Ed, Teri, and I flew out to Santa Rosa for breakfast as a flight of two this morning. Their Cessna’s a little slower than the Bellanca, but I could stay in trail and keep the engine in the green, so still a fun flight. And I was able to run about 16-17 NM/gallon, which is a nice benefit of pulling the power back.

Santa Rosa’s 8/26 east/west runway is a mile of asphalt which used to be Route 66 (before I-40 replaced 66). So, of course, we decided to land on 26. 8/26 isn’t the primary runway and they’re apparently not spraying weed killer on it, so it wasn’t in great shape. But I can now say I’ve landed on old Route 66, which is pretty entertaining. We decided to take off on the much smoother 19, so I can’t say I’ve taken off on Rt 66.

While the airplane flew great, it’s time to replace the starter. I was planning on replacing the starter and generator next spring, since there’s no evidence either have ever been overhauled and are big, heavy, ancient things. The starter in particular has been slow in spinning the motor from time to time. The last couple of starts it hasn’t wanted to spin the engine first time the starter is engaged. Wait 5 seconds, hit the starter again, and it’s all good. This morning at Santa Rosa, it didn’t want to spin it at all. The relay engaged, but the starter didn’t spin the prop (Ed thinks I have a spot in the windings that’s shorting, so there’s a dead spot in the motor). Moving the prop by hand to the start of the next cylinder’s compression stroke seemed to get things started, but still not fun. Rather than try to overhaul the starter, I ordered a SkyTec C12ST3 starter from Spruce this afternoon. It’s a pretty quick swap (the paperwork may take longer than the hardware swap), so should be flying by next weekend.