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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Oct 21, 2011
Description:
This is the not-so-short story of the early life of N815PR and our cross country travels. We have gone from Florida to Long Island to Oshkosh to Florida to Los Angeles and back to Florida then to Dallas and home again in five months and 200 hours. She has proven herself to be as resilient as she is beautiful.
The orphan Pia Romeo was blessed with a life of flight by the FAA in May. At her launching she was the most advanced and refined SeaRey anywhere. She was built to exacting specifications by a demanding owner. She incorporated the latest in SeaRey technology, including a glass cockpit and cowled engine. She was cloaked in dark gray and trimmed in black. Before embarking upon the journey to her new home, she had to prove her worth.
I volunteered to do her testing. Having just recovered from prostate cancer surgery, I had some proving to do myself. Spending forty hours with the Lady in Gray seemed like a perfect match.
Date Taken:
Oct 21, 2011
Place Taken:
Tajmahangar, FL
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
Best_of_Breed.jpg - Photo HTML
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Category:
493, Travails of Pia Romeo
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Read what others had to say:
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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The Lady in Gray had to prove she was up to all the official tasks to get her release from birthplace. There were challenges. There were tweaks to accomplish. She was a bit hot headed with her newly cowled engine. There was time to be spent back at the home shop to get her wild electricity under control. Despite all the serious work we had to do, we took time to sit in the shade.
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Made in the Shade
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Who is being tested when the world outside the cockpit no longer seems real? Pia Romeo proved to me to be the magic carpet she was designed to be.
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Sky Islands
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Wayne Nagy - Oct 21,2011
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This must be the planet where the Avatar live!
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Having shown she had the mettle to meet the FAA’s standards, PR was ready to fly away to her new home. After forty hours together I was a bit sad to see her go. She had proven both of us fit for further flight.
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Graduation Day
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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“I don’t have time to fly the airplane to Long Island. Can you do it?”<br /><br />A difficult question. There was no doubt about the desire to do it. I was no longer the one to answer whether I could. I had to consult with a medical advisor.<br /><br />“Long flights sitting in one position are not recommended and come with certain risks.”<br /><br />“Okay, but I’m willing to take those risks.”<br /><br />“We have a shot for that.”<br /><br />It was a belly shot. It was worth it. There were so many sights still to be seen. What a privilege to be the one to show them to Pia Romeo on her first flight out. At forty one hours old, PR was ready to spread her wings and leave the nest.<br /><br />The day did not disappoint. Blue skies, white clouds, gentle breezes hung over the great green expanse of the Ocala National Forest.<br />
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Crossing Roads
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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So much to see! Every day brings new sights, all shaded differently. Or maybe they are just viewed differently.
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Earth Sky See
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Boundaries look pretty when they are over flown. Of course some barriers are unseen but shouldn’t be trespassed. There are days when Lake George is used as a bombing range. It’s best to leave it to the jets on those days.
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Boundary Layers
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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It was just another day at the beach for the holiday crowd. It was an especially great day at the beach from overhead in the cool, still air above.
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Another Beach Day
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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The waves from some ferocious storm far at sea battered the shore. The sand lines with the waves and absorbs their energy. Smart thinking, Earth.
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Gentle Ripples
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Fighting man and nature, walls of stone have taken their battering too. Added armament of lines of rock keep the walls from washing away.
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Fixed Fortification
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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The east coast beach is a long line that seems to go on indefinitely. It doesn’t, but it is really nice as long as it does.
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Long White Line
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Down on the beach it’s gritty with sand grains. The greenery tries to stake a place on a moving foundation. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes the sand just shifts.
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Gritty Reality
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Wild horses race up and down the beach for no good reason except that it’s fun. It’s a good example for people and airplanes.
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Beach Race
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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The coastal patterns change quicker than a SeaRey can cover them. It never gets tiring flying along a constantly changing coast.
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Moving Patterns
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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In the battle between land and sea, some areas are in full retreat. Bodies of trees from the front line litter the literal zone. They break the waves that would batter their compatriots.
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Tree Retreat
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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A few palms still stand tall after their defrocking by the sea.
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Still Standing
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Where are all the people? Out where there is just sun, sand and water? No. They are where the bars are!
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The Beach Crowd
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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I’m always amazed that such a big war could start at such a small place. I suppose it’s like lighting a match at a fuel depot.
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Fort Sumter
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Out in the great expanse of Bull Bay, the bayous were devoid of people. The only mammals in evidence were porpoise corralling a meal in some of the dead end channels.
