Ok, I know, I don't update this very often.  But, it has actually been a long time since I've had a flying "Adventure." What with flying under the hood every few months to keep my instrument rating current, and all that jazz, I just don't fly that much any more.

Anyway, on Friday, March 6, 2009, my brother-in-law, who my wife (his sister) and I raised since he was 9, graduated from the Marine Corp basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot - San Diego.  We flew out to San Diego (commercially, of course) the prior Wednesday so that we could attend the Family Day activities Thursday morning. 

I decided to rent an airplane and go do some sight seeing.  Since I would be flying in some of the busiest and complex airspace in the country, I also decided to rent a CFI.

The process started about three weeks ago, when I put out a query to my local flight club asking for recommendation.  It took less than a day before I received word recommending a particular fellow named Jean-Jacques Bellier who flew with the Armed Forces Aero Club.   I made a few phone calls and arranged to meet Monsieur Bellier at Montgomery Field at 4:00pm Thursday.

When he arrived, he handed me the keys to a 172, a fuel cup, a dip tube gauge, and told me to do the preflight while he de-briefed the student that he had just flown with.  I spent a little extra time doing the preflight since I wasn't as familiar with the history of that plane as all the others I flew; it took me about 15-20 minutes.   I awaited his return in the left seat.

When he came back out, he told me that I would be unable to be the left-seater because of the AFAC's insurance requirements, and I could not act as PIC.  So, he would be legally responsible for the flight and act as sole PIC.  But he assured me that I would be handling the controls...from the right seat!  That'd be a first for me.   I've "Flown" from the right side, but never done any takeoffs or landings sitting on the wrong side.  This would be a new experience.

We spent about 10 minutes talking about our route, which had special significance in order to avoid the SUA's surrounding Montgomery (MYF).   So, I read him the checklist items, he started it up, pulled us out of the cramped parking spot, and turned control over to me once we were on the yellow line.

We started out at Gibb's Flying Service, listened to ATIS, got ground clearance (Mr. Bellier handled the radios for the entire flight since he knew all the magic words and numbers.), and we taxied to runway 28R, the largest of the three runways at MYF at 4577 feet.  After doing a flawless run-up, we were cleared for takeoff on a westerly departure without any delay. 

First order of business was to climb above Traffic Pattern Altitude, then point our nose westward to Mt. Solidad, and toward the coastline.  The floor of SAN's Class B lies above at 4800 feet, and there's a segment of airspace north of Mt. Solidad where Mirimar Marnine Corps Air Station and SAN's Class B's overlap, with a slice of freedom between 3200 and 6800, so we needed to be above 3200 to enter it, and we were climbing to 4500 on a northwestly route.   We flew a few miles offshore, following the coastline as far north as Carlsbad.  We could see about 20 miles offshore the USS Nimitz doing flight ops before circling back toward the southeast, again along the coast.   We entered the same slot of airspace, but this time followed an established VFR corridor further south, which brought us over the eastern end of SAN, near the North Island Naval Air Station, Coronado Island and the famed Hotel del Coronado, then southeast to Chula Vista and into the pattern at Brown, which is about a mile from the Mexico border and Tijuana. 

At Brown, we did four Touch and Goes, then headed back out at 4500 to go through the corridor, back over the Bay (and again the USS Ronald Reagan in port), to head back to MYF.   The routing and the way airspace works makes one have to lose about 3000 feet of altitude in just a few miles to avoid busting the Class B.  That was a bit of a trick, but was easily accomplished by flying a long downwind after we had been cleared "Left Downwind for 28R."   However, before turning base, we were told to land on 28L, which is the 2nd shortest runway at 3401 feet.  Two feet shorter and it'd be the shortest... 

28L has no PAPI or VASI, is short and narrow, so I came it a bit low and fast, but was able to correct without issue.  We were back in our stall about 20 minutes before deep dark.

What a fun afternoon!!!

Check out my ILS landing today....

I tell you what.

There is NOTHING more satisfying than to take your child for their very first flight, and to watch their eyes positively pop wide open when the wheels depart the ground.

Such as it was for me and my daughter tonight.

Lexie, who's only 3, adopted her daddy's love of aviation while I was studying for my instrument rating.  She would curl up with me in my recliner and watch my Sporty's Instrument Pilot DVDs.  She even knows her phonetic alphabet better than she does the regular one!  Boy, won't that be a trip when she enters kindergarten and says "... X-Ray, Yankee, ZULU!" 

At any rate, I had planned to go out tonight to get some Night Stop and Goes before TKI shuts down for the fall for surface rehabilitation (the runway will be closed for about 2 months, and the Texins fleet will be relocated to Sherman, TX, which is about an hour away from me.)

She looked at me with big brown eyes and said, "Daddy, I want to go flying, too!!!"  I thought about it for a while, and decided that if one of her uncles (who are 12) would sit in the back with her, I could manage.

I half anticipated she'd freak out as we began to roll out, and was fully prepared to abort the takeoff.  But when I glanced over my shoulder after rotating and stabilzed climb, and saw her nose pressed to the rear window, and a big grin reflecting with each strobe flash, I knew we were golden. 

I did two stop and goes, then departed the pattern toward the city lights.  She was bedazzled.  I could hear her squealing "Look at that!!!" at just about every possible thing she saw.  We flew around Plano and Murphy for about 10 minutes, then headed back in for our final full stop.

When I turned off on the taxiway, she asked, "Daddy, can we take off again??"

She's hooked.  Just like her dad.  

