Karmy Flying Adventures

Here’s the before and after picture. You can see the 1″ extra clearance that you get. It’s nice that Vans figured out all the geometry to make everything fit in exactly the same place so no changes to the mounting brackets or nosegear parts was necessary.

Well, the first thing to do is get the plane jacked off the ground. The easiest way I have found is to weight down the tail and jack it down with a tie-down strap.

I used a wood brace to work as a backup since the nose gear leg would be out for at least a week (or so I thought). Turns out the parts were backordered so It was actually strung up for a month or so.

Here’s before and after of the nose gear leg. I had it shortened and re-threaded by Langair down in Portland to make sure it’s done right. It was painless, just cost $75 to get done. I had it easy as Earl, one of my local flying buddies, decided to drive down and get his done so I just sent mine along for the ride.

A bit of poking and prodding was required to get the bolt out that holds the gear leg in place. I had made the hole in the firewall initially, so it was simply a matter of getting out the plug and proseal. Then reversing the process to re-install.

Finally when it’s all done, there is no external visible difference… You just pay some money to take some metal off the plane! Typical for aviation projects I guess.

With the weather quickly heading downhill for the season, I took Friday off as a last chance to get some airtime. The plan was to circle the Olympic Mountains and see what sights were there to see.

First stop was direct west to Ocean Shores, then turning north towards Neah Bay and Tatoosh Island. It was an amazing clear day with light winds and smooth flying. Upon entering the pattern at Squim Valley airport, I heard Jim Triggs a fellow RVator and friend of mine approaching also. Neat to meet up for an unexpected catch up. Jim and his wife went one way to lunch in Squim, and I headed north for Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. After a nice lunch and walk around town I headed back south to home. Quite a nice day for sure!

This weekend we took a fabulous flight around the state more or less. Leaving Auburn, we flew the Snoqualamie pass valley across into eastern Washington. Then down south towards Yakima following the river canyons. Across the fruit valley with all the fall colors in full bloom, and down towards the Columbia River. A stop for lunch at the Dalles and then off to Hood River. There is a neat air mueseam there that recently opened.

The return trip over the interior of the cascades and across Mt St Helens was amazing as always. Quite a nice day flight for sure!

Tonight Emily and I took a flight around the Seattle area.