"Buck and a half"

Ah, the humble Cessna one fifty. In my opinion one of the best airmanship trainers ever built. Defiantly one of the cutest airplanes if noting else. Simple, rugged, student proof, and rather forgiving. An easy airplane to fly, but not easy to fly well. It makes one work
This example is a 150F, the last of the "flat sided" 150s. The next variant the doors bowed out slightly giving some desperately needed elbow room
As a classroom, it leaves a lot to be desired. Narrow and noisy, the student and instructor learn about "up close and personal" An intercom is essential, both to provide communication as well as preserve ones own hearing. Cessna added "soundproofing" in later models. This was usually removed as it did little to the environment, but added about 18 pounds, which the little bird does not need.
Over 13,000 of the little critters are still out there flying around, teaching new pilots that the laws of aerodynamics are damn serious business, and providing their owners with economical and pleasurable flying.
One of my students brought this one up, and we are getting his licence finished up in it. As many older examples of the breed, it is a bit rough around the edges It could use a coat of wax, and has been victim of too many bad landings, poor maintenance and occasional periods of inactivity.


I earned my private licence in one, built up most of my early flying time in one, flew all over (West) Germany in one back in the seventies. About a third of my time in one was spent climbing to altitude. On a good day you might see 600 feet per minute. But cruise economy is good! Leaned out at 6000 feet you can get up to 20 MPG! (depending on winds) and see t he country at a stately 88 Knots. Not bad for the modest 100 HP Continental up front!
So it brings back a few memories, and once more I feel united to the sky more than the machine. As Elory Jeppesen once said: "Lets get one thing straight. There is a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician, the other is an artist in love with flight".
I like being an "Aviator"

Date flight

With business being slow in December & January, getting out and having "fun" has not been that much of a priority. While some couples have a "date night" My wife Georgia & I had a "date flight"! A variation on the traditional weekend "$100.00 hamburger" that many aviators and their friends enjoy.

For us, it was a quick getaway to Camarillo (KCMA) where they offer a pretty good burger! In fact the restaurant on the field, the "Waypoint Cafe" is renown for excellent food, good company and the best view of the field.
Overall, CMA is a very friendly airport. Even the tower staff are polite! (I hope the FAA doesn't read this, they might get fired).
The interesting thing was the weather however. As the photos show, looking north to Bakersfield, they were socked in. Everything south of the foothills & "Gorman pass" was severe clear! This is why I love flying and instructing in the mountains. My students get to see and fly in for themselves what others only read about until after they get their licence.
For example: the mini-cumulus cloud forming over the power station. As you can see it is formed by the heat from the evaporators, and the conditions were just right to show this phenomenon in a very visible way.
Yes indeed, I have the best deal going. And I get paid to do it!

Great Week!

After a lot of gloom, wet and cold we are finally enjoying some sunshine! The poor folks at Bakersfield ar clouded in, but the mountains are great. Good flying weather. Speaking of which, the monthly :Plane Crazy Day" at Mohave (KMHV) was great! Barry Schiff form AOPA magazine was guest speaker, Lots of unique aircraft equally unique pilots.

With the sunny skies now my once frozen students are thawing out and getting back into the swing of it. Looks like a busy flight schedule for the next few weeks. One new one starting Saturday. One is so hyped up that he is in the process of buying his airplane already!

Now that I am getting the hang of loading photos on the blog, you can expect to see more of the action. Weather permitting this Monday we will be flying out to Camarillo (KCMA) for the day, and a "photo safari" There are a lot of restored classic and WW-II aircraft there. Hope to be able to share some with you.

Mountain Hawk is taking on some good changes too, watch for some new things on the website: http://www.mountainhawkaviation.com/ in the coming month.

An odd occurance to one of my clients, after he "assisted" in putting the end plug in his crankshaft,
the first itme he went to "full power" it blew itself out! Fortunatly he was on his take-off roll and not airborne when it happend. the poor gut lost two quarts of oil and made one terrible mess! The picture at the top shows what I found when I pulled the spinner off the propeller.

Fresh in the New Year!

Today, January 4th is special! No I am not making a "new year's resolution", but I am following up on some things that have been in the planning stages for the past six months. Expect this blog to have something new every Tuesday from now on.



As you look down the approach end of Runway "two niner" at Tehachapi Muni (KTSP) you will see what has to be the most familiar thing I see in a day of instructing. Sometimes seven to eight times an hour! I am planing on doing a lot of this in the new year!



This year, Mountain Hawk Aviation will be changing a bit. The "ultimate off road adventure" is still in slow but steady progress. Preparation of "Winston" is underway piece by piece. A VHF/DF to be installed this month, and some air photo ops prep work in progress.



