93 octane for the 30 statute mile ride south to work - $5.00.
100LL for the 35 nautical mile trip north to work - $10.00.
Flying to work on a beautiful fall Friday morning just because you can - priceless.
(Old and tired, I know, but still true. Also, sorry for the crummy blackberry photo. Left both of the good cameras at home. )
Meanwhile, Mike Hotel is parked on the ramp at KBKL near N794AJ, the Zero G Experience B-727. For a mere $5000 (plus tax), you too can have a trip on the only private Vomit Comet in the USA. Sold out while in Cleveland, but look for a visit to your town.
Real Life has interfered with Flying Life for far too long. When there has been good flying weather, there's been more work than you can imagine. When work has been slack, the weather has been unacceptable. And on at least one occasion, when both items aligned, the IFR Pilot couldn't get the engine started, flooded it, and then ran the battery down. Due in Columbus shortly thereafter, Mike Hotel had to be return to the hangar pronto and the A4 was flown to the meeting.
Translation: Not a lot of hours in the logbook so far.
This morning, however, everything aligned. Weather was just about CAVU with the exception of some morning ground fog/mist in low lying areas. With the boss out of town, work could wait.
I met with CFI DC, and we blasted off for a bit of instrument work. After 1.5 hours, we had knocked out ILS 1 @ CAK twice, LOC 25 @ AKR (runways closed!), and the GPS 2 @ 3G3 (love that LNAV+V on the Garmin 430W) with a procedure turn/hold at DALTS.
Notable deficiencies:
1. Late turn onto the localizer the first time at CAK.
2. Failure to retract gear following low approach at AKR. Which explains why it took forever to get to DALTS for the procedure turn.
3. Neglected to add the last notch of flaps when landing at The Home Base.
Things done well:
1. Kept all altitudes within tolerances.
2. Accurately anticipated parallel entry to the hold.
3. Checked the identifier on the localizers.
With that, the Mrs. and I are off to Connecticut this weekend to visit with mi familia.