I started to title this one "First IFR Cross Country," but of course, it wouldn't be, since I did several during the training.  But during those, I had an instructor aboard.  And this one wasn't solo, because I had two of my kids with me.  And, it's too long to call this entry "First IFR Cross Country as an Instrument Rated Pilot (But Not Solo.)"  Nuf said?

At any rate, I once again decided to fly up to Branson, MO over this long weekend, and this ~300nm flight was to be filed IFR, even though the weather outbound was VMC.

I filed:  ADS TEX9.MLC RZC HARKS PLK  (Addison Airport to Taney County Regional via Texoma9 Departure, McAllister Transition, to Razorback VOR, to HARKS intersection, Direct) at 7000 feet.  Had lots of vectoring out of the area (in fact, I never actually flew much of the departure route at all.)   Before reaching MLC, I was given "Direct..." all the way to the destination airport.  Ultimately, I was given a visual approach, with no vectors needed to find the airport.

We arrived about 30 minutes after sunset Friday Evening, making this my first nighttime arrival to PLK.  And as expected, since this was a holiday weekend, the field was CROWDED.  My dad arrived at the airport a while ahead of me to stake out a parking spot, one of only a handful remaining.  Two other birds arrived right after me, and probably filled them up.

We spent Saturday and Sunday in the area (including a trip back to the airport to pay for fuel and tiedowns) and left early Monday Morning.

The trip out was quite different weatherwise than in.  In fact, we were IMC due to poor visibility for the majority of the trip, including some clouds along the red river.

I had the wonderful opportunity to fly a C172SP with Garmin G1000 avionics for the first time yesterday, with an outfit called Lone Star Flyers, out of Addison Airport (ADS).

I came across this business searching the web for something totally unrelated, and while exploring, saw that they rent their airplanes to outsiders as long as the pilots are appropriately rated, and have a checkout flight with one of their instructors.

Given that the cost to rent their planes is about the same as what I pay at TFC, and given that Lone Star's planes are MUCH newer and better equipped, I decided I'd go ahead and take a checkride with them, if nothing else but to have a Plan B in my pocket if TFC's planes were unavailable.

One of the planes on their rental list is N18563, which has a G1000 panel.  For only $20/hr more than the standard SPs, I figured it'd be interesting to see how those avionics worked.  Plus, getting checked out in the G1000 is automatically good for checkout in the NON-G1000 planes (but, of course, not vice versa.)

So, I arranged to meet with one of their instructors at 7:30PM to get checked out.  Below are my impressions of the G1000.

We agreed that the flight should take plus under Simulated Instruments (what's the point of NOT doing that, if you expect to fly their equipment in IFR), with particular focus on using the Autopilot for the approaches, and the G1000 being just a "brief" highlight.

Before taking off, Torrey (the CFII) programmed the Integral GPS with DIRECT HQZ, and observed that the course line went through a corner of the floor of the DFW Class B.  We took off at 8:45ish, and headed EAST, hand flying to the north of the DIRECT route to avoid Class B corner.

The G1000 made this a peice of cake.  Since it knew our altitude, and given it was set to only showed the sectors of Class B that were active at our altitude, there was little involved in the navigation.  The MFD also had our heading shown using a typical HSI presentation, but also showed a nice little green dotted arrow pointing WELL off the left side of the nose, indicating our actual TRACK.  Of course, the wind was so strong (30kts) there was little doubt visually what the wind was doing, but up in the right hand corner of the screen, the actual winds were displayed!  Ordinarily, one would have to use the whiz-wheel or the GPS computer applications to calculate the winds aloft.  The G1000 does this in real time.

After a while, we were on our way direct to PQF (the NDB that represents the Initial and Final Approach Fixes for the ILS Runway 17 approach.)  All I had to do was keep the green arrow superimposed on the purple DIRECT COURSE line, and crosswinds were automatically compensated.  When we overflew the NDB, we turned outbound for the procedure turn, as the ILS Localizer display had become active.

Frequency selection was also a peice of cake.  I never mastered all the shortcut steps, but Torrey demonstrated that it took about 5 clicks and a few twirls of knobs to preload the frequencies for the CTAF and ILS into the standby frequency windows, and I then simply toggled them into the active.  All I had left to do was confirm against the approach plates that the frequencies were correct (the G1000 even decodes the IDENT for you by displaying the letters IHQZ next to the frequency!)

Once turning inbound on the procedure turn, Torrey showed me how to engage the Approach Mode of the autopilot (Altitude-> ARM.   Heading Mode->ACTIVATE.  Approach Mode->ARM) then took my hands and feet off the controls.

On intercepting the localizer, the plane gently banked into the approach course and absolutely NAILED the intercept.  We flew for about 4 or 5 more minutes until the Glideslope Bug came active, dropped down the rail, and BLINK, the AP announciated APPROACH, the trim wheel whirred to intercept the glideslope, and all I had to do was pull the throttle back to about 1900 RPM to avoid rocketing down the approach.

The "needles," (or bugs) never left center by more than a half dot at the most.  It was an impressively accurate descent, especially considering the roiling air going through a sheer boundary (30kts aloft, 10G15 on the ground).  When reaching DA, I looked up to see we were right down the centerline.  I was told to disconnect the AP and fly the rest of the way down by hand. 

If we had executed a MISSED, I could have set the GPS and Autopilot to fly the entire missed approach procedure, including the hold.  Now, of course, the Autopilot needs guidance, so it's not going to execute the missed unaided.  The PILOT must execute the missed, load the altitude and heading for the initial segments to get to the safe turning altitude, before engaging the GPS tracking, but it's still quite a burden saver.

