Boston Bound

A good friend of mine has been searching for a new plane.  He's been looking at the Cessna 182 and after taking him to Norfolk, VA about a month ago, he finally decided to purchase a 1968 Cessna 182 up in Boston, MA at Laurence Hanson Airport.  After completing all of his paperwork it was time for us to fly up to Boston to pick up his plane.  So a couple of Friday's ago we found the time and the weather appropriate to fly.  Dom, the buyer, and Steve, his CFI, and myself boarded 926GZ around 10 am for departure.  There was a fairly nice tailwind for the ride up and a layer of partly cloudy skies at around 5500.  My idea was to climb to 7500' with flight following and fly direct over the New York Class Bravo to Hanson.  The estimated flight time was about 2 hours. 
     We lifted off and after avoiding a couple of big puffy clouds, climbed to 7500 and had flight following with MaGuire Approach who then handed us off to New York Approach.  The flight was a nice gentle flight with only a little climb to stay out of the clouds as we crossed the bay.  Hanson is a large former Air Force base that now serves as a hub for some major corporate jet centers.  We were fourth in line for landing as we contacted Hanson tower.  A really nice private jet was in front of us.  With a little crosswind landing, we touched down nicely and rolled off the runway onto the intersecting runway and over the to the Jet Center.  The guys were really nice to put me in a wonderful spot that really showed off N926GZ!

Yea, that me right behind that big beautiful private jet.  I sure hope he doesn't decide to take her out for a test run.  Anyway, after fueling up a little, ($7.75 a gallon), we sat at the FBO waiting for the arrival of the seller.  The nice thing about an airport like this is there is always something going on.  Take for instance the P-52 that took off being escorted by an F-16.  Now that was a sight to see.  Man, those guys could fly.  Anyway, it wasn't long before the seller showed up and took us around to the private hangers where his plane was waiting.  The plane had new paint, new interior and a five year old engine that had just 17 hours of time.  Nice!  Well after a very very through checkout, Dom and Steve took her up for a little test flight.  I guess they were satisfied because it wasn't long before they were back on the ground and Dom was signing the papers and handing the guy a check.  New plane for Dom!  Way to go!

The ride home was going to be a lonely one for me.  Although I kept in touch with Steve and Dom on the radio, they had departed a few minutes before me.  Well, it gave me a chance to fly solo for a little while.  After going through my checks, we got the ATIS and started up by contacting ground.  A little confusion on the taxi ways on the way out, but soon I was ready for departure and climbing to 8500" for the ride home.  Bradley Approach picked me up for flight following and away we sailed.  A thick layer of clouds below me at 7500' really kept me on my toes.  Not much site seeing on the way home.

Somewhere over West Chester, New York I had a first time experience.  Seems a Bonanza east bound for Boston from Teaneck was at 7000' and was having engine trouble.  I heard him contact NY ATC and ask for vectors to the closest airport.  NY was sending him to West Chester which was about 10 miles away.  The pilot was very calm and collected, but a few minutes later I heard him tell ATC that they were at 4,000' and still didn't have the airport.  ATC told him they were only about 5 miles away, but shortly after that I heard him come on and tell ATC that they weren't going to make the airport and were putting the plane down in a grass strip next to a road.  WOW!  ATC lost radar contact and another pilot asked if ATC wanted him to make a pass to see what was going on.  It was just then when ATC changed me to another controller.  WAIT, What happened??  I had to find an app on my Ipad that night for ABC NY news to find out that they two guys walked away from the plane after landing on the lawn of an IBM plant.  Thank God and good ending.
     The rest of the flight was uneventful and by the time I got to Trenton, the skies cleared and I descended to South Jersey and caught up with Dom and Steve.  Another great day, four hours and an experience to put in my book.  I love this flying stuff!  Till next time, fly safe and live life to the most!

