On Thursday 12/4 I received the invoice for the labor charges related to the annual that wasn't and took back possession of 4TV. I had come up to the airport the day before expecting it to be ready, but they still needed to run the engine. I needed to pay the invoice for the tailBeacon install, so that was no big deal, but the itch to fly was growing.
When I arrived on Thursday I found the airplane on the line with the log sticker/documents from the tailBeacon inside the plane. No key or other logs which were still with the A&P as I had yet to pay the invoice. Mechanic was at lunch, but when he arrived I was able to get the logs, cover and key. I had already pre-flighted the airplane while waiting, so she was good to go. I could see the new bushings and the portions of the cabling I could see definitely looked better.
My work/family life rarely allows me several hours of uninterrupted time, and today was no different, so I only had time to take her up for three circuits in the pattern. She started up perfectly, despite it being in the 40s. Three hits of the primer seems to be the magic number for this temperature. It was really a fantastic day to fly - high overcast, chilly temps and zero wind. Because it was a shakedown flight to make sure nothing fell off after the MX work was done, I flew from the left seat. My preflight and runup were thorough, but everything functioned normally.
The flight was great. Took me a bit to takeoff since both entrances to the runway were blocked by airplanes waiting, but one guy offered to move and I jumped in front. No winds made conditions severe smooth, and I greased all three of my landings. This was also a shakedown flight of the tailBeacon. I could see my track on my Foreflight map, so I figured it was working, but I called up one of the planes in the pattern to confirm that he saw me, and he did. Flight Aware track track later confirmed this as well.
I'll do an end of calendar year reckoning of my expenses and flight time, but at the moment ... it's not pretty. The annual that wasn't an annual expenses amounted to right above $10K. All told I've spent just shy of $18K on the maintenance for the airplane, and my total costs are just above $22K including operating, ownership and equipment/upgrades. Total logged time - 11.1 hours. So I'm averaging $2K per hour - I'd have been better off with a Caravan (he says with a smile, masking the pain).
On the bright side, I've only had access to the plane in working condition for about two weeks of the four months I've owned it. If I bang out some flights in December, it'll help that number - and theoretically, January-April should be smooth sailing (I'm literally knocking on wood) so if I can just fly without any MX issues, I should start to whittle away that that hourly rate. Just looking at hourly operating costs with no reserves (so gas and oil), I'm averaging $41.57. And that's the small silver lining here. I'm not spending $200 an hour, and I'm not bitching about waiting to depart because it's costing me $4 a minute to sit there.
Hoping to get some good flying weather on Sunday to finally take my son (the one interested in flying) up in her for the first time. Also need to do more right seat flying and go up again with the CFI to bang out some CFI-I lessons.
Cheers to being back in the air!
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