Day 5 - Indianapolis to Steubenville with a stop in Columbus

Any day that starts with donuts is bound to be a great day!

We awoke to a cooler morning, so Dana and I walked about a quarter of a mile to the neighborhood donut shop and got some nice, sweet pastries. We then walked back and relaxed for a little bit before heading out to the airport. This gave me the chance to actually show him the airplane which he seen pictures of for decades, but today was the first time he had seen it in person.

Dana and Barbara joining me for a photo

Leaving Greenwood Airport on the edge of Indianapolis, I was faced with a choice of going above or below the clouds the widely scattered cumulus clouds with tops around 7500 feet but bottoms close to the ground, so I decided to go up. I was rewarded with cool air and a bunch of beautiful scenery in the form of puffy white towering clouds. When I am flying in these kind of conditions, I often find myself looking at the clouds and wondering what their shapes remind me of. 

I see a bunny

And a dog looking at me

I decided to drop down under the clouds when I got about halfway to Columbus, Ohio, where I was meeting a friend for lunch. This gave me the chance to see all sorts of beautiful farmland scenery on the ground instead of in the sky. 

It also made me have my head on a swivel, as I tried to make sure I kept an eye out for any other airplanes in the vicinity, the traffic system on my airplane generally shows me the position of any airplane nearby, which is coordinated between all the planes by radio signal. 

They were two airplanes within 2 miles of me that both turned out to be crop dusters. I saw them, but as I was watching them, all of a sudden, I was startled by some motion out of the other side of my airplane. Even though I was almost 1300 feet above the ground, another crop duster appeared about 100 yards off my right wing in a very steep bank as he drove back down to the ground. It was very obvious that he was looking at the field. He was dusting and never saw me. It might be a big sky, but there are still risks out there.

Beautiful, lush farmland

Farmsteads

I landed at the airport on an operated by Ohio State University. I was met there by Bob Walters a friend that I had worked with At Honeywell in the 1990s as we worked to develop some modular aircraft cockpit displays. Even though he retired over 12 years ago, we have stayed in touch and I have managed to drop in and see him a couple of times.

Bob and Tom

After lunch, I had to press on to my final stop for the day in Steubenville, Ohio. 

While I was doing a little bit of flight planning before I left, there were four young Flight Instructors at a table, trying to understand some of the nuances of airplane electrical systems. I took some time to explain to them how they worked and the differences between generators and alternators, they were interested in what I was doing with the fly about so I took them out and show them the plane.

During lunch, the conductive activity had picked up in the area with several intense rain showers passing through the neighborhood. As I climbed out of the airport, I could see numerous more along my route of flight. Combined with what I was seeing on my displays, which didn’t look very nice, I chose to stay below the clouds on this next leg, which was only about 80 miles, so that I could see where the bad weather was. I doubt I ever got above 1200 feet over the ground, which is nice because I was able to see so many more details than I normally do when cruising it higher altitudes.

I moved along at a slower speed than usual so that I could maneuver around the shafts of intense rain. I managed to just arrive at the airport and Steubenville rain squalls hitting the field. 

Rain ahead

Just beside the tip of my canard (front wing), you can see the intense shaft of rain. It also may have a dangerous downdraft.

I was met at the airport by Ron Bolster. He and I were both Cornell, mechanical engineers and Navy ROTC. Afterwards, we both ended up at Whidbey Island flying the EA-6B Prowler. In an unusual twist of fate, I was giving him a ride to the airport down in Seattle when a blizzard hit and we were forced to change our destination to my girlfriend Kay’s apartment. Kay became my wife, and one of her housemates, Andrea, became Ron’s wife as well . He met her the night of the blizzard, and the rest is history.

Ron is a professor and senior administrator at Franciscan University here in Steubenville. It has been really impressive to watch him as he has gone on his journey up to the levels of academia. I always enjoy chatting with him about what he’s doing and learning about some of the challenges and successes that he faces. 

It was great getting to see them and many of their kids. They always have a hectic existence as they try and manage the different activities of their eight children. In addition to our catching up with each other, I was also able to set up a video call with Kay so that she could join us in chatting with Andrea.

As I wind down another long day, I’m about to spend the night in the dentist office. Seriously, I am staying in a former dental office that Ron and Andrea are turning into a home across the street from their current house so that they can have various friends and relatives stay with them more easily.

This part of the Country historically has produced coal, even though the first wheel wells were also drilled in the vicinity. This afternoon was the first time I had seen one of the coal strip mines on hilltop.

I also saw a very beautiful blue pond that I don’t think it’s natural and I strongly suspect may be some some kind of chemical settling pond for a power station or the lake, but it was still a very beautiful brilliant color.

Tomorrow, it is off to Pennsylvania to meet up with another Cornell classmate of mine.

Where is Tom? 

Some people have asked if it is possible to track the position of me in the airplane in real time, and it is. Go to either of the following websites: 

     www.flightaware.com

     www.flightradar24.com

On either website, have it track aircraft number N13YV that is my Long-EZ, which is nicknamed “Invictus”.