Had a aviation expierence for my wife's 50th

[Bob]

Yesterday I made my first attempt at gps sky writing.  I sent my wife a message so she could watch it come together thru the day.  All went well.

 

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N231PZ

 

[Jeff_S]

That's really cool, except I don't think MY wife would like her age celebrated openly on the internet! That's one understanding mate you've got there.

 

BTW, how did you do that? Did you just set up flight following, trace the note over a map in ForeFlight and then fly over the note?

[Seth]

That is amazing.  Great job.  Give's me some neat ideas for the future.

 

-Seth

[Shadrach]

You were at an IFR Alt. How did you file? How did you plot it?

[bonal]

Was ATC assisting with vectors  .  Very creative, A video of the flight would have been very entertaining

[Bob]

I got a trial version of map plotting software from expertgps.com, drew out what I wanted to say, determined what waypoints I wanted on the drawn line and exported waypoints.  Next step was to use Excel to adjust the format to work with Foreflight.  Last step was to import the 300 waypoints into Foreflight as user waypoints.  I did talk to Foreflight tech support for assistance.  They were very helpful and great as always!

 

I contacted Chicago center prior and talked to them about ideal altitudes and options.

 

I did file IFR so I knew it would show up on Flight aware.  The flight plan was simple with only 10 actual waypoints to give the controllers waypoints to send me to a general direction in their system.  I am not sure if it helped or not?

 

I opened up my flight plan while in the air and asked them to review remarks.  Some had questions or requests.  "What are you writing Mooney?"  "Report when going East of....."  "Can you stay at 9000 for a few minutes for traffic?"  The entire flight was between Rockford Approach and Chicago Center so minimal frequency changes helped.  If I went up to 12K, I would have been with one Center the whole time.

 

My flight plan remarks were: gps sky writing flight.  Requesting pilot self vectoring with altitude block of 8000-10000ft.  Flight area is South of line KJVL to KDBQ and North of location from 12 miles South of DBQ to C77.  Pilot consulted ZAU prior.  Thanks for your help!

 

I know my process can be easily improved upon, but it worked on this flight.  The request for a block altitude was due to the sharp turns in a few areas.  I wanted to climb and scrub off speed without pulling back power, since this was also a break-in flight for a top overhaul.

 

1hr into the flight, I asked myself "Bob, what the heck are you doing, this was a dumb idea"  But all went well, just high work load for a solo flight. If anyone tries a similar flight, please message me.  I would be glad to help!

[wiguy]

Looks great! I think you get an A+ for effort too.

[Piloto]

Bob, you are a lucky a guy with a girl that appreciates the writing on Flightaware. But my wife would rather go for a nice birthday card with a juicy check in it.

José

[N33GG]

Very cool!

 

I bet ATC will put an end to this if too many people do it...

[Hank]

Cool! You're giving me ideas, and I live in the uncongested rural South. I still have time to plan, so I can't show her your results first . . .

[Danb]

That's cool and creative. Great thought process.

[Bob]

I think if it is done in the right area and planned away from approaches and high work load times, it "mixes it up" for the controllers.  At some points, the controller seamed do get a kick out of it and enjoy the activity and at the end, it got busy and closer to Chicago and I could feel the extra workload.  The key is to ask, thank and help by offering general revised area updates, etc.  I hope they allow others to do it.  I got the idea from Boeing a few years back, but they used actual IFR waypoints, not user defined. 

 

If Hank or anyone else plans a similar flight, please keep me in the loop, glad to offer help!

[1964-M20E]

I was kind of afraid to open this one I wasn't sure what to expect.

[TWinter]

Very creative..I'm sure ATC does not get these type requests very often so they probably thought it was pretty cool. Happy Birthday to the wife

[RocketAviator]

WOW

A++++++++ for creativity and execution!

I would put you up for Mooneyspace Creativity of the Year Award..... if we had one!

[bonal]

looking at the flight path makes me wonder what your turn rate and angle of bank was for the lower case I's and the top of the C.  Like I mentioned above this would have made for a great flight video. again very nicely done

[kmyfm20s]

That's awesome! Print some of the screen shots and frame them.

[Bob]

The tight turns like the top of the "i's" were a little tougher than the rest.  That is why I had a block altitude.  Coming up on a 180, I climbed to really slow down and then did a very steep turn.  Some other things that I did not expect.  I had to make constant waypoint adjustments.  If I overshot the left turn, going North for the right side of the "0", I adjusted all the right side waypoints, to keep the line straight.  This was also important when I was off a little and was going twice over the same line, like the bottom of the "O".  If I did not move the waypoints, I did not know where my first track was to shoot for the second time over the same line.  The "IS" was the toughest!

 

The beginning of the "M" had a full circle like the dot of the "O".  Since my turn was real time and ATC's log timing was longer than my turn, it missed the right side of the circle. I did a full circle turn  around DBQ.  I did think about this while flying, but had no way of knowing if I was good or not.  I think this may have helped me with the tip of the "I's" and "C".  All just tips to raise the bar next time.

 

I have no plan in the near future to do any more, but I am thinking that a "Juliana is 16" for my daughter in 4 years may be a nice add to her Mom's.  Shoot, I am already looking at tight turns!

 

Looks like many like the idea and I hope we see many more.  OK, who is up next?

[MooneyBob]

That's what I call determination. Great job.

[bonal]

As fine an example of airmanship as I have seen nice flying

[carl]

what was your filght time to do this? 

or did I miss that .

 

also , I was alway a bet afraid of ATC , I think of them as more friendy not. 

[carusoam]

I've seen the Boeing trails...

Probably took 100 professional people to plan to make the squarish letters.

This is the nicest creative IFR Mooney flying I've ever seen!

Best regards,

-a-