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Backwater Bayous
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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All things end, some better than others. The sun quietly ended its daily reign, sinking into the murky haze of a summer evening. The Lady in Gray had an appointment at her new home. We flew on into the twilight until reaching Norfolk.
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Moving On
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Responsibility and duty…all good reasons to get up in the morning and proceed to get it done. It was the day to deliver Pia Romeo to her new home. Fortunately it doesn’t happen quickly in a SeaRey. We had a few more hours to spend together. Out on the bay there was another reminder of the most serious kind of duty and responsibility.
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Duty Calls
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Frank A. Carr - Oct 24,2011
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Dan, no TFR's over Navy ships-yet?
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Dan Nickens - Oct 25,2011
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Maybe, Frank...it could help explain what happened later.
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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These old boat are still at work, protecting the Kiptopeke State Park coastline from the sea. They started life as “liberty” ships and ended here in 1948 as a breakwater.
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Ghost Convoy
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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After more than sixty years some wear is inevitable. These “McCloskey” ships made of concrete during the desperate days of 1942 originally launched out of Hookers Point, Tampa, Florida.
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Broken Breakwater
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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A v-shaped rock funnel guides marauding waves into the jaws of rock, gnashing them into billions of droplets too small to swallow the tiny sand grains forming the shoreline cliffs. Judging from the adjacent unprotected shoreline, it is an effective technique.
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Breaking Water
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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An array of antennas is stationed at NASA’s Wallop facility to call on extra terrestrial spacecraft, high flying balloons and unmanned airplanes. Occasionally they will also talk to small manned aircraft.
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Calling ET
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Going down to the shore SeaRey style.
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Down Shore
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Even shadow ‘Reys make waves. A seagull joined up in formation….maybe he was drafting?
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Making Waves
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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The wild ponies of Chincoteague are great swimmers, migrating from the mainland to the shore every summer. Marguerite Henry wrote a popular children’s book about them (“Misty of Chincoteague”). Of course there was also a movie with Clint Eastwood (“Play Misty for Me”) that had nothing to do with the book’s movie, but it did feature a beautiful old Jag driving along the California coast. I never saw the other “Misty” movie about the pony.
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Famous Swimmers
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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The other row houses of the northeast I’ve seen were never colorful.
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Row Houses
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Protecting the beaches was a serious matter in during the 1940’s. Fort Miles became operational on December 4, 1941. Fortunately its guns were only fired once. It also accepted the surrender of a German U-boat at the end of the war.
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War Relict
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Once upon a time there was a fine fish factory on Great Bay. Now it’s just a fine looking relict.
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Former Fish Factory
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Afloat no more. Now it shows its bottom just like its namesake, the town of Ship Bottom.
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Once Afloat
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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The tall towers of Fire Island announced that the Lady in Gray was arriving at her new home.
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Long Island Rocket
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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There are plenty of fine homes on Long Island. This one hopes to be one someday.<br /><br />PR had a fine homecoming to the airport at Brookhaven, NY. After almost 60 hours together, I hoped she was ready to fulfill her new mission in life as successfully as she had performed for me.<br />
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Busy House
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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There are no pictures to show for the flight from Long Island to Erie, Pennsylvania. Perhaps it was because of the melancholy gray skies. Perhaps there was an overcast of sadness that Pia Romeo did not find a permanent home.<br /><br />PR’s first owner had a bad experience. His expectations were underwhelmed from a first time exposure to the experimental experience. Then came the unfortunate sequence of events that led to smoke in PR’s cockpit. The emergency landing, though successful, was not good enough to build his confidence.<br /><br />As a result, PR was returned to the company. As her only other pilot, I quickly volunteered to take her to look for a foster parent at Oshkosh. Though she flew well, and handled impromptu deviations around storms to find an overnight port in Erie, there was a pall that seemed to follow the gray plane.<br /><br />It was not until seeing the tall buildings of Chicago growing out of a summer fog that there was sense of electric excitement surrounded PR.<br />
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Murky in Chicago
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Passing along the coast of Chicago brought with it the excitement of the big city and of a mission nearly accomplished. That gave new life to the plane and pilot. To celebrate, we took a splash in the great lake.