Since most of my instruction work is being done in aircraft that the students own, wear and tear on Winston is down. As the price of avgas goes from absurd to insane, I am shopping for a Cessna 150 or 152 "Aerobat"! I hope to use this for primary and emergency maneuver and spin training, reserving the 172 for instrument training and personal and business usage rather than "rental". I don't care if most people see the little "buck-and-a-half" as a "toy" airplane, it is still one of the best airmanship trainers ever built, and has operating costs that are hard to beat! If I can latch on to one of the Aerobatic versions, I will have a low cost, multi role trainer that is cheap, fun and effective! Mostly cheap fun for all concerned.



I will be getting out of the "heavy maintenance" business this year. At nearly 62 I find it harder and harder to keep up the production rate. I will be doing mostly inspection and compliance work, now that my clientele is getting better established. I will continue to serve a select clientele of airplane owners, but be very selective about new accounts. The "big" project about did me in.

Next, getting inviolved in EAA and more fly outs to events. No more being stuck in the hangar or office. This weekend I will be getting out and gettng more photos of neat places to post. Keep looking!

I am too young to feel this old!

Doing an annual & engine change on a Cessna twin (414) is making me really wonder if I am in the right line of work anymore. At the tender young age of 61 getting into and out of the tight places ain't as easy as it used to be. I just don't fold up like I once did. ugh!

Oh well, I am grateful for the work! Seems a lot of folks don't have any, or are unwilling to do what there is to do. Maybe I am extreme, but perhaps we should place a total moratorium on any immigrant labor until all US citizens are employed in some form or the other. OK; that would mean some people may have to work the fields, packing plants and dig a few ditches. I did some of that, it did'nt kill me, and during the peach harvest in Grand Junction, picking peaches was a good way for a high school kid to pick up a good size wad of pocket cash before starting school! Worked for me!

In the meantime, I pull panels, seats, floorbords, get real grungy stripping down an engine for replacement and wishing I was 20 years younger (and 20 pounds lighter). This bird needs a lot of work. The onwer has the money, and I have the time.

Slowly getting Winston dialed in. As I said last post, I now have a working IFR GPS in the panel, now I need to re-learn how to do approaches with the dang thing. Getting from point A to point B is the easy part, figguring out how to access, input and fly a GPS instrument approach has been a challenge. I may still need to replace the fuel gauge senders, overhaul the Nose gear, Aquire a high effficiancy exhaust system and install an auxillury fuel tank. (Donations gratefully accepted). These plus a few other odds & ends and the old girl (12,800+ hours TTAF) will be ready for one last grand adventure.

Need to pick up a few more students. Have lots of work coming at me. I wish I could find a young eager "understudy" that I could teach the airplane business to. Not being blessed with children of my own, and no worthy heir, I feel a bit lost. Anyone out there wanting to adopt a "grandfather"?

Something new

Several new things here in Tehachapi.
1. "Winston" (our trusty Cessna 172) is getting used, and now has a working IFR GPS. In fact I just graduated a student who now has his instrument rating! One step closer to some more adventures flying.
2, I am now "credentialed" by the department of Homeland Security to instruct foreigne students! This is a new addition to the services oferd here at Mountain Hawk.
3. I am working on a new project, that is not aviation related so much.

About a week ago I watched a report on the flooding in Pakistan. It really got to me. The situation is pretty grim. Too much water, and none of it fit to even swim in, let alone drink, cook or maintain basic hygene. The disease factor due to this sea of contamination is horrific at best.

I recall in my USAF days, a simple "Solar Still" that was packed in aircrew survival kits, that could mak fresh water out of sea water. These were removed due to aging, but the concept came back to me.

What would it tke to make a simple, expendable solar water distillation device that could be either placed over a puddle or slow moving stream (or filled by a bucket), that could produce a couple of gallons a day out of even sewage? What would it be worth to the fatehr who could purify water so that his wife & children could get a safe drink, and cook their food without mud?

I have a few scetches, and an idea. I have no idea how much it could cost to develop and get into production. If there is anyone there that is interested to help, PLEASE contact me ASAP. It may be too little to late for this disaster, but who knows where or what the next one will be

Hot to Fly

Or perhaps too hot is a better description. A quick trip to Mojave for their monthly display day, and to play a bit with my new camera. The temps were over 100! the winds gusting up to 22 Kt. and the place was too quiet.

Oh well, the food is fairly good and those that do show up are pretty friendly. There were a couple of intersting homebuilts and a classic beech 18. Any donations and sales of goodies go to suppport the Mojave AIrpot musem, so it is for a good cause. they do a lot of work with the youth trying to get the interested in aerospace stuff.

Having a new camera is fun. I am trying to learn the world of digital photography. feel llike I betraying my old F-1 Cannon. Hopefully the photo results will be better once I learn all the tricks