"From fiberglass repair to modification of all engine types, I recommend Jon Lowe." Ron Miller
Planes I've Flown
Written by Ron
Vancouver, British Columbia to Thomas, Oklahoma (8-26-2009) Picked up a Pitts S2B in Vancouver BC and flew it to Thomas Oklahoma. The trip was great other than trying to get the IGNORANT EAPIS to work. EAPIS is that new government sytem that you have to have to travel out of the country now. It still does not work like it was supposed to and if I could not have gotten a guy on the phone to take my info, I would still be in Canada. Even then it took three hours of trying. Once I got back into the USA, the trip was beautiful. It was really nice to get behind the take off power of the Pitts again and to fly over all the beautiful mountains this time of the year.
Sky Acres, New York Flying the Velocity Jet with a General Electric T58 engine was really fun and exciting! I flew it about 45 minutes and had to come back for some adjustments, but the flight went very well. If this aircraft didn't burn so much fuel, I'd haveone myself. Very nice job done building this plane.
Kansas City, Missouri I traveled to Kansas City and taught a great young pilot to fly his new Lancair XP400. The plane performed well and Tom did a great job learning to fly it. He had previously flown a Cessna 150, but the transition did not take him long at all.
Williamson/Sodus, New York Recently I went to New York state and did the first flight and test hours on a Glasair II fixed gear, built by Lory Ghertner. It was a great plane! He did a fabulous job of building it and was a fast learner when it came to flying it. The country was beautiful there between Syracuse and Rochester.
Burbank, California After the New York trip, I flew a Kit Fox to the Burbank, California area. On the way, I got a job testing a new Glasair II retract built by Greg Fisher. Another very nice plane. It was kept in a nice place called Chino, California. Wow! Talk about a place with some cool planes. I saw at least three different L39s, a Mustang, T28 and a Viper which is almost done, not to count all the very nice certfied jets. The plane flew great with no problems at all.
Phoenix, Arizona I went from Chino, California to Phoenix and picked up the prettiest Christen Eagle I have ever laid eyes on and flew it to Oklahoma. It was a little windy but the plane did not mind.
Merritt Island, Florida Over at Merritt Island, I trained a new pilot to fly the Compair 8 on floats. It was great! The wind was 15-20 MPH all day, and the waves were 2 - 2.5 feet high, but the Compair took it well.
Louisville, Kentucky to Vermont Completed a flight of a Lake Amphibian from Louisville to Vermont. I had a lot of hoops to go through, since it was from Canada. It had not been flown in eight years, but Robert, the new owner, had all his ducks in a row and we were off. This trip was kind of special since he told me that we had to go to a DAR in Williamson/Sodus New York. That is where I did test flights.
Arriving in Vermont, we landed on the lake and started Robert's water practice. In no time he had it down and went off solo. Later we had some fun trying to get the plane up into his yard, but Robert was determined to have it all worked out in a hurry with a lake amphibian in his own backyard.
Williamson/Sodus, New York (update) We got to take a picture of Lory's plane now that it is painted. WOW, was it a great paint job! In one of my recent jobs you will see it in primer (3rd photo from the top of this page) and now here it is painted. Lory could not meet me that day, but said if I had pulled it out in the sun, it would have looked even better. It's hard to imagine it looking any better.
Nashville, Tennessee I did a flight review and recurancy training a Lancair4P, then delivered it to Nashville, TN. Wow. Nice plane!
Wharton Texas to Miami, Oklahoma I delivered a Thrush turbine from Farm and Ranch Aerial Services in Wharton, TX to Miami,Oklahoma, picked up another thrush and took it back to Wharton. All went well and the best part of the job was I met Eugene Shanks, who rebuilds crop dusters, sells them and sprays with them. It is nice to meet someone with such great knowledge.
Georgia to South Texas
I flew this beauty once before from Illinois to Georgia. So I'm back in the saddle again with this open cockpit single prop, this time from Georgia to South Texas.
Barring the rain and cold, the trip went fine. Funny thing about those open pit planes, sure they look cool but keep an eye on the stuff you bring with you...or it just might be making an unscheduled landing...
Michigan to Carefree, AZ
Flew this Compair8 from Michigan to Carefree, AZ. The owners both own Pilatus turbo props but they bought this beauty for their enjoyment. Very fun trip, nice plane and nice clients. Not only did the client let me take a spin around the airport in his 600hp Corvette, but also let me take his BMW motorcycle into town while I met up with the Grand Master of my martial arts school. Great trip all around!
Mulberry to The Florida Keys
Not all flying has to be hard work! We have to have an enjoyable flight now and then...
Test flights in Texas/Border Patrol Blues
I went to Texas to test fly the nicest CompAir 8 airplans I have ever seen. I must say the builder Evan really did a superb job...Check out the instrument panel on this thing, Wow! Garmin 900s! I flew the plane around 42 hours and I still haven't used half of the 900's options.
Really Nice trip, found a great place to buy fuel in Kerville,TX where they make the Mooney. Has one of the best looking gals I have ever seen so I just seemed to always end up buying fuel there...
One day I landed there after flying along the border down by Laredo, I looked out and there was a Citation 2 parked by me with three men in uniforms looking at the Compair. I went out and said "Can I help you?". They were border partrol.
When I do first flights on a Compair I normally put sand bags in the back for a more aft CG to makes landings easier landings. The sand bags were in trash bags to keep the plane clean. Border patrol asked "whats in the back" and "where you been." I said, its sand look if you want, they very nicely asked if they could and they did. I showed them the tracking from my new 560 garmin and they then noticed I did not cross the border either. They were very nice and I thought it was all over, I said I wont fly the border area anymore on this trip they said no problem go ahead.
So I went to Laredo two days later to meet the owner or the plane, I left Laredo on the radio and flew 9500ft back to the Huber airpark, when I got out there was a Citation 2 on final with his gear down and landing light on, I said I have to see this, Huber airpark is not big enough and it is rough as a motorcross track, they buzzed over me at 50ft, sure enough it was the border partol again.
Now I figure those two trips with three guys on board probably cost us around 15K and I am sure there were a few dozen Mexicans swimming the river while they were watching me fly around a test area for 40 hrs but they sure are watching the Americans who fly in TX I will say that.
Florida to San Jose, CA
Sometimes fate smiles and you get an easy delivery that turns out to be a fun trip as well. Flew a Cirrus SR22 from Florida to San Jose, CA. As you can see from the beautiful pictures to the left, the trip went well. A flight over Lake Powell which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever laid eyes on. To make the trip even better I stopped by one of my favorite FBO's with the famous all female staff. Check out www.bayminetteaviation.com to learn more.
