GREENBRIER VIRTUAL AVIATION

Oakridge, OR

2012-02-19T13:02:00.000-05:00

Inside the FBO, after the usual license check, and proving I'm the GVA guy Bunny said was coming, I picked up the keys to a nice SR22. The UP guys and I climbed in and were soon climbing for 12,500'. Yes we had O2 on board.

It was a beautiful day, so I did this leg VFR. As I looked at the map I couldn't believe my eyes. Our direct course to Oakridge State, just 100 miles north would take us right over Crater Lake. I haven't been there in a few years.

Indeed that's the famous lake coming up right in front of us.

We were all happy with the site seeing along the way. Ahead of us some major mountains, hence our cruising altitude.

I began our 500fpm descent just over the highest of them and when I finally spotted Oakridge State Airport (5S0), I turned off the AP and started an ear popping, serious descent.

On final with the mountain pass I just came out of behind us.

We landed, taxied in and parked next to a Mooney. I'll be leaving my passengers here and fly back to Klamath Falls solo.

NOTAM: Two things:
First I discovered Crater Lake in Flight Sim. A number of years ago (still flying FS9) I was cruising along on a flight from California to Canada in the C441, and while taking screenies noticed Crater Lake far below. I'd never heard of it before, but it intrigued me and as I learned more about it I eventually flew the FSX R22 up to and around it in early FSX...very cool. Again I was totally not expecting to get to fly right over it on this flight, until I looked at the map...cool again.
Second, the SR22. I don't know why I don't fly this plane more than I do. Really nice and like it's real counterpart fast and easy to fly. Mine is of course the Eaglesoft version, although I've noticed that Carenado has announce an SR22. I'm guessing it will have the G1000 making it a more modern version than the Avidyne equipped one I'm flying here...or will they model an early steam gauge version...we'll see. My point is...this is a very nice GA plane...I've got to fly it more.

Bunny sends me further west

2012-02-18T16:57:00.000-05:00

I don't know how she does it, but Bunny always manages to find people wanting to go somewhere from where I happen to be. This time a couple of Union Pacific middle management types need to get to Oakridge, OR. I had no clue where that was, but Bunny said I probably needed to land the Mustang in Klamath Falls and she'd have something waiting for me to fly them the rest of the way in.

So here we are climbing out of Laramie for FL340. It's 720nm so we should be flying for a couple of hours.

We whiled away the time talking railroading. I can talk railroading. One of them even knew my son who's a UP MOP out of Phippsburg, CO.

Descending for my landing at KLMT.

There's runway 32. The runway's are really long out here because the airports are really up there.

On final. I landed, taxied in to the FBO and we went in to see what we'd be flying the rest of the way.

J41 Preflight Briefing

2012-02-17T20:57:00.004-05:00

I begin my flight by going over a few things with my co-pilot after he makes sure that the aircraft is in cold and dark state. As part of my preflight brief, I go over maintenance issues, special passenger needs, and possible runway obstructions and constructions. I leave the flight plan out since I cover this in my clearance brief later on. This is a short video of how I started my first scheduled flight with the preflight brief. http://youtu.be/WHysEP1dKi8?hd=1

1st Official J41 Scheduled Flight

2012-02-17T16:38:00.019-05:00

At approximately 5:30 PM, we got our fuel for our first official schedule flight from Lewisburg to New York City.

The arrival airport is JFK, and we avoided restricted DC airspace by flying east to Virginia, then turning north to New York.

We initially planned to fly at an altitude of 25,000 ft, just 1,000 shy of the ceiling max for the J41.

But soon we had to change plans and settled for 22,000 ft due to weather and payload.

A little hazy and cloudy, but a beautiful sunset to our west never the less.

As the night sky falls, we reflect the last of the sun light against our fuselage as we fly over Delaware.

Soon after we approached Atlantic City, and the lights of the city and casinos seen to shine up into the heavens.

