Chowder Run : Farmingdale to Plymouth, MA

New Equipment to Learn

 I have been trying to make a conscious effort to still fly and stay current.  Now that I finished my instrument rating, I want to use it and stay current.  The archer I rent got a new GFC500 installed and I have to admit, its an amazing piece of equipment.  I did a local flight with my instructor and went over autopilot procedures, usage, and best practices.  We shot a few approaches, did a hold, and just played with the functions on it.  It was a really fun flight to do, and really made me confident that I could use it in single pilot IFR situations.  I still want to do a lot of manual flying, but it will be good for enroute and high workload parts.  

Off to Plymouth

Now that I have learned the basics of the autopilot, I wanted to do a flight and enjoy the weather.  The weather hasn't been bad this fall so far, and we have had some very warm days.  My friend Amanda is a great safety pilot and I try to invite her along any time I can.  It allows me to keep my instrument skills sharp and stay safe at the same time, plus it's always good having a second capable pilot on board.  I have been making a conscious effort to file IFR every flight just to utilize the system and keep sharp.  Despite I am very aware of the rules and such due to my day job, I'm an FAA controller, it's good to do it anyway.

So I had a craving for some chowder and felt like heading north to somewhere new.  I love exploring new airports and spots that are unique, so the east coast of New England was calling.  I searched around and came across Plymouth, Massachusetts.  There is a nice little diner at the field with a new terminal building.  We filed IFR, headed north, and flew east over New England along the way.

The ride was pretty smooth, but the winds started picking up as we got closer to Plymouth.  The forecast had no serious weather or wind forecasted, but as we got to Plymouth, the winds had picked up quite a bit.  Winds were gusting into the twenties but it was practically down the runway.  After an uneventful flight, we landed, and got to enjoy lunch.  The chowder was delicious and the Reuben I had to go with it hit the spot.  After we tracked down the fuel guys, we finally headed back to Farmingdale. 

The flight home was a bit more interesting than the flight up.  We got a hold for release clearance when trying to depart due to inbound traffic, then we departed VFR, and picked up IFR in the air.  After we got airborne, we got some weird clearances.  Boston approach sent us direct to Groton off a vector to rejoin our course, however, when we checked into Providence, they recleared us to a fix that was previously on the route.  The odd thing was that was technically no longer part of the route, so we had to verify everything between. 

Cruising along with Amanda

Once we got back to Long Island, we crossed the sound and basically followed the North Fork.  As we got further west, we had some clouds building up, and worried about icing if we got stuck in them for a long time.  It was a thin layer, so we asked for lower and New York Approach took their sweet time before giving us the clearance.  As we descended through and out of the layer, it got pretty bumpy.  We had moderate chop until about a thousand feet below.

While we were up in New England, the winds out west began to grow as well.  Returning to Farmingdale found a significant crosswind, and it was the perfect direction to be a crosswind to any runway.  To further complicate things, Farmingdale was landing runway 19 when 32 would of been better.  Regardless, we flew the visual approach and landed safely.  Another beautiful day for flying and a great flight to add to the logbooks.

Where should I head next?  I was thinking maybe heading west on the next one, maybe Philly or somewhere that way?  If you got any favorite spots, let me know.

Rudder Match Drilling Prep and Storage Concerns

 I have been a bit busy with life the last two or three weeks.  Between work and family stuff, I haven't had a significant amount of time to get outside.  I also started to realize I need to plan for the winter accordingly.  My garage is insulated for the most part but has no heat source currently.  I am waiting for some quotes to get a Mini Split or Heater installed to allow me to work out there in the winter months.  It get a bit hard to work fine motor when its 30 or 40 degrees out.

Another thing I have realized is my wife wants her parking spot back.  My wife is very understanding and allows me to utilize the entire garage during the majority of the year, however, winter is coming.  As such, the boss has ordered me to make space for her car in prep any snow events.  As such, I spent a lot of time calling around to local storage places looking for a medium sized unit.  I figure if I can get rid of the two large crates, I can easily fit my wifes vehicle in the garage when needed.  However, finding a unit was a serious struggle.  Most of the ones I can find are very small and won't work for my needs, and the larger ones have one of two issues.  One issue was they were inside units with tight hallways to access, I didn't want to risk swinging a flight control or large part and denting it when I don't clear something.  Also, many of them were simply unavailable.

I eventually struck a bit of luck and happened to check a unit in the next town.  I asked about mid size units, but the only thing open was a large unit, which literally became available that day (it was the first of the month).  Since I haven't been able to find anything, I decided to take it.  My thought process was I have some extra space in back for some household stuff, but I have the large unit to grow into as I finish other parts.  It also will allow me to store some racks for small parts in a more organized way.  And I am buying some saw horses to build some "skin tables" to store skins flat until needed.  I am hoping to have the unit setup and everything moved sometime next week, which will allow me to focus on the rudder again.

In the meantime, I was able to finish the rudder prep and have the skins placed for match drilling.  This process wasn't terrible, lots of little prep work.  Separating the stiffeners and lots of deburring was in order to get to this point.  I constantly am debating about the level of deburring, many people seem to argue online about how "smooth" or how perfect things should be.  I find the cut pieces are a bit less precise but the stamped parts are pretty straight forward to deburr.  I don't feel any major sharp points or anything, so I think I am doing ok.  

Lots of deburring to get the structure together.

After a long deburring session, I got to clecoing the skin together.  It's amazing how precise the kit is, and match drilling should be pretty straight forward.  Another thing I am still trying to figure out is how crazy I need to be.  On the vertical stabilizer, I would simply run the drill in and out quickly, most parts were not taking much if anything off at all.  So do I need to waste time with this step every time or now?  The plans aren't updated to reflect what parts are final sized or not, so I have been cautious and making sure to do it quickly.  I guess this makes a more exact part anyway and makes riveting easier.  Should I just be reaming everything instead?  What do you guys think?

Rudder skin cleco'd in place.

So that's where I stand right now.  The rudder hasn't been too terrible, but I am looking forward to my first back riveting experience which will be coming soon.  Time to get back out there this week.