Category: N29TM

Jun 18 2017

Annular Slot Antenna

Yesterday I tried out a remarkable transponder/DME/ADS-b antenna I made. It is called an annular slot antenna. Very easy to build out of brass sheet stock. I never heard of this type of antenna. Apparently they are used extensively and most military aircraft use this type of antenna because they are no drag and totally flush on the surface.

Jack Wilhelmson told me about this antenna (he made one, but not tested) and gave me the drawings/materials, so I thought I would try making one for the plane.

Here is the fabrication drawing. Units are in MM, and be aware of the funny looking (European) “1” they look like a upside down V. If you look at the date of the drawing, you’ll see what I mean.

http://nickugolini.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/annularslotanttena-2017-06-18-12-58.pdf

The write of of the antenna…

http://nickugolini.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/AnnularSlotantennatheory-2017-06-18-12-58.pdf

It was easy to solder it all together, and I had an extra BNC panel connector for the cable. It took about an hour to fabricate.

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It is so simple to make I wondered if it would work at all given that it does not have a large ground plane, and is very weird looking.

TESTING:
To test the antenna, I temporarily ran a jumper cable from my existing transponder antenna location to the new antenna and went flying. At 3000 ft, I flew outbound from KCHS. At 25 miles, the transponder reply to ATC became intermittent. I was told by ATC that is about normal for most airplanes at that altitude which was very good initial test result in my mind. As soon as I banked around to return to the airport they immediately picked me back up again. So possibly, the signal was being shielded by the engine and the extensive ground planes installed in the aircraft.

I plan to leave the antenna connected in the plane for a while so I can test it on a real cross country flight to see if it performs as well as my existing external antenna. If it does, then I will definitely be using this design for my transponder/ads-b antennas in my future airplane. I would use it on my plane, but the entire bottom of the fuselage is painted with ground RF paint so I have to stick with my existing antennas.

This design will save a bunch of money, and I don’t have to worry about installing large ground planes for external antennas. Low drag transponder antennas are $80-$160 for a shark fin type. This one is no drag. One could hollow out the fuselage foam in the put a layer of glass to seal the foam and flush mount them on the interior of the plane and you would have no antenna exposer at all on the exterior.

Best of all you can build 2 of these antennas (for transponder and ADS-B) for about $25 with brass you can buy on amazon or a local hardware store. I am amazed I never heard of the design.

Here are some pictures of the build.

A BNC panel receptacle number 31-203-RFX about $4.00 Obtained at a local electronics store.

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Trim off a bit of the unneeded insulator to help with the fabrication:
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You could screw or rivet to hold the connector to the ground plane, I just soldered it.
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After soldering on the center rib, you attach the side supports. A cleco makes it easier to hold the rib in place.
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Attaching the electrode is easier if you pre-wet the areas with solder, then hold the pieces together to connect the parts. After the center electrode is done, solder the side supports to the ground plane.
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Done! I used a piece of card board to make a small enclosure case to protect the element and for testing.
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Nov 20 2015

Nose removal

Today, did something I wanted to do for years, but was truly reluctant to get started on. I had even delayed placing my order for foam and kept procrastinated about getting out the saw to get stared with the work. i have reached the stage where I need to just get it done.

This is how it looked.

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When I shot the laser, I found the nose was actually constructed 1.5” below the point it should have been. The proper point is at WL 8” but was actually set at WL 6.5”

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It really didn’t matter much because it will all be removed and rebuilt properly. With a heavy heart, I got started.

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You definitely want to protect yourself from the dust generated from this urethane foam. I really like my hobby air system for supply clean air. A mask in this case would have worked just fine.

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Total removal only took about 15 minutes. Wow, I could chop the whole plane up in an hour to so….

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Not much left of the old nose.

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Later in the evening I actually felt good about cutting the dam thing off. I am totally committed now and have now gone as far down the rabbit hole of total destruction with this plane as I had planned. Now to start with building her back up. After clean up the cut lines in prep for the foam installation, i will build a cover for the nose lift system to seal the area against air leaks since I have easy access to the nose lift now.

