Touch-N-go's

I was covering at the FBO again today for the guy that used to run the place. He has been out since right after Christmas when he had a stroke. A retired guy covers during the week and I cover as many weekends as possible to give him a break. 12J isn't a busy airport on the weekends but I enjoy being around what little activity there is.

Early in the day a couple RAF 2000's (A really neat looking rotorcraft) had been up doing some training and one of the local airplanes based at Brewton, a Stinson, did some touch-and-go's . A young Navy pilot also came up and flew his Pitts then spent a while shining his airplane.

After lunch there was no activity. I kept busy trying to move cars around and make space in some of the hangars to get more airplanes in to bring more money in for the recovering FBO manager.

When there was no more busy work to do, I took my airplane out of the hangar and rinsed it off then tied it down on the ramp. A guy called yesterday and said he was going to come look at it to possibly buy it. He didn't show. I went in the hanger and found an allen wrench and removed my now defunct KX170B radio. It was really surprisingly simple to remove. Turn an allen wrench one complete turn counterclockwise and slide the radio out of its tray. I couldn't believe how simple it was.

I typically hang around the FBO until dark on Saturdays and Sundays so I can run (slow jog) the perimeter of the runways. I can only get away with this on the weekends when the military isn't there training. Most week nights there are military helicopters training until 10:30 or so, a bit late for me to be out running. It's 3.1 miles around the perimeter of the three runways which form a large triangle. That's a pretty good haul for a fat boy. The best part of it is it's completely level..not an incline to be found anywhere. I know, its not challenging enough to get a GOOD workout but I'm working on it. Ya gotta start somewhere.

After the radio was removed I found myself bored again. It was getting close to dark so I jumped in my now radio-less airplane and took off. I only had nine usable gallons of fuel and I didn't want to buy any more so I stayed in the pattern for a few touch-and-go's. I had to redeem myself after the really sloppy/scary landing in Monroeville during the week.

When I came around for my fifth landing another aircraft was on final just ahead of me. I was close enough to see that it was an old J-3 cub. Instantly I was thrown back to my four years in New York when I had an airplane based at Dart Field (D79) in Mayville. In my mind it could have been one of many pilots in Mayville that flew a J-3. I quit reminiscing pretty quick since I was on final and the much slower Cub wasn't very far ahead of me.

The two guys in the Cub were as nice as could be. They had just purchased the Cub in Quincy, Florida and were headed home to the Dallas, Texas area. They complained a little about the slow speed of the cub and talked about seeing cars below driving faster than they were flying. I didn't take their complaining to seriously since they couldn't complain without a smile on their face.

After fueling up the Cub, the only fuel customer of the day, I put my airplane in the hangar and since I had moved things around we put the Cub in with mine. The two Texans took the courtesy car from the airport to a local hotel, I ran my 3.1 miles and we all called it a day.