with a Garmin GTN 650 GPS navigator with ADS-B In, so it can display nearby traffic. Ross, the instructor, noticed an interesting-looking plane heading in our general direction. It turned out to be a Boeing 737 MAX 10 and it was flying just above our altitude, a couple miles off to our left, heading the opposite direction. Neither of us had ever seen an airliner flying around that low unless it had just taken off or was about to land. It did a loop over the Snoqualmie area, then headed off to the north.

At the time, we assumed it was performing some sort of test flight. However, after I got home and posted about it to the Flights Above the Pacific Northwest group on Facebook, other group members responded with the answer. It was doing a fly-by over The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge where the 2022 Boeing Classic golf tournament was being held. If I'd known it was going to be doing that, I probably would have remained clear of the area. As it was, I don't think we interfered with their flight plan. At least I hope not.

Here's the track of their flight from FlightAware. You can see where they were flying a holding pattern before heading in for the fly-by.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thwarted

The plane is done being fixed again. Well, for the most part, but I'll get to that. The vacuum pump had indeed failed, so they replaced it. They also replaced the starboard fuel sump drain valve. Interestingly, I received an email yesterday from the shop with an invoice attached. It was for a credit to my account, which they gave me because they drained the fuel from the right tank. The invoice notes that 16 gallons were removed. The tank's capacity is almost 30 gallons, and I had filled it almost full on Sunday before my flight. So either they didn't credit me for all of the fuel in the tank, or it had continued to leak and had lost about 12 or so gallons over the course of a few days. I don't know which, but I'm not going to worry too much about it. I went out today to put some Camguard in the oil, run the engine, and possibly even go for a flight if the weather was nice enough. The grass runway and temporary taxiway are open so limited flight operations can proce
2 comments
Read more

My engine is so pretty

I went out to the shop today to take a few pictures of my engine and plane before the engine is remounted. The baffling and some other stuff has already been attached to the engine. The engine mount is not back yet. Since the nose gear is attached to the engine mount, the plane is currently sitting on the main gear, and a couple of supports just behind the firewall, and under the tail. Here are a few of the photos I took. The engine looks lovely, to me at any rate, especially since I know those are new cylinders.
2 comments
Read more

Fresh tarmac

The runway at Harvey Field is in the process of being resurfaced. So far they've removed all of the old asphalt, graded the dirt surface, and hopefully laid down the first layer of the new asphalt. I received an email the other day stating that they were scheduled to lay the first layer yesterday, and lay the second layer today. However, that would depend on the weather and it's been raining today. Once the second layer is in place, they have to wait at least three days to paint the runway markings. There are also a couple other things that need to be done. In all, the completion date is likely to be no earlier than October 10. I went flying the weekend before last. The grass runway was open, and folks were taking off to the north, so I joined them. I was a bit too aggressive on the takeoff when it came to my soft-field technique, as the stall horn sounded as I lifted off. I think next time I take off from the grass, I'll leave the flaps all the way up, instead of down one
1 comment
Read more