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Great Splashes
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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The day of show arrived with a short flight to complete. It was a short flight through a crowded sky. A bunch of airplanes were lined up to get to the show grounds having been thwarted by the weather on the day before.<br /><br />PR took her place in the conga line aiming for Oshkosh. Just before entering the official line, an announcement was made: “No more arrivals.” Planes were put into holding patterns for an indefinite delay.<br /><br />With PR there was another option: splash down on a nearby lake and await developments. That’s what we did.<br /><br />When the airspace opened a short time later, there was an impressive backlog of planes heading towards the same spot. Sitting on the lake, we watched until the herd thinned a bit before getting in line.<br /><br />On the approach we were identified and cleared behind a little Cherokee that was going slower than the recommended approach speed. That was cause for concern for the faster planes behind PR.<br /><br />It only got worse. The Cherokee made a mistake and turned before the designated point. That put it outside the pattern and away from the official observers. I kept a wary eye off PR’s right wing as we flew in an unauthorized formation towards the airport.<br /><br />The controller’s instructions allowed PR to turn inbound for landing with the Cherokee in hot pursuit. It wasn’t listening or hearing its instructions. Not knowing what it was doing behind us made for a screaming approach and a long landing. Fortunately that was all the controller needed to bring order back to the chaos.<br /><br /><br />Delivered to Oshkosh and ready to take her place among the best of their breeds, PR was looking good.<br />
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Ready for Show
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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While Pia Romeo held court at show central, another SeaRey provided yeoman service at the seaplane base. The water wasn’t as ugly as the green might seem. It’s not scum, it’s duckweed, a plant suitable for a seaplane base.
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Not Scum
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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No foster family stepped forward to claim Pia Romeo at Oshkosh. She was going back with me to her first home in Florida. Even so, she put on a good show.<br /><br />Flush with her debut showing, the Lady in Gray was ready to head south to her new home. Unfortunately a fabrication flaw caused her tail wheel to melt away on the long taxi from parking to the departure runway. There was no hope of finding a replacement part at the closed show. <br /><br />Being a SeaRey, there is always hope of finding parts to fit. A trip to the hardware store provided a solution suitable for the trip back to Florida.<br /><br />There was a long delay, however, getting off. That made for an early landing at a field with a restaurant and a hotel above the FBO. Perfect.<br /><br />The Putnam County airport (4I7) was tailor made for transients like PR and me. There was fuel, food, and a bed. It is a second home to the owner of Dixie Chopper lawn machines. He took time to show off his airplane collection. I wouldn’t have traded PR for any of them.<br />
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Cruising the City
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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It’s a long day in a SeaRey going from Indiana to Florida. There’s always hope for refreshment anywhere there’s cool water. A lake in Kentucky was a good place for a quick stop.<br /><br />Arriving back in Florida Pia Romeo was eighty nine hours old with no permanent home. Being a foster pilot for most of those hours was good for the both of us.<br />
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Liquid Refreshment
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Philip Mendelson - Oct 21,2011
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Nice Story.....<br />Thanks for sharing and a prayer for your speedy recovery...
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Dan Nickens - Oct 21,2011
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Thanks, Phil. It was really speedy, what with surgical microscopic robots, or robotic surgeons with microscopes, or something like that. I had a lot of drugs. I don't remember. It's all good.
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Wayne Nagy - Oct 21,2011
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Your photography is outstanding, Dan... and the story line that accompanies the great pictures makes the pictures that much more enjoyable. At the risk of sounding like EVERY contestant on the reality music shows...it was a wonderful journey! :-)
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Steve Kessinger - Oct 22,2011
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Very glad to hear you're Ok, Dan.
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Dave Edward - Oct 22,2011
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Once again Dan, a great narative of a great saga. Hope your recovery continues and your adventures keep calling.
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Frank A. Carr - Oct 24,2011
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Dan, Another great travelog and super photos. Thanks much. And glad to hear you're doing well with the the "thing" that's not if but when.<!-- >'"><br><font color=red size=6>' or > missing in user HTML. Please fix the HTML.</font> -->
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Bruce Bennett - Oct 22,2011
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Dan, Bruce & I wish you all the best during your Recovery. Life gets tougher for all of us as we start reaching the higher numbers in age. Your story and photos are terrific!<br /> Judy
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Thomas Alexander Bowden - Oct 22,2011
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So did the guy that commission the plane to be built loose any money? I would think you cant have a SeaRey custom built the way that one was and just say you don't like it and walk away.
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Dan Nickens - Oct 22,2011
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You would be thinking wrong, Thomas. To the company's credit, they did cover his costs. There were special circumstances and the new management took that into account. The fact that they got a great show plane is proof that good deeds sometimes go unpunished.
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