Nov 13 2012

Engine Removal day 2

Today I got the engine hoist and prepared for the pulling the engine from the plane. Finally it is off.

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Next step is disassembly.

I started off going to the metal shop to pick up the material to make a case splitter. An aircraft engine does not use a gasket between the case halves. It uses a sealant which essentially glues the cases together. You MUST use a splitter to get the case apart.

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I had come up with a workable design and made a case splitter years ago and after using it, was loaned it out to a buddy. Unfortunately, he lost half which required me to have to make a replacement.

Surprisingly, when I googled “lycoming case splitter” I only came up with one hit on how to make one. It was my OWN website! I had completely forgotten that I had posted pictures and details on the web. Making a new one was easy and only took a few hours to complete.

After building the splitter it was off to the airport to begin disassembly of the engine. I made a quick engine stand to to hold the engine up vertically, and got to work.

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By the end of the day, the engine was torn down and ready to be split. I’ll do that tomorrow.

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I think I am going to strip off the blue color and repaint the engine in red. I need a change.

Nov 06 2012

Trip to Airflow Performance

Todays objective is to take my fuel injection system to Spartanburg, SC (about 200 miles away) to have they equipment tested. I think there is something wrong with it and some sort of fuel restriction caused my fuel emergency landing on Friday.

The trip started with a trip to do my civic duty…. Vote. I vote at the entrance to my subdivision which make the process quick (normally). Arriving at 6:45 I thought the line would be short, but alas it was quite long with a bit of rain.

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Part of the reason for the long line was they only had 4 freaking voting machines in the building! It took an hour for the voting process, and I left Charleston at 7:45 for the 200 mile drive.

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I arrived at Airflow Performance about 11 am for my meeting with Kyle.

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The guys at Performance are terrific. Kyle loves to talk to customers and let them observe the testing process and explain what is going on with the tests and the results. Instant feedback on the problem and an opportunity to learn about my equipment. I LIKE it!

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The shop always takes lots of pictures (before/after) of the equipment to ensure there is no question on the material condition of the items.

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Here is the fuel servo mounted in the air flow box to test fuel output at different power levels.

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Hum, the fuel servo passed all it’s tests perfectly, but the little fuel divider “the spider” failed.

When Kyle took the flow divider apart, he found the filter to be clogged and needed to be rebuilt. The little filter in the divider is what is restricting the fuel to the engine not allowing fuel flow at the normal max fuel flow of 12-13 gph . Currently, I could only get about 8 gph and can not get the rpm above 2480 rpm. During my flight on friday, I could only get 7 gph which is why I had to land in a hurry. NO fuel, NO power!

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After talking with Kyle about my options and finding out that the normal service life of the unit is 10 years before overhaul (mine is 8 years old) the decision was made to just do a complete overhaul/rebuild of the equipment. It would have been due in another 2 years anyway. An overhaul is the most prudent and safest coarse of action.

I left Airflow at 12:30 pm, drove about 25 miles to Greenville for lunch at my favorite restaurant in SC. The Pita House. They make the best Mediterranean food in SC.

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Mediterranean plate with gyro. It was SO good I order the same dinner to go. I’ll make some humus and have it dinner tonight!

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After another 200 mile drive home, I passed my voting place at 4:30 pm and there NO freaking line at all. None! It would have taken me 5 minutes to vote. Next time I will wait until later in the day to vote when everyone is at work.

I won’t get my fuel servo and divider back until late next week, so I can now work on the house instead of spending my days at the airport. Yahoo!

Nov 02 2012

An emergency landing at Charleston

Day was an interesting day for in my fruitless search for the engine problem.

I had completed four flights today. What I discovered was I could not get any power above 2480 RPM. When I went full throttle engine actually started running rough and backfiring. I called Klaus at Lightspeed to discuss the problem and he stated focusing me and on the fuel flow. It is too low. I am only seeing about 9 gph and at full throttle and it should be up to 12 gph. Humm, maybe that is one of the problems.

