Welcome to
Bob’s Flight Log. The purpose of this
page is to share my flying experience with my friends and family, and to keep
track of my maintenance and flight hours, as well as to log my personal notes. Enjoy!
Bob's Flight
Stats:
Aircraft: Rans S6ES Coyote II (http://www.rans.com/3S6ES.htm)
Current Total Engine/Airframe Time(TT): 701.8 hours
Bob's Flight Hours: 9
flights, 2.8 hours
SOLD:
Aircraft: Aero Works
AeroLite 103 (http://www.AeroLite103.com)
Current Total Engine/Airframe Time(TT): 134.1 hours
Bob's Flight Hours: 50
flights, 14.1 hours
Bart Engemann’s plane:
Aircraft: Cessna 172
Bob's Flight Hours: 1 Flight,
1.2 hours
Gary Geisler’s plane:
Aircraft Cessna
Centurion
Bob’s Flight Hours: 1
Flight, .5 hours
Bob’s Total Flight Hours
to Date: 18.3 hours
Flight Log
Sunday June 25th, 2006: First flight! Start
hours: 120.0 End hours: 120.2 Total: .2 hours
At 8:27PM the wheels of
my plane lifted off the ground for the first time with me at the controls. I
flew up to 312 feet and circled around the airfield and brought it in for a
landing on the same end of the runway, and I can tell you from experience that
it was the singular most incredible few moments of my life! I cannot begin to
tell you all how cool that was! When I hit the throttle up to full, I was
amazed at how much power it has! It just hammered me back into the seat as it
accelerated down the runway...and lifted off in less than 100 feet. I was
scared before I left the ground, but once I was in the air, my fear went away!
When I turned for the first time, I saw the whole world just moving and turning
below me, and it just reminded me how small everything is. How insignificant
everything we do and see in life really is. Man...that was the greatest
experience I have ever had. What a freakin’ blast! I cannot wait to do it
again. I lined it up and brought it in
for a great landing, although a bit bouncy, but not bad for the first time!
Tuesday June 27th,
2006: Start
hours: 120.2 End hours: 120.5 Total: .3 hours
My second flight. Still recovering from the unbelievable rush
of flying for the first time just a couple of nights ago, I once again took to
the skies tonight for a brief flight, lasting about 18 minutes. I circled around the field a few times and
came in for another slightly bouncy landing.
Friday June 30th,
2006: Start
hours: 120.5 End hours: 121.0 Total: .5 hours (2
landings)
I took the camera up
with me tonight and took most of the “BobFly” pictures that are in my aerial photos section. I flew for a half hour today, again circling
around the field and learning to deal with a crosswind of about 5-10MPH. I had to ride left rudder in, but brought it
in for a great landing, only bouncing slightly. Took off again and circled around, finally nailing a perfect landing!
Thursday July 6th,
2006: Start
hours: 121.0 End hours:
121.5 Total: .5 hours (2 landings)
My first experience with rough air, the thermals
were somewhat heavy today, and I felt some jarring and shuddering on ascent,
and when I approached the Missouri River bank.
Kinda scary at first, but I got used to it quickly enough. Landing was excellent.
Performed major inspection
on airframe and engine. Discovered locknut
on the right inboard aileron hinge that was showing only 1 thread at the end of
the bolt. Marked and monitored. There are three other bolts holding the
aileron as well as a control horn connection, so no danger noted.
Saturday July 8th,
2006: Start
hours: 121.5 End hours:
122.5 Total: 1.0 hours (2 landings)
By far my best day! What an amazing day this was!
Many people were at the airport, including my buddy Mike with his powered paraglider. I took the camera up with me again today and
took most of the “UL” pictures listed in my aerial photos section. Mike went up and flew his paraglider along
with me, so I got some really beautiful shots of him from the air. I flew for an hour, and got up to 600 feet
AGL. The weather was absolutely
perfect, with a very slight westerly breeze and the air was great with no thermal
disturbances at all. I landed perfectly
once, and then took off and flew for another 20 minutes or so, and came in for
a second landing of the day, again executed perfectly. Days like this don’t happen very often.
Saturday July 15th,
2006: Start
hours: 122.5 End hours:
122.7 Total: .2 hours
Short flight today. Air wasn’t that steady, and it was getting late. I got to watch a beautiful sunset from up in
the air tonight, so it was a great day nonetheless!
Sunday July 16th,
2006: Start
hours: 122.7 End hours:
122.9 Total: .2 hours
Another short flight day. I didn’t get out to the airfield until quite
late, so I didn’t have much time to enjoy much more than a quick hop and a nice
sunset. Air was very nice today.
