Yeah, it was meant for my brother who is interested in a plane he saw
advertised in Ohio.  At least it wasn't REAL personal.  As far as the 150 in
Texas, you probably had to deal with density altitude and a lot of thermals.
Don't have to worry too much here.  Biggest problem in Ohio is clouds.  My
dad can fly in sunny FLA almost every day!

-----Original Message-----
From: Bobby Greer [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 1999 10:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: I finally got to that 150


Hey Kyle,

        I think you meant this for someonelse? I was up in a 150 once over
the
Balcones Fault in Texas. Rough as hell. Also, near Bergstrom AFB, I had to
watch out for B-52's, since if you get caught behind one you were dead meat!

Bobby


>Tony,
>
>I finally got around to flying that Cessna you were interested in, so I
>obviously passed my medical.  Flight doc tagged me on "no night flight"
>because of the monocular vision.  I knew it would be a matter of time,
>anyway, but it's weird having an IFR ticket that you can only use during
the
>day. ;>).  Not that I fly much anymore, anyway.  Since Laura quit teaching
I
>can't justify spending the $$$$.  I get enough hours in to keep current,
but
>that's about it.  I'm going to check into one of those PC-based simulators
>that you can use to log time for certification.  I guess you just fly and
>then download the data to a zip drive--it has all the parameters just like
>the black box FDRs on the commercial aircraft.
>
>About that 150...I dunno, man, it doesn't seem like much plane for the
>price.  It's been 200 hrs SMOH on that little Continental.  Cranked fine,
>stayed up at 2200 rpm on both mags during runup.  Oil seemed a bit gummy,
>but no major leaks.  Found a mouse's nest in one of the cabin heater
>vents--only after I ran cabin heat for a while...fortunately before
takeoff!
>The smell of the dead beasties cooking would have been enough to make me
>squawk 7700 and put the sucker down on the freeway.  Got that taken care
of,
>but you'd have to get a detail shop to run an ozone generator in the cabin
>for a bit.
>
>Dad's caught a red-eye up from Florida beucause he wanted to fly it with me
>(think he really just wanted to see the grandkids).  Said,  "Why don't we
>buzz your house, since Laura's home?  You know, just like 'Flying
>Leathernecks'!"  Criminy!  What a jarhead, eh?  The old man's been out of
>the Corps since '69, but he still does the Marine Routine. Ha!  Anyway, he
>did some stalls and MCA stuff and said it felt "mushy" for a 150.  I
thought
>so too.  Crank in 20 degrees flaps, cut the go juice and most of those old
>Cessnas will just hang there.  This one wanted to roll off on the left wing
>pretty badly.  I tried one at 5000' AGL with no flaps and just about put it
>in a flat spin.  Dad's yelling at me the whole time, "Where'd you learn to
>fly? where'd you learn to fly?"  Once I recovered and I got my heart rate
>down below 200, I wanted to say, "You, Dad.  You taught me, remember?"  I'm
>glad I kept my mouth shut, because I'm pretty sure he knew he hurt my
>feelings.  He kept complimenting my crappy flying the rest of the
afternoon.
>:>)  It's a good thing private aircraft don't have cockpit voice recorders,
>because if I'd stuck that plane in the ground they'd have heard a lot of
>references to God and Jesus, that's for sure!  ;>)  Dad was laughing at me
>later because he said I'd plead with God for a while, then I'd cuss Him.  I
>don't know why Dad didn't  pull me out of that--guess he just wanted to see
>if I'd mess my pants!  ;>).  Thought I'd made him mad because he didn't say
>anything for a long time, then he said, "This dog won't hunt.  There's
>something goofy about this plane."  I think you'll be okay as long as you
>keep your airspeed up.  Just pray that little Connie doesn't quit on you
>when you're rotating, because you WILL fall off on that left wing right
now.
>
>The paint's done up in standard OSU scarlet & gray  (will they let you land
>this thing in Ann Arbor?..ha!).  Paint's in good shape, tires are thin-ish,
>the windows are scratched up pretty bad, so they'll need to be polished
out.
>It has the same Bendix radio stack that Dad's old Skywagon had--one comm,
>one nav, and a transponder.  They're not much newer than the plane, so I'd
>have them checked out.  Everything seemed to work ok, though.
>
>Tony, I would not even consider this aircraft for IFR certification.  For
>one thing, you'd have as much wrapped up in decent avionics as you would in
>the plane itself.  For another, it just feels funny.  I think it would be
>fine for daytime VFR, but I would not want to shoot an ILS approach in that
>plane in IMC or even marginal VFR weather.  You'll have to judge for
>yourself, but Dad and I came to a consensus that it just wouldn't be worth
>it.  I would consider a good GPS, though.  Dad brought his Garmin from his
>boat and he'd plugged all the data in beforehand for all his favorite grass
>strips around Columbus (like Jim Wilson's, et al).  Anyway, instead of
doing
>touch and goes at the same airport, we'd just fly from strip to strip
>without stopping the plane.  It would be great for you if you're planning
to
>do much flying in the UP.
>
>Dad caught another red-eye out for Tampa last night, so we tied down at CMH
