So, as I was ever so gently reminded this week, it's been a while since I've updated this blog. In the interim, flying has never been far from my mind. But the hecticness of late summer vacation and work projects collided with the back-to-school preparations and Carter's transition to a full time kindergartner. I'm also finishing up grad school and have taken on 16 hours of week of additional "clinical" projects to make up the final credits that I need to earn my MSN. Needless to say, life's been a bit hectic lately. In the end, this treadmill of life makes the time I spend in the air that much sweeter. I just wish there was more of it. To get this blog back on track, here's a summary of my flying activities for the past two months.
AUGUST: Had a great month flying, highlighted by my time in the air while vacationing down in Cape May, NJ. I got checked out in their Cessna 172M and loved having an airplane at my disposal during the vacation. All told, I logged about 4 hours of sightseeing while we were there, including an early morning flight along the beach. I also was able to take Andy, my brother in law, for his first ride in a small airplane. He loved it and did great! Carter also tagged along, although he wasn't thrilled to have to ride in the back.
The plane itself was a nice 172. The kicker was that it rented for $120/hour. The day of my checkout found us having to fly north almost to Millville to find high enough ceilings to run through the checkout maneuvers. Finally we found blue sky and ran through an uneventful series to demonstrate my proficiency. We came back to WWD for some landings and this is when the fun started. The CFI had a different technique than I was used to. He likes the high and tight approach to landing, whereas I was trained and more comfortable with a more stabilized and wider pattern. The result was a sight picture that had us diving for the field and, on this day, I just couldn't brake old habits. I was either fast or flaring too soon to brake the dive. WWD's runways are long so that wasn't an issue... things just didn't feel right. The last couple were better but still not greasers. The CFI said he wanted one good one, which I finally delivered, and he signed me off.
Frustrated by my less than perfect performance, I was eager to get 19J back in the air by myself a few days later. A quick trip around the pattern with a textbook landing renewed my confidence and energized my enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I had nearly depleted my vacation flying budget but intended to make the most of what I had left.
For a rental bird, 19J was much nicer than what I usually fly. It was clean and had a nice stack. Most of my flying was simply sightseeing so I didn't get to utilize much of the instrumentation, but this is a plane that I'd love to work on my IR in and/or call my own. Someday.
Early on in our vacation, Kelly and I had the opportunity to get together with my friend Joe Ebert and his family. Joe and I know each other through the Red Board and tried to make plans to get the families together while we were all in Cape May. Ultimately, my kids cashed out early so Kelly and I wound up meeting the Ebert's at their B&B. The deal was that they would provide the hospitality if we provided the beer. So, we loaded the cooler full of malt sodas and ice, threw it in the wagon (we're not driving) and hiked across Cape May! We had a great time! Heather and Kelly really hit it off, while Joe and I talked flying the whole evening. Plus, we all had Rochester NY roots, so we all had lots in common. The evening was over before we knew it, but we established a friendship with another flying family and are looking forward to meeting up with them at a future fly it.
SEPTEMBER: I've been able to log some time here and there, all in the 152. The plane has been down A LOT for mx recently. Not sure what's going on, but it's getting tiresome. This frustration led me to send out another slew of non-equity inquiries and, lo and behold, I actually got a call from an interested owner. In a nutshell, he owns two aircraft and lives primarily out of state. He's trying to sell his Cessna 150 but hasn't had much interest. He appreciated my current flying status and desire to own eventually, and is interested in talking about a non-equity deal and possible sale of the aircraft to me.
At the risk of jinxing myself, I'm posting a picture of the airplane. I sent the owner my proposal last week so it's out of my hands now. The plane is a 1969 Cessna 150J. It's in good shape with a basic VFR panel. I'm not sure if the "raspberry red" would be my first choice of color (and it's not pink, despite how my CFI-I Travis would describe it), but right now I'm just looking for a solid time builder. If the non-equity deal goes through, my plan is to fly as much VFR as I can in it over the next 12 months and then reevaluate. At that point, if it hasn't sold and if I find that the two seater meets my mission, I may buy it. Likewise, if I find that I really need the four seats, I'll start to look for a 172. The owner knows my concern about having a family and the limited useful load of the 150, so I'm now just (EAGERLY) waiting for his reply to see if this can move forward. The suspense is driving me crazy!
Kelly's family is coming this weekend which means that I will have some daycare. I'd hoped to tag along on the POA West Virginia trip but couldn't clear the weekend, so I few hours in 94006 will hopefully satiate my craving to go flying.
