So my buddy Mark has a Lancair ES that's been giving him fits with high CHT's. A plan was devised to fly his bird down to Redmond, Oregon to have the pros look it over. An outfit called RDD does this kinda work so a mission profile was developed.
Kinda went something like this. Launch two ships out of Calgary at zero dark thirty Monday morning, clear customs in Spokane, bugger off to Redmond, drop off the hot and bothered Lancair, catch a couple of factory tours (Epic and Lancair), then blast off to Grandma's house in Aurora, OR for din dins and sleep.
Hey Aurora !! That's home base of Van's. Well now.... if I gotta suffer through a Lancair factory tour you know I'm gonna punish good ole' Marky with a Van's factory tour!! Yes indeed. Then Tuesday we'll back track. Pick up the super cool running Lancair and head home.
So let's see how we did.
Hey RV. Wake up! You ready to go? ..... Ok then, get your lazy bones out of bed.
Sunrise Monday morning over the left wing tip.
Something's ratched with the heater in my plane. I was freezing up there. Decided to break out the blanky. Wimp I am!
After being read the riot act by the Customs guy in Spokane the previous day, about being late, he said to be there at 8:30 sharp. Mark and I roll in at 8:31 because we are are expert flight planners, professional pilots and just plain ole' studs...ok in our eyes only
Nobody's there !!!! Nothing. No one came out to greet us in our pretty planes. We aren't allowed to touch US soil lest we get fined $5000, so we stand on our wings and chat. "Hey man, them Blue Jays better win Game 3 tonight!"
Then we called the same US Customs phone number and 25 minutes later in rolled the officer. 2 minutes later we were cleared to go. Somehow I don't think they'd be so cool with us rolling in 25 minutes late, but anyways, we were good to go. All part of the fun.
"Hey Darren, what if my dipstick shows no oil on it?"
"Well let's see...It means that you're a dipstick and should have bought a RV!"
"Smart @$$"
Terrain in between Spokane and Redmond
Made it to RDD
"Ummm.... I think we should have made a left at Albuqerque?"
Kinda went something like this. Launch two ships out of Calgary at zero dark thirty Monday morning, clear customs in Spokane, bugger off to Redmond, drop off the hot and bothered Lancair, catch a couple of factory tours (Epic and Lancair), then blast off to Grandma's house in Aurora, OR for din dins and sleep.
Hey Aurora !! That's home base of Van's. Well now.... if I gotta suffer through a Lancair factory tour you know I'm gonna punish good ole' Marky with a Van's factory tour!! Yes indeed. Then Tuesday we'll back track. Pick up the super cool running Lancair and head home.
So let's see how we did.
Hey RV. Wake up! You ready to go? ..... Ok then, get your lazy bones out of bed.
Sunrise Monday morning over the left wing tip.
Something's ratched with the heater in my plane. I was freezing up there. Decided to break out the blanky. Wimp I am!
After being read the riot act by the Customs guy in Spokane the previous day, about being late, he said to be there at 8:30 sharp. Mark and I roll in at 8:31 because we are are expert flight planners, professional pilots and just plain ole' studs...ok in our eyes only
Nobody's there !!!! Nothing. No one came out to greet us in our pretty planes. We aren't allowed to touch US soil lest we get fined $5000, so we stand on our wings and chat. "Hey man, them Blue Jays better win Game 3 tonight!"
Then we called the same US Customs phone number and 25 minutes later in rolled the officer. 2 minutes later we were cleared to go. Somehow I don't think they'd be so cool with us rolling in 25 minutes late, but anyways, we were good to go. All part of the fun.
"Hey Darren, what if my dipstick shows no oil on it?"
"Well let's see...It means that you're a dipstick and should have bought a RV!"
"Smart @$$"
Terrain in between Spokane and Redmond
Made it to RDD
"Ummm.... I think we should have made a left at Albuqerque?"