On the way down, we got a TRAFFIC ALERT from the TCAS.  Another pilot was in the vicinity, and we allowed ourselves to get a bit close.  Nothing dangerous, mind you, but the TCAS function the G1000 was always watching and squawked "TRAFFIC.  TRAFFIC." into the intercom.  Looking at the map, we could see where to look.

After a touch and go, we headed further out of town and did some basic airwork (as part of the checkout regime) including Slow Flight, Stalls, emergency procs, etc. etc, then headed back into Addison.

Calling approach, we asked for vectors for the ILS.  All I had to do was twist a few knobs as new vectors were assigned, and in short order, we were once again attached to the localizer and glideslope all the way to the runway, disconnecting the AP when we were about 75 feet above the deck.

So, impressions flying IFR:  Piece of cake.  The information you get from the "Six Pack" are all there, and in a much more condensed area of space.  This makes scanning a dream, with less fatigue since ones eyes don't have to cover so much real-estate.  The instruments, being INSTANT reacting, can be a bit dodgy.  I found myself fighting the airspeed tape early on because the gusts were obvious.  All the other basics were intuitive.

The NAVIGATION was slightly more complex than just looking at two CDIs and a pair of needles, but not much more so.  I couldn't figure out if it was possible to view BOTH CDIs simultaneously, or just one.

All in all, it was awesome.  I can't wait to get more time in this plane.

It isn't every day that one gets to introduce youngsters to aviation, and today I had the opportunity to take my two nieces, ages of 8 and 12, along with their father (my brother-in-law) up on a quick out-and-back.

We took off from McKinney around 11:15AM or so, and flew northwest to Celina (so I could see if the man I pay to mow my property is actually doing it!), then south to Prosper Texas, over Deion Sanders' estate, then out to Lake Lavon, and back.  All told, we were airborne for a little over a half hour, which was apparently just the perfect duration, considering the light turbulence.

I think both gals had a good time; hopefully it's a memory that will stick with them for a good long while!

A year! Wow. So, what have I been doing in that time?  Well, if you've been reading the flight log, you'll know that I've been working on my instrument rating, had a child, broke my arms, and all kinds of other distracting things. But, no longer!

I earned my instrument ticket in June, and today was my first SOLO IFR flight in Actual Instrument Conditions (IMC).

The weather was perfect for the trek; a relatively low overcast (around 1100 to 2000 feet AGL) and no thunderstorms yet, so I booked a two hour block of time in 3NB, filed a Round Robin Flightplan between McKinney and Mesquite Metro.

The only weird aspect of this flight, I guess, was when the McKinney controller said, "733NB cleared to McKinney as filed. Fly runway heading, climb and maintain 2000..." Of course, I had filed for DESTINATION of TKI, but it's still weird hearing them clear you to where you're presently sitting...

So, I took off. 2000 wasn't good enough to get into the clouds, so I asked for higher and was given 3000. Into the clouds I went, and was handed off to the next controller. I intercepted the localizer fairly quickly (about 20 miles away) and, enjoying the LACK of view, was disappointed when I was cleared for the approach so soon, which implied that I needed to descend to the appropriate altitude to begin the approach. The next 15 minutes or so were all VMC, so the arrival wasn't very interesting...

I did a touch and go at Mesquite, called the approach controller back, and was given 3000 back to McKinney. To get a little more experience, I requested the FULL ILS at McKinney (which would include an outbound course, a time procedure turn, etc.) and was told it'd be doubtful given the amount of IFR arrivals at TKI that would conflict.

During the rest of the flight, the controller spent what seemed like 10 minutes trying to call an unresponsive airplane. Ultimately, he called ME and asked ME if I could call him. I tried, no success. I told the controller if he gave me relative positions, I'd keep my eyes out for him, in case there were problems. At this point, I started my approach at TKI, and the guy finally called the controller and anounced he'd lost his radios and was now on his handheld.

About 1/3 of the approach to TKI was made IMC, and the clouds broke around 1800, but the visibility was poor enough that the airport wasn't visible until about 5 miles away.

What a cool day!

Friday, May 26, 2006 - Monday, May 29, 2006

Wow!  It has been WAY too long since I've updated this page!  Better get back to it!  Can't say that there hasn't been ANY memorable adventures between the last entry and this, maybe I'll go back and recall some later.

At any rate, this was Memorial Day weekend, and our kids just got out of school on Wednesday. We had already been planning to take a trip up to my folks' place in Branson (actually, it was previously scheduled for the following weekend) and decided to go up there a bit earlier than planned. Of course, I decided to fly, and the rest of the family took to the asphalt and concrete in the minivan.

The weather for the prior few days had been absolutely beautiful. The typical summer pattern: Wake up to low ceilings, which would rise and break up as the day went on, leaving good VFR conditions by 9 or 10 AM. Friday was no exception.

I took off from McKinney at 10:10AM, climbed around and through the gaps in the clouds (2000 ft scattered) and headed northeast to the Bonham VOR (vBYP) for my first leg, thence to McAlester VOR (vMLC), to Razorback VOR (vRZC), direct to an airport with three names:  M. Graham Clarke, Point Lookout, or now, Taney County Regional Airport (PLK).

The weather was absolutely perfect VFR conditions. Smooth air, few to scattered cumulus a few thousand feet below me, an overcast cirrus WAY too high for me to worry about, and me cruising merrily along at 120kts under the assisting radar eyes of Forth Worth Center and Razorback & Springfield approaches. Actually, it got a bit interesting just as I reached near Fayetteville, AR, where, for only my second time, I flew through a little light rain. Forward visibility was unimpeded, so I was actually a bit surprised seeing water drops hitting the windshield. I called Jonesboro Radio (which was actually just a few miles away from me) and reported this, they said it must be Virga because nothing was reaching the ground at any of the four airports in the 10-mile area.

