Sunday Flyday

Sunday was yet another great day for flying, no one had checked 914P out so I decided it needed some exercise.  I decided to take a friend to Mt. Pleasant.

Got to the airport and the pre-flight went as expected.

Our neighbor beside our hangar had just taken his Cessna 170 out:

 Very pretty aircraft.

I pulled the plane out as he left and the start up was nice and normal as was the run-up.

I had decided to go VFR and got flight following arranged and took off from Runway 27R heading to the northwest. 

I initially got to climb to 5,550, poking through the blue in between a very scattered layer of clouds.

 I overflew Flint airport, talking with Great Lakes Approach.

  

As I got closer to Mt. Pleasant, a more solid overcast layer started appearing, so I called Great Lakes Approach and let them know I needed to descend to avoid clouds.  Since I was VFR, going into clouds was a no-no.  They stated altitude was at my discretion and they appreciated my calling them before I started descending.

Soon, I arrived about 10 miles out at Mt. Pleasant with the runway in sight.  Two other planes were in the pattern to land with a third stating they were maneuvering above the airport at 3,500 feet. Since I was  at 3,500, I descended for separation and let everyone know I would overfly the airfield and do a midfield downwind entry for Runway 27.  I would have used 9 as the winds were calm and it would have been convenient, but the two other aircraft had stated they were going to 27 so I joined in accordingly.

I did a nice overflight and then dropped into a midfield downwind entry, by which time one plane had landed, and the other plane was already on base and separation was good. 

I did a really nice landing, parked, and headed into the terminal and called for a shuttle to the casino.

Had a nice lunch at Johnny Rockets,  hit the craps table and got slaughtered.

That's why it's called gambling and not a sure thing. Still, it was an enjoyable experience, nice dealers and nice folks around the table and I learned some things. Didn't bet the rent, so no serious loss other than play money, and  that I'll win back the next time, maybe.

Got the shuttle back to the airport, did the preflight and then took off from Runway 9 as winds were again calm and no traffic was about, and headed to the southeast back to Pontiac.

 It was a pleasant flight back, with a few bumps from the heat of the day.

 I got yet another nice view of Flint.

 

Nice to get a higher aerial view.  I'm typically under the hood when flying at Flint and tend to just see the runway on final.

Great Lakes Approach at the end of their airspace decided not to hand me off to Detroit and instead had me squawk VFR and contact Pontiac Tower, which was fine.

I already had the ATIS for Pontiac and after contacting them was told to enter the right downwind for 27R and was #2 to land, behind another aircraft.

Said aircraft decided to fly a bomber-sized  pattern, so Tower finally told them to turn base, I then extended my downwind for spacing and turned base outside of them, and then landed with a decent landing. I had too much speed so had to bleed some off - which I seem to do often with N914P, and I need to work on that.  So I had a lot more float than I wanted.  But, I still landed on 27R to complete the trip.

It was a very nice, if quite hot, day to fly.

That's 1.9 and 2 landings. 

Fireworks

Went to a friend's lake house to see the fireworks show.

Around here, each lake association holds a fireworks show on different nights as we get closer to Independence Day.

So on Friday night we arrived and the street was buzzing with people.  We parked.  Then we walked around and went to the lakefront side of the house and chatted with friends and had some adult beverages. 

 The house next door had a live band as part of the festivities, the Northville Folk Band, who did a rockin' good job. Singing popular tunes that could be heard and appreciated even across the Middle Straits Lake.

 They also had a super nice lady of the house who walked over to where we were on the adjoining waterfront, and offered us jello shots.  This was appreciated and whoever had made the Jello shots didn't sting on the vodka at all.  Darn nice.

The sun started to set.

The fireworks began.

 It was a great show and they really got into it.

The assembled crowd cheered the show and it was a lot of fun to watch.

 

Impressive that a lake association put it on, and they did a great job doing so.

A great way to spend a Friday night outdoors with friends.

A Good Flight To See Mr. B.

The weather was forecast to be rather nice today, and a plane was available.

So I gave Mr. B. a call and we arranged to meet.

I got N914P all pre-flighted and ready to go and after a weather brief filed IFR to see him in nothern Indiana. 

Got my clearance, got the run up done,and took off flying runway heading climbing to 3,000 feet.

Pontiac was MVFR with a layer at 2500.

 So I climbed up into it and Detroit Approach soon gave me a clearance to climb to my filed 6,000 feet.

I let them know the cloud tops was 4,400 feet over Pontiac as I made it through the layer. 

Above the layer all was calm and serene.

 Nice and smooth above the layer it was rather perfect flying weather.  The layer started breaking up and you could see the ground beneath.

