In light of the latest accident

[bonal]

I am so saddened by this latest news of the San Diego accident that I am thinking it would be nice to start a thread as a place to post your latest flight as a positive story of the trip and the enjoyment you received from the flight. I guess I just need some good news because I am so bummed out by these recent accidents. So please take a moment and share a brief tale of your latest flight.

[Hank]

Since my wife is at the beach in NC while I was stuck here working on Sat., I flew 40 nm for Sunday dinner. It was toasty warm going out at 2500'; at engine start coming home, the OAT was reading 101º on the ramp, but a balmy 72º at 6500' [cloud bases were just above 4000']. Weaving through the small cumulus on climbout was fun. Had a whopping 5 minutes after leveling and leaning, descending right at the bottom of yellow, 175 mph.

 

The food was good, but next time I leave earlier! 1.1 solo, 2 landings, 1 new airport [KEUF, 5200' LONG]. Too hot and sweaty to dip tanks in the hangar, but I left full and used one tank each way. Will report back. At least it's cooler now.

 

Prayers to the families of all involved recently in Indiana, Florida, Georgia and California.

 

Ya'll fly safe out there!

[201er]

I just flew back from Oshkosh thunderstorm dodging. With my gadgets, airplane, and experience it was no trouble.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N4361H

[kmyfm20s]

I happen to fly out of the same airport as the accident plane. One of the cool things about this airport is that it Parallels Miramar marine base and sends you out over the ocean on a west departure. I was up flying 2 days ago with my instructor and friend. It was a one of those fun days, with some instruction, some Bs'n and some great sight seeing. As we where flying over the ocean we saw several whales and large schools of fish and when we where coming back to the airport the jets where flying at Miramar. It was a great California day to fly!

[Marauder]

I just flew back from Oshkosh thunderstorm dodging. With my gadgets, airplane, and experience it was no trouble. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N4361H

What the heck! You land at my airport and you don't call? I saw that line of crap out west. Glad to hear you were able to navigate it. BTW - you probably came for the cheap gas, didn't you?!

[Joe Zuffoletto]

My most recent flight was actually in an Xtreme Decathlon on Monday morning. I'm getting some additional tailwheel dual to prepare me for flying my RV-8. Shot 8 touch-and-goes, practicing wheel landings. Good ol' stick-and-rudder flying... no glass, no autopilot, head out the window on a fresh summer morning. It felt great. I can't wait for my next session tomorrow morning.

[Mooney65E]

My wife and I had a beautiful flight this week returning from a family gathering in Kenosha, WI. We've owned our 65E Super 21 for nearly 15 yrs now and everytime we fly those long 5-6 hr legs, we reminisce of our first several years of flying by loran, or from one VOR to another with stacks of paper charts. We'd stare at that cluster guage and single probe EGT wondering if any were accurate enough to let us know how our engine was really feeling.

Man, how far we have come, and how far GA has progressed! It's so much more relaxing to fly with all the modern tecnology. We now text position reports to family as we monitor the 30 plus funtions of our engine analyzer. We gather weather data like we own the sky. Just a couple of keystrokes on any one of the four moving maps and we know where we are, where we've been, what time we'll get there...yada yada yada.

Technology has definitely made flying more pleasurable for us! Who knows what the future holds. Life is good and getting better!

[aviatoreb]

On Tuesday after work (early out after late lunch) I flew with my 13 year old to Boston (Norwood- KOWD) to see the evening Redsox games.  Adam is a baseball fanatic.  We sat atop the Green Monster for batting practice using his "Redsox Nation Kid" privileges - and we stayed with cousins that night.  Then Yesterday am we flew home, but via Hartford to pick up my oldest son 17, who was staying with his gparents for a week.  Just me, my sons and my green minivan with wings.

[ToddDPT]

On Sunday I flew into and out of Montgomery Field where sadly, the last accident occurred and upon arrival I was vectored around traffic which happened to be two Osprey heading east.  I just am in awe how those aircraft can fly!  Simply amazing.

