KenSandyEggo
12-03-2004, 03:35 PM
I used to subscribe to Flight-Guide and get the updates every few months. My former hangar-partner gets them, so I figured, why pay for them? Everytime he gets his new ones, he can give me the old ones, which he does.
That's being cheap. Forgetting to insert the old, new ones is being lazy. I headed up to Fallbrook Airport this a.m. to take some stuff to David, who was to meet me there. I look in the book and the Unicom is 123.0. I call in from 5 miles out, 3 miles out and a mile out, never hearing anything back or anyone in the pattern. There's a big Forestry Department heli-pad at the approach end of 36, so that's where I announced I was going to land.
Just as I began my short descent, I notice some guys in orange vests, some orange cones and some orange county trucks with yellow lights flashing on the taxiway a ways up. It looks clear at my end, so I land on the taxiway next to the heli-pad....EXCEPT, I let myself get distracted by the ground activity, got way too slow, started yawing in the light breeze and landed in a crab after what felt like a 10 foot drop. When the wheels hit, I knew I was going to tip over! :eek: Somehow this old fart's reflexes are still pretty sharp. I moved the stick away from the way I was tipping and brought her back to level with no harm done. Thank you AAI for a fine upgraded landing gear with compensating rubber pucks for people like me.....once in awhile. On top of this, I see an orange truck with a yellow light speeding toward me.
"The airport's closed," he politely informs me. "Didn't you hear the automated info on the Unicom frequency?" Of course I told him that I was monitoring Unicom all the way in and didn't hear anything. He had a hand-held radio and said he would check, that maybe it stopped working. As I peek over his shoulder, I note that he's tuned to 123.05. Gulp! I showed him the book with 123.0, and he asked if maybe it was old. I told him that the month on the page said January. I chose not to tell him it also said 2002. I couldn't believe it! I hadn't upgraded the sheets for 2 years, and with old sheets at that if I would have. They changed the frequency in the meantime. So don't be cheap and lazy. It almost cost me my gyro lying in a ball 40 miles from home. The county guy was pretty cool and said it was O.K. to go ahead and take off, but no touch-and-goes. No problema, Senorina!
I gave David his stuff and headed back home. It was a completely clear day in the mid-60s today with almost no wind and a great day to be up anyway.
That's being cheap. Forgetting to insert the old, new ones is being lazy. I headed up to Fallbrook Airport this a.m. to take some stuff to David, who was to meet me there. I look in the book and the Unicom is 123.0. I call in from 5 miles out, 3 miles out and a mile out, never hearing anything back or anyone in the pattern. There's a big Forestry Department heli-pad at the approach end of 36, so that's where I announced I was going to land.
Just as I began my short descent, I notice some guys in orange vests, some orange cones and some orange county trucks with yellow lights flashing on the taxiway a ways up. It looks clear at my end, so I land on the taxiway next to the heli-pad....EXCEPT, I let myself get distracted by the ground activity, got way too slow, started yawing in the light breeze and landed in a crab after what felt like a 10 foot drop. When the wheels hit, I knew I was going to tip over! :eek: Somehow this old fart's reflexes are still pretty sharp. I moved the stick away from the way I was tipping and brought her back to level with no harm done. Thank you AAI for a fine upgraded landing gear with compensating rubber pucks for people like me.....once in awhile. On top of this, I see an orange truck with a yellow light speeding toward me.
"The airport's closed," he politely informs me. "Didn't you hear the automated info on the Unicom frequency?" Of course I told him that I was monitoring Unicom all the way in and didn't hear anything. He had a hand-held radio and said he would check, that maybe it stopped working. As I peek over his shoulder, I note that he's tuned to 123.05. Gulp! I showed him the book with 123.0, and he asked if maybe it was old. I told him that the month on the page said January. I chose not to tell him it also said 2002. I couldn't believe it! I hadn't upgraded the sheets for 2 years, and with old sheets at that if I would have. They changed the frequency in the meantime. So don't be cheap and lazy. It almost cost me my gyro lying in a ball 40 miles from home. The county guy was pretty cool and said it was O.K. to go ahead and take off, but no touch-and-goes. No problema, Senorina!
I gave David his stuff and headed back home. It was a completely clear day in the mid-60s today with almost no wind and a great day to be up anyway.