Volunteer Flying - A Great Way to Give Back

[Bob - S50]

13 hours ago, peevee said:

so I got all signed up and qualified, I picked up a short trip for next week, only 200 or 300 NM and 2 smaller people, very little luggage. Now hopefully the wind and weather behave, I'm a little worried about it being winter it doesn't take much to cancel a flight without FIKI.

It happens.  I was scheduled for one this past Monday.  Had to cancel due to weather.  I was honest when I talked to the passenger.  Told them that weather can play a factor and we wouldn't know until the day of the flight for sure.  Told them I would have a pretty good idea the evening before though.  I also let them know that safety is our first priority and getting them to their appointment is our second priority.  They agreed that safety was number one.  They had a backup plan if the flights cancelled (2 leg trip each way).

Be sure to get the Phillips 66 aviation gas card.  If the weather had been good and we could have flown as planned, I was going to stop at La Grande, OR and get Phillips gas with the card for $4.49.  After Phillips credited my card with the $1.00/gallon, my net cost would have been $3.49.  Would have saved me about $50 or so.

Hope it goes well for you.  Hang in there and have fun.

[peevee]

4 hours ago, Bob - S50 said:

It happens.  I was scheduled for one this past Monday.  Had to cancel due to weather.  I was honest when I talked to the passenger.  Told them that weather can play a factor and we wouldn't know until the day of the flight for sure.  Told them I would have a pretty good idea the evening before though.  I also let them know that safety is our first priority and getting them to their appointment is our second priority.  They agreed that safety was number one.  They had a backup plan if the flights cancelled (2 leg trip each way).

Be sure to get the Phillips 66 aviation gas card.  If the weather had been good and we could have flown as planned, I was going to stop at La Grande, OR and get Phillips gas with the card for $4.49.  After Phillips credited my card with the $1.00/gallon, my net cost would have been $3.49.  Would have saved me about $50 or so.

Hope it goes well for you.  Hang in there and have fun.

it's a long way out for the forecast, but it looks good. I didn't want to stress her out on the initial call, perhaps I should have mentioned it. I'll touch base Monday and get the plan down, it's a 2 leg trip, I'm leg 1, but honestly if no one takes leg #2 I'll probably just do the whole run.

my MCP orentation pilot mentioned he had picked people up and driven them up to our airport rather than hop into the busy field they're closer to, I took that advice (I hate that airport that much)

 

self serve here is 3.83 and I can just about make it round trip on a tank so that's hard to beat. Maybe throw on 10 gal away from home.

[jlunseth]

I have a suggestion for the Mooney Angel Flight pilots.  The "legs" are deliberately short so that pilots with limited range VFR aircraft can handle them.  Many times I have taken two legs at a time and just fly it as one Point A to Point B trip.  I have even on a couple of occasions contacted a second leg pilot and asked if I could take overy her/his leg and just fly it as one continuos trip for the patient's sake.  Everyone is in it to make sure the patient is cared for, so no one ever says "No."  Mooneys are very able long range aircraft and it is nothing for me to fly to, say Chicago, and pick someone up to come back to MN.  I have even gone to Chi, picked up a passenger going to SE Ohio, and returned home from there.  Our aircraft are among the fastest and most economical out there, so why not do that for your next AF passenger.

AF gives you credit for both "legs," not that credit is any big deal you are doing it for the good of the patient.  

Go for it.  Use that Mooney the way it was intended.

 

[peevee]

You're right, 400nm in a turbo isn't worth a stop, I grabbed leg #2.

Now I have to worry about weather, o2,weight it's almost a week out and I'm stressing about it haha

 

My conundrum is to go high and put them on ox, go at 140 with me on ox and look like a jerk for not sharing, I've never had pax off ox when I've been required but the regs say.... 

Or take an airway route and keep it at 120. Decisions decisions! 

 

Then I have to worry about the crosswinds, we're going to a really windy place historically but if it's much of a component I'll have to scrub. 

[Bob - S50]

I've done two legs too but I limit myself to about 800 miles in one day. The trip on Monday would have been 1200 miles.

[peevee]

as I feared, I had to scrub my trip, while I felt bad about it, 200% it was the right decision to make

departure point:

081338Z 0814/0912 25026G45KT P6SM FEW090 SCT150

FM081600 26020G35KT P6SM FEW090 SCT150

 

destination:

081131Z 0812/0912 26020G30KT P6SM BKN090

 

NOPE! no thanks. I did feel really bad though. Even if the surface winds weren't so bad, it's an absolute nightmare aloft:

[carusoam]

Gusting 45!

Good call when comfort and safety Are prime objectives,

-a-

[peevee]

59 minutes ago, carusoam said:

Gusting 45!

Good call when comfort and safety Are prime objectives,

-a-

plus ice, plus mtn wave, agreed. Too many hints saying don't go. No outs either, at the destination end there's nowhere to go where the wind is more favorable.