Saturday Fly Day - To Escanaba In Da Daylight

Yesterday the day began with weather that was less than promising, with Low IFR conditions at Pontiac and along and at the intended destination.

I had been invited to fly up to Escanaba for an event. A day in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.



This being a fun idea and getting a calendar clearance from she-who-must-be-obeyed,  I said yes and arrived at Pontiac at 10:30 instead of 9:30 as originally planned due to the weather delay.

I was given an opportunity to fly right-seat in this:

A Piper Seneca.  My first multi-engine flying experience.

Since the Pilot also happened to be a CFII MEI, this would be a good opportunity to learn. We also had a couple passengers on board.

So we completed the checklist, got our IFR clearance and headed off to Escanaba, climbing up to 12,000 feet.



It was very smooth at altitude.

A very nice aircraft, the owner has upgraded the avionics most impressively with all the digital upgrades which made for very easy flight management.

After the event we headed back in VFR condiitons.

I handled the taxi and takeoff, which was a lot of fun, and hand flew it for awhile before George the autopilot took over.

Then we linked up with a fellow aircraft that had gone to the event for some pictures. Both our pilot and the pilot flying the Diamond at the time had prior training in formation flying and this was pre-arranged.

I managed to get some decent pictures and after a bit we broke off (video by Eric Coggin in the DA-40): 

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After that we picked up flight following from Saginaw and returned to Pontiac, landing on 9L.

That was a darn nice couple of flights.

3.9 dual received, 2 landings.