143 Days...

It's been 143 days since the IFR Pilot last flew in Mike Hotel. Since then, it's been trips via the pressurized aluminum tube of discomfort. At last count, I've logged "back seat time" aboard an E145, CRJ, A320, and a Saab 340, among others. Unfortunately, none of that keeps a passenger current as PIC.

So, last week, when the weather broke and it was possibly to play hookey for an hour, the IFR Pilot attempted to get current. Unfortunately, the evil spirits were still at work and the flight had to be aborted due to an abnormal fuel pressure reading. As it turns out, when it's 10 degrees F outside, things don't always work they way they are supposed to.

However, the weather gods smiled on Northeast Ohio tonight and the IFR Pilot was able to scoot out of work unnoticed. An hour later, the hangar doors were open and Mike Hotel was being readied for flight into the dusky twilight skies. The first takeoff was uneventful, and soon we were level at 2500 feet, making a beeline for KBJJ.

Entering the downwind for Runway 10, everything was copacetic. Three in the green, mixture rich, prop full forward, holding 75 knots on final. Flare, hold it, hold it, hold it, bzzzzzzzzz - the stall horn goes off, chirp go the tires. Now that's a landing for the first time back in nearly 5 months.

Taxi back, takeoff, let's do it again, then we're headed back to the Home Base. The landing there was a bit less perfect, with the stall horn going off a little higher than desired and the resulting smack a bit harder than you might like. But any landing at the Home Base that gets braking action before the yellow line is good! (Just kidding.)

Thirty minutes after takeoff, the IFR Pilot is PIC current again. Just in time for a business meeting in Columbus on Friday that's about 2 miles from KOSU airport....