So this morning we decided to try and get the Archer to Adrian.
Conditions were better than yesterday with Marginal VFR conditions and ceilings around 3,000 or so.
So we preflighted the planes and decided to launch. This would be a flight of both the Archer and the Dakota.
We arranged for flight following, as our course would take us through Ann Arbor airspace and rather close to Detroit's Bravo airspace. So, it's always good to be talking with Detroit Approach where you're that close to their Bravo.
E. flying the Dakota, as it is a faster airplane, took off first and would scout the route.
Takeoff was good with gusty winds from 250.
The overcast layer got a tad lower as we headed southwest, and I was soon at 2,500 feet.
E. reported light to moderate turbulence as he approached Ann Arbor, and indeed I soon hit the turbulence which made it a bit of a bouncy flight.
Detroit Approach cleared us through Ann Arbor's Delta airspace and I got some nice shots of The Big House as I flew on by.
The turbulence subsided as we got south of Ann Arbor and Detroit Approach noted no other aircraft in the area, ended flight following, and had us squawk VFR.
At Adrian, winds were gusting 10-21 out of 250, so not bad for a landing on Runway 23.
Eric checked out the field at Adrian and radioed to me that it was nice and clean and no one else in the pattern. So I did a practice RNAV approach to Runway 23 and did a very nice and smooth landing. I then taxi'd off the runway and headed to the avionics shop to meet up with him.
1.1 on the way there with some strong headwinds, turbulence, and a great landing.
We dropped off the Archer, and then took off in the Dakota and I flew us back. We picked up flight following again, and again were cleared through Ann Arbor's class D.
I got to play with the autopilot and let it do most of the flying back. Again there was quite a bit of turbulence and we got bounced around quite a bit and had to stay around 2,500 to remain out of the clouds.
We then got back to Pontiac and landed in gusting 10-22 knots from 240, which again was not too bad. First we were cleared for a left downwind to 27L, but this was soon amended to a left downwind for 27R.
0.6 on the way back, and another nice landing.
Best part of all, since these were ferry flights to get the avionics installed, the Flying Club covered the cost of the flights. No flying is better than free flying.
2 comments:
We had a U of M graduate in our small town of Hesperia, MI. He was the funeral director for our town, and often did the job for people and ended up not being paid for his efforts. He knew it was a small town and a lot of people were poor. So he was a pretty nice and charitable guy.
Every year he paid for the High School football team and the Cheerleaders to attend a game at the Big House. It was around 100 people, and the seats were endzone, but it was still special.
I went the first time as a Freshman in high school. The two main takeaways I got from the trip were that I had never seen guys that big who could move that fast.
The second thing I got from the game was that it was the very first time I smelled Marijuana. I got a whiff of something that to me smelled like burning leaves, and I immediately knew that it was pot. I had never thought of it but of course back in what would have been 1974 pot had a big position in all colleges and universities.
I also was at a game in the Pontiac Silverdome once with my oldest son, and the biggest thing I remember is that I had never seen colors so vibrant as I did when I got my first look at the field. The blues and greens were so bright that they almost made me feel as if I was seeing colors for the first time.
I also used to go to the Detroit Tigers baseball games at the old ballpark at Michigan and Trumble. Tiger stadium was to me a huge part of the game, but now I would not go to any Detroit game, due to the basic death of the city.
Nice! And times have obviously changed...
Post a Comment