Approximately 1 hr and 37 minutes later, our flight arrived at JFK on RWY 31L. Over all a real good flight, passengers had a snack and beverages, and they seemed very pleased to have flown on the J41.

Wyoming Charter, Part 2

2012-02-17T13:39:00.001-05:00

After an hour and a half on the ground in St. Joe, we climbed back in the Mustang and headed west.

Off from KSTJ's runway 17 we'll be climbing back to FL360 for the rest of our trip to Laramie.

Around 120 miles out of KLAR here's what our course looks like on the G1000. Those large bands of Class airspace to the left of our course is Denver. As you can see we're still over a corner of Nebraska and will soon be in Wyoming.

On short final to KLAR here's an interesting view from our forward facing tail camera.

Touchdown in Laramie. There's no tower here so we cancel our IFR and taxi in.

My passengers are out and I've got their luggage to their car. Time to call Bunny and ask, "Now what?"

HOT FOOTING IT HOME

2012-02-16T13:25:00.002-05:00

My charter and I (of course) had to spend the night in Detroit out near the Wilow Run Airport waiting for a shipment of resonance chambers bound for Greenbrier Electronics. We were picking them up to save GE a considerable shipping bill. The chambers are manufactured in Windsor Ont Canada and shipped to Lewisburg. They are a sub-assembly for the HPLC's produced by "the real GE" as the employees say. The chambers had been held up at U.S. Customs by a paperwork foul up.

Out of Willow Run with all lights shining.

I've got all the lights possible turned on and will leave them on a while yet. Lots of traffic around Willow Run.

FL230 and recording a ground speed of 320kts!!

Thanks to a remarkable tailwind we're hot footing it home. Check the picture caption.

I was chatting with the GE techs on the way home. They had loaded the boxes of resonance chambers with considerable care and told me there were a total of 60 chambers spread between the three packages. Total value?? 3.2 million dollars!! See, I told you that an HPLC was both high tech and expensive.

Short final runway 22

The bad news was that the wind was 10 gusting 22. The good news is that it was a non-issue. Dead down runway 22.

And I did it again!! Stall horn howls followed an instant later by a gentle touchdown.

Hey check it out. I'm actually learning to fly one of these things. Like I've said before, as far as being a sim pilot is concerned, I'm a pretty good model RR builder ;-)

Home in a hurry!!

Taxied in to the terminal and shut down. Home in a hurry this time.

Wyoming Charter, Part 1

2012-02-16T11:56:00.001-05:00

Gotta love those long distance charters. Bunny's got me in the Mustang taking a couple home to Laramie, WY. That's right on the limit of the C510's range, so I've planned a pit stop in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Out of KLWB and gear up at 8:16am. I'm climbing for FL360 today, but for now I'm cleared to 9000'.

Here's what it looks like in the front office as we continue to turn on course. The Mustang climbs really fast at lower altitudes, but with a load on board I generally slide down to just 500fpm from FL300 on up to whatever altitude I'm flying. That may sound slow for a jet but remember ground speed is well over 200 knots while you're climbing like this.

Three hours later we're down turning on final ILS for runway 35 at Rosecrans Memorial. That's Browning Lake I'm flying in over. If you look at a map it's like they diverted the Missouri River into this lake around the airport, so the airport property could be in Missouri instead of Kansas. It's just weird.

On final now. We landed, taxied in to the FBO and took on some more Jet A. My passengers were ready for some time to walk around anyway.

NOTAM: Again flying with RC is sooo nice. I had really missed the program. For a busy person like me it is nice to be able to get to altitude and then just let her fly unattended (by me) to within 120 nm (in this case). Come back save it there and then later fire Flight Sim back up and finish the flight.

FOR YOUR FLIGHT PLANNING NEEDS

2012-02-16T10:05:00.001-05:00

Here's a site that Bill Cox GVA002 says he put up quite some time ago. It case it got past you (as it did me), check it out now.

KYIP comparison

2012-02-15T21:51:00.003-05:00

After seeing Dan's awesome screenshots with the US Cities scenery, I decided to post some comparison shots. His approach shot into Willow Run Airport just outside of Detroit was instantly recognizable to me.

