We made a trip down to LA, saw a Angeles baseball game and then spent a day at Disneyland's California Adventures. It was a fun trip.

Fun in So-Cal

I know Warren, it has wood spars and you hate them. But the spars are inspected yearly and they don't have a single crack in them. Plus its not like I am going to be doing outside loops in it, its even placarded against intentional spins.

Check out this little plane. I have a chance to buy a 1/7th share of it and I think I am going for it. Its a 1946 Aeronca 7BCM with a newly rebuilt C-85 Continental motor. It's hangered at the Estrella Warbird Museum so there is no hanger fees and it will be very low cost to fly.

These interior photo's are not from the actual plane but they are from one of the same year, make and model, except ours has a transponder so I can fly into Class C and B airspace. Its got a nice roomy cockpit area with lots of big windows. The kids will love going for flights. Even Suzette says she will go up in it with me (after she loads up on Dramamene).

Another day in paradise.

I train with the SLO Regional SWAT team once a month. Last month we had someone taking pictures of us. At this months training they gave each of us a DVD-R loaded with a ton of photos. Here's the macho warriors putting a mean scare on an empty building.

A more traditional plane.

Well, the owner of the little yellow plane below has decided to sell it so I can't fly it anymore. Therefore I am flying a Piper Cherokee like the one above. It costs me $10 per hour more to rent but its probably going to save me money in the end as its actually a lot easier to fly then the one below and is faster so those mandated cross country lights will go allot quicker. I logged another 1.2 hours on Saturday in the Cherokee. Hopefully the rain we are getting now will let up as we are scheduled to fly our first cross country to Shafter Airfield on Friday. If the weather cooperates I will get a flight physical at that location.

Flight training.

I am back in the flying saddle again. This is the nice little plane I am currently training on. Its classified as a Light Sport Plane but its really pretty nice, has fuel injection, glass cockpit flight instruments (all the flight instruments are displayed on a computer screen) and even an auto-pilot. Its a fun plane to fly, takes off in about 100 feet and climbs like you wouldn't believe. I put in 2.6 hours flying it this week-end. The weather was gorgeous, clear with no wind and about 70 degrees. In other words just another ridiculously beautiful Central Coast day.

Say goodbye to my third airplane project!

Well its sort of sad but I am selling my Soneri experimental aircraft project. As much as I enjoyed working on it I realized if I sold it I would actually have enough money to get my pilots license. It seemed kind of silly to be working on my third airplane project (forth if you count my ultralight) and yet not actually have a pilots license. So I stuck an advertisement in Barnstormers and what do you know, it sold. The guy is coming by tomorrow to pick it up with a U-haul truck. I will miss the airplane but it will be great to be able to rent an aircraft and fly Suzette and the kids somewhere fun.

Here's the progress on the truck, diamond plate steel is going on.