Hangar Work: I have been working on the B-25 and learning more about how an A&P does his/her job. I am a babe in the woods working on airplanes, but building new skills each time I work at the hangar.  Yesterday I was supervised installing safety wire on an oil sump, and spent the rest of my day trying to be useful.

Earlier in the week got the chance to fly someone else’s PA30 in rough conditions. I dropped the owner off at St Mary’s County, and he was gracious enough to let me use it to fly to Easton to retrieve a few additional parts of my autopilot. I enjoyed getting up flying immensely, even in the winds and turbulence.

The landing at Easton wasn’t too bad for me, but two light sports took off while I was there, and that surprised me. If I thought the winds were interesting in a PA30, my eyes would be rather wide doing this in a sport plane that weighs less than half of what I do. They did alright, but I’m not sure I’d be flying those airplanes in this weather.

During the flight over to Georgetown I was bounced pretty hard a few times. Winds on the ground were 12G28 about 30 degrees off the nose. Certainly not near any limits for me, but the mechanical turbulence on final to rwy 28 must have made it look exciting from the outside.  Smooth landing and rollout to end the flying day.  I jumped in the truck after that, and drove over to Cambridge airport to retrieve a nacelle fairing for the B-25; spending the rest of my day working with the experts.

Instructing: Today I renewed my CFI insurance. I have a couple of people I want to work with, and I think I need this protection as a rule.  I will allow me to do more instructing if the opportunity presents.

The first opportunity will be an IFR boot camp for a friend of mine who has a tricked out PA30.  That is next week, and I’m preparing for that now.

By fdorrin

Fully retired now, unless something interesting comes along. I’ve enjoyed a lucrative career as an Electrical Engineer, Certified Software Solutions Developer, and Project Manager. An excellent and fun career that I’m very proud of. I began flying commercially in Dash-8 aircraft for Piedmont Airlines, and moved on to instruct in the Gulfstream 280; WestWind; and Astra jet aircraft. I’ve also been blessed with a type rating in the B-25 bomber in a fortunate turn of events. My wife, Beverly, and I currently own and operate a beautifully restored PA30 Twin Comanche, which we use to explore the CONUS.