Category Archives: Trips

Trip To TX

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The trip to Houston this past Sunday happened “almost” as planned.  On the one hand, it reaffirmed my flight planning/route selection process.  But on the other hand, it reinforced the need for flexible plans enroute.   when I was getting ready to depart, I thought the weather was “perfect”.  Shortly after takeoff the visibility (and views) were great:
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!)

Cheers,
== T.J.==

The Next State (OK) State #33

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The states are now getting further (and harder) …. But that’s OK … Today was a beautiful day to fly… My intended destination was Dallas.  But I was compelled to make a slight detour to land in a new state(Oklahoma).  The route is shown below:
The weather forecast showed a little bit of IFR along my route … But nothing scary.

When I got to the airport, I found the DirecTV blimp was in town for the Bucs game today. When blimps visit, they park right next to my hanger.  Check it out:

Since I needed to do a bunch of Chart/GPS updates anyway, I set the updates running and went to chat with the blimp crew.  Unfortunately, I didn’t plug the plane into external power and apparently I spent too much time gabbing.  By the time I returned, the battery had discharged enough that I couldn’t start the plane normally!  I called the line crew for help and luckily Jose was able to give me a jump start.
After everything was sorted out, I was finally ready to go (total delay ~ 55 minutes).  The delay was not concerning ;  But the fast approaching showers were.  By the time I did my run-up and was really ready to depart, it was raining and the ceilings were dropping fast.  So I picked up my IFR clearance from the ground and took off in the rain.  Here is what the screen looked like right after takeoff:

After bumping along in the rain for a few minutes, I broke out on top of the clouds and it was smooth sailing from that point on direct to HEVVN (pronounced “Heaven”)@ 16k feet.
The HEVVN intersection is a common nav aid that I use over the Gulf of Mexico.  By using this fix, I can stay clear of the international warning areas over the gulf and at the same time stay close enough to land for safety reasons.  Besides it just sounds cool when ATC instructs you to “go direct Heaven”!
As I got closer to my fuel stop in Meridian, I heard a bunch of military traffic on the radio.  There is a lot of military training done around Meridian.  So you usually get to see some cool airplanes in this area.  In particular, today there were 2 T-38s flying formation very close to the traffic pattern.  After I got cleared to land on runway 1, the T-38s asked for permission to do a low pass alongside runway 1.  I was shocked to hear the controller say “approved as requested”!  Seconds after I touched down, the 2 T38s zoomed overhead @ ~ 30 feet AGL and ~100 feet left of centerline.  After passing the runway, they did a near vertical climb and circled around for a full stop on the same runway.
They parked right next to me and I even got to meet them!  I couldn’t get a picture during their low pass, but here they are parked on the tarmac (the 2 gray ones):

They even let me climb up to the cockpit!  See for yourself:
Believe it or not, on the other side of where I parked was an F-18!

After a quick lunch, it was time to move on … I still needed to land in Durant, OK and then get to Dallas.
Rest of the trip was rather uneventful, except for the 60-70 knot headwinds, which seemed like Mother Nature’s way of tormenting me on both legs today!  See for yourself:

Despite true airspeeds in excess of 190 knots, I was frequently traveling at ground speeds a slow as  ~ 120-130 knots.
The stop in Durant, OK was really quite interesting… The airport is right next door to the Choctaw Casino and the FBO is quite memorable… (But it is getting late now and I will have to save that story for another time.)
For now, I am HOPING to ride some huge tailwinds on the home!
 Cheers,
== T.J.==