Sunday July 23rd,
2006: Start
hours: 122.9 End hours:
123.1 Total: .2 hours
Life has been keeping me busy lately, but I did
manage to get out to the airfield for the first day after many days of
rain. The sky was very cloudy and the
air was a bit rough, but nothing to worry about. I made my first flight over
Sunday July 30th,
2006: Start
hours: 123.1 End hours:
123.3 Total: .2 hours
Again
arriving at the airfield late due to life’s complications, I didn’t get much
flying time in today.
Saturday August 5th,
2006: Start
hours: 123.3 End hours:
123.7 Total: .4 hours
Today my buddy Matt and I attached a digital
camera to my plane and made a movie. It
was really cool, as he brought a second camera and shot a movie of me from the
ground as I circled the airfield. He
later patched the sequences together and made a movie which you can download
and view here: Come Fly With
Me! Just right-click and choose "Save Link As" in Firefox, or
"Save Target As" in IE. The
air was great today, and I enjoyed flying around and having fun with the
cameras. I plan on doing some more flight
photography in the future.
Saturday August 12th,
2006: Start
hours: 123.7 End hours:
124.0 Total: .3 hours
Great flying today! I had a good time today pushing the elevation boundary as I get
more and more experienced. I flew over
Rhineland and up along the north bank of the
Wednesday August 16th,
2006: Start
hours: 124.0 End hours:
124.5 Total: .5 hours
Experienced some rough air today, although not
too bad. I decided to practice some
touch-and-go landings which basically means letting the tires touch down and
then throttling back up and taking off again.
I did 4 landings today, and nailed every one. I’m getting really good at this flying thing J.
Thursday August 17th,
2006: Start
hours: 124.5 End hours:
124.9 Total: .4 hours
Great weather today. The sun was setting to the West, and I was really enjoying
watching the shadows over the hills below.
The treelines were casting dark green shadows over the bright grass and
making a beautiful combination of greens.
As the sun set through the light clouds and over the horizon, I felt a
sense of freedom that I hadn’t had before.
Wednesday August 30th,
2006: Start
hours: 124.9 End hours:
125.5 Total: .6 hours
The air was very steady today, and almost no
wind at all. Great flying weather. Had a bit of a scare when I was on
approach. My windscreen above the wing
joiners came off and was flapping in the wind.
I didn’t know this at the time…I just heard a popping sound. Key when something like this happens is to
just stay calm and work the problem.
Never panic. It was a great
flight though.
Saturday September 2nd,
2006: Start hours: 125.5 End hours: 126.0 Total: .5 hours (4 landings)
I decided to practice some short approach
landings today, so I circled the runway from tip to tip and landed in the
middle 4 times.
Performed major inspection
on airframe and engine. No problems
found. Marked all bolts and nuts on the
airframe with a permanent marker for reference so that any loosening nuts/bolts
could be easily detected.
Monday September 4th,
2006: Start
hours: 126.0 End hours:
126.8 Total: .8 hours (3 landings)
Today was another one of those rare flying days
when everything was perfect. I took the
day off work to enjoy some flying and that I did! I flew for almost an hour with my friends watching and had a
blast! I took some more photographs.
Thursday September 7th,
2006: Start
hours: 126.8 End hours:
126.9 Total: .1 hours
Just a quick hop-flight, since I didn’t have
much time at the field.
Friday September 8th, 2006: Start
hours: 126.9 End hours:
127.7 Total: .8 hours
Today was a very special day for me! My wife Sandi was offered a flight
along with one of the pilots at the airport, and she accepted. I was up flying around as I saw her and her
pilot take off from the runway below.
After the ascent, she got to fly around for a while and control the
plane. It was such an amazing
experience for her that it brought tears to her eyes! I felt amazed to be part of that memory with her. Some friends showed up at the airfield, as
well as Bart and Nick Engemann of Engemann
Aviation, the local flight training group.
It was cool having Bart and Nick see me fly, knowing that I was
self-trained. I felt proud showing them
my stuff as I flew around and came in for a perfect landing.
Wednesday September 13th,
2006: Start
hours: 127.7 End hours:
128.2 Total: .5 hours
The air was unsteady today, with high humidity
following a passing storm. It wasn’t
too bad, so I enjoyed some good late evening sunset flying.
Saturday September 16th,
2006: Start
hours: 128.2 End hours:
128.3 Total: .1 hours
The air was EXTREMELY rough today. The worst that I have seen yet. Although there was not much wind, the
thermal activity and humidity were very high, so the air was heavy and
unsteady. I took off into the East and
buffeted quite a bit as I turned back West.
I stayed low over the corn fields and actually considered setting down
in a field it was so rough. I was
bouncing around and buffeting quite a bit before I brought it in for a very
tense landing, but smooth nonetheless.
