After lunch at the Rock 'n Roll Diner at Oceano, I led the flight out of there. I took us down to about 500' off the water and we flew up the coast a bit. After a little "U turn" (you had to be there to know what I'm talkin' about...at the risk of incriminating myself I plead the 5th), I followed the coast southbound and dropped down to right off the water about 300 yards out from the beach for a nice high speed run. A pull up had me climbing at about 3000 fpm, and I took us up to 9500' with some cloud puff dodging along the way. We were all having a kick-butt time weaving and bobbing (so to speak...picture four RVs doing their thing...), and eventually we decided to join back up. This is the only shot I got of the whole affair, believe it or not. This was after I broke off for a roll or three, and I was joining back up with Todd leading and Brad in #2.
After a while, John asked for a speed run (again). Brad and I had ignored him previously. For those who don't know, Brad's RV-4 is just about the fastest RV (non-Rocket) in SoCal. It is light, and it is FAST. He had claimed to get 190 knots out of the thing, and my -7 has done 188. After a little nudging from John, Brad and I put the balls to the wall and saw what was what. 200 knots...210 knots...211...215... Brad started pulling away from me. I maxed out at 215 knots groundspeed, and he was doing 218 knots groundspeed. My prop only turns 2660 RPM, and Brad was turning 2760. His -4 has a souped-up 200+hp engine, and with less wing and less frontal area, it's not surprising that he has a speed advantage over my -7. But it would be nice to catch him! I'll have to adjust the governor a bit, stiffen my oil door (it bulges at speed enough so you can see a little daylight through it), install the lower intersection fairings, etc. I'm pretty sure I can match him if I tweak a few things. It just means I have to stop flying for a day or two while I make mods. Eh...I'll wait for a nice rainy winter week to do all this stuff. Too much fun to have in the meantime.
We headed direct to Big Bear, where we intended to stop in for some cheap fuel. But when we got there, the winds were howlin'. I flew lead at that point, and I ended up going around after attempting to land. The problem wasn't really the wind or the turbulence -- which normally wouldn't have been a problem. The problem is that the runway is closed, and they are using a portion of the taxiway as a temporary runway. It's like 2000 feet of usuable runway. When entering the pattern, the guy working unicom recommended that we touch down halfway down the runway to avoid turbulence people had reported at the threshold. Sure...1000 feet usuable, high winds, turbulence...wasn't meant to be. I went around without hesitating. A few seconds later, Brad went around, then John, then Todd. Screw trying that again -- let's head for Corona. No reason to wrap the plane up in a ball if the conditions suck.
We flew to Corona (for the 2nd time today) for more fuel and then hopped back to Chino. 3.6 hours of awesome flying, formation, aerobatics, speed, the whole nine yards. 3.6 and my flying for the day was just beginning...
Jen had been up at Yosemite camping with her family, and she was supposed to head back to her parents' house in the Bay Area tonight, and I was gonna pick her up tomorrow (Monday). I got a call from her this afternoon while she was on her way to their house, and she really wanted me to head up there tonight -- we hadn't seen each other for a week. Sure, I'll head up there. I swung home, grabbed a change of clothes and stuff, and hopped back in the plane.
There was some interesting weather in the central valley. Around Bakersfield it was just a broken layer at around 9,000'. I had flown above these clouds at 10,500' for a while, but the clouds rose to meet me -- up ahead I could see they sloped upward, and I decided to dip below 'em for the rest of the flight.
I managed to get some cooool photos around sunset.
Around the Avenal area I could see some light rain up ahead.
It made for some beautiful sights.
This is the way it looked for about 50 miles. Virga to light rain, but still about 5 to 10 miles visibility to the west.
But to the northwest it was clearer. The showers and clouds were broken at worst.
Another cool sunbeam shot. I turned toward the west as I got through the rain and crossed to the west of the hills that run up toward Panoche. I could see to the north/northwest that the cloud layer dropped, and I didn't want to get stuck scud running.
I love this photo. To the west it was much clearer. A little off track, but hey...it probably added only 10 minutes to cut across the valley to clearer weather.
Another cool sunset shot.
Here you can see back to the north/east, toward Panoche, where the clouds did obscure the tops of the hills.
Another shot of the same.
I cut over San Jose and over toward Livermore, where I made a low approach -- hoping Jen and her parents would be there to see my arrival. Nope, they weren't there. I had the plane unloaded, tied down, and covered by the time Jen got there.
What a day. Five and a half hours of very cool flying. Chino to Oceano to Big Bear to Chino to Livermore. Can't do that unless you've got a speedy little plane at your disposal.