Trying something new here...
Thursday through Sunday saw the IFR Pilot and ML depart the strangely-mid-October-warm confines of the Home Base for the warm confines of Block Island, RI and then on to CT to visit with Dadster and other relatives. Rather than write a lengthy recap that mostly only serves to entertain me, presented for your perusal if you happen upon this entry is the first My Flying Blog "photo essay" blog entry.
Check out the slides, read the captions, look for the occasional note embedded in the pictures. (Click on the lower right corner to switch to full screen mode, they are more impressive that way.) Some of them turned out quite good, IMHO. I'm sure those are the ones that ML took, not me.
Tomorrow, the IFR Pilot is off to Rockford, IL for work. Thankfully, having Mike Hotel available allows one to avoid arriving at Hopkins an hour early, taking an hour flight to O'Hare (can you say "DELAYS"), busing over to the rental car facility, waiting for rental car, and driving 1.5 hours from Chicago to Rockford. Instead, 2:40 in Mike Hotel direct to Chicago Rockford International Airport. (Well, really, it's Home Base - JOT - KRFD, but that's close enough....)
Anyone for dinner in Rockford tomorrow night?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Feet Wet!
A full report will have to wait until we return home (and have access to the USB cable necessary to offload pictures from the camera). In the meantime, you'll have to settle for the crummy camera phone picture, taken out of the window of our hotel room:
Even after Labor Day, Block Island is wonderful and you need to come visit. My only complaint was that the Narragansett Inn ran out of lobster before we arrived for the $25 all-you-can-eat special. Rumor has it they are doing it again tomorrow night; this time, we'll be EARLY, not late!
Even after Labor Day, Block Island is wonderful and you need to come visit. My only complaint was that the Narragansett Inn ran out of lobster before we arrived for the $25 all-you-can-eat special. Rumor has it they are doing it again tomorrow night; this time, we'll be EARLY, not late!
Monday, October 06, 2008
Instrument Current
Yes, Mike Hotel and the IFR Pilot return to the skies on Saturday, more than 2 months since ML and I went north. (Report still pending...) The goal was to renew the IFR Pilot's instrument currency in anticipation of a trip to RI and CT this weekend. Currency had completely lapsed, so this necessitated a full renewal, a/k/a 6 approaches, hold, etc., etc., etc.
AW was summoned to be safety pilot since MS was "unavailable." After two months in the hangar, Mike Hotel needed a bit of TLC, including lots of av gas and some air in the tires. With those necessities out of the way, and cool air in abundance, AW and the IFR Pilot rocketed off The Home Base's Runway 3.
First up was the VOR-A at 3G4, which included the IFR Pilot creating his own course reversal just outside the FAF instead of flying another 10 miles to the VOR for the published reversal. Sorta like own nav to the FAF, I suppose.
Then, we did the GPS 10 into BJJ. Done this a million times, so no sweat, except for having to go around early so as to avoid messing with the local traffic pattern much.
From there, it was the ILS 1 at CAK twice. AW observed that the IFR Pilot flew the needles much more accurately the closer we got to the runway threshold -- the opposite of most people, who are accurate further out but then have trouble holding the needles inside the donut near the runway. What can I say, I work best under pressure. The second time around included a touch 'n go.
Fifth approach was the LOC 25 at AKR. This is a bit of a slam dunk, especially if you don't get down early enough. Once again we did, but had to go around early to avoid traffic that we departing runway 7.
We skedaddled over to RITZS, did the required hold thingy, and then popped out the GPS 2 into 3G3.
All that remained was to land the aircraft in one piece. We did, but only after we deftly negotiated with other inbound traffic that was headed to the same place we were at the same time. AW was handling radios at that point and in his best airline pilot voice piped up with "Where are you now and do you see us?!?!?!?" Fortunately, our position reporting was a bit more accurate than theirs, and so we elected to proceed #1 to land.
If it hadn't been for the last bit of unexpected wind gust, the IFR Pilot would have managed a spot landing on the target. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :-)
Currency renewed, vacation awaits. See you on the backside!
(P.S. - signed up for MGMT 317, "Organizational Behavior," in the October session of ERAU Worldwide. We'll see how interesting this one is.)
AW was summoned to be safety pilot since MS was "unavailable." After two months in the hangar, Mike Hotel needed a bit of TLC, including lots of av gas and some air in the tires. With those necessities out of the way, and cool air in abundance, AW and the IFR Pilot rocketed off The Home Base's Runway 3.
First up was the VOR-A at 3G4, which included the IFR Pilot creating his own course reversal just outside the FAF instead of flying another 10 miles to the VOR for the published reversal. Sorta like own nav to the FAF, I suppose.
Then, we did the GPS 10 into BJJ. Done this a million times, so no sweat, except for having to go around early so as to avoid messing with the local traffic pattern much.
From there, it was the ILS 1 at CAK twice. AW observed that the IFR Pilot flew the needles much more accurately the closer we got to the runway threshold -- the opposite of most people, who are accurate further out but then have trouble holding the needles inside the donut near the runway. What can I say, I work best under pressure. The second time around included a touch 'n go.
Fifth approach was the LOC 25 at AKR. This is a bit of a slam dunk, especially if you don't get down early enough. Once again we did, but had to go around early to avoid traffic that we departing runway 7.
We skedaddled over to RITZS, did the required hold thingy, and then popped out the GPS 2 into 3G3.
All that remained was to land the aircraft in one piece. We did, but only after we deftly negotiated with other inbound traffic that was headed to the same place we were at the same time. AW was handling radios at that point and in his best airline pilot voice piped up with "Where are you now and do you see us?!?!?!?" Fortunately, our position reporting was a bit more accurate than theirs, and so we elected to proceed #1 to land.
If it hadn't been for the last bit of unexpected wind gust, the IFR Pilot would have managed a spot landing on the target. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :-)
Currency renewed, vacation awaits. See you on the backside!
(P.S. - signed up for MGMT 317, "Organizational Behavior," in the October session of ERAU Worldwide. We'll see how interesting this one is.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)