Baby Mary's First Flight

At the ripe old age of 3 months, we took Mary on her first flight. It turned out to be a beautiful Sunday afternoon so we loaded up and headed for the airport.

My biggest concern for Mary has always been what to do about hearing protection. I scoured the web for help and not long after she was born I bought a pair of Peltor Pink Child Earmuffs. We tested them out last week at Abby's cheerleading awards night with marginal success. Mary seemed to tolerate wearing them, but you could see they were still just a little too big; the ear cups wouldn't seal around the top of her ears.

Since I don't feel comfortable sticking ear plugs IN her ear, we chose to use cotton balls placed over her ears that were held in place by a head band. It actually seemed to work pretty well.

The plan was to pre-flight, load the plane, and taxi out for the run-up. If Mary tolerated that, we'd take to the skies. Needles to say, we were airborne without delay or fussing! Mary actually settled in to falling asleep so southward we went for another visit to Flagler County Airport. Abby and I have been there quite a few times, but somehow we never brought Mom! We're fixing that today.

As we flew down, I took another step to look after Mary's hearing. Since we are lucky enough to have a constant speed propeller, I chose to fly at 65% power set with a lower RPM, but higher manifold pressure as per the plane's power setting tables. It made for a much quieter flight and only added a whopping 2 minutes to the flight as compared to running at 75% power and 2400 RPM. As an added bonus, the fuel flow was 1 GPH less too! Every little bit helps!


Lunch at High Jackers, as always, was good. Abby played on the playground while Kristi, Mary, and I enjoyedthe views from our table in the shade. As soon as lunch was over, we loaded up, took of for the skies again, and headed home. Again, Mary slept a little and I even caught Abby enjoying the views outside the plane more instead of playing her DSi!

With that successful flight, it is time to plan a trip. Who knows, weather and work permitting, maybe we'll get away very soon.

So Mary, what did you think of your first flight?????

Burger Run to Palm Coast - KXFL

Even though it seems this cold weather will never end here in NE Florida, Feb 20th finally gave us a little reminder of the way the weather should be. With temps back high enough for shorts and clear skies above, Abby and I found ourselves heading to Flagler County Airport (KXFL), in Palm Coast, Florida for some lunch.

Flagler County is a perfect destination for those $100 Burger Runs. The restaurant, High Jackers, is located right on the field in front of the transient parking ramp. Besides having awesome burgers and other wonderful menu items, you can sit outside and enjoy the views of ramp and field while the kids entertain themselves on the playground.

It was nice to see how busy the airport and restaurant were. The ramp was full of planes and the kind folks from the airport gave us a ride to the gate in their golf cart. KXFL routinely has some of the cheaper fuel prices around, but on this day we got a bonus. They were having a weekend special of 25cents off at the self serve pump. Gotta love that.

The flights down and back were uneventful. It was nice to just go somewhere again. It has been a while since the latest edition to our family, Mary, was born just before Christmas. Hopefully you'll see more activity on this blog soon. We are hoping to take Mary for her first flight very soon and maybe even a family weekend trip shortly thereafter.

Of special note, since the last time I had flown there, KXFL now has a control tower in operation. It was very busy, but I think the controllers did a great job.

Matanzas Inlet and St Augustine

Approaching Craig Field from the South

On Final for Runway 14

Treasure Cay Bahamas - The Flight Home

As they say, all good things must come to an end.......for now. We had an awesome time in Treasure Cay and it was time to go home. Since the weather was forecasted to be very nice for our flight back to the USA, we were able to sleep in, have breakfast, and take one last walk on the beach. Sidney picked us up at our condo, Sandollar Dreams, around 10:00 am and took us to the Treasure Cay airport in no time. We paid out Departure Tax and cleared Bahamian Customs for our departure. You can view a list of the departure requirements here: To Leave the Bahamas

As I noted before, we had filed our eAPIS manifest for our return to the States before we ever left home. From numerous recommendations, we chose to clear through Fort Pierce, FL (KFPR). Just to be sure I had all my bases covered, I used the Blue Phone in the terminal building to call Fort Pierce Customs and notify them of our ETA anyway. The Blue Phones are great since you have a convenient, free way of contacting FSS and the various US Customs airport offices prior to departure.

As I headed out to pre-flight and load the plane, I talked to Demetrius, the same line guy from our arrival about getting some fuel. He immediately brought the truck to the plane, but let me know there was a small problem. The fuel truck's meter was broken. I have one of those graduated dipsticks so we agreed to take beginning and ending soundings of the tanks using my gauge to figure the amount. After the fuel was loaded, we had problem #2. The credit card machine was not working either and of course I didn't have enough cash left on me to cover the entire fuel load. Demetrius agreed to take all my card info and just charge it when the system was working again. It's nice to know people can still trust each other and yes, the charge went through fine a few days later.


With the family on board and the run-up complete, we back taxied on Runway 14 and departed to the southeast. We flew straight out and made it a slow climb while we checked out Treasure Cay from the air before turning west for the Fort Pierce. As we climbed through 7000' we contacted Miami Center and received our IFR clearance to KFPR via BR10L to ZFP (Freeport) then BR62V to ANGEE Int direct at 8000'. We enjoyed the beautiful views of the Bahamas below and were on the ground at KFPR in 1 h 30m.



We shut down in front the US Customs building and unloaded the plane in order to clear back into the USA. The customs agent was great and even though we didn't require stamps in our Passports for re-entry, he gave all us one anyway when he saw Abby was disappointed she didn't get another stamp in hers. Since we filed the eAPIS manifest, the only forms we had to submit was the US Customs Declaration Form. We cleared fairly quickly and I chatted with the agent about the eAPIS system. He gave me a card and asked me to provide feedback when I got home.

After we and the plane were cleared, the line personnel from Volo Aviation towed our plane to their ramp next door and fueled her up as we enjoyed a little lunch at the Airport Tiki. As we ate, I checked the weather for the leg home and it looked like we would have to do some weather routing, but we would be able to get home before thunderstorms arrived later in the afternoon and evening.

With tummies and tanks full, we departed for home. With the assistance of ATC, our stormscope, and onboard XM weather we made some minor deviations around weather near Melbourne and Orlando. Once we got to Daytona it was clear flying all the way home. As is the norm, we put our flying carpet back in its hangar, picked up the dog, and arrived home ready to go back to work and school. We better make this trip again sooner rather than later!