Hey folks. Happy thanksgiving, for the Canadian folk anyway! Here are some pictures of the flying I have been doing recently. The ones of the Cub were taken by a good guy named Pat Hanna at Guelph Airpark. Every Thursday evening there is a BBQ at the airport that has gotten quite popular. There were about 10 cool airplanes that came in and a whole slew of people that drove in. Also check out on the right column of this blog I made up a map of all the airports I have landed or taken off from as PIC in the past 3 years of flying.
Taking my great uncle Andrew Martin for his first Cub ride. He owns a nice Piper Comanche and it was time to return the favor for all the rides he gave me in his plane!
The rest of these pictures are from a big trip we took in the Cirrus. We went to Hollywood FL to repossess a house that the company had to foreclose on somebody. We were scheduled to leave Lake Simcoe airport at 5:30 am and stop at Buttonville airport to pick someone up who was going with us go look at the property. When we got there I double-checked the weather for our next stop down in Atlanta GA and low and behold the ceilings had dropped down 300'-400' at our time of arrival. This is just so above minimums but with our minimal fuel it just wasn't worth risking it when there are a host of other airport options. We ended up leaving at 7:15 for Pontiac MI to do customs there since they open earlier then any other customs airport. We landed in Hollywood at around 4:30 after a few other delays. After doing the work at the property we left for Ft Myers the next morning. Little did I know that it would be the most intense IFR flight of my life. We managed to squeak into the airport right before a major storm cell moved in over the airport and flew the approach down to minimums. I have a picture attached of the onboard radar. From there we headed north to be in Detroit MI by evening. All along the way we flew between 12000'-17000' and still had to divert around storm cells. It was the highest altitude I have been in a small plane and also the first time I used oxygen at altitude. We landed in Pontiac MI at around 6 pm and boy was I ready to relax. Enjoy the pictures!
Along the cost of Northern Florida
A highlight of the trip was getting vectored right over top of NASA's shuttle and rocket launch facility at Cape Canaveral. Notice the VAB building to the right of the pictures where all the shuttles and rockets were assembled and then to the right is the 3 mile long runway that the shuttle's used to land on. Very cool flying right through such historical airspace.
Here are the launchpad's. Can't help but picture a Saturn V rocket sitting down there 50 yrs ago.
Down at the house
Here is the screen shot of the cell over Ft Myers. I gained a great amount more respect for the ATC controllers on this flight. They precisely vectored us around and in between the intense sections and brought is in right on time before a huge downpour, along with many other flights
First time on oxygen while at 17,000.
Down and clear in Pontiac Michigan at Oakland International Airport. I learned so much on this trip and was in the most intense IFR conditions. Did I ever sleep good that night! The next evening we flew back to Barrie making a total trip of 3400 NM and 18 hours.
Our track for the entire trip
That`s it folks! Until next time, God Bless!