I had good southerly to southwesterly winds, which gave me about an 18kt - 20kt push from behind. I had planned for 2:27:00 enroute, and arrived about 10 minutes earlier than planned, using 21 gallons of 100LL.

So, I arrived just shy of 1:00pm local, and the Minivan Express, having left at the same time, arrived around 5:30pm. It was a good thing I got there when I did, because it turned out that the field filled up, and they ran out of spots to park planes (I'm guessing they could accommodate more than 50 planes... tells you how busy they were, as there were maybe 20 on the ground when I got there.)

When the return trip time arrived, the weather in the immediate vicinity looked fine, but the METARs showed MVFR and a spot or two of IFR, both due to low ceilings, on my route of flight. We decided to head to the airport anyway, and just observe the conditions once there.

There was a scattered to broken layer at about 3000 feet, with tops to 5000 in the vicinity of the airport, and winds beginning to pick up a tad.

Now, the trick with Point Lookout airport is this:  It was built on the top of a hill, and the designers of the airfield either couldn't or didn't consider the prevailing winds. The runway at PLK is oriented roughly East/Southest to West/Northwest, and the prevailing winds are North/South. The winds at the time were already South/Southwest at 13 kts, direct crosswind. Crosswinds aren't as big a deal on takeoff as they are on landing, but if you have any kind of problem with the plane and need to circle back and land, you don't want to take off in winds that you can't land in!

So, even though the TAFs were indicating that ceilings wouldn't improve until after 12:00PM, I decided to take off around 10:30 before the winds got any stronger. And, I was GLAD I did!

By the time I got preflight done and the plane pushed out of its stall, I took off at about 10:50, flew out over Table Rock Lake, and then had to make one race-track pattern with 3 mile legs, still climbing, to get over the scattered clouds around 4000 feet with tops to 7000 feet. For most of the trip, the clouds were well below me, but I could see some towering cumulus off to my south.

Lest you get the idea that things ALWAYS work out one way or another, now comes a time where it DIDN'T.

Plano ISD is on Spring Break this week, so my wife planned a family trip up to Branson and encouraged me to fly up there. The weather forecast was looking really good for Friday, but I had to work at least a half day on Friday.

By the time I got home and got everything together, it was too late to depart and arrive during Daylight hours. I didn't feel comfortable flying into an unknown airport during night hours, particularly one as challenging as Point Lookout (PLK). So, we scrubbed our departure and elected to wait until Saturday morning to take off.

When Saturday rolled around, it was rather foggy, with the TAFs indicating the fog would lift to 25,000 overcast by 10:00AM. If my wife were to wait until that time to leave Dallas with the kids, they wouldn't arrive until well after dark, which is something THEY didn't want to do. So, the plan was for me to head to TKI early that morning (around 8:30) to preflight the plane and do the engine runup. That way, if the plane failed the preflight for some reason, the wife could simply swing by TKI on the way out and we'd drive together. If the plane passed the ground tests, then we'd let the Minivan Express pass us by on the way out, and we'd just wait for VMC.

One of my twins decided to take the flight with me because he wanted to be the first to see Nanna and Grandpa. So, we both headed out to the airport, and did the preflight and engine runup (in low IFR conditions at the time) with no issues. Then it was just a matter of waiting out the fog, while the Caravan continued North.

Unfortunately, the visibility didn't improve to basic VFR minimums until closer to 11:00AM. The "fog" had lifted, but visibility was reduced below 3 miles due to haze & mist. So, we piled into the plane and headed off into the wild grey wonder. Visibilities were 5+ miles until we got north of the Red River, at which point they began to improve steadily to much greater than 10 miles.

By now, we were on Flight Following with Fort Worth Center about 30 miles south of McAlester, OK, when quite unexpectedly, my COM2 radio went Bye-Bye. When I looked down at the Ammeter, it was showing a deep discharge at 12 Amps, and the system voltage was 13 (instead of the normal 27V).

I was having some kind of charging system failure.

I called Fort Worth Center and told them of the issue and said I would be proceeding direct and landing McAlester.

A few minutes later, I got the idea to cycle the master switch. When I did, the system popped back up to 27V and indicated deep charging at 20+ Amps.

So, I called ZFW back and told them the gremlin had been kicked out of the plane, and I was resuming previous course. I added the Ammeter to my instrument scan.

Not five minutes later, it indicated a 1A discharge at 24V. Not as bad as before, but not good, either.

I was a bit embarrassed to have to call ZFW to tell them that I was, again, landing McAlester, but they didn't seem bothered. I shut off everything but Com1 since they could see me on primary radar even without my transponder operating, and continued to call traffic for me until I was on about a 10 mile final. I dropped from 7500 to 2500 feet in just about 5 miles, and landed at MLC uneventfully.

The FBO's mechanic, who was listening in on the CTAF as I was arriving was waiting for me at the ramp to offer assistance.

I was indeed the beneficiary of Grace in that the Minivan Express had also just stopped in McAlester for lunch. So, after about a half hour, the airplane tied down in MLC, we were on our way again, arriving in the Branson area at about 7:00pm.

When departure day came, we trucked out of the area around 9:00AM and arrived back at McAlester around 2:00pm.

I quickly did a preflight and told the wife to head out as soon as she saw me start the engine (I was concerned their wouldn't be enough battery power to start it up, but there was.)