This first shot is on final to RWY 5L at KYIP in a Cessna 172 with my friend flying.

A little bit closer in.

Here is Dan's shot on approach to KYIP RWY 5R. Look at the similarities. Pretty cool, huh?

KLWB GVA flight to Tampa

2012-02-15T13:45:00.011-05:00

We have been planning a trip to St Maartins in the Lesser Antilles to spend some time with friends who are cruising through the Leeward’s and Windward’s. We called GVA to say we were leaving and they asked if we could stop in Greensboro and pick up a couple that wants’ to go to Tampa.

The tower at Greensboro has given us Runway 14, it’s a straight in GPS approach. We picked up our party and off to Tampa.

One hour out and our couple ask, “I wonder if we could make a pit stop“
Ok, no problem, our flight takes us close to Savannah, I called Jacksonville Center and they cleared us to KSAV. The tower gave us Runway 18; we still had a light breeze from the east.

We left Savannah and continued down the coast of Georgia, Tampa is about 240 miles SSW.

In about an hour we are able to get up with Miami Center and they clear us to Tampa. We called Tampa Tower for a stop landing and they told us they were using Runways 36 L and R. Here we are flying downwind past KTPA.

We turn the Legoa approach fix out over the bay and ask for runway 36 Left.

We take the J turnoff for the GA and ask for a GA gate.

We taxi to the gate and say goodbye to our passengers. I think we’ll stay the night and see if we can see the pitchers and catchers warm-up over at the Phillies field in Clearwater. Tomorrow we’ll plan our next leg to the Antilles.

Smith, Party of eight, now boarding...Part 2

2012-02-15T12:35:00.000-05:00

I met my crowd in the FBO, told them what to expect, and we headed out to the PC12.

After this shot they descended on the plane, we loaded up and taxied out. At least it's stopped snowing here.

Climbing out for FL200. With a load it's a bit slower on the climb, but still quite respectable.

I included this shot to give those of you not using RC a glance at the menu you work with. It's similar to the regular FS ATC menu except you must use the keyboard numbers. You can't just click on a selection. This what it usually looks like in flight, and it has additional pages with things like diverting for weather, declaring emergencies, lots of flexibility.

Back to our flight. Naturally Runway 4 was in use since we were heading right toward 22, but we circled around and lined up for the ILS.

On final here, we landed, taxied in and my crew was met by two Snowshoe vans. Crazy and loud group. I think they were getting a start on their evening celebrating while I flew'em down.

SOMETIMES THE BEST LAID PLANS...

2012-02-15T12:33:00.000-05:00

I had flown two technicians from Greenbrier Electronics up to Niagara Falls NY so they could install a new HPLC (think mega-dollar lab equipment). After the installation we were supposed to scoot over to Detroit and pick up a shipment of "resonance chambers" (yeah, me neither) and haul them back to Lewisburg in order to save Greenbrier Electronics a sizable shipping bill...

Leaving Buffalo Int'l Airport and the airplane is not totally cleaned up yet. We'll leave the landing lights on a while longer, there's a lot of traffic around Buffalo and in the real scheme of things, the Duke is pretty small.

A last glance at Buffalo before we're really on our way west.

Not any snow to speak of over southern Ontario. This winter is really unusual.

Downtown Detroit. This is a town that has taken a few hits lately, but seems to be recovering slowly. I seem to recall that Detroit has lost something like 50% of its' population in recent years.

In a few seconds I'll have the landing lights on, plus the identification lights and even the ice lights, the strobes I simply leave on practically whenever I'm in the air. A lot of traffic in the Detroit area.

About a mile out now.

I DID IT!! I DID IT! For once I touched down just as the stall horn went off. Check it out!! Maybe I'll learn to fly one of these things yet.