Last Minute Angel Flight

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Normally, my Angel Flights are scheduled well in advance.  Usually, I have to juggle a whole bunch of things (both work and personal).  But late yesterday I got a message from the “Angel Flight Mission Control” about a particularly compelling flight today (Wednesday b4 Thanksgiving) that was in jeopardy of being canceled.  The patient, who lives in Jacksonville, FL, was undergoing treatment in Houston for “Metastatic Adrenocortial Carcinoma to liver, lungs & kidney” … Wow isn’t that a mouthful!
I had to work today + it was last minute and on and on.  There were a dozen reasons to ignore the plea for pilots on this mission.  But something inside me said I should make the effort on this one.  The alternative for the patient was to fly commercial on the busiest travel day of the year right after enduring a grueling cancer treatment.  So late yesterday, I decided to sign up and do this!
Another pilot transported the patient from Houston to Destin, FL.  That’s where I was supposed to pick him up and fly him home to Jacksonville.
In order to do that and still make it to work, I had to get a little creative.  As many of you know, I work for IBM and have the privilege (and burden) of working entirely remote.  I don’t normally go to an office.  Instead, I work from wherever my laptop and I happen to be.  So late last night I made a plan… I would get up as early as I could and fly from Tampa > Destin.  Then I would “go to work” from the pilot’s lounge @ Miracle Strip Aviation in Destin.  Then late in the afternoon, I would meet up with the patient and take him to Jacksonville.  Finally, after dropping the patient off, I would do a night flight home to Tampa.  The flight plan was “almost” a lap of FL.  See for yourself:

When I woke up this morning @ zero dark 30, I was a bit grumpy but dragged myself out of bed anyway.  When I got the airport I had an uneventful pre-flight and takeoff.  I always enjoy taking off before the FBO opens.  (Makes me feel like I am ahead of the day!)
At that hour, the skies were empty and the ATC frequencies were totally silent.  I had a smooth, peaceful ride and really enjoyed the music enroute.  The “Pulse” station on the satellite radio seemed to read my mind about what song I would enjoy next.  During the whole flight, I don’t even recall changing the channel once, which is quite a rarity for me.
About the time I reached my cruise altitude of 16k, I noticed the engine was running a little hotter than normal on cylinder 4.  I monitored it VERY closely and made frequent mixture setting changes to keep it under control.  I took all sorts of notes and was planning to ask the “turbo gurus” on the COPA website about it after I landed.
When I was about 100 miles out, I started to check the weather.  (This is a cool feature on the Avidyne R9 that allows you to “see” the Automated Weather on screen even before you are within radio range to hear it).  Unfortunately, I didn’t like what it said! The visibility was 1/4 mile, rain and mulitiple cloud layers with the lowest one being @ 100 FT.  This was was below the published minimums for the airport.  But I was 100 miles away … Hopefully, it would improve as I got closer (plus I had plenty of fuel/options if it didn’t).
Despite what the automated weather said, I was also comforted by the unofficial “out the window” forecast, which looked great!  See for yourself:

By now I was checking engine temps and weather every couple of minutes.  Luckily the automated weather was improving rapidly.  (From 1/4 mile vis + rain, it eventually got to 3 miles mist and the lowest clouds were a scattered layer @ 100 FT.  Not great… But good enough for me to land!
When I landed in Destin, the FBO crew @ Miracle Strip was very accommodating as always.  I got settled in to the lounge and “went to work”.  Other than the few colleagues that follow this blog, most of my colleagues would never guess where I am when I take their calls/pings 🙂
After an uneventful day of work, the patient (Mark) arrived in the late afternoon.  I chatted a bit with the connecting pilot, whose name was Sherif (pronounced “sha-reef” not “cher-iff”).  He was an interesting guy!  He was a far more seasoned pilot than me and one of the few Cessna 177 pilots I know that does LONG X-Country trips with his plane.  In fact, during this mission, he is “sort of” working his way back to the east coast from California!
Mark was so grateful for being spared the grueling journey home on Southwest.  The original plan was to take Mark to Craig Field, which is a small GA airport outside of Jacksonville.  But then he told me his car was at Jacksonville International Airport.  (He was concerned that a small plane couldn’t take him directly there.)  But I reassured him and wanted to simplify his journey as much as possible.  So we flew to JAX!  I had never landed @ JAX before.  But since I had landed @ ATL, TPA, and MCO, I was pretty comfortable flying directly there and was even excited about the prospect of a new airport for my log.
The trip itself was “smooth as glass”.  The weather was perfect and the engine temps were behaving normally again.  (Believe me I was watching it VERY closely).
When we landed @ JAX, the Sheltair crew immediately greeted our plane and were extremely helpful. Mark and I said our goodbyes and the crew took Mark and his luggage directly to his car on the other side of the airport.  I got a top off and was ready to go right around sunset:

