Desperate times

Like I said yesterday, when the going gets tough, you’ve got to start thinking out-of-the-box a little. So when I went over to Malbec this morning and found that the runway was still too soft to use plus the ground in the hangar exit was still bog-like, I decided to implement my plan B.

This is now getting stupid. Other airfields in our area are now perfectly usable but Malbec’s runway is hardly improving at all despite the incredible weather that we’re now getting. Nevertheless, I was determined to start making some moves with the Savannah which has been languishing in the hangar for far too long.

The first thing was to get it out and that presented me with my first problem. I’d got hold of three boards to place on the soft ground outside the hangar for the Savannah’s wheels to run on but before it even got that far, it’s left main wheel got heavily bogged down in the mud that’s inside the hangar. The more I tugged on it the deeper it sank in and I was more or less resigned to having to call for some help.

But at that moment Lila from the chateau turned up to give me a message and when she saw my predicament, offered to give me a hand. I was rather sceptical because she’s only a small, slightly built lady, but believe me, is she some tough cookie! Between us we had it out of the mud in a trice and in a few minutes more, up at the top of the runway where the ground is stony and much harder.

Later on I laid down some old wooden boards inside the hangar for the Savannah to run on when I want to put it back in, as the following picture shows.

I don’t intend to do that for now as we’re not expecting any more rain for several more days and in the meantime I intend to keep the Savannah outside and even start flying it again! But today’s main job was to give it a thorough external clean to remove all the grime that has built up on it during the months that it has been confined to the hangar. Here are several shots that I took of it after the completion of several hours of work that I think show that the effort was justified.

After chocking its wheels, I then looked around for some weighty objects to attach to the wing struts to anchor it down just in case we get any unexpected larger wind gusts. I found some old gas cylinders in the barn and those combined with a couple of concrete blocks should do the trick, as shown below.

So it now looks as thought my first ‘come-back’ flight won’t be in the Weedhopper after all as the runway is just too soft to risk for a first take off. The grass has also shot up again since I last mowed it on Friday and will need to be cut again before I will be able to chance taking off on it in the Weedhopper.

So what now? A flight in the Savannah, that’s what taking in a few local airfields and incorporating a few take offs and landings to get my hand and eye back in again. My plan tomorrow is to fly Malbec – Galinat – Condat – Galinat – Condat – Sarlat – Malbec which will give me a total of six take offs and landings.

The weather is going to be very warm again so I’ll probably have to get off fairly early to avoid too much turbulence, especially for my landing back at Malbec. I think it should be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to it 😉