And when we shut down and inquired after our cargo we found...nothing. The parts are delayed in Canada--the usual paperwork hassle. They won't be here until well after midnight. We'll lay over and be back in WV tomorrow. My guys called Greenbrier Electronics, I called the office. Bunny (you remember Bunny) already knew about it.

Dusk Time Flying

2012-02-15T10:29:00.012-05:00

These are a few random shots of a flight I recently completed for Greenbrier Aviation. Dusk time flying is one of the most rewarding experiences that a pilot of any level can accomplish; both real-world and virtual.
In the virtual, when done right, dusk flying VFR is a rewarding experience that is sure to leave lasting impressions on the pilot and His/Her passengers for many a year to come.
Why don't you give it a try. These shots were taken enroute from Lewisburg to Martha's Vineyard in New England. The trip itself is gorgeous as the route I took, takes you up the eastern seaboard alongside New York City. With add-ons such as Aerosoft's Manhattan scenery and FS Global for the mesh, the views are absolutely stunning. Enjoy

PS: These thumbnail images do absolutely no justice for the true beauty of the screen shot. Click on each one for a full size version and to truly enjoy the picture.

Cheers,
Ken Rodriguez - GVA048

Smith , Party of 8, now boarding.....Part 1

2012-02-14T11:17:00.000-05:00

Skiing is on at Snowshoe and we get a few charters into KLWB for the sport. This one is no exception, except perhaps the size of the group. I'm being sent up to State College, PA to pick up a group of Professor types and their spouses, girlfriends, etc. Bunny's put me in the only thing handy that can hold a crowd like that, the PC12.

Looks like skiing weather as I taxi out to two two. A bunch of messy weather is almost through the area, so hopefully it'll be all gone when I return.

Climbing up into the clear air above at 2000fpm. With just me and a full load of fuel, this plane will climb. Along the way I also had a nice tail wind giving me a nice ground speed of 314 to 330 kts. I also flew via Morgantown, WV's MGW VOR so as to avoid that pesky National Radio Observatory airspace we must all deal with on northbound flights.

Down from FL190 I'm cleared for the ILS into runway 24 at KUNV. I'm flying right over the airport for a reverse course final approach.

I have no qualms about letting the AP do all that stuff, and so I do, simply monitoring altitude and speed.

That all brings me to this point, on final. Yes I am a bit high but the Pilatus is so easy to handle that a steep descent is a no brainer. I landed, taxied in to the FBO and found a small herd of people and their stuff waiting.

NOTAM: Funny how I decide what to fly next. As Dan will tell you I have more payware aircraft than the Flight Sim Police allow, so naturally there's a lot to choose from. Sometimes it's an article in a magazine about a particular plane, but this time I actually saw one that I don't think I've ever actually seen before. Shopping in Lynchburg last Saturday I was pulling out of a shopping center, conveniently located off the end of KLYH's runway 22, and I heard an odd sounding plane over head. Opening the sunroof I observed a shiny PC12 on final. Decision made.

A routine return

2012-02-13T13:16:00.001-05:00

After dropping my guys and their part off in Knoxville it was time to head back to Hot Springs with the Baron. I added a bit of fuel, had a snack and headed back to the plane.

Climbing out of KDKX around 4:45pm. The flight should take about an hour and a half, so it should be almost dark when I arrived.

Naturally the wind is favoring runway 25, so I'll be flying past the airport over there and turn back in to land.

Gear's down and I'm lining up for that green light way off in the distance.

Moments from touchdown. I taxied in and wrapped up a long but successful day in the Baron. Bunny will be pleased I'll bet.

Back by Rail

2012-02-13T12:18:00.010-05:00

Finally found the Cessna 337 in a hangar with the cowling off the front engine. I saw a mechanic working over at a bench on the other side of the hangar and asked him what was wrong with the 337. He turned around and said " It's broke! " No kidding was my thoughts. Found out that the #1 cylinder was bad and it will be a few days before the acft. will be back in service....... Called the boss back in Townsville and asked him how I will get back. He said you could take the train or thumb a ride. Very funny was my reply. I looked up the flight schedules and found out that most of the airlines have limited schedules out of Rockhampton, so I decided to take the train.

