I was watching the weather almost daily at Chatham and could see some challenges with low ceilings in the morning and wind in the afternoon so plan B was to launch when we got there and spend some time training further along the route.
I took the Pacific Surfliner from Guadalupe to Oceanside leaving at 6:47 and much of the trip was scenic in a train that had few travelers along the shore of the Pacific Ocean.
The last time I flew commercial was 1995 and things have changed since then. We arrived two hours before our flight was scheduled and I found the TSA experience disquieting. I put the contents of my pockets, belt and shoes in one tray, the helmets in a second, my lap top out of the bag in a third and my garment bag in a forth. The TSA rummage through everything and they had to run both of our garment bags through the machine several times to get the pictures just right mixing the trays with other peoples trays. They opened each of the compartments in my garment bag and checked all of the seams for traces of explosives. They brought new meaning to “just throw everything in the bag and smash it down” as they roughly repacked our luggage. My four trays were spread out with people grabbing for their possessions as I struggled with my belt and shoes. Kyron was better prepared and thought it was funny to tell them I was his father and a little confused because I was new to flying.
Finally we were off to Newark and found plenty to talk about on the flight. Kyron is an engineer and architect and wants to understand everything. His tendency is to over think and mine is to over explain.
When we reached Newark we discovered that our flight to Providence was boarding in a different terminal and required going through TSA again. We raced through the terminal in a way that was reminiscent of the OJ Simpson Hertz commercials. Out of breath we were horrified to see a line close to a quarter mile long that weaved back and forth. Kyron remarked several times there is no way we will reach our gate on time. Fortunately for us our flight was late and we made it to Providence, Rhode Island only to find out that the hotel that was just across the street in the pictures was over a mile from the gate. It is funny how my garment bag, computer and helmet got heavier as we hiked along. Kyron is younger and it better shape than I am and he was still winded as we searched for the secret passage to the Hotel. The room was nice and I chose to write a few things down and eat some jerky as Kyron went out in search of a meal. He was kind enough to bring something back for me and I was out by 11:00. I am a noisy sleeper and despite Kyron’s earplugs he did not get a full night’s sleep.
The next morning he was adrenalin driven and was up early to pick up our one way rental car. We dropped it off at the airport in Hyannis and Jan picked us up for the final leg to Chatham, Massachusetts.
Sunshine, blue skies and light winds greeted us at the Chatham Municipal airport. It was at odds with my weather impression and expectation.
The first order of business was to see if the heads sets and ANR (active noise reduction) worked and we were pleased to find out they appeared to work well.
Then we discovered that a week’s worth of clean clothes for two men and their support stuff would fit in the aircraft behind the seats with two large pilots. Cockpit management would be an important of our journey. We sent some dirty cloths back and my hand held radio along with some spares that we felt were superfluous.
I tried the instructor throttle that had just been installed and it hit my leg so we worked at modifying it eventually calling in an excellent airframe and power plant mechanic at the field who had done most of the maintenance on the aircraft and had installed the instructor throttle. We soon had it working well although still a little sticky. Being smooth with the throttle is important with a 915. We felt it was good enough.
We used pinstripe tape to put my training lines on the windshield because I have found that it is challenging to develop a sight picture through a windshield with no straight lines.
We did some practice pre-rotations and were ready to fly when the rains came.
We had a nice dinner with Jan at the Del Mar restaurant and turned in early.
We had an early start and arrived at the airport to drizzle and a low overcast.
We still had plenty to do.
After lunch the ceiling lifted a little as the winds came up. I feel that it is difficult to learn to take off and land in a gyroplane in strong, gusting winds so we did some more practice pre-rotations and called it a day. I felt it was a lovely way to spend a day.
Kyron felt that because I am a noisy sleeper a separate room would be beneficial.