The Ipad & WX Weather

So if you're like me, you've gone out and bought an Ipad.  I actually think it's a great Pilot resource.  My main reason was the new apps that were coming out giving you all the information and maps you could possibly need.  My app was Foreflight and it wasn't long before I stopped buying charts all together.  The free trial to Foreflight sold me on something that was just awesome.  I know, I've heard all the arguments of paper charts.  I even had one get sucked out the door while in training and flying solo.  A lot of good that paper chart did me.  Anyway, since the FAA has approved EFB's for Part 91, why not take advantage of the technology.  It's not like you can't find the ground?  The more I used my Foreflight and my Ipad the more I loved it.  Then Foreflight came out with GPS capability with a little device called the "Bad Elf".  Another great investment for just $75.00.  It pays to shop around!  This tiny little plug in brings my Ipad to life and I've had the opportunity to match it against more expensive plug in GPS units and it performed just as well as the big guys.  You got to love that!

So, after using my Ipad for about a year it was time for my IFR check ride.  I showed up that day with my flight plan, a paper chart and my Ipad.  As we progress through the ground check, I could tell this was going to be an interesting test of my Ipad use.  My CFII was very thorough and old school.  At one point he asked me if the use of the Ipad was legal.  We walked out to a local computer and after going on the AOPA site I searched EFB and sure enough the FAA circular authorizing the use of EFB's came up.  He jotted down the number and we headed to the plane.  In the air I was lucky enough to have my Garmin 530W and my Ipad.  But more importantly was the knowledge that I had of how to use those two instruments.  I think that's the key guys!  Know what you have and know how to use it.  This is what keeps us straight and safe!
    Well, now Foreflight has come up with a team effort with Baron to provide weather on your Ipad.  I took advantage of the promotional offer and bought the system this past December, but I hadn't had the chance to use it yet.  The Baron product offers two units.  One is an XM weather receiver and the other is a WiFi transformer that broadcasts a signal to your Ipad.  This past Easter I finally had the chance to try it for myself.  You also need a subscription to XM weather.  Here's where the expense come in.  XM offers three packages, Aviator lite, Aviator and Aviator Pro.  You need to check this out and see which package suits you.  I found out that they were offering a deal on the Aviator that buy purchasing it for a year I saved enough to make it just as affordable as the Aviator Lite package.  Next step was setting it up in the plane.  For now, I just plugged the unit into my lighter plug and set it behind my passenger seat.  Later, I'm going to do something different, but I wanted to make sure this thing worked to my satisfaction.  The weather receiver plugs into the WiFi transformer which supplies power to the weather receiver so you only need one plug in.  Wala, I had weather.  I also had metars, Terminal Forecasts, winds aloft and all the choices on the map of getting cloud cover, flight rules, winds, even fuel prices.  WOW!

I did find on the way down to Lynchburg that antenna placement is important.  At first I just wasn't getting a good signal.  There is a way to go into your foreflight and even check your signal strength and satellite reception.  After moving the Weather antenna around a little, I found on the front dash was the best location and they give you plenty of antenna wire to run the thing from one end of the plane to another.  Our flight for the weekend took us to Lynchburg, VA which is a two hour flight in my plane.  All the way down and back I had great reception and was able to switch back and forth from local airport metars and forecasts to winds and even TFR's.  A great relief from guessing and switching radio frequencies to see whats going on.  All in all, I am very happy with the system that I have now.  I know that Foreflight has now teamed up with Sporties to put together another system called, Stratus ADS-B weather.  This system uses the free ADS-B provided by the FAA and a battery operated unit.  It comes out later this month and is subscription free.  My only thought here is that I hope XM weather subscriptions come down when people start making a jump.  Anyway, we will see and for now, my unit is working just fine.  Thanks for checking in and fly safe!

Gusty Winds bring us home from Lynchburg

Well, as a typical pilot, I watch he weather constantly, especially when we're away on a trip.  Saturday night the concern for winds started showing its ugly face.  Sunday things didn't change much except for a little window in the morning.  Talk to the wife, who is really good about changing plans when we fly, and we decide to wake up early Monday morning and head to the airport.  It was a great weekend in Lynchburg with our daughter.  Friday we drove around and shopped ending with dinner at Vinnie's.  Saturday we house shopped for a possible purchase if our daughter finds a job opportunity and decides to stay in Lynchburg, VA.  Sunday was church at Thomas Roads Baptist Church for Easter with Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr.  What a terrific service and experience.  Simply awesome to say the least.