I decided to take the "Tilt Train" and it was scheduled to leave at 18:30 that evening...... Jezzzz, the above picture is me running to board and as you can see by the clock that I almost missed it.

As you can see the seats are very comfortable and they even have TV screens above. These trains are similar to being on an commercial airliner, they even have "Train attendants" You get the same kind of service. Even the meals are the same :)

Here we are on our way picking up speed once we left Rockhampton. These trains will cruise at 160km/hr (100mph). The ride is very smooth and quiet as the tracks are well maintained.

One thing about taking a train is that you can see some beautiful scenery. The reason they call them "Tilt Trains" is because they actually "Tilt" while going around the sharper bends. The reason being that either the outer track is raised, just like a curve on a highway. They trains are electric from Brisbane to Rockhampton and Diesel from Rockhampton to Cairns.

The above pics I took of the Computer panel and the Control panel. I hope you enjoyed the train ride......

SOMETIMES YA JUST GOTTA BE A TOURIST

2012-02-13T08:18:00.000-05:00

You might remember (or not) that I had flown two technicians from Greenbrier Electronics up to Niagara Falls NY to install a new (and extremely expensive) HPLC, a piece of quality control lab test equipment. We had landed in a driving snow storm in mid-Feburary. My story continues...

One of the great things about flight simming is that we can tweak things when we want. Some call it stretching the truth. I call it--it's my dang flight simulator. lol

Leaving Buffalo Airfield 9G0, a small paved strip just outside of Buffalo NY on a crisp fall day.

Enjoying some of the scenery around Buffalo courtesy of Aerosoft's U.S. Cities X.

An old man's mental wanderings: In 1985 I was involved in a long term transportation project for the chemical company for which I worked. The project involved (in part) accompanying tank trucks of an extremely hazardous liquid chemical as an "on the spot" hazardous spill response team. We used to drive past this stadium (you sports fans know the name of this one, I don't) almost daily on the New York State Thruway shown below. What made it interesting is that the Buffalo Bills used this field as their summer/fall practice field, maybe their actual game site for all I know. We had a large selection of short wave radios mounted in our vehicles and one of them was always tuned to the same frequency the coaches used for communication while practice sessions were being held.

Enough digression, thank you for your patience.

Ahh yes, the reason for this flight. Enjoy the Falls.

Nearing the end of my flight and approaching Lockport (it lies right on the old Erie Canal) NY and my landing at 0G0, Buffalo Suburban Airport. Tomorrow back to reality--so to speak.

NOTAM: As mentioned above, I was using Aerosoft's U.S. Cities X as my scenic add-on for this flight and I have to confess to being less than whelmed with the water effects at Niagara Falls. Even with the slider for water effects all the way right as desired by the boffins at Aerosoft, the only visible water effect was the actual falls themselves. I had hoped that the rapids approaching the falls, the mist, and the foaming, frothing water below the falls would have been in motion too. Alas, it was not to be.

Flight Plan Tools

2012-02-12T22:04:00.003-05:00

I have attempted to put a set of videos to explain some of the tools I use to plan a flight. It's suppose to be a 3 part series, starting with these four sets of videos. There are four videos about 5 minutes each. This was an attempt to explain as best and as quick as possible what I do in planning a schedule flight. In speaking fast, I might have made a few mistakes, but you will get the gist of what I was trying to explain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gSJZTXzNn8&list=PLCD8AC06F75CF1565&feature=view_all

2nd Leg of Routine Flight

2012-02-12T19:23:00.000-05:00

We've got the part loaded and I taxi out to KPAH's runway 22 and we take off, again IFR, this time for Knoxville, TN

Climbing out at 500fpm for 7000'. I noted that a few of you are not familiar with Radar Contact, so I thought this flight I'd tell you a bit about it.

