Utility of my RV

svanarts · Post by **svanarts** » Sat May 19, 2007 11:11 pm

This was one busy week for me. It started out on Monday with a afternoon trip on a replica of an 1812 Privateer Schooner called the Lynx. It ended up on Friday with my needing to attend a meeting in the morning in Sacramento, Ca and another in the afternoon in Turlock, Ca. The two cities are about an hour and a half apart. Coming back from Sacramento in the afternoon wouldn't be so bad but driving up their in the morning would involve sitting in traffic. Not one of my favorite passtimes.

So I called up my counter-part up in Sacramento and asked him if he'd pick me up at Sacramento Executive (KSAC). Being a lapsed private pilot and looking for any excuse to go to the airport he readily agreed.

Friday morning came and I pulled my trusty RV-4 out of the hangar and preflighted. It was a little chilly but I didn't bother bringing a jacket because by the time afternoon came I knew I'd be sweating. I put KSAC into the GPS and pointed the RV northwest. 20 minutes later I was on downwind at SAC. I touched down and taxied to what I hoped was transient parking. My partner in crime was waiting in the terminal just as promised and we headed off to the morning meeting.

Four hours later we had accomplished our mission (working with HP to figure out how to redistribute our OSPF routes into BGP... fascinating, I know) and had finished lunch. My buddy dropped me off at the airport again stating that he needed to get back into the air. I took a leisurely stroll out the the RV. It was right where I left it with no parking tickets or anything so I guess I really was in transient parking. That or it was too hot for the airport meter maid to walk out there.

Ten minutes later I was climbing out of SAC at 1700 fpm and hit the one and only glitch of the whole trip. I received the following radio transmission: "1SV, sir, do you have a transponder on that thing?" Thing? THING? Bud not even that BizJet that just left can climb out of your airspace while still over the runway! My reply: "Um.. YES I do, my apologies." I switched on my transponder just as I climbed out of his airspace.

Twenty minutes later I was on final at Oakdale (O27). I made a great landing with no one there to see it and taxied back to the hangar. I was getting my laptop out of the back seat when my phone rang. It was my co-deacon at church. His message was that the afternoon meeting at church had been cancelled, no need to rush. Cool. I put the airplane to bed and headed home feeling far more relaxed than I would have if I had driven.

Did I save any time? Not really. I could have driven there in about the same time. Did I save any frustration. Yep. Did I have a whole lot more fun? You bet!

aerial · Post by **aerial** » Sun May 20, 2007 11:13 am

Hey Scott,

I thought I saw a good lookin' plane flying North on Friday but it was awful shiny.

We must have crossed paths. I flew from Placerville to Stockton Muni to get some Control Tower experience in my log book. Flew back to Jackson did some airwork and shot some landings, then back to PVF.

Next Friday my Dad is supposed to take his Helicopter Check ride at Oakdale. I'm hoping my instructor will let me fly down. PM me your phone number.

svanarts · Post by **svanarts** » Sun May 20, 2007 10:26 pm

We may have crossed paths. I was flying a shiney RV-4. Well mostly shiney. I was passing Stockton at about 2:30pm or so. Coulda been me!

dons · Post by **dons** » Tue May 22, 2007 11:32 am

Heh Scott, reducing fustration level means a LOT, even if you don't save any time, besides, you get to doing something you really enjoy while doing the things you need to do. BTW, scary, I know what OSPF and BGP are.

svanarts · Post by **svanarts** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:01 pm

Hey Don, you know anything about configuring BGP? I may need to pick your brain if so!

I actually got to take another ride in my RV-4 on the company dime today. Just a quick flight from Oakdale (O27) to Los Banos (KLSN). I took a router over to the Los Banos Enterprise, which is another one of the newspapers I support. Best part is, they are right outside the gate at the Los Banos airport. It was a windy, bumpy 15 minute flight but still better than the 45 minute drive that it would have been.

aerial · Post by **aerial** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:58 pm

Sweet, How much a mile are they paying you? Do you get a lunch per diem? Sounds like a pretty good job Scott.

svanarts · Post by **svanarts** » Tue May 22, 2007 11:22 pm

It's standard mileage so it's whatever it would have been if I had driven my car. The company does own airplanes but I'm not allowed into those expense categories.

And yes, they pay for lunch.

dons · Post by **dons** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:37 am

svanarts wrote:Hey Don, you know anything about configuring BGP? I may need to pick your brain if so!

Nope, just know what it is. Someone upstream of my operation takes care of the configuration.

Having a plane to bypass some of that traffic must give quite a feeling, having the destination right by an airfield is just icing on the cake, I can't wait.