Yearly Archives: 2010

East Coast Journey (Day 0)

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So tomorrow is really day 1 of the journey.  But tonight, was time for the flight planning.  My general sequence is usually as follows:
1 Weather 2 Route Selection 3 Airport/FBO selection
Then if time permits 4 Lodging 5 Ground Transport.  But if time doesn’t permit getting to 4 or 5, I am usually happy to figure that out on the spot upon arrival.
1 Weather: The weather looks great!  I used to check weather using the ADDS.  But recently I started using the new AOPA Weather site, which I find a little better… (only wish it was available via iPhone app)
The weather is good but looks like it will be bumpy as I near the destination.  I will probably file IFR.  But the weather is good enough that I don’t need to tomorrow + going VFR usually gives me better pictures… I will do one more check before departure and make the final VFR/IFR call tomorrow.
2. Route:  Tomorrow’s route will be a short, easy one that I have flown many times:

Assuming no surprises, I should get there in time for dinner with family…
In addition, I hope to try making some R9 avionics video clips along the way.  (It will be “take 1″… So who knows how good it will turn out.)
3. Airport/FBO: Raleigh has 2 major FBOs, which is rather common at bigger airports.  Both are full service FBOs with all the amenities.  I think I will use TAC Air.  (Not any particular reason… I just had a good experience at the TAC Air in Lexington, KY a few weeks ago… thought I would give this one a try.)
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Sunrise Flight to Miami

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While I am not a huge fan of night flying, I do love departing in the dark and being airborne for sunrise.  The ride is usually smooth, clear and best of all, so “empty” that ATC will usually grant any “crazy” routing I come up with.
Today was no exception.  After an uneventful pre-flight (in the dark with a flashlight), I departed my home base @ Tampa Executive Airport (KVDF) and flew mostly direct to Opa-Locka Executive Airport (KOPF).  (Yeah I know it is a funny name for an airport… But this airport is just 8 miles away from Miami International and MUCH easier to get in and out for a little plane like mine.)
When flying alone, I typically fly most flights IFR @ 16k or 17k.  But today just felt like a VFR,  “no oxygen” day.  So after reaching my cruising altitude of 9,500, I witnessed an amazing sunrise! Unfortunately, I don’t have a good enough camera to capture it.  (Or maybe I am not a good enough photographer to capture it)… But here is my attempt:

The picture doesn’t do it justice!  I tried a dozen times to get a good picture without much success.
Between the view and the music on the sat radio, I really didn’t want the flight to end.  But before I knew it, I was getting close and had to begin my descent.  By that time (~ 7AM), the Miami airspace is starting to get busy and I had to really concentrate on the rapid fire heading/altitude changes from ATC.  I was so proud of myself for two reasons.  First, I “nailed” every instruction just right.  Second (and more satisfying), I was the only “little GA” airplane on the frequency.  Every other aircraft on the frequency was some airline or another.
So after a simple, visual landing, I followed the line guy to a parking spot and “went to work”.  After a full day of back to back meetings, it was time to go home.  I decided to take a slightly scenic route and flew up the east coast of FL to Ft Peirce, then Vero Beach before turning west.  The weather was beautiful and the sights were downright artistic.  Here are couple of shots along the way home:

Ft Pierce (along the coast) just north of Miami

Aside from the view, one of the great things about flying on the east coast of FL is that the air traffic controllers are “world class”.  After Vero Beach I was planning to dodge and weave around the military airspace in the middle of the state, when a VERY friendly ATC controller helped me out.  Here is the scenario:

The photo above was my planned route of flight.  The Blue lines represent the edge of Orlando Class B airspace.  The thin red lines are a military restricted airspace and the thin yellow lines are a military operations area (MOA).
Then a Miami Center controller noticed what I was doing and offered a direct clearance through a restricted area.  I quickly thanked him and accepted the clearance.  Here is what my amended route looked like:

While the amended route only shaved a couple of minutes off of my trip, I was more impressed than appreciative.  This controller was already handling 6 planes (that I heard on the frequency), THEN anticipated what I was doing, and THEN proactively tried to help.  That type of behavior just reinforces my belief in how well trained and professional these ATC controllers are!
Last picture I wanted to share from this trip was near Lakeland:

Now you see why it is called Lakeland 🙂

Cheers,
== T.J.==

Avidyne R9 Upgrade Process

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Many people have asked me about what was involved in doing my Avidyne R9 retrofit.  So I have finally gotten around to describing it.
First a little background/context….
Last year, I was the happy, proud owner of N-514TJ, which is a Cirrus SR-20, well equipped with the Avidyne R7 avionics suite. This was the first plane I owned and I was EXTREMELY happy with it.  However, it was missing a couple of features that got me thinking about upgrading.
My SR20 had dual Garmin 430s (but NO WAAS).  Being an IT guy this was perhaps the primary motivation for me to start to explore.  Since, upgrading to WAAS is a significant expense, I also considered “trading up” on the plane itself.