Wednesday September 20th,
2006: Start
hours: 128.3 End hours:
128.8 Total: .5 hours (3 landings)
Great flying today! The temperature was perfect and the air was calm with a 10-15MPH
North to South crosswind. I practiced
approaches and landings in crosswind, and found it to be fun! I had to hold right rudder almost at the
limit for these approaches and I kept the upwind wingtip down. My approaches were textbook, and the wheels
touched down so lightly that I barely even felt it J I
think I’m really getting the hang of this.
Monday September 25th,
2006: Start
hours: 128.8 End hours:
129.4 Total: .6 hours
Good flying today. Air was slightly unsteady, but not enough to worry about. Slight crosswind.
Tuesday October 3rd,
2006: Start
hours: 129.4 End hours:
129.6 Total: .2 hours
Unsteady air today. Again, there was high humidity and the sky was cloudy. It was also cold, so I circled the field a
few times and brought it in.
Tuesday October 3rd,
2006: Start
hours: 129.6 End hours:
129.8 Total: .2 hours Pilot: Bart Engemann
Today was a very exciting day. It was the first time I let somebody else
fly my plane since I bought it in May.
I asked Bart Engemann, the local flight instructor if he wanted to try
out my ultralight, and he took my offer.
It was really weird seeing somebody else fly it, as he handled the
unsteady air with much more calmness than I had exhibited J.
Friday October 6th,
2006: Start
hours: 129.8 End hours:
129.9 Total: .1 hours
Today was absolutely terrifying! The air was the worst I had seen yet. I buffeted around shortly after takeoff, and
immediately got an unsteady feeling as I circled around for the runway
again. The whole plane felt like it was
rising and sinking the entire time I was flying. Thermals can really make the air unsteady!
Sunday October 8th,
2006: Start
hours: 129.9 End hours:
130.3 Total: .4 hours
I finally got the chance for my long-time best
friend Steve to check out my
plane! He brought his wife and kids out
to the airport to watch me. It was
really cool flying over them and looking down as they waved at me. Steve really wants an ultralight now! J
Friday October 20th,
2006: Start
hours: 130.3 End hours:
130.7 Total: .4 hours
I took a camera up with me today and actually
held it in my hand as I flew around.
You can check out the movie HERE. You might need Apple QuickTime Viewer which
you can download HERE. I flew over the gas station just Northeast
of the airport and waved at some people, and proceeded South following highway
19 over the river and over Hermann, turning back North and heading back toward
Tuesday October 24th,
2006: Start
hours: 130.7 End hours:
131.1 Total: .4 hours
It’s starting to get really cold on these
flights! I had a pleasant flight, but
my hands and ears were hurting from the cold Fall air.
Sunday October 29th,
2006: Start
hours: 131.1 End hours:
131.5 Total: .4 hours
Again, it was very cold today. I had my better gloves this time, so it
wasn’t all that bad. Good flying and
steady air.
Friday December 15th,
2006: Start
hours: 131.5 End hours:
132.0 Total: .5 hours
Well, I know it’s nearing the end of my flying
season, but Mother Nature decided to give us a break of almost 50 degree
weather and steady air, so I took advantage of one of the last times I was
going to fly for the year.
Sunday December 17th,
2006: Start
hours: 132.0 End hours:
132.2 Total: .2 hours
Today is my 40th birthday! I decided to brave the mid 40’s weather and
come out and fly. The air was calm and
cold!
Friday December 29th,
2006: Start
hours: 132.2 End hours:
132.5 Total: .3 hours (2 landings)
A quick break in the cold gave me my last chance
to fly for the year. The air was pretty
rough today, but manageable.
Wednesday February 28th,
2007:
Performed major inspection
on airframe and engine. Noted that the
parachute was not mounted as safe as it should have been, so I remounted the
chute cord, and fastened the pack better.
A ziptie had come loose on the main wing joint and some wires were
hanging free. Fastened new ziptie. Also began working on a camera mount for
flight movies.
Tuesday March 6th,
2007: First flight of the year! Start hours: 132.5 End hours: 132.7 Total: .2 hours
My purpose in going to the airport tonight was
to test out my new camera mount which you can check out by clicking on the
picture below, but the weather and crosswinds made for a very unpleasant
evening for ultralights, so I just took it for a quick hop. Unfortunately the camera kept shutting down,
so I didn’t get to check the mount.
However, I did have a really cool thing happen tonight! My friend Gary Giesler showed up and I got
to fly his Cessna Centurion. Check out
the movie I made right HERE.
Thursday March 8th, 2007: Start
hours: 132.7 End hours:
133.4 Total: .7 hours (4 landings)
My camera mount idea didn’t work so well
tonight…the digital camera kept turning off.