I taxied to Runway 1, did the engine tests, which showed the system charging again, and quickly launched into some rather strong, gusty, northerly winds. As I climbed out, the alternator once again fritzed, so I shut down the electrical system completely to conserve power for the necessary radio and transponder usage at TKI.

Climbing to 4500, it was a rather bumpy but fast ride. I estimate that I was making close to 130kts ground speed, as I was able to get from Atoka to Durant in less than 15 minutes, and I wasn't going straight line.

The 110+nm flight to TKI took less than 55 minutes.

When I flipped the Master back on to open communications with TKI tower, I was pleased that all was working, but was rather shocked when I heard the wind conditons: 310 at 14, Gusts to 28!

I prayed all the way through my downwind leg that a gust wouldn't wait until the flare to spring me off into the grass at the worst possible moment. It was answered, but my mouth was still completely dry and my heart was beating at the challenging landing.

I beat the Minivan Express home by more than 2 hours.

This day brought some welcome calm air and clear skies, as the prior days and weeks had been littered with either low ceilings, rain, storms, or high winds.

As today had nearly unlimitted visibility, no ceilings, and only 8 knot crosswinds (out of the due west), it looked like a perfect day to go punch holes in the sky.

I took a friend and coworker with me on a "fun fly," beginning during daylight hours around 5 o'clock. We took off from McKinney and headed north over Van Alstyne so he could get the requisite aerial view of his estate. The clear skies brought a rapid decrease in light as we were on our way back. The runway lights and beacon were on as we landed at 5:30, handing the plane over to a waiting pilot preparing to do instrument maneuvers.

By the time we settled into a dinner table at Saltgrass Steakhouse in McKinney around 6:00, the sky was black.

We picked the plane back up at 7:30pm, intending to do an aerial tour of Downtown Dallas, in all its nighttime neon, mercury, and sodium vapor enhanced glory.

The air was cool, crisp, and calm as we tookoff heading south. I called up DFW approach on 124.3 and asked permission to fly right turns around downtown. They immediately gave me clearance to enter Class Bravo airspace, but told me it would be up to Love Field's tower controller to decide our fate.

Love field lies just a few miles northwest of the center of Dallas, with beautiful skyscrapers right off the approach end of runways 31L and 31R.

As we crossed over Interstate 635 (the visual boundary between Class E and Class B airspace below 4000 feet), we were handed over to Love Tower.

"What are your intentions?" I was asked.

"737TY would like VFR tour over downtown Dallas, right turns. One complete circle, then VFR back to McKinney."

I was asked, "Are you familiar with the area?"

"Affirmative."

"Maintain VFR at or below 2000. Overfly the Cotton Bowl then turn right toward Reunion Tower, then make right turns around downtown. I'll call you again when you turn North."

"Roger."

It didn't take me long to realize that, though I knew where the Cotton Bowl was, I didn't have a clue what it looked like ... in the dark!

So, I just pointed the nose toward where we THOUGHT Fair Park was, and off we went. A few minutes later, the darkened stadium, illuminated by parking lot lights, passed under our right wing.

Incidentally, for those who don't know:  Fair Park is where the Great State Fair of Texas (home of Big Tex) is held every year, and the Cotton Bowl is where the annual Texas/O.U. Football matchup is played.

So, flight path defined, we circled the beautifully lighted downtown nexus. This professional photo may give you an idea of the sites, but nothing can compare to being there.

Turning north, Love Tower called us back: "737TY, I have no departures waiting. Would you like to continue your turn?"

"Affirmative."

So around we went again, this time a little closer in. What a beautiful sight!

The next time around, we were instructed to follow Highway 75 North, and to maintain separation with a Careflight Helicopter also along 75.

We headed back to McKinney and did three (quite nice) Stop & Goes, and called it a night.

My folks were in town this weekend, as a monumental occasion was due to unfold on the 10th. On the 9th, I had scheduled the airplane to fly with my father to the "Place where it All Began," Ardmore, OK for lunch at the Lake Murray Lodge.

As it happened, though, my wife (who was pregnant at the moment) was admitted to the hospital by her OB to watch her blood pressure and do another full scale sonogram on our child. She ordered me to leave the hospital and go make my flight, which I did (though I abbreviated it substantially by just making the TKI Down 75 to Murphy, over to 78 to cross the lakes, then back to the airport for a smooth landing. It was about 11:30 when we landed, and Dad and I headed home to get a bite to eat.

While chowing on my homebaked ham sandwich, my wife called to say "We're going to have a baby at 4:30. Come back."

Sure enough, at around 5:16PM this day, my first daughter was brought into this world by a team of very capable doctors and a gaggle of nurses.

So, while the flight wasn't anything to "Write Home About," the day was incredible.

I was issued my Private Pilot (Single Engine Land) Certificate on a brisk February Morning this year, and have been looking for excuses to fly since.

My latest opportunity came during Mid-July, as my wife was having a baby shower in Topeka, KS, and wanted to drive up there with the family. She was also planning a two-night stopover in Claremore, OK, to visit some longtime family friends who moved from Wylie there last Summer.

My opinion: Drive? HAH! Of course, I decided to fly and let the Minivan Express catch up with me (as well as being a darned good backup plan.)

Our departure came on Wednesday, July 14. I packed the minivan with my wife, four kids, and all the luggage they had packed, and watched them drive away at around 10:00AM. I sat around the house for about another hour, updating my charts, planning my flight, and listening to a FW AFSS briefer tell me about the beautiful weather all the way to Claremore Regional Airport (GCM), a nice GA field near Tulsa.

