Maintenance, Scheduling overnights

Hi Gang!

I'll go ahead and state what we all know: Cessna 08V is still down pending arrival of her new prop. Normally I would say something optimistic like "I expect her back on the line in number of days", but I've learned my lesson now -- sorry for any false hopes. We hope to have her on the line appx 2 days after the prop arrives.

Cessna 04H is with Ross Eastman at Eastman Aircraft (aka sheet-metal magician) for a complete rebuild of her left wing, to correct a problem with incorrect wash-out. This is an exceedingly tedious process, and we expect 04H to return to us in 2-3 weeks. The new wing should fix any remaining issues pertaining to "heavy ailerons" we've been experiencing.



If you read wash-out and were uncertain what that means -- it should be a familiar concept after about 10 hours of training. wash-out is the term used to measure "twist" in the wing. It is this twist which provides a slightly lower angle of attack at the wingtip when compared with the wing root. If a wing were not twisted (aka "zero wash-out"), then a stall would affect the entire wing abruptly, the wing would likely drop, and you would lose half of your aileron control -- all at once! The whole scenario makes it easier to end up in a spin (depending on what you're doing when you stalled), and as such, we greatly prefer a little wash-out in our wings.

It's these little engineering details which make the planes flyable not only when flown correctly, but also extremely forgiving when flown incorrectly, which we all do from time to time. :)

Scheduling Overnight flights

It has recently come to my attention that not everybody sees the schedule like I do, when it comes to certain unusual bookings. Today, I'd like to share how to book an overnight flight.

I don't know about you, but flying can make me fatigued -- especially flights over 6 hours, such as in a very long XC. When I sleep that evening, I sleep very well -- and the last thing I would want is to jump out of bed at 6am, do a thorough preflight, and fly back to Corona -- but without booking "next day", that's what we in the office assume you're doing, and we'll happily commit someone to a 7am flight in your plane -- with possible disappointment and stamping of feet the next day.

Let me show you what my idea of a good overnight would look like. Let's say I want to do a night flight in a C150 to Santa Barbara, spend the night, and return in the morning. Our schedule begins at 7am, and if you don't indicate otherwise, we expect the plane back at 7am. 7am is brutal, so I'm going to book a "little extra" for myself. We don't mind this -- in fact, we prefer you to do this, in a "better safe than sorry" mentality.

Day 1: 4pm - 9pm booking. (KAJO - KSBA)



I'm assured of having the plane from 4pm until 7am the next day with this booking. However, I'm not a morning person, and I don't like the idea of trying to force myself back to Corona by 7am (don't forget the LA Basin Marine Layer might ground me too if I were flying VFR!)


So to make sure nobody tries to fly my plane, I also book this:




Day 2: 7am - 10am booking. (KSBA - KAJO)



Now our morning people won't rely on my plane, which is 100nm away.












If you're concerned at all about booking issues like this, please let the office staff know your intentions. Even if you intend to have the plane back promptly by 7am the next day, we like to book out the 7am-9am block just to be safe -- nothing saddens a pilot more than having their expected plane stolen, and we in the office can do nothing but commisserate and wonder when our bird will return.

Blue Skies & Better Bookings!

- Mike