Sunday afternoon we checked out a couple more homes and then back to the apartment for a nice walk before having Easter Dinner with our daughter.  Fantastic day that even included deicing an air conditioning unit.  What are dad's for?
     Monday morning early we woke and showered and by 7:30 AM we were on our way to the airport.  Not exactly what I wanted to do, but I'm always siding on safety.  We said our goodbyes and I completed our pre-flight before contacting Lynchburg ground.  Winds were variable and runway 22 was in use.  Before long we were down the runway, in the air and heading northeast for 5,500".  The ride was not without some light turbulence and a tailwind that pushed us along at 145 to 150 knots.  Not bad for my little Cherokee 235.  We were over Pautuxet in an hour and made our turn to the North for South Jersey.  The tail wind became a quartering cross wind, but we were still able to average about 130 knots.  Hazy conditions prevailed on the way down and on the way back but I was able to manage a couple of nice pictures as we came back over the western shore of Maryland from the Chesapeake Bay.  I think I see my future home down there somewhere.  Yea, I wish!

Flight following all the way home is the only way to go.  If you're a pilot and you travel VFR or IFR, you should be talking to these guys, they are the best.  I enjoy having the protection and the company in the cockpit.  Dover switched us to Philadelphia Approach and this is where the fun begins.  About 15 miles from South Jersey we began our descent.  The wind was rocking us around, but nothing that I couldn't handle. Philadelphia released us and we were the only ones in the sky.  Probably a pretty good reason for this.  As we entered the pattern for South Jersey we were really being bounced around.  I had seen the reports for wind shear so I was really anxious about that.  Since we were the only ones in the air, I told Lynn we were going to make a nice long base to final turn and a long final into the airport.  As we started final at about 800' we slowly descended with just 2 notch's of flaps.  The wind was really howling and I was working hard to keep it stable.  Finally over the runway, a little up and down and a little power on and off and then a real nice settle to the runway.  WOW, that was fun!  NOT!  It's a times like this that I really appreciate my instructor, Durand Branch, and all the work that we did flying in winds and crosswinds.  Once on the ground it was time to taxi with wind awareness the whole time.  We were finally at the tie down and after turning off the avionics's, we pulled the mixture.  10:00 am gave us another 2 hour flight home from Lynchburg, VA.  Not bad, not bad at all.  I wonder what the traffic is like on I-95 around Washington, DC right now.  Until next time, fly safe and enjoy life.

Gotta Love a Tail Wind

So my oldest daughter, Danelle, is heading to Arizona for the week. My mom is home from Florida and is available to watch the dog. Sounds like it's a great opportunity to fly away some where. Well, since my youngest daughter, Dawn, is in Lynchburg by herself, we decided to fly to Lynchburg, VA for Easter. Watched the weather all week and it looks good. Stopped by South Jersey Airport, KVAY, and checked on N926GZ and had the wing tips filled. That gives me 84 gallons of fuel which should be more than enough to make it all the way to Lynchburg Regional Airport, KLYH, and back. Friday morning the briefer gave us clear skies all the way to Lynchburg and by 9:00 am we were at the airport loading up the plane. I even had time to hook up my newest addition, my Baron WX weather receiver and wifi device to give my iPad weather reception and more. By 9:45 am we were wheels up and heading to the south with flight following. After a short delay due to incoming traffic to Philadelphia International, we were cleared to 6500'. Along we flew in smooth air and at 155 knots ground speed. You gotta love a tail wind! After a short turn to the south west at Pautuxet, we were inbound to Lynchburg. The air was still smooth, although a little hazy as we approached the blue ridge. Still enjoyed seeing those mountains come into site. About 15 miles out we began a nice 500' per minute descent to pattern altitude. The air was a little bumpy as we entered the pattern and prepared for final. A nice 16 mph wind at 30 made for a nice easy landing on runway 04 at Lynchburg. As we taxied off towards Falwell Aviation, I suddenly realized that it was just 11:45 am. We made it to Lynchburg in just 2 hours! wOW!! By the way,if you ever want a nice weekend away, Falwell Aviation is the FBO of Liberty University and will take great care of you and your plane. My daughter, Dawn, was waiting for us at the airport and after a short visit with David Young, the Dean of the Aviation School at Liberty, we were off with our daughter for a great Easter weekend. The moon is full as we sit here in our daughters apartment. Just thinking about what the benefits of general aviation offer us brings a smile to my face! Have a great Easter my friends! Safe travels and great memories!