After talking to Klaus, I decided to take it up for another test flight. As I was climbing out the fuel flow initially I went up to 11.8 gallons per hour, then the fuel flow dropped to 7 gallons per hour and I started losing power. I declared an emergency and they had to divert a airliner landing to get me on the ground in a hurry. What fun! NOT!

I called Airflow Performance back (which built my fuel injection system,) talk to the owner Don, and we decided I could bring the system to Greenville testing on Tuesday. I had already cleaned two filters, but was unaware that there is a third filter in the system.

This is the fuel servo (1 filter in it)

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This is the flow spider (it also has a filter).

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Cant wait to see what the initial test results show up.

Oct 19 2012

Fuel probes in!

Today wrapped up the installation of the fuel probes. I have been taking my time and documenting every step along the way to be able to apply this installation experience to improving and updating the installation instructions.

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I have already found a few issues that I need to address such as probe length and size of the base plate.

wpid-CIMG1565-2012-10-19-21-59.jpg I have also discovered some new techniques for easing the installation process. Simple tools to make. I wish I had more opportunities to install the probes (more than just Pat’s and mine) as it would only get easier to do with practice.

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When finally installed I wanted to leave the square installation hole cut in the strakes to be highly visible. I’ll paint epoxy line black and
label the cover “Probes” just as a conversation piece. It would be easy to fill and finish the open and no one would every know the work was done, but why hide what I want to share with others. Electronic fuel probes… If you can’t be smart, be audacious! Free advertising!

Can’t wait install the electronics (maybe next week) and calibrate the electronics.

FEDEX delivered my pool liner today. Hopefully, next week will be the last I’ll be on the plane issue and can start back on my pool and deck. Its a great time of the year to be working outside and I want to take advantage of the mild weather.

USP delivered my Trio Pro Autopilot head and vertical servo today. I was having issues with the vertical servo which wasn’t isn’t too surprising since it was installed in maybe 2002? when I started as a Beta tester for Trio. Mine was one of the earliest (second maybe) EZ’s to have a Trio Altitude hold system installation. It was still in development, which gave me an opportunity to make improvement suggestions and find bugs. Trio really impressed me by listening to suggestions for features improvements and was from the beginning was extremely customer focused. I know because I have dealt with them since the beginning.

I remember seeing my first Trio product at Sun and Fun in ?????? year. They just developed a replacement for the NAVAID wing leveler which I purchased as it had more bells and whistles then the old system I had. Over time I developed a relationship with Chuck, Sid and Jerry (the tress amigos, the Musketeers, , the TRIO of Trio Avionics). I kept bugging the boys to develop an Altitude Hold system and when it became a reality, I was honored to be chosen as a Beta tester. Enough of traveling down memory lane.

During my Western Tour trip the vertical servo started acting flakey. Sometimes it had a hard time engaging, but always could be coxed into working (about like me). Fortunately, I didn’t have any major issues with it as it would have been absolutely, cave man primitive to have to hand fly the plane for the 44 hrs trip.

Chuck found for some reason the spring was longer than design and some rollers were sticking. Probably due to being a prototype as it was one of the first lot made. It was fixed, the software in the brain up upgraded, and I had it back in a 1.5 weeks shipped ground to California and ground back. I think it was only in the shop one day. What a great company.

Speaking of a good company, I never really considered using the USPS (post office for you unenlightened) to ship all my crap. I sent the hydraulic lifters to Oklahoma on Wed and it arrive today! Talk about amazing transportation service.

The box from Trio shipped UPS on Monday from San Diego, via ground and it arrived today (5 working days). I use a Click and Ship flat rate box (the small one) which only costs $5.15 and it shipped to Tulsa in 2 days. Freaken Amazing!

I have been using flat rate to send anything I could which is small, but this is the first time I clicked the “Track Shipment” button. This service is free. Today a delivery email showed up with the following tracking information.

