Saturday, My Dad called and wanted to know when I was gonna take HIM (and Mom) out to dinner? Flying , that is.....
So I did. A quick flight plan, and a call to 1-800 WXBrief , and then bang, we were off! Me and Mom and Dad and Midwest Chick. I did take the ballast out of the baggage compartment (for balance, rather than weight) for this trip.
3 PM Central. We took off and flew to another place I know that has a good restaurant within walking distance of an airport. Just plain good chow.
Shorter flight this time. But it was as fun as Friday, just shorter. First landing was in daylight, but with only 29/11 as choices, and a 13 knot crosswind (250) it was a challenge...especially as the wind was different (both direction and intensity) on downwind, base, and final.
But I did a decent crosswind landing. Parked, shut down, secured and walked to eat.
Walked back, quick but thorough preflight, and we took off in the darkness from 29 (the winds were 26 at 3, so it really didn't matter) and 29 was more in our direction of travel and went back home.
A bit of excitement on my approach to the airport: I called 10 miles east of the airport... then 7 miles, and then another plane called 7 miles east of the airport just after I did...at the SAME ALTITUDE. We all swivelled our heads all over looking for him, as I started my long final approach no one could see another plane....then he made his 5 mile call as WEST of the airport. Whew.
We saw him on downwind at 3 miles final. He saw us and called "Landing Traffic in sight" and I unpuckered ....and so we landed (I still gotta work on making my night landings as smooth as my daylight landings) and taxiied back to the hangar and pushed the plane in.
We had Flight Following both ways. This time the controllers were a bit busier. Skies were clear, but vis was only 20 or 30 miles from 4500 feet. Kinda hazy
As Aaron puts it: another 1.3 and 2.
You just can't do quick unscheduled trips if you are renting airplanes.
So I did. A quick flight plan, and a call to 1-800 WXBrief , and then bang, we were off! Me and Mom and Dad and Midwest Chick. I did take the ballast out of the baggage compartment (for balance, rather than weight) for this trip.
3 PM Central. We took off and flew to another place I know that has a good restaurant within walking distance of an airport. Just plain good chow.
Shorter flight this time. But it was as fun as Friday, just shorter. First landing was in daylight, but with only 29/11 as choices, and a 13 knot crosswind (250) it was a challenge...especially as the wind was different (both direction and intensity) on downwind, base, and final.
But I did a decent crosswind landing. Parked, shut down, secured and walked to eat.
Walked back, quick but thorough preflight, and we took off in the darkness from 29 (the winds were 26 at 3, so it really didn't matter) and 29 was more in our direction of travel and went back home.
A bit of excitement on my approach to the airport: I called 10 miles east of the airport... then 7 miles, and then another plane called 7 miles east of the airport just after I did...at the SAME ALTITUDE. We all swivelled our heads all over looking for him, as I started my long final approach no one could see another plane....then he made his 5 mile call as WEST of the airport. Whew.
We saw him on downwind at 3 miles final. He saw us and called "Landing Traffic in sight" and I unpuckered ....and so we landed (I still gotta work on making my night landings as smooth as my daylight landings) and taxiied back to the hangar and pushed the plane in.
We had Flight Following both ways. This time the controllers were a bit busier. Skies were clear, but vis was only 20 or 30 miles from 4500 feet. Kinda hazy
As Aaron puts it: another 1.3 and 2.
You just can't do quick unscheduled trips if you are renting airplanes.
Yep, those kinds of calls get one's attention!
ReplyDeleteInaccurate position reports. I really prefer that they just not say anything.
ReplyDeleteNice that you got to fly your parents to dinner. And some night time for the log book.
Love 182s. Took my first check ride in one in 1971. Have flown many airplanes, mostly corporate type turboprops, over the years but just about all the GA stuff also. Hope you are enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteJS