Final for 22...uh, I mean 04

Well, it had been a long time. 76 days to be exact. But after weathering a few months of 70-80hr weeks at work, watching those Ohio clouds cruise by spitting rain and sleet as they went, and waiting for the airplane to come out of its yearly coma, I finally got up in the air on Sunday.

This being the first time that I had flown our C-172 since the inspection, I took a great deal of extra care in my pre-flight, just to make sure that I didn't miss anything. You look at an aircraft differently after you've seen its guts! Also, though I had listened to The Finer Points and every other aviation podcast I could get my iPod on, it had really been a long, long time since I was behind the controls.

Sunday was perfect! Temperature was about 2°C, altimeter 30.06, SCTD 7000, and a 45 degree cross-wind at 3-4knots. You can't get any better weather during January in Ohio. So, I taxied up to the hold-short point on ol' runway 22, and ran through my checklist. During my engine warmup, I noted two Cherokees in the pattern calling on the UNICOM that they were in the pattern for runway 22. I listened as they noted their position (downwind, base, final), but looking around the sky, I just could not see them at all. So, I wondered if they were flying a right hand pattern, and looked to my left (down runway 22). What did I see but a Cherokee making a turn to final for 04, landing in the opposite direction that he had called. I don't know if he needed new glasses, or just needed to look at the chart a little more closely, but he didn't realize his mistake until he could see the numbers "04" painted on the runway during his final approach. Okay, Coshocton Richard Downing is not a towered airport, so you really have to watch out for other people.....but here's the situation: I'm holding short at runway 22, this Cherokee is landing towards me, and there is another cherokee on base that is going to land head-on with the first Cherokee. So, I radio the first Cherokee and tell him that I have him in sight, and that I will hold short. He says "OK".

He then misses the first turnoff and taxies all the way down the runway and pulls in front of me. I can't go anywhere - two airplanes on the runway with a third one landing is a recipe for disaster (or at least an FAA citation or two). This guy then taxies directly towards me, placing his wing underneath mine, and continuing on up the taxiway. Unbelievable. I feel like I should report him to the FAA for unsafe ground operations, or at least write the guy a letter telling him to plug his brain in next time. I guess this is why you need insurance....I should've chewed him out on the UNICOM, but maybe I'm too charitable. (EDIT: After doing some websearches, I found that this guy is on Piper Cherokee #2. Apparently his first one, crashed and burned in 1997 on a misjudged short field takeoff).

Well, Cherokee #2 landed shortly therafter, and I did an extremely thorough scan of the horizon before I departed. The rest of my day was fairly uneventful - had nice smooth air, and practiced turns, stalls, slow speed flight (70-75kts), and climbed to 5500ft. It was really nice - I should've had my camera - you could see CAK easily and powerplants down on the Ohio river. My landings were stellar (if I do say so - greasers - all five!). Good to be back in the saddle.