Delivered                 TULSA OK 74115                          10/19/12 10:19am

Arrival at Post Office Facility    TULSA OK 74115                          10/19/12  6:34am
Processed through USPS Facility TULSA OK 74141                     10/19/12  2:03am
Depart USPS Sort          CHARLESTON SC 29423                     10/17/12
Processed at USPS Origin Sort Facility        CHARLESTON SC 29423                     10/17/12  5:51pm
Dispatched to Sort  Facility      NORTH CHARLESTON SC 29405        10/17/12  5:15pm

Acceptance                NORTH CHARLESTON SC 29405        10/17/12 12:14pm

If you follow the time line (bottom up), you see I generated the label at 12:41 on Wednesday, made it to the post office and departed Charleston sort at 5:51 that evening. The box arrived in Tulsa sort at 2:03 AM on Friday morning and was delivered at 10:19 am that morning.

HOW IN THE HELL DID USPS THEY GET IT THERE SO FAST?

I would be freaking amazed if it was ground because just the drive there would be 12 or 18 hrs? The package must have gone by air. So for $5.15 you can ship something (ANY weight, if it fits it ships) by air across the country? No way! If so Wow what a deal. Now that know this little trick, I’ll always click “Tracking” to see how fast it is delivered. Should be interesting.

BTW, Shipping via USPS is so easy to do. You order boxes on line and have them delivered to your house for free. You create, pay for and print the shipping labels from your home computer, and walk out to your mail box in your bare feet with a mug of coffee in your hand. and shazam , it is picked up that day and jetted across the country for a third of the cost of messing with UPS or FEDEX. I don’t even have to start car!

I am still conditioned to uses FEDEX for high value stuff and for detailed, butt kicking tracking, but I may have to looking into using USPS more of the time.

USPS. Amazing service!

Aug 10 2012

Western tour, Portland, San Fran, Las Vegas

After leaving the Seattle area, I flew to the Portland area (1.5 hrs) to stay with Bruce Smith. The flight was terrific and I had an opportunity to see Mt Reiner which was truly an impressive sight.

Bruce is working on a LongEZ and is actually planning to use a Lycombing engine. Wow, I almost fell over. He is a retired airline captain and is working hard to get back in the air and is planning to keep it as stock as possible. We took the opportunity to drive over Al Wicks airport to check out his cozy 4, Subaru 6 cylinder installation. It is a VERY impressive install with a constant speed prop hanging on the end. I ask Al if he would start the engine and he said sure thing, mind you I pointed out to Al he had junk all over the strakes with the cowls off. Screws, sockets, washes, wrenches, etc. He said no problem and just cranked it up. NOTHING MOVED. The engine didnt vibrate or shake on startup, just a vroom! As he rev’d it up a few times and the engine just purred. There was no vibration on the plane at all. I was floored. Al said he is going to taxi test the plane in the next few weeks. Cant wait to hear the results.

Bruce and I spent the day together, driving around the country, hiking up waterfalls, etc. What a great time. This area of the county is certainly nice to visit.

When I headed out to the airport for my next leg to San Fran on (tuesday 8/7), the area was IFR (300 ft). After taking off, I broke out at 3000 ft and it was nice and clear on top. ATC had me climb to 13,000 ft as this leg took me right over the center of the Cascades Range with a 30 kt headwind. Again it was great views of the mountains over totally inhospitable terrain. Crap, not again. Flying victor airway sure puts you in crazy situations. I was nervous but am getting a bit more comfortable with this type of flying. I later found out most of the locals just follow the interstate as it keeps you out of the mountains, and I could have probably gotten below most of the headwind.

I did take the opportunity to fly past Crater Lake. What a terrific view from above! After 2.5 hrs and clearing the mountains, it was a fast decent to Petaluma (069) airport (just north of San Fran) and as I pulled up to the parking apron I found 4 other canard parked there. Wow, it was like a convention! Tim Andres, Jon Dembs, Don Denhard and David Viglierchio all flew in to chat and have lunch. It was a great visit at a really nice airport! Thanks guys for stopping by.

