Biden is here already, but the TSA will not screen on his departure day. Therefore, in order to get out of the airport before 2pm, I have to move the airplane out of the inner ring. I chose to fly it just a few minutes south to Summit Airport (KEVY), which is closer to my home anyway.
I filed a TSA reservation 24 hours in advance, and also filed an IFR flight plan to cover the flight. I arrived at my hangar and positioned my wife’s car there; and had her drive my car down to summit. From there I taxiied over to Hangar 17 at KILG and met with both the TSA and a Secret Service agent before I could depart.
No one heard me taxi over, so I surprise the Secret Service guy at the locked door. He let me in, guided me to the TSA guy, and told me he was going out the look over the airplane. I asked him not to approach the airplane without me being present, since I wanted to know exactly was he was touching and how. After realizing I was a bit direct, I softened my approach and at the same time, he was completely understanding. Very likable guy.
The TSA guy was indifferent and had the personality of a PVC pipe, but at least got my wanding and pat down over with. Secret Service and I walked out to the airplane and talked on the way. He asked me if I carried (a handgun) and I told him that I do most everyday, but had decided not to complicate things this morning. It is apparently just fine doing so, but you should let them know in advance.
I’d love to know why I’m being wanded if I can actually be armed while leaving. I didn’t both asking because it just isn’t worth complicating the exit screening process. The screening was completed and I prepared to depart.
This airplane has been incredibly reliable, but don’t you know I got a EGT DIFF alert on takeoff in the middle of all this security. Summit was only a few minutes away, so I continued out of ILG. I’m sure if I landed that I’d be stuck there and not be able to re-file for 24 hours. It’s bullsquirt, but I’m sure I’d not be able to do the trip on time.
So I continued and considered that I either broke an exhaust stack broke, or had a bad probe. It had to be checked. Second, I considered continuing / diverting to 33N just a few minutes further south where my maintenance is done. I considered that I might be driving to Georgia tonight.
Note that the last time this happened in 2022, I assumed I’d experienced a failed probe. It ended up being a broken exhaust hangar, that in turn caused a stack fracture. I flew for an hour like that getting home.
Back to today’s flight, we’d be in the air less than 15 minutes before I could check the systems. I continued to Summit Airport where we are just outside of the inner 12nm loop, which means I can leave with a clearance whenever I want (without a TSA inspection).
You can see the probe obviously popped out, and that became a distraction for me during the inspection. Maybe I should have looked more closely at the gasket, where they might have been evidence of a crack forming.
Seeing that the probe was out, and noticing that the missing clamp and parts were absent, I’d need to get to my mechanic before I could fly south. I was able to reach Paul and he was able to accommodate the fix, so I filed another clearance south to Paul’s shop. He re-installed the probe and I filed a new flight plan back into the TFR once more.
Admittedly, I continued to see an EGT DIFF, but it was less than 200 at this point and I rationalized it away. I was thinking there was junk on the probe that would burn off.
Look for the next post to see how it came out…..
Frank