{"id":2489,"date":"2018-10-21T14:31:31","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T20:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/?p=2489"},"modified":"2018-10-23T12:38:14","modified_gmt":"2018-10-23T18:38:14","slug":"flying-with-the-blue-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/?p=2489","title":{"rendered":"Flying with the Blue Angels ;-)"},"content":{"rendered":"

[No, I didn’t actually “fly with the Blue Angels.”\u00a0 You can freely accuse me of false advertising.\u00a0 And, yet…\u00a0 we were flying at the same time, and I could see them (and, if they had the desire, they could have seen me), so… yeah, sometimes hangar flying stories do get embellished a bit.\u00a0 Ahem.\u00a0 More about the Blue Angels at the bottom of this blog entry!]<\/p>\n

October 19, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

This was the weekend of the Lone Star Rotorcraft Club annual fly-in!\u00a0 Unfortunately, the weather was very uncooperative.\u00a0 It looked like Saturday, the 20th, might be a solid rain day, so we showed up on Friday to take a look around.\u00a0 Because of the weather forecasts, we didn’t expect many people or aircraft, and we were mostly correct.\u00a0 But the club pulled out all of their rotorcraft, and a few hardy souls did show up — I’m looking at you, Christine Toevs! — so it actually looked<\/strong><\/em> pretty good.<\/p>\n

\"4N1A4475\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A4476\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"4N1A4477\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A4478\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A4479\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A4480\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A4481\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A4482\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

After hanging out a bit, we decided to just take a short flight around the area, so we saddled up and headed east for a while.\u00a0 We were back inside of 40 minutes, I think.\u00a0 Nothing to report other than,\u00a0 like always, it’s great to be able to fly, even if you’re going nowhere.\u00a0 Here are a few shots from the air, including two of all the aircraft around the hangar at the fly-in…<\/p>\n

\"4N1A4484\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A4487\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"4N1A4488\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A4490\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

I uploaded a few of my shots to the LSRC Facebook group, and there were other shots from\u00a0Becky O’Brien.\u00a0 That’s how I found out that there was\u00a0some<\/em> flying going on, on Saturday, but the video’s showed pretty low ceilings and dark skies, so I doubt those flights were anything but around the pattern.\u00a0 I’m glad it was still an active day for the fly-in, but it’s a shame they couldn’t have had a bigger turn-out.<\/p>\n

October 21, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

Sunday, the weather did a 180, and was fabulous.\u00a0 Typically, most fly-in’s that include a Sunday are mostly bereft of participants on the last day because everyone has to fly home.\u00a0 By the time we got there — around noon — just about everyone was gone and all the club gyro’s were back in the hangars.\u00a0 Only Christine was there, winching her TAG autogyro into her custom trailer.\u00a0 She spent a few minute explaining to me how the trailer works, and what needs to be improved (everything, apparently!).<\/p>\n

\"trailer0\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"trailer1\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Our intention for the day was to take advantage of the blue skies and moderate winds by accepting an invitation from a fellow who lives in an airport community near New Waverly, Texas.\u00a0 \u00a0Officially, the airport is “Estates Airpark,” designated XS09, but the subdivision is Waverly Acres.\u00a0 Some people call it Waverly Estates and even Waverly Acres Airpark.\u00a0 But, whichever it is, we were headed that way.<\/p>\n

This was territory we had covered before — most recently, on our trip to Rockwell, Texas<\/a> and back — so the number of pictures we took were small.<\/p>\n

\"Flying <\/a>
Flying over Dayton, Texas <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The prison just NW of Dayton <\/div> <\/div>
\"An <\/a>
An apparently abandoned, unfinished subdivion. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"I-69\/Hwy <\/a>
I-69\/Hwy 59… looking NE toward Cleveland. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Dirt <\/a>
Dirt track called “105 Speedway” <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Just a bit more than an hour after we left Anahuac, we could see Waverly Acres Airpark coming up.\u00a0 We stayed up high as we approached and made a pass along the southern end of the community so that we could get a few good shots.<\/p>\n

\"Our <\/a>
Our approach track… we were still > 2000 ft as we flew by, then descended quickly and did a straight in landing. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Our <\/a>
Our first clear view of the airport community <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A shot from the high fly-by, looking north <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The view, looking north, as we did our steep descent and landing. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

You can see from our CloudAhoy track, we can land pretty darn short.\u00a0 We then taxied around and pulled up on to the concrete apron at Kenny’s hangar.\u00a0 (The Google satellite photo is about a year out of date… it shows his hangar still being built, but it is quite complete!)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just moments after we arrived, we had other visitors — Gregg and Mo (and his wife) — walk over to greet us.\u00a0 I’m always amazed at how friendly the people in the aviation community are…. truly!\u00a0 They all had complimentary things to say about the Cavalon, and lots of pixels were recorded.<\/p>\n

Mo and his wife had to mosey on, but Gregg hung around while Kenny gave us a tour of his hangar.\u00a0 Although the hangar been finished for a while, he decided to add heavy-duty insulation and install a\/c and heating.\u00a0 He has a really sweet set up… something I hope to have some day.\u00a0 Gregg then had to leave, and Kenny then gave us a tour of his house… it’s not just pretty but it’s finished quite nicely and is well insulated too.\u00a0 \u00a0We sat on the back porch, admiring the view and the quiet… it was amazingly quiet.\u00a0 And, of course, when a plane does land or take-off, we enjoy that sound, too, but then it again becomes real quiet.\u00a0 Very, very nice.<\/p>\n

