In mid 1994 we joined a flying club which operated a 1976 Cardinal at Whiteman Airpark. It was pleasant to fly, but for business use I continued to rely on the VNFC rentals. This Cardinal was destroyed in 2002 ("forced landing on a road at night due to fuel exhaustion"), but its occupants survived.
Total hours: 2262
We moved to Vancouver, Washington, in August 1995. For the first year or two in Washington I flew very little, occasionally renting the local FBO's Cessna 150's or 172. Finally the lack of flying was getting to me. My dad told me that a friend of his was selling his newly-overhauled 150, and the price was right, so we bought it. The 150 was fun to fly and cheap to operate, and we took it on several relatively short trips around western Washington and Oregon. Soon enough, though, we began to chafe at its lack of performance.
Total hours: 2366
The 150 was ideal for cruising around the scenic San Juan Islands on sunny days. Sure, it had limitations, but it was a lot of fun. It now soldiers on for an enthusiatic owner in Eugene, Oregon.
Total hours: 2390
We took delivery of the Cheetah on Tuesday evening, and on Friday afternoon we set out on a 750-nm trip to Van Nuys. This shakedown cruise was uneventful other than a radio failure two hours into the trip (a bad diode in the audio switch panel prevented transmitting). A battery-powered handheld radio was used for the rest of the trip to Van Nuys, where repair was made. Despite the problem, we decided we were going to like this airplane.
Total hours: 2542
With the Cheetah newly repainted and renumbered, we returned to Van Nuys for Fourth of July visits with family and friends. The return trip demonstrated the value of a "Plan B" or even a "Plan C" in preflight planning, as weather in Oregon deteriorated rapidly and made a mockery of the optimistic forecast. We made an unscheduled stop at the airstrip at the Sunriver Resort, to wait for weather to improve so we could press on northward. In the photo at right, Cheryl visits at Van Nuys with our friends, talkradio host Michael Reagan and his wife Colleen.
Total hours: 2678
A legal seminar at Harrison Hot Springs, B.C., occasioned the Cheetah's first trip into Canada.
Total hours: 2688
In 1998 my widowed father attended his 50-year high school reunion, and there ran into an old flame. The flame was rekindled, and three years later Cheryl and I flew the Cheetah to their wedding at Pala Mesa Resort in San Diego County, California. Our older son Tim, an ordained clergyman, performed the ceremony, and our younger son Matt, a professional videographer, recorded it. I'm just a country lawyer, so I was best man. Now my dad and his bride continue to use his O-360 powered Skyhawk for frequent trips between his home near Grants Pass, Oregon, and their condo near San Diego.
We spent the weekend with several other Grumman owners from the US Northwest and Western Canada at an AYA Fly-in at Oliver, British Columbia. Returning, we took the long way around via Kelowna, Kamloops and the Fraser River Canyon, to Victoria, where we shared lunch with 83-year-old Grumman owner/pilot Liz Lane (pictured here just before departure at Oliver). Two days later came the 9-11 attacks, grounding all general aviation for several days and changing our world forever. My first flight after 9-11 was a business trip to Newport on the Oregon coast on 19 Sept. It was a beautiful day, but at that time all flights were required to operate under IFR.
Total hours: 2844
Goal: Bring five dozen Krispy Kreme donuts to church as a Mother's Day treat for the ladies. Problem: The nearest Krispy Kreme store was in Issaquah WA, 180 miles away. Solution: The Cheetah broke ground before dawn, landed in Seattle and had fresh donuts back in the church lobby in Vancouver by 9:15 AM. Our good deed was rewarded with this spectacular sunrise behind Mt. Rainier.
Our son Tim was graduating from seminary in Los Angeles, and a few days later I was scheduled to be in Minneapolis for crucial depositions in a major case. It was a chance for my longest general aviation trip yet. We celebrated with Tim and his family at Disneyland over the weekend, then on Monday I headed northeast. The trip from Fullerton to Minneapolis took two and a half days because of gathering thunderstorms each afternoon. By contrast, the trip home through the northern tier of states was done in one day, despite 15-20 knot headwinds all the way. I left Minneapolis (right) at 6:20 AM CDT and arrived home at Pearson at 8 PM PDT -- 13.9 tach hours and four fuel stops in one day. The entire 3700-nm round-robin trip took nearly 35 flying hours. And oh yes, the depositions went very well. Below left: Missouri River in North Dakota; below right: East Glacier, Montana.
Total hours: 2916