Here is a pic of the old plane

When I started to look for the “next” plane, I naturally looked at a new Cirrus SR22 w/perspective.   When I first took a demo flight in this plane, my initial reaction was WOW! … This plane is amazing.  (I didn’t really understand everything on the screen.  But the demo pilot/salesman that accompanied me assured me that was “normal” and with a little training, I would become proficient very quickly.)  At that point, I had heard of the Avidyne R9.  However, I had not seen it in person.  Then, by pure luck, Avidyne had a sales presentation at my home airport.  The salesman was a very charismatic guy, who showed me how to fly a typical FL flight, that is to say with DPs/STARs, enroute diversions, holds, etc on R9.  I was sooo impressed, I decided that day that R9 was for me.  I left a sizable deposit on R9, even though I didn’t have a plane that I wanted to put it in!
In my opinion, the R9 blows away the Garmin Perspective because it is so intuitive that after my demo flight, I felt like I knew how to use 75% of the system.  In contrast, after my demo flight with Perspective, I felt like I knew how to use 25% of the system.  Being a private pilot who typically flies once a week, this really appealed to me!
So I decided, I wouldn’t upgrade the SR20 with WAAS.  Instead, I would “find” an SR22 w/ WAAS and then do an R9 upgrade.
Then, with the help of the Jeff Ellston @ Leading Edge in Tampa, I found N-914AL.  This plane was the “perfect” canvas to put R9 onto.  It was a GTS Turbo with Air (a must in FL) + WAAS + Deice + Built in Oxygen, etc
Here is what I looked like when I bought it:

Here is the before picture before R9 and Tail Number change.

This is the “before” picture of the cockpit

Then the R9 upgrade began… Perhaps I was a bit naive… I had envisioned 2 screens come out ; 2 bigger better screens go in … Poof it is done.
The reality is not quite that easy.  In fact, it is major surgery.  The pix below show some of the work in progress.

This is the “during surgery” view

This is the “almost done” view

The entire process takes 4-6 weeks and it is one that you do NOT want to rush. I visited the work in progress several times a week.  In my opinion, the folks at Leading Edge Aviation and Sarasota Avionics, really went out of their way to do a gr8 job.  (I am extremely pleased with the finished product)
Here is what it looks like now:

I couldn’t resist the vanity and “had” to change the tail number to N346TJ

This is the “after” view of the cockpit

The finished product has totally exceeded my expectations!  Now that I have over 100 hours on R9, I plan to write some other posts soon that demonstrate what I love about this system .  But perhaps the “big picture win” for me is that I have a plane that is “better” than what comes off of the Cirrus production line for ~ $100k less.
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Planning The Next Big X-Country

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After getting serious about “My 50 State Quest”, I have come to realize how much planning is involved.  The first 25 states just sort of happened as a byproduct of Work, Angel Flights, and General Joyrides.  However, the next 25 states will require much more active planning.
So here we are, near the end of September, and I am hoping to make it to a few new states in October.  In general, I am thinking about the following options:
Option 1 (Northeast) –  If I head to the northeast, I might be able to finish a bunch of smaller states and do it before winter arrives.  Since I don’t have any burning desire to fly to cold places in the winter. this might be a good idea in October.  In addition, this would give me a good excuse to visit some relatives in Raleigh along the way.
Here is the general route I am considering:

The total distance would be ~ 2200 nm and probably 5 new states.
Option 2 (Colorado) – One of the other destinations I have been looking forward to flying to, is Colorado.  The Eagle/Vail airport, where my family and I go every year to ski, is a must visit.  Then of course every pilot knows about Leadville, which is the highest airport in the country. Lastly, Colorado Springs, which is close to the Air Force Academy/museum is also a popular pilot destination.
The general route is shown below:

The total distance would be ~ 2800 nm and likely 3 new states.
So next step, later tonight if I can stay awake (or more likely l8r in the week) is to start looking for fly-ins, or cool places to land/visit somewhere close to my intended route.  If anyone has suggestions, feel free to leave a comment or email me.