I'm doing this because I forgot one thing about it during this flight. Before you fly you can set RC up so that it will automatically pause your flight so many miles from you destination. You decide how many based on your altitude etc. In this case I had it set to 80 miles. After reaching 7000' I set it so my "RC copilot" would handle the radios and fly the plane. I went off and did other things. Later when I returned my flight was paused 80 miles out. I saved it and finished the flight later. What I had forgotten was you have to save while the plane is flying...not in pause. It has to be that way to save a .rcd file which has all of the info RC needs to continue when you bring the flight back up.

I mistakenly saved it in pause and had to finish this flight VFR with regular FSX ATC, but the weather at Knoxville was okay to do that so no big deal. As you can see it was a tad hazy, but I had my charts and had no trouble.

Here I'm on final for KDKX, Knoxville's Downtown Island airport. You can just barely see the downtown buildings in the haze.

Beneath our plane was suburban countryside. We landed and I delivered my passengers.

Pilots Needed

2012-02-12T12:59:00.010-05:00

Woke up early this morning and had my usual, peanut butter on toast, yogurt and a cup of java. Then off to the office. When I arrived, two pilots were sitting at the bosses desk not looking very happy and took a seat next to them. I was told to ferry them to Rockhampton airport this morning using the Piper Cheyenne and pick up the Cessna 337 and bring it back. Rockhampton needed a couple of pilots to fly the Cheyenne for them due to the increase in their busines as they only used Cessna 208's. I went out to do the preflight while they gathered up their gear. Soon we were off to Rockhampton airport.

We flew VFR and low so we could see the scenery. It was a beautiful morning for this as the morning sun reflected of the water. The only problem here is that we were using more gas than the boss would have liked.

Letting down as we approached Rockhampton.

Lining up for the approach and trying to slow this beast down.

Looks like a nice airport with a control tower.

I had to ask ground where "Air Capricorn" was located because we could not see it as we taxi. He gave us instructions to it and when we arrived, the two pilots remarked " That's it, the little shack with the trailer in front!" I just had to jokingly say something here "Ya guys and that is your hotel where you will be staying" They didn't think that was funny at all. Actually the trailer is for the ground crew, who by the way, makes a mean cup of coffee......Found out later that it is a very busy airport with 750K passengers a year and is the gateway to central Australia. It is capable of handling wide body aircraft for Qantas and Tiger Airways.

After having my coffee and donut (Had more that one, they were good) and small talk with the ground crew, I went off in search of the Cessna 337.

GVA flight to KSDF with 3 scouts to the Louisville Syracuse Game

2012-02-12T12:28:00.008-05:00

I loaded about 220 lbs. of fuel for the 260nm trip. Taking off from Lewisburg, first stop is Raleigh to pick up 3 scouts that have been in town to talk with Jon Wall, the outstanding high school point guard.

I expect to hear lots of inside information on the flight to Louisville. With the March Madness tournament only a few weeks away this Big East game between Syracuse and Louisville will be a good one.

The first thing after I land in Raleigh will be to wipe that bug splat off my windscreen. What’s a bug doing flying around in 32 degree weather? I can see the guys outside the gate; this will be a quick down and up.

About 25 miles out of Raleigh we overfly Logon County 6L4. That looks like one tough approach; I’ll have to come back here when I have more time.

It’s about 200 miles from Raleigh to Louisville. Here we are overflying LEX Lexington; with 50 miles to go it’s time to get up and down with Lex Approach. They give us 35R with an IAF at brbon intersection, I looked at my chart and that is about 17 miles out with no procedural turn, straight in over flat terrain.

We are cleared to land, just a few planes in line waiting to take off. I guess most people are staying in town for the big game tomorrow, I know I’ll be there.

CHECK THIS PAGE

2012-02-12T09:28:00.000-05:00

Johnny Rosario GVA012 has put a couple of interesting links up on the Comments Page. I find the wx site to be almost indispensable. Check them out now.

