After last week’s “heavy flying” week, this was a no flying week (except for JetBlue). I needed to be in New York for some IBM business. As usual, I felt the urge to multi-task and decided that this was the perfect week to get the annual inspection done on the Cirrus. The annual is not due till next month … But since I was out of town anyway, I thought it was the perfect timing. Besides… I would feel much more comfortable going to the WFIF event next month with a fresh annual.
Luckily, the folks at Leading Edge were able to accommodate my last minute request and said they “hoped” to finish by Friday “depending on what they find”. Like many aircraft owners, the annual inspection usually strikes fear in my heart. While the plane has no known squawks, who knows what they will find when they start taking things apart. Worse yet, who knows how much will it cost!
So when I returned home to Tampa today, I called the folks at Leading Edge to see how it was going…
This is what they showed me:
While the picture was downright painful for me to see, they told me some gr8 news!! After the complete annual inspection, the only material item that needed attention was the left main tire, which needed to be replaced. As you can see, they were almost done with that today:
While the picture was downright painful for me to see, they told me some gr8 news!! After the complete annual inspection, the only material item that needed attention was the left main tire, which needed to be replaced. As you can see, they were almost done with that today:
By tomorrow, they tell me that it will be washed and back in my hanger.
That is absolutely perfect timing…. On Saturday, I am planning to go to the EAA fly-in in Vero Beach and on Sunday I am planning to do an Angel Flight from Pensacola to Miami for 2 year old boy that needs to get to Miami Children’s Hospital.
So overall, my anxiety is greatly relieved and I can happily say … “Another year’s annual drama done!!”
Cheers,
== T.J.==
== T.J.==
Since the ATIS reported clear skies and tame wind, I took off VFR. Takeoffs in the dark are a little like takeoffs in IMC, which is not that difficult. But you have to be “on the instruments”! Shortly after takeoff I picked up IFR with Tampa approach and they gave me a fairly direct routing to
While there was not a cloud in the sky, something just didn’t feel right… After reaching a cruising altitude of 16k, I noticed what it was. There was a nasty 50+ knot headwind. See what I mean:
Despite a true airspeed of 186 @ 75% power, my groundspeed was hovering ~ 140 knots! At this rate, the 2hr planned leg would surely be much longer. But what can you do? “Nothing!” I concluded other than “Plan B”, which is just find some good music and relax… Unfortunately, the satellite radio had its own plans. After about 10 mins of flipping channels and not finding anything, I resorted to Plan C: Iphone4 plugged into Aux input of the Zulu headset:
It was at this point, I discovered a really cool feature of the Zulus… When ATC speaks on the frequency, the Zulus do NOT mute the music. Instead, it reduces the volume by 80%. This may not sound all that significant. But I found it to be such much more pleasant than the typical hard mute! After a much longer than planned flight, I landed in Bay Minette, AL for lunch and a break and then went on to Houston. Thankfully, the headwinds were quite tame for the 2nd leg! But since I was running, I ended up skipping Galveston. Maybe I will stop there on the way home… (Even better maybe I can ride a massive tailwind home!)