After lunch it was my nickel air tour of the San Fran harbor to overfly Treasure Island, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge on the way down to Ried Hillview (RHV) to stay with Charles Furnweger who is building a cozy 4 with a ROTARY ENGINE. Ouch. Since he already had an engine on a test stand it was best to just let him discover the joys of engine development on his own. We took the opportunity to fly up to Columbia (O22) so I could see what all the hipe is all about for this yearly canard fly-in. It is a great little gold mining town and Charles, Don Denhard (who lives there) and I were given our own personal historic tour by the Park Service Ranger. Even Don learned a few things…

After lunch at Don’s mountain top house (with stunning views) it was back to Hillview (.5 hrs), jump on the BART to head to downtown San Fran to Scoma’s (the best italian restaurant I have ever eaten at.. and I AM italian). It is located at Fisherman’s Wharf, and I highly recommend it.

Leaving Hillview this morning I flew up to Calaveras (CPU, .5 hrs) for some cheap $4.95/gal gas. It is located just north of Columbia on the way to Las Vegas. Hot there… After leaving on my IFR flight, ATC had me climb up to 17,000 ft. Wow! I have never cruised that high, and I am really glad I had the power to get me there, although the bird wasn’t too happy. I never appreciated all the complains I heard from western flyers about high oil temps. Mine got up to 240 for a while in a hard climb, 215 when I had to slow the climb and finally 210 in cruise. On the east coast I rarely get up to 200. Most of the 2.5 hr trip was at 175 kts at 6.5 gph. There certainly is something to be said for flying high for fuel efficiency. Again the terrain was stark and unforgiving. I sure will be happy to get back to the southern states where it is flat with lots of airports to divert to. You westerner’s can have this high rugged flying!

Las Vegas was UNBELIEVABLY hot when I landed (over 110f). Dry heat yes, but at 110 it is just freaken hot no matter what. This city is CRAZY with people. I remember it from a few years ago before all the development on the strip and it was busy, but it is now like NYC on new years eve. Crowds of people gawking at the sights, crowded sidewalks, street performers, just plain nuts and this is a week night. I am told it gets even busier on weekends and when the weather is better. I guess the heat is why I picked up a room for $24/night. Anyway, I cant wait to get out of here tomorrow morning (early) to head for Sedona for lunch and then to Phoenix area. It may be hot there, but wont be so crowded.

I am now heading east toward home and as much fun as I have had, meeting terrific people and the unforgettable sight,, the fact I am heading hope make me anxious to get there.

Aug 09 2012

San Franciso – > Las Vegas

Leaving Hillview this morning I flew over to Calaveras (CPU, .5 hrs) for some cheap $4.95/gal gas. It is located just north of Columbia on the way to Las Vegas.

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It was a bit hot there…
After leaving on my IFR flight, ATC had me climb up to 17,000 ft. Wow! I have never cruised this high, and I am really glad I had the power to get me there, although the bird wasn’t too happy. As I was getting closer to the pass, the controller kept asking me increase my rate of climb and the best I could do was about 300 fpm.

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I never appreciated all the complains I heard from western flyers about high oil temps. Mine got up to 240 for a while in a hard climb, 215 when I had to slow the climb and finally 210 in cruise. On the east coast I rarely get up to 190 f in cruise. Most of the 2.5 hr trip was at 175 kts at 6.5 gph. There certainly is something to be said for flying high for fuel efficiency.
Again the terrain was stark and unforgiving. I sure will be happy to get back to the southern states where it is flat with lots of airports to divert to. You westerner’s can have this high rugged flying!

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Later after talking again to the locals, I found once more I took the worst route possible. Right over the top of the Serria Nevada mountains and Yosemite National Park. The minimum in route altitude was 17,000 ft. If I had traveled a bit south of San Fran THEN headed west I could have avoided the high mountains and flow at 9000 ft. This is another flight where I am glad I made it, but probably would never do it again.
When I arrived in Las Vegas I found it to be UNBELIEVABLY hot. When I landed (over 110f). Dry heat yes, but at 110 it is just freaken hot no matter what.