[jlunseth]

I went from Minneapolis (home base) to Memphis for a board meeting of an organization I belong to in early June.  The meeting is always fun, we go the the Bird Dog Hall of Fame in Grand Junction, TN.  The trip back was mildly eventful going around the back side of a large north-south front.  ATC warned me of possible tornadoes in St. Louis as I passed it, but St. Louis was off my right wing about 40 miles and the front had passed my location.  I did wind up diverting to Des Moines for fuel, the height of the cloud tops got up to FL210 so I went to FL230 which, if you have watched my posts, is past where I like to go, but there was a good reason.  Then the tops came up further so I thought I should bail out and get some fuel while I was at it.  I learned something on this flight.  I had watched the tops of the clouds I eventually had trouble with for some time and they looked like they were below my altitude.  I failed to account for the curvature of the earth!  So when I got there, they were higher than I expected.  At any rate, no big deal, I got out of it as soon as I saw what was happening, and just to Minneapolis a little late for dinner.

 

Went to visit the family over the 4th in northern Minnesota.  When I came back on the 5th it turned out one nephew had stayed in Grand Forks and his dad (one of my brothers) wanted to go there, get him out of his room, and take him to the family gathering.  So rather than going from KBJI to KFCM, I took my brother over to KGFK, dropped him off and then went back home.  Ain't airplanes cool?  The whole trip back with the stop was under three hours, to drive it would have been about 7.

 

Going to Northern Minnesota tomorrow to pick my grandson up from summer camp, usually about 5 hours each way, it will take me about 1:15 up, and about 1:00 coming back with good winds.

[bonal]

Really enjoying the stories hope others join in I know this sort of fits the travel topic but this is about the positives of flight and I think a good thing to counter the sad news over the past month.

[scottfromiowa]

My last flight was as co-pilot with my partner. We flew to his home town in Missouri. 9500' just above the tops...Beautiful. Tanks now both re-sealed and altitude hold working great from Brittain. His mom picked us up and loaned us her Lexus for short trip to a beauty of a golf course. Kept it in the 80's and only lost one ball. Quick trip home at 5500 and a little push. Relaxing talk of golf, how great our plane is and how wonderful it is to fly behind a nice panel and squak-free bird.

All was right with our world...

[Alan Fox]

Last trip was from OSH to DYL in a RAM Baron,   9000 feet , above the clouds.......Filed , but severe clear the whole way......Right seat Kicked ass 210 KTS over the landscape......life was good on Tuesday.... 

[bnicolette]

Last weekend we flew to PHL to watch a Phillies game. Yesterday we flew down to Charleston to tour some plantations then flew up to Myrtle Beach this morning to start our summer vacation until August 9th. I keep finding myself trying to come up with some other side trip to do while we're here so I can fly again. This aviation bug is pricey but damn its fun! I cant seem to spend enough time behind the yoke. I get home from flying the work airplane and still gravitate to the airport to spend time with my own airplane. Thanks Wilbur and Orville.

[BorealOne]

Beautiful flight from Yellowknife down to Ft. Mac this morning. Departure was in IMC, with 1 SM visibility and low ceilings, but a short 2000' climb through the clag got me on top into clear skies and above the smoke layer. Once I was south of the lake, the layer disappeared and I soared over the unbroken beauty of the boreal forest and into the industrial heartland of Canada's oilsands...

 

It's with some irony that I say it was nice to get to Ft. Mac to breathe the fresh air. We've had an insane fire year up North, giving Yellowknife air quality that compares poorly to Beijing. It culminated last night with a spectacular storm - red skies and black rain:

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/fire-in-the-sky-apocalypse-thunderstorm-rolls-into-yellowknife-1.2723307

[Hector]

Alright, since everyone is posting about their flying vacation here is mine. Flew to a Marathon Key for two weeks of fishing. Requested and got direct from KCRG to KMTH. Beautiful flight in the early morning. Dolphin fishing was incredible. Kids look forward to this every year. Left the Keys last Friday then flew (commercial) to Oshkosh for a few days. Unfortunately, now I have to pay the bills so it's back to work!!

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[IndyTim]

I passed my IFR checkride three weeks ago, almost 2 years to the day after passing my physical to get my temporary ticket, and a year after I bought N252BH.

 

I use my plane for business, and, believe it or not, my wife had only been up with me once, and that was just for a short sightseeing jaunt on a calm summer evening.

 

Last weekend, we did our first trip together, from Springfield MO to Defiance OH.  As luck and Mother Nature would have it, there was quite a bit of weather to dodge, and we spent some time in the soup.  We ended up having to deviate and come in behind a large convective system in order to get into Defiance, and landed in 1 mile visibility.