>instead of OSU.  I'll get somebody from work today to take me over to Port
>Columbus after work and then I'll fly it back over to Don Scott and have
>Laura pick me up there.
>
>Anyway, we flew out of OSU around noon, flew to MRT so Grandpa could buzz
>the house and wave the wings at "those grandbabies", headed for Jim's and
>then did some cross-countries so Dad could check the NDB and NAV against
his
>GPS.  Had dinner in Marion.  About that time, I started getting antsy to
get
>back to CMH.  I told Dad, "Listen, I lost my medical for night flying and I
>don't want to lose my whole ticket."  He said, "Well, from now on I'll just
>be pilot-in-command" (which is what I think he wanted anyway, but was too
>gracious to say).  He also said that we needed to be out after dark because
>there was something he wanted to show me.  So we started to toward Columbus
>around 1930, cruising at 3500' MSL and the whole eastern sky lit up with
the
>Leonid showers.  Man, it was incredible!  It reminded me of the CNN video
>the night we bombed Baghdad in '91, except that the lights were headed down
>instead of up.  Tonight is supposed to be even better--up to 6000/min
>between 2100 and 0000.  Dad said it reminded him of a firefight they had
>north of Hue.  That was weird because you know he never talks about that
>stuff.
>
>So we get to Columbus approach, and even though Dad is technically PIC, I'm
>left seat and he's trying to see how many NBD/VORs he can pick up on his
>handheld.  I tell Dad that I am really not comfortable landing this thing
at
>night, in traffic, so he takes the yoke and asks me to get clearance.  What
>happened next was classic!  Went something like this:
>
>Me:  "Approach, this is Cessna 150 November-two-three-eight-three-echo,
>requesting clearance.  I have ATIS zebra"
>
>Approach:  "83 echo, squawk 283"
>Approach:  "Cessna 83 echo, you're third in the box.  I'll put you in
behind
>Southwest 330 for runway 28 left.  He's that 737 on your 2 o'clock.
>
>Me:  "Ah...roger, approach.  I have a visual."
>
>(Dad's ears perk up at the mention of the '37.  He looks over at me and
sees
>the sweat on my forehead and asks, "Did he say he was going to put you
>behind that SWA bird?  Hell, you can't put a 150 this close in behind an
>aircraft that big!")
>
>Approach:  "83 echo, can you pick up the airspeed a bit?  I've got a Lear
45
>on your 6 that needs 140 knots."
>
>Dad to me: (unrepeatable)
>
>Dad to Approach:  "Approach, 83 echo.  Request terminate clearance or clear
>for 28 right.  This is a 150, I couldn't get 140 knots with a 60 knot
>tailwind!"
>
>Approach:  "83 echo.  Say again and squawk ident.  This is not the same
>individual I was speaking with prior.  You were not cleared to land."
>
>Dad: "Approach, 83 echo.  This is pilot-in-command.  You were speaking with
>my right seat.  If we follow that southwest 37 I'm pretty sure I'm going to
>have problems with wake turbulence.  If I don't get out of this pattern
>right now I'm going to have a learjet enema."
>
>Approach: "83 echo...ah...ok...turn right, heading 120, climb 3000.  We'll
>see about getting you in the pattern for 28 right."
>
>We landed on 28R and I fully expected the taxiway people to ask us to
report
>to Flight Services, but nobody said boo.  I asked Dad about it later and he
>said he always reserves the right to opt out of the assignment.  I guess
>it's just my "controller as god" mentality.  He said that if a controller
>puts you in a tough spot and you stick it, it's YOUR arse in the casket,
not
>his.  That's why I don't fly class B airspace.  To damn much heavy metal in
>the air for me!  ;>)
>
>Anyway, I'd be happy to go over and show you the plane if you want to come
>down (after the Michigan/OSU game ;>)  ).  If I were you, though, I'd pass
>on this one and just rent until spring.
>
>BTW--Dad and I went pheasant hunting Saturday at the WMA.  I got lost in a
>sorghum field (of course).  I tell you what, I'm getting gimpier by the
day.
>I could only hunt about a half an hour before the pain got too bad and I
had
>to stop.  I felt bad because Dad had so been looking forward to us getting
>out (just like old times, he said).  He was so incredibly gracious.  I
>noticed that he kept glancing at me limping and he said, "Those grandbabies
>wore my ass out.  How's about we just pack it in?"  Now I knew this was a
>crock because he'd just done one of those geezer marathons two weeks ago
and
>Mom was bragging about how well he'd done.  Guess he just wanted to help me
>save face.  How I hate this wretched old body  ;>).
>
>The tears really flowed when he left Laura and the kids, and then again
when
>I left him at the gate.  I know he loves Florida, but I still get so damn
>mad at him sometimes for moving away.
>
>Well, let me know what you want to do about that airplane.  See if you can
>get your club plane in the next couple weeks and fly down.
>
>Are you going to Florida for Christmas?  We'd like to, but I can't scrape
>the jack together for plane fare for everyone--and I'm sure not gonna drive
>24 hours down I-75 with every other goober east of the Mississippi.
>
>Take care.  Give Cheryl and the girls a big kiss and a hug for me.
>
>I love you and I miss you (even if Mom does like you better).
>
>-Kyle