FedEx showed up at 10:30 with my charts and AFDs that I had ordered on Monday (don't let anyone tell you that NACO isn't an efficient operation.)

I departed McKinney a little after 12:30, opened my flight plan, and started Flight Following. My intended route of flight was TKI direct vBYP V15 vOKM direct GCM, and my planned time enroute was calculated at exactly 2 hours for the 201nm distance. Climbing to 7500 feet, the few clouds at 5,000 were a nice view. The southerly component on the winds were a little more pronounced than forecast, so I eased up the throttle a little (86kt IAS, 95kt TAS, 105kt GS) so my flight would match my plan, instead of the other way around (better fuel economy being a bonus.)

Flight between TKI to OKM is beautiful, with lots of natural landmarks which exercise pilotage skills. By the way, if you've seen the signs for it driving along US HWY 69, but never noticed it from the air, the US Army Ammunition Depot in McAlester, Oklahoma is INCREDIBLY big (42,000 acres or 65 square miles), dotted with thousands of big white bunkers, making for a landmark you can see from 20-30 miles away aloft.

I arrived at GCM two minutes later than planned. GCM has nice facilities, and the FBO has two Chevy Caprices (ex Police Cruisers?) available for crew car use. I didn't need the car since I was meeting my family at the hotel, so one of the linemen offered to drive me into town (about 10 miles away) to the hotel we were staying at.

Claremore, OK is near the birthplace of entertainer and cowboy Will Rogers (of OKC's Airport fame, as well as the stretch of I-44 turnpike between Tulsa, OK and Joplin, MO). Situated squarely upon Historic Route 66, there are lots of museums and historical venues in the area, one of which is the J.M. Davis Arms & Historical Museum.

The JM Davis Museum is a must-see for anyone that is interested in firearms and their historical significance. There are over 20,000 firearms on display here, with ages ranging from 16th century handguns (and much older canon) to modern Uzis. World War Relics are on prominent display including German, Russian, and Japanese firearms, as well as the infamous Thompson Submachine Guns. The worlds smallest semiautomatic pistol (a Kolibri) and a large rifle (over 8 feet long) round out the size spectrum in the "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" case. My kids' favorites were the Bazookas, Gatling Guns, and Light Artillery pieces (what boy doesn't like machine guns!)

If you're not that into firearms, perhaps the thousands of Native American artifacts, Saddles and leather pieces, Civil War displays, musical instruments, more than 1200 German beer steins, Swords, Knives, and Daggers, and statuary would be of interest.

The museum is located at 333 Lynn Riggs Blvd. (U.S. Route 66), and admission is FREE. (Donations are graciously accepted.) You can find more information about the museum here.

Our planned departure from Claremore to Topeka, KS was on Friday morning. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating, as there were showers, thunderstorms, and overcast conditions behind and along a cool front between GCM and TOP. If we would have had time to wait four or five hours, it would have cleared up, but then if I'd have had mechanical problems, I'd have been stuck with no ride. I elected to keep the airplane parked at GCM and would drive the with the family the rest of the way.

I was anticipating flying to Topeka Philip Billard (TOP) because it was closer to where we were staying, but there is much more action at the larger airport: Topeka Forbes Field (FOE), home of the Combat Air Museum. The museum is On Field, and is marked on Taxiway direction signs directing pilots to a dedicated parking ramp for their hangars.

The Combat Air Museum has several dozen planes on display where you can get up close and personal.

These planes include the F-14A Tomcat, F-4D Phantom, Lockheed EC-121T Super Constellation outfitted as the predecessor to the AWACs (which you can walk through), a T-33A, F-101B Voodoo, Sikorsky CH-54A Tarhe (Sky Crane) (That's ONE BIG HELO), Bell UH-1H Iroquois (Huey), and more.For $100, you can even get your tailwheel endorsement in a Douglas DC-3.

Just kidding.

They had a separate cockpit module from one of the fighter planes (can't remember which) that you can climb into and see just how uncomfortable it'd be as a 6'4" pilot in the USAF. You can also walk through their restoration hangar where they store their active restoration projects.

Admission to this museum was $6.00 for adults, and $4.00 for older children. More information can be found here.

While you're at the airport, you can also visit the Museum of the Kansas National Guard. While not as large as the other museums mentioned here, there are still some interesting displays, and admission is free.

This very new museum (opening in 1997) displays the weapons, uniforms and other artifacts carried or worn by Kansas Guardsmen from the Civil War to the Gulf War. I was rather intrigued by the display of a General Electric Vulcan Gatling Gun pod.

Also on static display outside on their spacious property are several heavy artillery pieces, helicopters, and armored vehicles (including tanks.) See this for more information.

If I'd had more time, I would have also visited the Kansas Museum of History, but alas, Monday morning was time to return back to Dallas. My wife dropped me off at the Claremore Airport at 8:00AM, and I departed around 9:00. I was rather glad to see a ground speed of 120kts with an IAS of 88kts. NORTH WINDS during the summer are a welcome rarity on a south-bound flight in the Texas/Oklahoma region. How often does it happen that you get a tail wind on both your outbound and return flights? Not very!

It took 1:41 to fly back to McKinney, where I arrived home about two hours ahead of the Minivan Express.

Ah, Finally. The reason I became a pilot in the first place; my first vacation flight.

Intended destination: Branson, Missouri, the home of my parents, and the plane has been reserved in my name for months. Spent HOURS upon HOURS planning and dreaming about the trip, about the freedom that flying would afford.