 

I worked really hard to avoid turbulence, since my wife is very sensitive to it and I wanted our first trip together to be as enjoyable as possible.  The ride up wasn't bad, with 50-knot tailwinds we made good speed but of course lost that advantage in having to go up, around, and then come back down into Defiance.

 

On the way back home on Sunday, we fought that same wind which was then against us.  I tried 10000, 8000, and even 6000 and settled on 8000 as the best compromise since it got pretty bumpy down low.

 

Despite all this, it was a good trip for us both.  My wife was a trooper, and only grabbed my arm once when we shot through the first set of cumulus clouds.

 

After getting home, she commented that she doesn't really like to fly (which was honest), but that she really valued the convenience and time-effectiveness of having our own plane.  There is no way we could have made a 1200-mile trip by car to see her family on a 2-day weekend, and have it not be miserable.  So, it was all good.

[IndyTim]

Nice fish, Hector.

 

Alright, since everyone is posting about their flying vacation here is mine. Flew to a Marathon Key for two weeks of fishing. Requested and got direct from KCRG to KMTH. Beautiful flight in the early morning. Dolphin fishing was incredible. Kids look forward to this every year. Left the Keys last Friday then flew (commercial) to Oshkosh for a few days. Unfortunately, now I have to pay the bills so it's back to work!!


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[cliffy]

YA, dodos are fun to catch and eat REAL GOOD!

Came back from KERV (Kerrville) to KPGA (N AZ) last flight. Stopped at E11 for gas, get some lunch and to walk around, only 1.6 hrs but we like to stretch and they always have a low fuel price. From there to E98 near ABQ for fuel and a walk (OK we're older and need a break :-)and then KPGA. All done at 12,500, smooth air, cool 57 degrees compared to near 100 on ground. Average 8.8 GPH in cruise at 137 kts TAS. Older D/C but we love it. BTW, most of the way with only the Xponder on, no radio noise. I guess I had too many years listening to NYC and LAX Cener all day long!

[Marauder]

Here's one... Really tough week at work. Get a PM from our very own Bob Belville. Says he is flying up to Massachusetts and would like stop by on the way up. We exchange PMs and I provide him an IFR route that I expected he would get coming out of my airport.

I know thunderstorms are forecasted for his route and figured his 12 noon arrival would be a gas and go.

Instead, he gets out of the plane, introduces himself and gives me a gift. Home brewed wine!

I ask about the weather, he feels he has time and we go off and have a great lunch at a local country club. Bob is quite an interesting guy and I am happy I got to meet him after a couple of years of being Internet buds.

After lunch, I give him the RCO frequency and tell him I always have trouble getting Philly on it. I listen in as he calls them up. He is able to raise them but the reception is really bad. They rattle off this clearance from hell. The only thing I got right was the first fix!

After his departure, I took a look at the route they gave him and figured they knew the weather was getting pretty bad east of the PA/NJ line and routed him north over Allentown and behind the majority of the weather.

Like an expectant father I watch his progress and it looks like everything is going good with a few deviations. As he gets close to his destination, I see him working around some weather, but he lands safely.

Bob -- thanks for taking the time today! Made for a good ending to the week!

[Marauder]

And oh yeah, his panel is a 10/10 on the drool scale...

[Bob_Belville]

Marauder, the pleasure was all mine. Thanks again for lunch and the story swap. 

 

I did get the plane washed, particularly after I landed on the edge of a storm. Got soaked to the skin getting stuff from the plane to my daughter car.

 

As to the clearance... I entered all those fixes in to the 750 more or less, took off and started toward Modena and essentially everything was changed. Have I ever mentioned how wonderful my panel is? GPSS and STEC flying the plan while I'm adding details up the road.

 

The NY weather I skirted had Westchester shut down, one guy told ATC he had 15 minutes fuel... 

 

Tomorrow's return to NC looks even more fun.  Did I ever mentioned I'm too old for this stuff?

[carusoam]

Has it really been years?

Time flys. Must be by Mooney!

-a-

[Bob_Belville]

Mission accomplished, 9.5 on the Hobbs since yesterday morning but got my bride home from MA. Priceless.

[aviatoreb]

That's a lotta stuff for two in the bag seat.  That airplane is one big suitcase!