FUELPLAN²

2012-02-12T09:22:00.005-05:00

By the way, don't know if some of you take a look at the comments and discussion section, but last week I posted this link http://fuel.aerotexas.com/ which allows you to put your departure, arrival airports, your equipment, and calculates your load sheet for you. It has the J41 listed, and it provided the correct fuel required to minimize the error we all make of flying with a full tank which is not realistic in the real world. Below you can see the sheet it printed out for me for my latest flight from Lewisburg to Washington DC. As you can clearly see, I based my diversion decision on having to plan correctly and adding the recommended fuel load. Hopefully you can find the link useful for your next flight.

Training with full crew and passengers

2012-02-11T19:09:00.018-05:00

Now that the J41 has passed FAA inspection and certification, I was told that I can return to WV to finish my last week of training.

To my surprise a few modification has been upgraded, to include additional paint work, and a replacement of the cockpit instrument panel. Never the less, I think she will represent GVA where ever she goes.

I'm flying with Captain John Cordova, who came with me from Seattle to spend a week in WV, helping me complete my training. We are flying some passengers and cargo from Greenbrier to Washington DC.

We flew autopilot most of the way following a plan loaded into the FMS. Flight level was 15,000 feet, total of 180 nm. We had a slight delay entering DC airspace, and were diverted due to military activity in the area, but eventually we were given the okay for landing on RWY 01 at KDCA.

We arrived at the gate, unloaded the passengers and baggage, and headed into the debrief room to go over my performance today. Over all, I say it was a successful flight, but still have a few things to iron out before I'm totally comfortable to take on passengers on my own without the instructor.

Routine Flight

2012-02-11T17:55:00.002-05:00

Two men from a local company near Hot Springs, VA are flying to Paducah, KY to pick up a part, and then we'll head to Oak Ridge, TN (actually Knoxville's the closest airport) where I'll leave them to install it.

We are out of KHSP just after 9am in the Baron. I'll be climbing to 8000' and because of weather ahead we're IFR.

The clouds appear on schedule and we bounce along through them and cross a time zone along the way. This is a longer flight than we like to take in the Baron, but it was what we had available and the guys are happy to be on there way.

We're down under the clouds for our approach into Paducah. I'll be flying the ILS for runway 4.

Almost down. We arrived, taxied in to the FBO where a van was waiting with the small but apparently vital part.

NOTAM: This was just an average flight, but I was pleased because I was using Radar Contact again after abandoning it a few months back. I was having trouble using it in my computer, but since have learned what really uses my resources, namely AI aircraft & extreme clouds and rain/snow. The clouds didn't bother us in this plane, and I had the AI from Ultimate Traffic off, so RC worked very well. I'll be trying it with other aircraft now. Despite having to relearn RC, JD told me I did a perfect job on this flight...whewww!

We're going Off Island, back to Lewisburg

2012-02-11T11:18:00.009-05:00

We were all ready to go, baggage loaded and I am up with the tower. Boston Center has cleared us VFR west departure. We brought along some donuts and 2 thermoses with coffee so I planned a pit stop about 1.5 hours out.

The return trip will be down the north shore of the sound. It will give us an easy leg into Caldwell, our pit stop. Here we are flying over Stonington CT.

Boston Center has handed us off to New York approach. Ahead of the plane is Bridgeport; this field was really busy years ago with the Sikorski factory on the field. We just received clearance thru the New York airspace direct Caldwell.

KCDW Caldwell in Essex County is a nice field with about 200 aircraft, mostly single engine. This is where John F Kennedy Jr. had his Piper Saratoga. All the approaches are GPS, flat and unobstructed. I had just enough fuel with a little reserve so we’ll refuel during our stop. Fueled up and I am ready to go but where are my passengers? "C’mon people, we still have 350 miles to go."

An hour and a half flying south after our stop at Caldwell we are passing over KDMW Carroll County Regional. Everybody is looking forward to getting back to Lewisburg, I won’t tell them we still have about 200 miles to go.

Lewisburg, " wake up everybody; trays in their up right positions, seat belts on, we’ll be down in a few minutes. That was a really nice 3 days “on island”."