Sporty's

The IFR Pilot has decided to stop fielding all calls and e-mails from MS on Thursdays. Inevitably, once accepted, they seem to involve playing hooky on Friday and going flying. This time, it was to Sporty's. And that means double trouble, cuz I'll be leaving a bunch of my money with Hal...

Anyway, it was a great day to go flying. The forecast was for VFR out of the Home Base, turning IFR around Columbus, and we'd definitely be flying an approach at I69. In fact, while it wouldn't be down to minima, the ceiling was definitely forcast to be fairly low in Batavia, Ohio.

The actual conditions were pretty close to the forecast. See for yourself:





As luck would have it, we flew the GPS 22 and circled to land on runway 4. We broke out about 900' AGL and circled with no great difficulty. A nice confidence booster, flying an approach with the GX-50 in actual down so low!

We did a bit of shopping (this was my only purchase, much to the delight of my wallet and the chagrin of Hal), and then prevailed on the ladies behind the counter to give us the courtesy car. MS couldn't wait to drive the Powder Shadow Blue VW Bug. And he probably can't wait for this picture to be shared with the world!


After hunting down the local Buffalo Wild Wings -- including a 10 mile detour that was entirely caused by MS's failure to listen to the IFR Pilot regarding which way to turn -- it was time to head home. MS had that leg. Conditions weren't too bad, it ended up being VFR for pretty much the entire second half of the trip.

Here's what it looked like on depature from I69:



Our route of flight took us right over Wilmington Airpark. For those not in the know, this isn't a residential fly-in, as you might think given the name. It's the home of DHL (f/k/a Airborne Express), and it has parallel runways with ILS's. Easily spotted from 7000' MSL:


Once the weather broke and MS could be trusted to fly visually, the IFR Pilot reclined the seat and attempted to nap. Unfortunately, the seats on a Piper Arrow just don't recline far enough, so sleep remained a unconquered goal.

Interesting crop circle spotted just south of the Home Base: