Tag Archives: flight planning

Preparing To Cross The Next Border (Mexico)

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After my European excursion, I was looking forward to the next challenge, which will be crossing another border on the way to AOPA Summit in Palm Springs.
Once again, I enlisted the help of Thierry and Guillaume at Air Journey to help with the route planning and logistics.
Here is the routing, we came up with:

The first leg will be a 610 nm journey directly across the Gulf of Mexico to Merida, Mexico.  This will be my longest overwater leg to date!
In advance of this trip, I got everything prepared I could think of:
On the Plane: A fresh oil change and a quick trip to Lopresti in Sebastian for some long overdue adjustments on the Ice Skates made the plane ready… But to be sure I performed perhaps the most time consuming and thorough pre-flight ever!

In the cockpit: I got my emergency gear ready, including PLB, life jacket.  If I can get one in time, I also hope to have a raft with me. In addition, the usual cadre of camera equipment and miscellaneous gadgets.

Paperwork: Thanks to Guillaume, I received an outstanding briefing pack with all the paperwork required by both US and Mexican governments. But more important than the bureaucratic paperwork, was Guillaume’s detailed instructions, which included photos of what to expect as well as some unofficial commentary 😉

Hopefully, the preparation will have been sufficient and I will be able to post a progress report on the trip sometime this weekend.
Stay Tuned…
== T.J.==

Annual Done! Cleared for Takeoff!!

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As promised, the guys at Leading Edge came through and finished the annual today right on schedule! Reminds me of the old A-Team quote “I love it when a plan comes together” 😉
So now it is time to turn my attention to planning the next journey.  Tomorrow, I am planning to go to the EAA Fly-In in Vero Beach, FL with a couple of friends.  While Fly-Ins are always fun, this one has a special twist.
My friend Anupam, who is a pilot and Cardinal owner, is also going to the same fly-in.  So we have decided to attempt a brief formation flight.  (Not a true formation flight… More of an aerial photo shoot)
My route is shown below:

This is a very short 113 nautical mile trip… (But that does not count the detour for formation work.)
Anupam’s Cardinal is based in Plant City Airport.  So we can’t do a true formation takeoff.  Instead, my plan is to rendezvous with N-29LK in a holding pattern over the Winter Haven Airport.  Why there you ask… First, it is sort of on the way.   Second, it is clearly between Tampa and Orlando’s class B airspaces, which means we won’t need to worry about ATC clearances.  Third, it is in a scenic area with lots of lakes that should make for a good photo opp.
I read up on formation flying and found that there were surprisingly few rules constraining this activity.  The basics are laid out in FAR 91.111.  However, there is a bunch of training material available about how to do it well and do it safely.
Our plan is rather simple.  We will fly at prearranged altitudes (with 500 FT separation) until we can see each other.  Then establish radio contact on the 122.75 frequency.  I used to think that 123.45 was the appropriate air-to-air frequency.  But it is NOT.  While 123.45 is usually quiet, it is definitely NOT designated for this type of conversation. The correct frequency is either 122.75 or 122.85.
After we have established visual and radio contact, then we will proceed “together” to Vero Beach (of course with a few maneuvers for the camera)
Hopefully, I will be able to post some cool photos and/or videos tomorrow.
Cheers,
== T.J.==