I guess the airframe vibrations were causing it. I will get a different digital camera. Anyway…I had some great fun flying
tonight. I went up for three short
flights and brought it in to land, and then went on a final flight of about a
half hour. The air was very calm and
nice. My first good flight of the
year. Hopefully I will get this camera
mount figured out before long J. I also got to fly along with Bart in his
Cessna 172 for a while.
Sunday March 11th,
2007: Start
hours: 133.4 End hours:
133.7 Total: .3 hours
Got out to enjoy the evening air tonight. The fuel tank was a little low before I
started, so I had to run back into town to get gas before I could fly, so I
didn’t get to enjoy as much as I thought I would. I made a movie of tonight’s flight which you can view HERE. The air was very calm and not too cold to
enjoy. I really wish I had more time
tonight.
Wednesday March 14th,
2007: FINAL FLIGHT Start hours: 133.7 End hours: 134.1 Total: .4 hours
Another great night for flying. About 20 minutes into my flight, a front
showed up on the horizon and the wind started to pick up, so I had to bring it
in early. Perfect landing tonight,
barely felt the wheels touch down. I
did not know that this would be my last flight in my AeroLite, but I sold it to
move up to a two seater sport plane, the Rans
S6ES. I’m really going to miss my
AeroLite. It was the first plane I ever
flew solo, and it will always be remembered J
Anyway…on to newer things.
Monday April 16th,
2007: RANS S6ES Assembly / Restoration project
I got my plane in over the weekend, on Saturday
the 14th. The wings are
off of it, and the tail section is separate. I
inspected the coverings and found the wings and fuselage skins to be in fantastic
condition. I noticed some fraying on the front of the tail skins, so I will
replace them. Here is how it
looks right now:
...
...
Click on images
to enlarge
I estimate my project to take about a month.
Tuesday April 17th,
2007: RANS S6ES Assembly / Restoration project
Lonnie and I got the wings installed tonight.
I got the new skins ordered for the tail as well, and they should be
in within 10 working days.
Sunday May 6th,
2007: Total: 1.2
hours
Went up
with Bart Engemann tonight in his Cessna 172.
...
...
Flew to
Sunday May 27th,
2007: RANS S6ES Assembly / Restoration project
I
got the tail assembly installed back on the plane again after shipping. The plane is almost ready to go! Time to do my first inspection…
...
Performed major inspection
on airframe and engine. I finally finished
my plane, got everything tightened and did my inspection. No problems found. Marked all bolts and nuts on the airframe with a permanent marker
for reference so that any loosening nuts/bolts could be easily detected.
Saturday June 2nd,
2007: First Flight! Start hours: 699.0 End hours: 699.2 Total: .2 hours
Well, this was more of a “hop” than a flight,
but I took it down the runway, and lifted up, and the air was extremely
unsteady, and the controls felt unusually sensitive compare to my ultralight,
so being unsure of the aircraft, I decided not to brave it yet J
Friday June 8th, 2007: Start hours: 699.2 End hours: 699.6 Total: .4 hours
I got a little braver today, and after talking
to a lot of Rans owners, and deciding that I just need to get used to how
sensitive it is…I flew around the pattern today, getting up to only 500 feet as
I circled the airport. Brought it in
for a great landing!
Wednesday June 20th,
2007: Start hours: 699.6 End hours: 700.1 Total: .5 hours (3 landings)
Today was the first day that I really took it up
and tested it. I had a great time! I got up to 1400feet, and just cruised
around for a while, getting a feel for the plane. It’s a lot more sensitive than my ultralight, but I am really
starting to get used to it now. I felt
the rudder pulling from one side to the other slightly, but later figured that
it must have just been crosswind and turbulence going over a heavy treeline
below, because everything was tight.
Post flight check came up with no problems. I think I’ll keep it! J
Tuesday July 2nd,
2007: Start hours: 700.1 End hours: 700.8 Total: .7 hours
The air was fantastic tonight. It was cool, calm, and dry, and the absolute
best conditions to fly I can remember.
I got up to 2200 feet and flew around the Hermann –
Saturday July 21st,
2007: Start hours: 700.8 End hours: 701.1 Total: .3 hours
Great flight tonight, but had to deal with
thermal problems, so didn’t get to fly too much. Not my best landing either, but not too bad!
Tuesday July 24th, 2007: Start hours: 701.1 End hours: 701.5 Total: .4 hours
Today was my very best day in my new plane! I had a fantastic time. I got off work this morning and went right to
the airport and took to the skies. I
made a great movie which you can see HERE
and on the homepage and the movies section, and I took some new aerial photos
for the gallery.
Saturday September 1st,
2007: Start hours: 700.5 End hours: 701.8 Total: .3 hours
Calm air this morning. Didn't have much time to fly since we were heading out to the St. Louis Airshow, but I had fun nonetheless