Cheers,
== T.J.==

Trip Home from Chicago to Tampa (States 24 & 25)

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Finished work early… Now time to go home from Chicago… I just couldn’t resist taking a slight detour to land in 2 new states.
The route is show below and includes a quick lunch in Iowa and an even quicker stop in Missouri.
But this makes state # 25!!!
Weather was CAVU after getting above the cloud deck… (But quite bumpy below that)
I expected the midwest to have lots of farmland… But didn’t expect all the windmills… Who knew how green
IL would be!!
The mighty Mississippi River really didn’t look that grand in Iowa.  (Way cooler in  Louisiana)
Burlington, IA was an awesome find… Great little airport, multiple instrument approaches and
even a really cool local restaurant walking distance from the airport… (Hearty lunch of
Iowa corn-fed beef really hits the spot)
Beleive it or not, Burlington is a commercial airport.  The airport terminal was incredibly small! … Notice the baggage claim area that serves all 4 commercial
flights that arrive here daily from Chicago and St Louis.
Onward to the next stop (next state) Hannibal, Missouri (STATE # 25!!!)
On the way to Hannibal, Mo, a really cool bridge crossing the Mississippi.
No matter state you land in, always some cool planes to see… This was the towplane used by the
local flight school to for sailplane lessons.
OK enough detours… Really, really time to go home now… Cruising @ 17500 FT… With oxygen and a really nice tailwind!  Almost Home!!!

Cheers,
== T.J.==

Trip To Lexington (State #23)

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In my ongoing quest to land in all 50 states, today I landed in state # 23!!
My routing, as shown below, was nearly direct… (other than a little maneuvering around a couple MOAs)

It has been ~ 3 weeks since my last IFR X-Country.  Fortunately, today’s trip was rather
uneventful.  The weather was near perfect (just a couple a broken cloud deck below me)

ATC congestion was very light for most of the trip, which gave me plenty of time to take pix.
Here is really cool airport just northeast of Atlanta (KMLJ), which looked very cool from the air…
NOTE TO SELF: Need to come back and land here… Looks like an island or an aircraft carrier.
After Atlanta, time to cross to some small mountains (ok maybe hills)… But scenic either way!

Another cool airport (KRHP) in a valley between two ridges.  Looks like it could be quite challenging
to land there in weather.
As I got close to Lexington, it became surprisingly crowded and didn’t really have time to take pix.
I found out later that it was due to a horse show in town this week.

The inside of the FBO was really first class including both decor and service.

Cheers,
== T.J.==

Trip To Chicago

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This week I had some meetings in Chicago and it gave me a great excuse to put the Cirrus and R9 to the test and land a new state at the same time 🙂
My planned route was fairly simple: KVDF>CTY>KSYI (Fuel Stop) > KDPA.
Weather forecast was not very cooperative. (But still safely within my comfort zone.)

First leg of the journey was very smooth and uneventful.
As you can see from the R9 moving map, All of the ugliness was just beyond Shelbyville, TN.

After leaving Shelbyville, it got a lot more interesting.
Thanks to the vector mode of the R9(and some cooperative ATC controllers), I was rather easily able to weave my way through the ugly weather.
Despite being in the middle of the afternoon, I was in such solid IMC, that it felt like night flying!

Finally out of the clouds (sort of… At least enough to notice how much flat farmland is in the midwest)
Some cool airport (don’t remember which one) Looked like a runway inside a stop sign to me… 
Getting close to Chicago (could barely see it through the haze)

Finally arrived safely @ KDPA (Dupage County)… Nice shiny, new FBO building huh?
Thanks for following along…
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Trip To Meridian, MS

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Like most of my flights that head NW bound, this flight was up to Cross City then direct destination.
The Crystal River Nuclear Power plant… (Rather cool site in an otherwise empty part of the state)
Aerial view of the Crystal River airport. (Did lots of landing practice there as a student pilot years ago)
Found a gr8 parking spot @ MEI next to some military trainers. (Notice the Navy and Marines use the same training fleet) 
Close up of Capt Keith Taylor’s NAVY trainer (Thanks Keith!!)
Capt Taylor graciously allowed me to climb Up to the cockpit of his bird. 

(Wow! Do I appreciate my Cirrus cockpit with A/C and R9 even more after seeing that!!)
Thanks for following along…
Cheers,
== T.J.==