This post is late because of this guy...!
He just so happens to be my Nephew, Johnny B... In the pursuit of his Private Pilot License (PPL), he was on his solo long cross country profile when he came to visit us at Yuba Co. (MYV) and found himself with a fouled spark plug and unable to deprat! Because of prior engangements, I was unable to "work" his issue until after a pre-planned dinner appt. His flight school sent out two of their cronnies (an IP & A&P) to fix the wayward student pilot's aeroplane, but they were late and he was unable to takeoff one time to make it back by sunset... So, then came the barage of cellphone calls to school & IP. Then, the issue of getting a CFI's "endorsement" in his logbook to be able to finish his XC the next morning. Fortunately, a fellow pilot friend is a current/qualified CFII and with teleconversations with Johnny's IP, they were able to re-endorse him to fly the next day. Checkout his spark plug I pulled out - note the left electrode is shorted out with a small piece of lead fouling it?


Yes, that's me, properly torquing the plugs to 18ft-lbs. Fortunately, I had been doing an annual inspection on my Piper Cub and had all my tools in the trunk!

So, Johnny finally made it off the ground, slipping the surly bonds back to his homeland, known as "Livemore" (LVK) , with a stop & go at Davis University airport. Unfortunately for him, his uncle (me) was listening on the radio as he departed the area... here's what I heard:
N89653: "NorCal approach, Cessna-89653, request!"
NorCal: "C89653, say request."
N89653: "NorCal, C-89653, 1,500', climbing to 4,500', out of Marysville (MYV) enroute to Livermore (LVK), with a 'Drop-in" at Davis University Airport (0O5), request Flight-Following, if able?"
NorCal: "Wow, that was a mouthfull!"

Later I hear:

NorCal: "C-653, are you at University?"
C-653: "Roger!" (he thinks NorCal is asking if he's going to University)
NorCal: "C-653, I thought you said you were at University? I have you radar contact 4 miles South of MYV!"
C-653: (I can already see the perplexed look on his face as he says...) "Roger?"

Well, bottom line is Johnny made it home safely, and managed to practice speaking with NorCal Approach and zipping through a "real" class-C airspace - ALL BY HIMSELF!!!

Great job Johnny - you owe me babysitting time now for all the Thai food you ate!

UJ...