Almost caught the sunset...

Instead we returned prior to the sun setting and turned in a squawk sheet for inoperative nav lights. Just like in boating, the red / green / white lights help others to tell your orientation in space and therefore your relative bearing to other aircraft flying around you which is kinda necessary.

The best part of today's flight was getting my wife used to flying, helping with checklists, traffic spotting (we saw several hot air balloons off in the distance), and picking out landmarks (and obstacles) from the air.

Here is what our flight looked like when imported into Google Earth:


We departed runway 18 (towards the left in this picture) and you can see the noise abatement turn that cuts the corner off what should be two 90 degree turns.

Our path trails out to the west (upper left of the image) where we did some simple maneuvers. We then headed north and set up for a landing at Livingston County / Howell airport (OZW) in the upper right part of the image. After departing straight out from Livingston, we headed directly back to Mettetal and crossed midfield to turn downwind for runway 18, then base and final.

A simple, fun flight! Now to get those nav lights working....

Time this flight: 1.3
Total time: 84.5
Landings 275