First passenger flights
Got down to the hangar after lunch on Saturday, flew off the remaining 1/2 hour, made the official entry in the aircraft logbook, and test phase I officially ended. I spent an hour or so getting everything prepped for my first passenger, installed the passenger seat, cleaned the bugs on the prop and canopy, etc.
After putting up with this crazy project for almost 4 years and driving many of the rivets, there was no one else that I could consider for the honor. The plan was to take Julie up and if she was comfortable, attempt a flight up to Friday Harbor. We got into the air and she loved it. The take off surprised me a bit. Between the extra load and the high temps, the plane didn’t just leap into the air. Not a big deal. It just took an extra second to get up to speed and start climbing like crazy.
I let her have the plane as soon as I got it stabilized to help fend off any queasiness. I adjusted power as needed, navigated around our tricky airspace, and watched for traffic.
Julie snapped pictures along the way. She said I looked too serious. Ah, dah. I’m flying an airplane. Alright, I’ll smile.
Here’s part of the Microsoft campus.
Back toward Bellevue and Mercer Island.
Lake Sammamish and Sammamish proper.
Then we got into the more scenic area north of Seattle. Here’s Deception Pass and Mount Baker.
In my limited flying around here, there’s nothing as beautiful as flying up to the San Juans. The islands are clustered together sitting on the edge of the huge Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Looking back at Anacortes.
Island dead ahead, Mount Baker off to the right.
This is probably the best picture of the islands.
Lots of traffic around Friday Harbor, but an uneventful landing. Here’s the beautiful magic carpet.
For those unfamiliar with the area, Friday Harbor is on San Juan Island. It’s at least an hour ride by ferry on top of the ferry wait and 2 hour drive from Seattle. We did the short walk to town and had fish tacos on the deck at Downriggers overlooking the harbor. Very cool to watch the sea planes and ferry coming and going.
I let Julie fly most of the way back as well. We swung over North Seattle and by Snoqualmie Falls before heading into Renton. She had a great time.
Today I took Adele up for a short flight in the afternoon. We just cruised around the Duvall/Snoqualmie area a bit as I let her fly the plane. It was a really hot day, so we kept it fairly short. She’s been studying air and space flight in school the past few weeks, so I was very happy to let her put her knowledge of ailerons and elevators to use.
There was a funny exchange on the radio as we were taking off. Tower was talking to a Cessna that was entering the pattern, “Cessna XXX, enter the downwind behind the silver RV that is climbing steeply and turning crosswind.” Cessna: “I have the silver rocket in sight and will follow.”
Adele snapped a few pictures as well.
All in all, a great flying weekend. Makes all those hours of building (and even some of the frustrating ones) seem worthwhile.