"33"

Before departing for the soccer tourney today, one of my co-owners and I made a quick hop over to Latrobe, PA, home of world-famous Rolling Rock beer. No particular reason, just an excuse to go fly someplace and be back in time to make the commercial flight out of Hopkins.

The weather was borderline crummy. There was basically no horizon due to widespread haze. We could see the ground below us from 5000 MSL, but visibility couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 miles at best. See for yourself:


I filed IFR direct and handled the outbound leg. We spent a little bit of time in the clouds, and I shot the ILS 23 into KLBE. Had the airport from 5 miles, transitioned to the visual and made a nice landing.

John handled the flight home. This was his first flight in actual, so I backed him up on the controls, but basically let him do the piloting, while I handled the radios so he could remain focused on scanning. I probably did too much talking, but what the heck, I like the sound of my voice anyway.

Obligatory picture of John doing the IMC thing:

Our route took us right over the top of Pittsburgh International, which made for this lovely shot:


We also got routed over the top of CAK, and saw a behemoth of an aircraft parked on the runway 32. Not sure what it is, but it was HUGE. Witnesseth:


Wednesday, I'm scheduled to make an Angel Flight. The forecast is calling for showers and isolated TS. John's going to co-pilot for me, so this was a good dry run for us. We'll be flying the patient from AGC to EYE. And, of course, treating ourselves to a fine meal at Rick's Cafe Boatyard, a can't miss when you popping in to Eagle Creek.

And the reason for the title of this post? Go here. Or here.