The short “night” flight home was beautiful.  Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how to take good pictures @ night.  Hopefully, one of my blog buddies will help me with that soon…
Now as I sit in my home office at the end of the day, I realize how lucky I am, what a great day I had, and most importantly how much I have to be thankful for!
Happy Thanksgiving,
== T.J.==

East Coast Journey (Going Home)

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Seven new states, and 5 IMC hours later, it was time to go home.  The journey home involved a stop in Frederick, MD (state #32).  Here is what the final route flown looked like:

Since I needed to stop in MD, it was only natural to stop @ FDK.  I was hoping to squeeze in visit to the AOPA headquarters and also meet a fellow pilot, whose blog I really enjoy.
But getting to FDK was NOT an ez task.  There was a pesky 40-50 knot headwind the whole way there!

Note the 43 Knot headwind on the PFD

But it was a good excuse to use the the new GPS Z approach to runway 23.  I had read about GPS Z approaches, which are the latest/greatest precision WAAS approaches with LPV.  But I had not seen one in person.

Surprisingly, the missed approach goes into the DCADIZ

So that approach led to another soggy landing (and the 4th landing in the rain during this trip!)
But the stop was definitely worth it!  I did get to meet up with a fellow pilot blogger, Toriaflys  If you haven’t checked out her blog yet, I suggest you take a peek (it’s really quite good).
While at Frederick, I also took a tour of the AOPA headquarters.  I already knew what a great organization AOPA was.  However, Silvana Cannon, one of the AOPA staffers, showed me some of the behind the scenes “machinery” that makes this organization tick.  Now I am even more impressed!
After FDK, the trip home should have been rather uneventful.  The weather forecast was very good and hopefully all that IMC was behind me.  I donned the cannula and was cleared up to 16k (where the really good views are)… See for yourself:
The plan was a quick fuel stop @ Homerville, GA and a short final leg back to Tampa.  Unfortunately, the city of Homerville (and it’s mayor) has truly ignored it’s airport.  When I arrived it was an absolute ghost town.  There was not a single person or plane there and they didn’t even have fuel!!  Apparently, the fuel pumps were out of order.  Even the runway was in shabby condition.  But being the eternal optimist that I am, I made “lemonade” out of this lemon stop.  Even though it was deserted and locked, their wireless worked from my Iphone on their front porch.  As a result, I was at least able to catch up on calls/emails in relative comfort.  Then I took a quick 20 mile flight to Valdosta, where I was able to satisfy both the plane’s thirst and my hunger.  Then finally a quick VFR trip home to Tampa:

Mission Accomplished! Just in time for a sunset landing!!

Overall, the journey has really put my piloting skills to the test (both in the air and even on the ground).  Can’t wait to start planning the next batch of states!!!

Cheers,
== T.J.==

East Coast Journey (Day 3)

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Avanni (and her parents Ronak & Sapna)

Today was the most varied (and most intense) day of flying I have ever had!  The day began as a leisurely morning sightseeing flight with Avanni (and her Daddy).

As you can see, Ronak got the hang of aerial photography pretty quickly as we flew over Patriots stadium down to Rhode Island and back:

After dropping them back home in Norwood, the drama began.  The first leg was up to Sanford, ME, which was mostly in IMC and light rain.  This landing was state # 29, and involved a GPS approach down to within 300 FT of minimums.
After a quick stop at the cockpit cafe and another weather briefing, I realized I needed to change my route entirely.  Instead of Sanford > Lebanon > Rutland, I ended up going Sanford > Concord > Montpelier.  Weather really forces you to be flexible!  Enroute, was more light rain and total IMC.  This was the view most of the way:

The landing at Concord was another instrument approach to within ~ 300 FT of minimums.  I felt so proud of myself.  (Little did I know what was coming on the next leg!!)
After fuel and another weather briefing, it was time to go Concord > Montpelier.  This involved a flight, where I entered the clouds shortly after takeoff and didn’t see the ground till I was on my final descent.  Aside from being the largest continuous segment of IMC I have done, it also involved an flying an LPV approach all the way down to the published min!  This is what it looked like when I finally broke out of the clouds:

I was soo happy to see the runway!