The weeks prior to the departure had some rather foul weather; it was low overcast every morning, which would persist until some random time in the day (usually late afternoon or evening) thanks to a stationary front, low pressure in the Tennessee area, and a Dry Line in West Texas, that was causing incredible humidity and rather "stable" conditions. Persistantly.

Sunday came around, and things looked BEAUTIFUL in the morning; with mostly clear skies. By the time we were out of church, the clouds had begun to build again. And by the time we got to the airport, the overcast layer was back. We headed to the airport anyway, as the ceilings were just "high enough."

There was an AIRMET posted warning of moderate turbulence in the route of flight, so I decided to dope the kids with Dramamine. This was when I learned that one of my younger boys has a STRONG aversion to taking pills that don't taste good. Instead of drinking it down with water, he instead placed the pill in his mouth where it dissolved, and made him ... uhm ... ill.

After finally getting a pill down, about an hour later, we headed out to the plane to load up. We finally took off around 2:00pm under broken clouds. Climbed to 3500, and would stay there for the entire route of TKI - BYPvor - MLCvor - RZCvor - HRO (Harrison, Arkansas).

The turbulence was light, but the Dramamine had already knocked the kids out, sleeping soundly in their seats with their headsets all askew.

The southerly winds were a big help; we made better than 130kts across the ground with an indicated speed of 95kts. Got into a little trouble in Fayetteville area when Razorback approach control and I got confused over my position. They told me I was 5 miles south of Razorback when my GPS told me I was 20 miles southWEST.

As a result of my failure to question, I looked out my left window at one point and saw a nice looking airport a few miles north of my position. It took me a few minutes to realize I had just flown RIGHT between Springdale and Drake airports. I called their towers and found I had clipped the southern end of Springdales space, but they said no harm done, just watch better next time. Whew. I had my NASA form ready to go otherwise.

At any rate, about 15 minutes later, I started getting into the Ozark foothills, and my 3500 feet MSL didn't seem so high any more; at some points I was less than 1000 AGL. But about 15 minutes after that, I was on the ground at HRO, after a total flying time of about 2:20, and 10 minutes later than my flight plan had predicted.

So, we spent Sunday afternoon, Monday, and Tuesday, in the beautiful country around Table Rock Lake, MO.

Sunday's FORECAST for the area had a 20% chance of showers in the evening. Well, the odds are always with the house; they came in a BIG way Sunday around 9:30-10:00PM. A large Post Oak tree in the yard across the street was struck by lightning and blown clear of bark.

Monday had BEAUTIFUL weather, and we spent most of the morning and afternoon on the lake, tubing, and generally just puttering around on the water. My kids can now tell their friends that they've innertubed from Missouri to Arkansas and back again, non-stop. (The state line goes through the lake and is well marked on the shoreline.) But Monday was also the end of the good spell of weather, as things started to degrade from that point on.

On the day of departure, the WX for HRO indicated showers and rain, overcast skies, and all that nasty jazz, and radar along the route was already indicating a building mass of thunderstorms and heavy rain from North Texas, through Oklahoma, into Northwestern Arkansas (Fayetteville Area), So, we high-tailed it to HRO, but didn't get there too soon, because the twisty winding roads made all of the kids rather green around the gills. We wound up pulling over in a state park and allowed the kids to rest and for the dramamine (Works WONDERS!) to take effect.

When we got to HRO, about 2 hours after we had left the Branson area, the weather outlook was bleak, with thunderstorms along the first half of my intended route of HRO - PGOvor - under the Rivers MOA - Hugo (Fuel) - BYPvor - TKI. We waited at the FBO (Terrific place called Harrison Jet Center) for what appeared to be an opening, if I decided to change my flight path, which I did: Now HRO - FSMvor - Direct MLC for fuel and further news on the storms building along the Red River.

After eating "lunch" out of their poorly stocked vending machine (only ONE Mrs. Baird's Apple Pie left!), the break came, and we jumped into the plane and took off, I can't remember what time, but here's some pics:

What a great day for flying.

With the weather this last week or so being just this side of horrible, things cleared up quite nicely...and just in time, too.

A month ago, business required me to take a two week stay in a little place called "India." The experience was rather different than I am accustomed to, and it was made more-the-better by the hospitality of some rather gracious colleagues. I realized during that journey that the treatment we extend to like visitors here falls short.

As luck would have it, (or, at least, circumstances) two of my former hosts are visiting the US on business, and having not yet christened my logbook with a $100 hamburger run, I invited them on an evening jaunt to Fort Worth via air.

To put the difference in weather into perspective, over the last ten days or so, the weather has been low clouds and/or windy (25-30kts), and Friday/Saturday/Sunday morning capped that off with a sizable dose of thunderstorms and rain showers. Now, I'm not complaining. North Texas is in almost dire need of rainfall. But, I was thrilled to see the skies clearing, the air drying and warming, and the breezes calming around lunchtime Sunday.

Yes, by the time our 7:00PM launch time rolled up, the skies were clear to partly cloudy.

The breezes had calmed, but that's a relative term. At 6:00PM, they were reported as 09010 as opposed to 17020G30 earlier in the week, so I decided to go out early to practice some crosswind landings (good thing, too, because my first couple were Ugly.)

At 6:45, I parked at the terminal, rigged the plane for two passengers (headsets and all that jazz), got another weather briefing (beautiful and improving), checked fuel status, and waited for the two travelers to arrive.

The plan was to take off out of TKI, and request Class B clearance over DFW airport (The Big Boy!), direct to Fort Worth Meacham Field (FTW). I had all the appropriate frequencies written down on my kneepad, and figured I had everything well prepared, so we headed off, literally into the sunset.