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This city is just CRAZY with people. I remember it from a few years ago before all the development on the strip and it was busy, but it is now like NYC on new years eve. Las Vegas Blvd (main drag) shown here has 12 lanes of traffic. It doesn’t have cross walks, it has elevated walkways at each intersection with elevators to get to the higher second level. Crowds of people gawking at the sights with overly crowded sidewalks and whacko street performers,

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Want to to get your picture taken with such as the half dress cupids. Why not? The things people do for $$$ At least it is legal I guess.

It is just plain nuts with traffic and people and this is a week night. I am told it gets even busier on weekends and when the weather is better. I guess the heat is why I picked up a room for $24/night. While I was here, I took the opportunity to see a show which was the Blue Man Group.

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The architecture here is just incredible This place truly is a wonder of the world.

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I wouldn’t mind visiting Las Vegas again at the right time of year when it is not so hot and crowded. It would be nice to spend a few days and with proper planning one can see a lot of shows in a 3 or 4 days.
For now, a
s great as this place is, I cant wait to get out of here tomorrow morning (early) to head for Sedona for lunch and then to Phoenix area. It may be hot there, but wont be so crowded.
I am now heading east toward home and as much fun as I have had, meeting terrific people and the unforgettable sights, the fact I am heading toward home makes me anxious to get there.

Aug 08 2012

Touring San Fran and Columba, CA

Charles and I headed out early to fly the 30 min or so to

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Columbia, CA (O22) so I could see what all the interest is for this little town. Don Denhard host a yearly canard canard fly-in at this airpot..

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Columbia is a great little gold mining town which is now a historic part. The film industry has used this town a a backdrop for a lot of western movies.

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We were fortunate to be there when a park guide was asking for anyone who wanted a guided tour of the town. Yeah, this is perfect a personal tour guide for the three of us.

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Charles, Don Denhard (who lives there) and I were given our own personal historic tour by the Park Service Ranger. Even Don learned a few things…
After the tour, we all headed up to Don’s mountain top house for the lunch. It had some with stunning views of the country side.

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Don took us back to the airport and it was a quick flight back to Hillview (.5 hrs),

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As soon as we landed, we headed to the BART station for the ride to downtown San Fran

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and fishmans wharf to look around and get dinner. I love the wharf and the Embarcadero area of San Fran.

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We had to stop by Scoma’s for some of the best italian food I have ever eaten (and I AM italian). It is located at Fisherman’s Wharf, and I highly recommend it. Its funny with all the great seafood here, we chose Italian.

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A long walk back to the Bart station to work off the great dinner and head home to rest up for the next leg of my trip.

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Aug 07 2012

Portland – > San Fransico

When I headed out to the airport for my next leg to San Fran on (tuesday 8/7), the area was IFR (300 ft).
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After taking off, I broke out at 3000 ft and it was nice and clear on top. ATC had me climb to 13,000 ft as this leg took me right over the center of the Cascades Range with a 30 kt headwind.
Mt Hood

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Mt Jefferson

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Again while there were great views of the mountains I was flying over totally inhospitable terrain. Crap, not again. Flying the victor airway sure puts you in crazy situations. I was nervous but am getting a bit more comfortable with this type of flying. I later found out most of the locals just follow the interstate as it keeps you out of the mountains, and I could have probably gotten below most of the headwind.
I did take the opportunity to fly past Crater Lake.
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What a terrific view from above! After 2.5 hrs and clearing the mountains, it was a fast decent to Petaluma (069) airport (just north of San Fran) and as I pulled up to the parking apron I found 4 other canard parked there. Wow, it was like a convention! Tim Andres, Jon Dembs, Don Denhard and David Viglierchio all flew in to chat and have lunch.
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It was a great visit at a really nice airport! Thanks guys for stopping by.
After lunch it was my nickel air tour of the San Fran harbor to overfly Treasure Island,
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Alcatraz
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The Embarcadero

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and finally the Golden Gate bridge

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I left San Fran area and headed sour down to to Ried Hillview (RHV) to stay with Charles Furnweger who is building a cozy 4 with a ROTARY ENGINE. Ouch not another one…
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Since he already had an engine on a test stand it was best to just let him discover the joys of engine development on his own. Time to head out to dinner and get ready for some fun tomorrow.