Flight Time–Time Building With Nick

This week, I scheduled three flights with Nick. Nick is a 50% partner of a Piper Cherokee 140 that is tied down at DeLand airport. Susan found his post on Facebook and put me in contact. The plan was to fly three days this week, starting at 7:00 AM each day.

To avoid driving back and forth the one and a half hours each way, I asked Aunt Cathy if I could stay at her house. She said that would be fine, but she would be leaving for Texas the next day, so I’d have the house to myself (Mom is currently in Washington). While there, she asked me to do a little project and showed me where to find all the tools that I would need.

This morning, I got up early, ate breakfast, said good-bye to Aunt Cathy, and drove to the airport, which is about 15 minutes from the house. I arrived early, as was my intention, and waited for Nick.

Once Nick arrived, we walked to the ramp and pre-flighted the plane. The plane is a 1973 model, so it is newer than the N7207W. Being newer, it had the standard six pack instrument gauges and toe brakes, but only on the pilot side. Being a Cherokee 140, it has the smaller O-320 engine that only delivers 160 horsepower. Other than that, it is like every other Piper Cherokee.

Nick's Piper Cherokee N8049N

Today’s plan was for me to be the safety pilot for Nick. We planned to fly to Williston (X60) to get gas, then fly to somewhere in Alabama. The return flight would have us stopping for gas in Williston, then continuing to DeLand.

The flight to Williston was non-eventful. Nick talked me through connecting my iPad mini to his Stratus so I could follow along on Foreflight. I searched for traffic in the dim morning light while he maneuvered around and under the Orlando Class B airspace.

At Williston, Nick landed and taxied to the fuel pump. He filled the tanks, then we pushed the plane into the shade and walked to the FBO. For some reason, this airport looked familiar, but not that familiar.

The FBO at Williston

After a short break, we headed back to the ramp to continue our flight to Alabama. We climbed in and got settled, then Nick started the plane. Or should I say, attempted to start the plane. The plane would not start. He tried several times, but it just wouldn’t fire. After multiple attempts, we had no luck.

Earlier, when we walked to the FBO and back, we passed by some guys working on a twin plane in the hangar. We thought maybe the mechanic might have some advice or something we hadn’t thought to try. Unfortunately he was out getting parts and wouldn’t be back for at least an hour. Nick got his number and left a message, asking him to let us know when he returned.

In the mean time, we sat and waited. At some point, a guy pulled up in his Jeep and asked if we needed help. We talked to him for a while, then tried to start the plane again. Just like before, it would not fire. I was thinking that it wasn’t getting fuel, while the others were thinking it wasn’t getting spark.

So, we waited some more. Then another guy stopped by. He was a mechanic and started looking under the hood. Nick tried to start the plane again. By now, the battery was starting to get weak, so there would be no more trying unless someone had a charger. The mechanic told us that those engines have dual magnetos, but only one is used while starting the engine. So, if that one failed, then the engine would not start. He proceeded to remove the magnetos and took them to his hangar to check them out. He eventually returned and said he was getting no spark from either of them. This I found extremely odd, given that we just flew in successfully not that long ago.

During all of this, the first mechanic returned. We told him that another mechanic was helping us. He was glad to hear this, as he was deep into his other project and didn’t have time to help us.

The second mechanic had a friend who had some backup magnetos, but he wasn’t sure they were an exact match. He brought them over and they compared serial numbers, and unfortunately, they were not.

At this point, it had become apparent that there was no way we’d by flying back to DeLand in this plane today. We started working on our Plan B. Nick’s fiancée was hours away, and Susan was even further. We asked a few pilots who came and went, but none were able to fly us home.

Eventually, a pilot with a 6 seat Piper Saratoga stopped at the fuel pump. We walked up to him and started a conversation. We told him our situation and asked if there was any way he could drop us off in DeLand on his way home. He told us that he was in Florida to have some instrument work done on his plane, and the work ended early, so he was a day ahead of schedule. He was flying back to Huntsville and given the hour that he’d gain by going to the Central time zone, he was not in a hurry. He then said that he could drop us off in DeLand. You can imagine our relief.

The flight back to DeLand was quick and easy. The performance difference between a Saratoga and a Cherokee 140 is pretty substantial. When we got back on the ground, Nick offered the pilot some cash to cover the gas and we thanked him over and over again.

Nick and I said our good-byes, then I headed back to the house. I knew I wouldn’t be flying with Nick for a few days. I’m so close to the magical flight time of 800 hours, but it looks like I won’t get there this week.

I still had that project that Aunt Cathy and I talked about, so I decided to spend the night in DeLand. I drove back and replayed the events of the day in my head. Although things were pretty bad and getting home looked nearly impossible, with the generous help of fellow pilots and mechanics, we made it home. It’s too bad the rest of society isn’t as generous and helpful as the people we met today.

Flight Time: 1.5 hours
Total Time: 799 hours