We took off at 7:20ish, got Dallas Approach on the radio, my request was granted with a total lack of hassle. I was asked to climb to 3500, fly over Addison, direct DFW crossing north of midfield, then heading 270, then vectored for Meacham for handoff to their tower. However, when I got just a few miles east of DFW (where I could already see the big boys taking off and landing underneath me), Dallas Approach lost my transponder code (they couldn't see my squawk, but they could still see me. Unusual, to say the least, but the same thing occurred on my jaunt to Love Field a while back.) I asked them what they wanted me to do (expecting them to vector me out of the area and cancel Class B clearance) and was just told, Proceed as before.

It must have been a light evening, between "pushes" at DFW/Love, because the approach controllers were easy-going, and had no problems working with me. The controller I was working with even contacted other regions to see if they could read my transponder, the news was that they couldn't. (Meacham Tower had no problems with it.)

Anyway, when we were a few miles west of DFW, I requested temporary frequency change to Meacham ATIS, and instead, the approach controller read me the details, gave me an initial vector for base onto Runway 16, and handed me off to Meacham Tower.

Meacham called traffic for me, but the sun was on the horizon and traffic ahead was impossible to see. I asked for avoidance vectors, and they were happily given until I had positive contact.

The landing at Meacham was smooth and comfortable (again, I'm glad I did some solo practice runs at TKI), and ground control gave me easy instructions to my FBO of choice, Trajen.

I had already called to reserve a spot and a "complimentary" crew car at Trajen, so we collected the car (a nice, low-mileage Chevy Malibu) and headed to "Restaurant Row," as directed by the receptionist there.

Dinner followed about 10 minutes hence, and ended with us having about 45 minutes to get the car back to Trajen before they closed up shop for the night. Perfect timing.

I paid my $10 parking fee to Trajen (hence the word "complimentary" attached to crew car above) and we headed back out to the plane for our return trip back to TKI.

It was now quite dark outside (around 9:30PM), and finding the appropriate taxiways was challenging; a challenge I had not yet encountered. So, I just taxied slowly until I found the main taxiway, then we were cleared to takeoff at an intersection (an MD80 was in the way doing engine tests in the main runup area at the end.)

The funny fact of the night: The same controller was working Clearance Delivery, Ground, and Tower, so I was amused every time I kept hearing the same voice. But, oh well.

We took off, switched over to Dallas Approach, and received another routing directly over DFW, then direct TKI. It's amazing how difficult it is to see the big airport at night.  Since the runways use directional lighting, they all appear dark from the side or overhead. The terminals were the only landmark I had, and it still took me a bit to recognize them. It was still a really cool picture seeing ranks of white landing lights aimed in your direction as you cross the big field. At one point later, we had a 737 headed for Love fly right underneath us by 500 feet while a CRJ (CanadAir Regional Jet) headed for DFW passed directly overhead by 500 feet, with us in the middle.

We landed at McKinney at around 10:30, well after the tower had closed.

What a great night for flying.

What a great day for flying! It was a day of firsts, as well:

• It was the first time I've flown as a certificated pilot.
• It was the first time I've flown with significant crosswinds.
• It was the first time I've flown with non-pilot passengers!

Today was an Early Release day for the kids, so they came home from school around 12:30. My wife and I had some errands we needed to run together (namely buying some furniture for the baby's room). Couple that with the fact that the weather was gorgeous, and I decided to take a half-day of vacation from work.

Sitting around looking at the nice weather from my La-Z-Boy wasn't quite cutting it for me, so I decided to take my two twin boys (age of on their first flight.

Checking the weather on the PC, McKinney was reporting 9 knot direct crosswinds (27009KT 240V300), so I decided it'd be a great day for a ride.

I also decided that, in the interest of safety, I would take the plane up solo, and make sure the winds were within my abilities (knowing that Caddo Mills would be a heck of a drive for my wife to pick me up if I couldn't land safely in the crosswind).

After especially carefully preflighting the airplane, I climbed into the cockpit, pulled up to the taxiway line and called ground control. He reported the winds as 270 at 14, which made for a rather different picture than what the METAR / ASOS were reporting. I elected to go ahead and try it out, and was glad I did.

I made one circuit in the pattern, and did one of the most beautiful crosswind landings I've ever made, touching down lightly on the upwind wheel, with a pronounced bank in place to compensate for the side component. Awesome!  What a tremendous confidence booster.

I did have a guy coming in right behind me, who was rather concerned about the spacing. He asked tower for guidance and was told, "Do whatever you think you need to do." Ugh. When I landed, I was a bit concerned about jumping on the brakes to get Taxiway C because I didn't want to weathervane into the grass, so I maintained rudder, called tower, "Unable Charlie" and raced to Delta to get out of the way. When I turned the corner, I saw the guy behind me landing.

So, I pulled up to the Wings Point terminal, and loaded my boys up, one in the front, one in the back, complete with their toy binoculars and disposable cameras, and off we went.

We took off and headed due south out of TKI airspace, and made a loose half-circle around our neighborhood, allowing them to pick out the familiar landmarks of the new PISD Football Complex, Albertson's, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, and their favorites: their elementary school, and our church.

On the way back to TKI (about 10 miles away), one of the twins started feeling a little ill (not sure why; there wasn't any turbulence) so I was rather anxious to get back on the ground because I had neglected to pack any sicksacks in my flight bag. It was frustrating then to get stuck on an extended downwind because a Citationjet was coming in, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Luckily he was able to hold his lunch.

All in all, both of them had a lot of fun, and are excited about the prospect of going flying again!