Getting Caught Up......

Map Of Our 2012 Flights

We ended 2012 with a very successful Christmas road trip in the sky.  The weather cooperated for the most part for the entire trip.  We were only slightly delayed leaving Shreveport for San Antonio due to high winds (60+ knots @ 3000') and turbulence, but things calmed down nicely to get us in there safely at sunset.  The only bad part of the trip was the next morning I awoke with a bad ear infection and then my Dad broke his foot falling down the stairs.  Needless to say, Christmas itself was not as fun for me, but things cleared up after a week and we were able to continue on our journey.

I was surprisingly disappointed throughout the trip with the lack of availability of plugging in my pre-heater at the various airports were stayed at.  Ambassador Aviation at Dallas was awesome again and kept our plane in their large heated hangar during our stay free of charge!!!!  I paid to put the plane in the hangar for two of our nights while we were in Bentonville, AR since the temps the night before we departed dipped down to 20 degrees.  It was an extra expense, but worth it to hop in and start up a somewhat warm airplane for the trip home.

The family did great throughout the trip.  We  loved seeing all the family and of course the kids loved opening all those presents!  Overall we were "on the road" for 2 1/2 weeks and put 17.5 hours on the plane.  It was amazing to shift my weather focus to cold weather flying and icing possibilities instead of my usual thunderstorm avoidance.  Everything worked out really well with the plane, the cold weather, and we found out the heater works great!

We haven't done much since we got home.  I've tooled around a bit in the local area, but my main accomplishment was completing my Flight Review & Instrument Proficiency Check last week.  For the most part the weather in Jacksonville has been pleasant lately, but leave it to me to do my FR/IPC on a day with wind 12G20 knots on the surface and pushing 30 knots at 3000'.  As soon as we were wheels up, it felt like I was in a rodeo.  Anyway, we shot numerous approaches & holds, did steep turns & stalls, and other maneuvers before completing the flight portion of the check with a pretty strong crosswind landing.  Overall it went pretty well and my instructor emphatically stated if I could get 'er done in those condition, I would definitely have no problems.

So what's next?  Well ........ I get to leave this Thursday for the first Bahamas Habitat Fly In & Help Out Event for 2013.  The itinerary is the same as last year.  I am excited that my Dad has signed up to go with me.  We'll see what projects we get to help work on and I just look forward to once again having the opportunity to give back to the amazing people of the Bahamas!  Stay tuned.......

Closing Out The Year In Flying Fashion!

 

I have done a little flying around home since our trip to the Exumas, but no real trips to write about.  Finally, two weeks ago a friend and I flew to New Orleans to attend the International Workboat Show.  It's the only "business trip" I normally get to do and this year I got to fly myself!  The plane ran great and you just cant beat the 3 hour nonstop flight!

Then last Friday the family and I loaded up the plane to begin our big Christmas Flying Adventure.  We took off for New Orleans to attend Abby's dance competition; same one we did a year ago.  Monday we got back in the plane and came up to Shreveport, LA to see my father-in-law and his family.  Although we bucked a 35+ knot headwind, we had a smooth, direct flight which took us right over Barksdale AFB and straight in to Shreveport Downtown (KDTN).

After the front comes through tonight and hopefully the winds subside a little by tomorrow afternoon, we will take to the skies again to spend Christmas at my Dad and Kim's house in San Antonio, TX.  It promises to be a full house and should be an awesome Christmas for everyone!
After Christmas we will head to Dallas for a few days and then on to Northwest Arkansas for New Years.  After that we will head home so we can get back to work and school.

It is nice to have us traveling in the plane again and we are so blessed to have this means of travel available to us.  I will post more about our trip when we get home, but I just wanted to write a quick little update.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

What An Awesome Turnout!

Photo by Del Angelo

It was beautiful Saturday and a I think a huge success for this year's Wings 'N' Wheels show at my home airport of Craig Field (KCRG) in Jacksonville, Florida.  I got to the airport before sunrise to put my plane out on the ramp so I could also attend the morning Men's Ministry at my church.  At that time my plane was the third one on the ramp and only a few cars were just starting to arrive.  When I returned at 9:00 am, the row of planes was full and the multitude of cars went on forever!  It was awesome!

I opened the doors to my plane, set up my chairs, and waited for the public to arrive while I chatted with some of my fellow aviators.  I met a lot of great people and had some enjoyable conversations with a lot of folks throughout the day.  I put out a little display with information about the Bahamas Habitat which garnered a lot of interest.  I even met and chatted with one gentleman who was there with his wife that recognized my plane and me from this blog!  Pretty cool!

Participating in this event was rewarding, but I did have a few people that tested my trust.  Towards  the beginning of the show I had one family come by who's son promptly tried to jump up on one of my wingtips and try to hang from the nav light/strobe assembly.  I of course politely, but forcibly intervened as the parents did nothing.  Needless to say that made me realize  I would not be closing up the plane at different times and wandering around to see for myself what was at the show.  So therefore I do not have a lot of cool plane and car pictures to share.  There was only a small handful of people that obviously had no respect for the displays, but that did not diminish my enjoyment in the day.  I had a great time and hope to do it again!

At the end of the day I did get to walk down the ramp to see David Marco's beautiful Lockheed 12A Electra that is based at my airport.  Just a gorgeous plane.