Time this flight: 1.3
Total Time: 93.4
Landings: 300
(These totals take into account a flight which I took in the middle of November which I didn't submit as a blog entry.)
Today was my first winter flight, and it was just as it should be. No blowing snow, clean runways, blue skies and calm winds. A friend from work joined for what was intended to be a cross country flight up to Lansing and back. When we arrived over Howell (KOZW Livingston County airport) I tried to pick up Lansing's ATIS (weather info) with no luck. Tried calling approach on the radio, no luck. Started a left 360 to remain clear of their airspace while I diagnosed the radio issues. Switched to radio #2, nothing. Stayed on COM2 which seemed to work better than radio #1, and landed at Howell.
Decided to call it a day and headed back to Mettetal where I landed for the 300th time. The landing was good, but I will remember it more for the approach which my passenger remarked that it reminded him of the "Space Shuttle" landing. Let's just say the 152 in front of me was slow, which forced me to adjust my pattern. This resulted in a steep, full flap, side slipping approach to short final. All while juggling radio calls through the "Mr. Microphone" having long since abandoned the push to talk switch on the yoke.
The continued lack of maintenance on the aircraft at Mettetal (and other factors) has made it easy to decide to join a flying club. Stay tuned.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
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2 comments:
Hey Michael don't know if you're reading the comments, it's your ol' mentor calling. Ah, yes, the challenge of keeping up, in the winter no less, after getting the vaunted ticket. Like you, I have flown only a literal few times the last couple months, saving up for a dreamed of flight from S. Florida to Key West. The first week of my stay, Dec. 24 thru New Year's was perfect weather but I had buisness to take care of in Miami and delayed passage to my rental FBO, Marco Island, just two days before a huge cold front screwed things up. I got checked out in one of their two 172s by a non-CFI charter pilot working there and managed to take a 78 mile trip up the west coast to Venice, over Sanibel Island. Made greasers on the check out at MKY and bounced like a rubber ball at VNC, thrown off by several other planes in the pattern at the two intersecting-runway airport. Flew back just outside the Ft Myers class B space and received clearance to transition Naple's class D and made a lovely slip to final TD on the 5000 feet at Marcos. There are alligators on that runway with some frequency and I had to semi-abort one takeoff due to a large bird or marmot crossing in front of me.Anyway, couldn't do Key West the next day to marginal VFR and the winds were gusting up to 30+, that and the FBO prohibits their planes from landing at my preferred first stop, Sugarloaf key with their derelict 20-ft-wide x 3000 strip, 17 nm N/NE of Key West.
That AND there was a ton of VFR traffic vying to get out of Key West the day after New Years, woulda hadda talk to K West approach, which would have been good practice but ah well. Did a great engine out sim at Marco, and I nailed the numbers on my tight approach but my check pilot said, "Why didn't you eat up some of that 5000 feet for a safety margin?" He had me cold, man, what can I say? The obvious doesn't get any better than that.
Tom, Any flying is good flying! What was the hourly rate on the 172?
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