Kenny had to leave at 3pm, so we expressed our thanks for the invitation and tour, then saddled up.\u00a0 Most of the time, the wind in this part of the country is from the south.\u00a0 The runway at Waverly Acres Airpark is sloped a bit downhill on the south side, so taking off to the north — as we had to, today — meant that we were not only “fighting” the soft, turf runway and a north wind, but we were also going uphill!\u00a0 Yikes.<\/p>\n

Not helping was the person who was standing in the middle of the runway… she moved to the side by the time I got to her spot — she was apparently taking pictures or a video — but it was a bit unsettling.\u00a0 The Cavalon overcame all those challenges, but it did make me wonder about taking off with a higher weight, on a day with a higher density altitude.\u00a0 (In the summer, though, it will be rare that the wind will be from the north, so, probably nothing for me to worry about.)<\/p>\n

Our next destination is to see and take aerial shots of a new house that my son and his wife are building.\u00a0 \u00a0Here are a few photos:<\/p>\n

\"4N1A4541\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A4543\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"4N1A4546\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

At this point, we’re on the west side of the Intercontinental Airport’s airspace, so we’ll have to fly through “the corridor” to get home.\u00a0 We’ve actually flown to take aerial photos of the property before, and had to fly both ways through the corridor so this is not new territory for us.\u00a0 Yet, today there was a “stadium TFR” and it fills up about 90% of the space available to me in the corridor.\u00a0 Consequently, I had to really hug the north edge of the corridor while making sure I didn’t bust the Class Bravo airspace above me (at 2,000 feet) or to my left.\u00a0 This is something I hadn’t<\/em> done before.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Arrow 1 points to our actual track.\u00a0 Arrow 2 points to the edge of the Class Bravo airspace (and our ceiling was 2,000…. around 500 feet above us).\u00a0 And Arrow 3 points to the (barely visible) edge of the circular stadium TFR.\u00a0 Whew.\u00a0 It was close.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, I’ve learned something: I usually fly right over the I-610 North freeway.\u00a0 But as you can see, today I flew even further north.\u00a0 In the future — because I’ve now looked at this closely — I’ll know that I can still fly over the freeway and be outside the stadium TFR.\u00a0 (Just barely.) That’s good to know!<\/p>\n

As usual, I take advantage of a flight through the corridor to get some good shots of downtown Houston.\u00a0 I didn’t take as many, today, as I was nervous about the narrow space I had to fly through, but I did manage a couple.\u00a0 And, again as usual, there were other things to see and take pictures of:<\/p>\n

\"From <\/a>
From 15 miles away, downtown Houston <\/div> <\/div>
\"An <\/a>
An interesting (if very gray) concrete pipe yard <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A nice shot of downtown Houston while in the corridor. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The very north end of the Houston Ship Channel… further inland from here, it’s simply Buffalo Bayou. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"This <\/a>
This is a storage yard for used containers, for sale or rent! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Right now, you might be saying, “Well, when are you going to get to the part about flying with the Blue Angels?”\u00a0 Now is that time!<\/p>\n

As we left the corridor we noticed smoke trails to the south.\u00a0 Today — in addition to technically being the last day of the Lone Star Rotorcraft Fly-in — it was also the last day of “Wings Over Houston”, a very popular annual airshow that is held at Ellington Airbase.\u00a0 At this point, we were approximately 12 miles north of Ellington.\u00a0 It didn’t take much effort to see the Blue Angels flying in formation, the cause of the smoke trails.\u00a0 I tried to grab a few shots.\u00a0 In one of them, you can even see the runway at Ellington!<\/p>\n

\"Streaming <\/a>
Streaming across the sky (right to left)… <\/div> <\/div>
\"Very <\/a>
Very tight formation (flying left to right) <\/div> <\/div>
\"You <\/a>
You can see the runway on the far right part of this shot. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"They <\/a>
They had just gone straight up, and now you can see them going straight down… incredible! (And you can easily see the runway right in the middle of the shot.) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

I was less than 12 miles away from them so I’m going to go ahead and say that I was flying with them, okay?\u00a0 If you have a problem with that, just take it up with them.<\/p>\n

By this time, they are mostly behind us and we continue on toward Anahuac.\u00a0 I grab a nice shot of the San Jacinto Monument, with the Battleship Texas in the right foreground….<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

…and we see the airport from 9 miles out, and come in on the turf runway.\u00a0 A great day of flying!<\/p>\n

\"Anahuac, <\/a>
Anahuac, 9 miles out <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The 17-35 turf runway, freshly mowed <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

2.77 hours on the Hobbs,\u00a0 2:44 in the air, and 191 miles covered.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0 If you enjoyed this or any of my other blog entries, I suggest you subscribe to this blog so that you are automatically notified when I make a new entry.\u00a0 Go to the top of this page, and look along the left side for the subscription field.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[No, I didn’t actually “fly with the Blue Angels.”\u00a0 You can freely accuse me of false advertising.\u00a0 And, yet…\u00a0 we were flying at the same time, and I could see them (and, if they had the desire, they could have seen me), so… yeah, sometimes hangar flying stories do get embellished a bit.\u00a0 Ahem.\u00a0 More … Continue reading Flying with the Blue Angels \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cavalon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/4N1A4516.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2489"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2541,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2489\/revisions\/2541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}