Back To Normal IFR (Sort Of)
The past 2 weeks have been quite an unusual flight pattern for me. No X-Countries, No IFR or VFR flight plans, not even enough altitude to require oxygen! No the plane was NOT grounded… In fact, I had numerous flights. But they were all short “flight-seeing” journeys that gave me the chance to share the […]
Photo Opps And Dodging Airspace
Today was one of those traditional $100 hamburger days. An IBM colleague of mine (Richard) was visiting from Spain. He has heard me rave about flying for years and I thought today was the perfect day to show him firsthand. The plan was either to fly to Key West or Palm Beach, both of which […]
Early Morning Commute
Normally, I work from home… But today was different. A number of my IBM colleagues were in Miami today. Since they were “in the neighborhood”, I felt compelled to go work from Miami for the day. In typical IBM fashion, I have grown accustomed to collaborating with colleagues from around the world, who I rarely […]
Heading Home VFR
Today the weather in Houston was not bad… But the weather forecast along my route home and in FL was downright ugly. Fortunately, PIREPS showed a lot of the weather did not have very high tops along my route. So my plan was to depart VFR, climb up to 17.5k and if needed get an […]
Trip To TX
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) […]
Ugly Weather (Perfect Day to Fly!)
Today was expected to be a dreary weather day in the whole state of Florida due to a large “cold front” that was passing through. Today was definitely NOT a skywriting day. But what a great day for some recurrent flight training in actual IMC! I had planned a training day with Jason Schappert of […]
The Next State (OK) State #33
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 […]
Last Minute Angel Flight
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 […]
East Coast Journey (Going Home)
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 […]
East Coast Journey (Day 3)
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 […]