Other than sunny FL training  days, I have NEVER before flown an approach like that.  (As I result, I know believe that there really is no substitute for “actual IMC”)
The actual route flown so far is shown below:

Upto 31 states now!!

Cheers,
== T.J.==

East Coast Journey (Day 2)

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Day 2 was a rather simple day of flying… But it did include 3 new states, unusual ATC interactions, and best of all some awesome sites.
The day began in Raleigh, with another good weather forecast.  I filed IFR RDU > LVL > WWD (Wildwood, NJ) Very simple routing that avoided the Washington DC Special Flight Rules Area.  There were a few cool sites shortly after takeoff:

Some patchy fog in Raleigh during takeoff

Between VA and MD

Webster Naval Base

Then it was time for lunch in Wildwood, NJ (Woohoo state # 26!!!)  Now the ATC excitement begins, I filed an IFR flight plan with what should have been a “preferred” route.  But when I contacted Atlantic City Clearance Delivery, they gave a wild clearance with over 10 fixes and even merging into Victor airways.  The only good news was that the routing was over JFK, which led to some great views of Newark and New York City.

Statue of Liberty through the haze 🙁

NYC from 7000 Ft near JFK

Directly overflying JFK

So after navigating the crazy routing and airways, I tried to do something tricky with ATC.  I asked them if I could do a full stop landing in Westerly, RI, keep my squawk code and immediately take off to Norwood, MA.  While ATC was being very cooperative, they asked me “If I knew the Norwood airport was closed?”
I thought “Yikes” … Better check into it on the ground before showing up.  So after I landed at Westerly, I called the FBO @ Norwood to find out what was going on.  Turns out that they were doing construction on one of the other runways and the airport would reopen with a single runway in operation @ 5PM.  Since I was 30 minutes flight away, I decided to get back in the air and do some sightseeing.  Found a couple of cool airports, which are shown below:

Fishers Island, NY … Looks like an aircraft carrier to me 🙂

Montauk Airport (the very end of Long Island)

After a few good pics (~ 430), I activated an IFR flight plan and headed direct to Norwood.  The timing worked out perfectly, I landed @ 5:03 PM at Norwood, right as they opened!!

Cheers,
== T.J.==

East Coast Journey (Day 1)

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Day 1 went off “almost” as planned.   I was so excited to begin my journey.  I arrived a couple of hours early to the airport so that I could do a thorough pre-flight and still have time to “correct” anything that may have needed attention.  Luckily everything checked out OK and after a whole bunch of work calls/emails, I was ready to go.

After taking off VFR, I contacted Tampa Approach to pick up my IFR flight plan.  Despite the “cleared as filed” clearance I received, ATC seemed to have other plans for me! After numerous “scenic” vectors, finally I was cleared to Taylor (TAY) > Waycross (AYS)>direct destination.  I didn’t mind at all, because this new routing has even better (more direct) than what I originally filed and kept me clear of some pesky military airspace.
I got cleared to 16000 FT pretty quickly and eventually to 17000 FT.  At that altitude the ride was sooo smooth!
After playing with the sat radio and camera for a while, I decided to try my hand at taking a couple of in flight videos.  Haven’t had time to edit them yet. But hopefully I can get them cleaned up on YouTube later this week.
After a couple of quick hours, I landed in Duplin County Airport (KDPL), which is one my favorite fuel stops.  (Didn’t really need to stop there… I could have easily kept going to RDU… But I needed a break and it was a good excuse to stop at Andy’s Burgers, which is a little greasy spoon, with a cool 50s style atmosphere right next to the airport.
After a little break (and some calls/emails, etc) it was on to the final, short leg to RDU.
As the weather forecast had predicted, there was a lot of low level turbulence and gusty winds, which really made for tough landing.  But by that time, I was motivated to get down on the ground.
Had a great evening in Raleigh visiting family!  No new states yet.. But I am recharged for Day 2 where I will hopefully land in 3 new ones!!
So far, here is the progress on the trip:
Stay tuned for the next leg of the journey…
Cheers,
== T.J.==

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.==

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.==