I got a nice overhead shot of Three Rivers Airport:

I got passed of to Great Lakes Approach and went through all their sectors through Kalamazoo until I got passed off to South Bend.

South Bend was busy.  So much so they told did a broadcast to everyone who was VFR to not call them and stay out of their airspace until they had things under control.

Luckily I was IFR, so I went right over their airport at 6,000 feet. 

South Bend then started getting me lower as I got close to Mr. B's Airport.

 Back in the layer I went, until I then got permission to go lower, and got vectored to his airport for a visual approach.

Got on the CTAF to announce my arrival and two dingbats were having a long, involved, conversation about airplane radio wiring on the frequency  while people were trying to coordinate in the pattern, not helpful.

I did a decent if somewhat long landing as I hadn't quite been lowered enough altitude-wise in time, but all was well.

Met up with Mr. B., and we headed to his local Mexican restaurant which was very tasty. After that we got some local ice cream.  We had a good time catching up, and then we headed back to the airport.

I got a weather brief, did the preflight and filed IFR home. 

Mr. B. got a good shot of my takeoff.

 

It was a pretty uneventful ride home, more turbulent than the way outbound, and I was in a layer quite a bit as I was at 5,000 feet and the clouds decided they wanted to be there too.

I got out of the layer as Detroit Approach descended me to 4,000 feet, and I overflew Brighton Airport and the shooting range I go to is right near it.

Landing at Pontiac was fun with variable winds gusting to 20 typically from 300 degrees.  I landed on 27L and did a good landing, with a lot of crosswind control, and then headed to the hangar.  

I cleaned and refueled the plane and that was that.

It was the proverbial $200 Mexican and Ice Cream Flight (as opposed to the standard $100 Hamburger flight), and totally worth it to get to spend some time catching up with a friend.

That's 1.8 there with 1 good landing, and 1.9 back with another good landing and a smattering of actual IFR time.

Fun With Sporting Clays

I was invited by a friend yesterday to do some sporting clay shooting.

Sporting clays was explained to me as being:  "Like golf, but with shotguns". 

This was intriguing, and having never done it before, I said yes I'd gove it a shot. 

So I met up with him at the Detroit Gun Club where he's a member and we got checked in.

I got a loaner gun, an Italian over/under 12 gauge, which turned out to be an over $14k shotgun.  Very nice indeed. It did, however, have one quirk that made for an interesting time.

So we headed out to the sporting clay course.

Having not shot sporting clays before it was rather interesting.

You go from station to station and typically shoot 2 sets of two clays. The clays zip along at different angles and are rather a lot of fun to try and hit.

The quirk of the loaner shotgun was that right above the mechanism to open the action, there was a switch on top inline with the safety, that unbeknownst to me, when I opened the action, my hand also brushed and moved that small switch from one red dot to two. 

It then quite surprisingly fired both barrels at once for a rather spicy shot at the first clay.  Ouch. 

I was surprised, my friend was surprised, the very annihilated clay was also surprised. 

We figured out what was doing it, and I had to be very careful to check each time I closed the action as that switch moved with very little prompting.

So we shot at all 16 stations, and I steadily improved as we went. 

Took quite a bit to figure out how much to lead the clay targets, not to mention where they were coming from at times. and I missed a lot starting out trying to figure things out.

I did manage to have a clean run at one station with all four targets hit, but I was typically 50/50. 

Still it was a lot of fun, and I'd go do it again.

NYC Dems On The Other Hand, Haven't Learned A Thing

 The New York City Democrats just voted for a progressive, socialist, pro-terrorist, antisemitic and defund-the-police candidate.

 The Wall Street Journal: NYC Mayoral Primary Is Latest Blow to Democratic Establishment

 Democrats were handed their latest challenge in selling themselves nationally to swing voters following the surprise first-place showing of a democratic socialist in New York City’s mayoral primary, giving Republicans their latest opening to cast the party as far left.

. . .

Voters flocked to Mamdani after he called for freezing rent costs, free city bus rides, public child care for young children, city-owned grocery stores and raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030. The primary’s top vote-getter has suggested he would pay for his costly plans by raising the city’s corporate tax rate and imposing higher taxes on those making more than $1 million.

Hey, offering free stuff--  paid for by other people's money, naturally -- can fool some of the people some of the time, and Democrat voters all the time.

Mamdani, who could become the first Muslim to lead New York, has also described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and has defended pro-Palestinian slogans such as “globalize the intifada.”  

Analysts said partisan extremes on both sides of the nation’s political divide will use the outcome to serve their agendas. 

The MAGA-ites will try to use this to falsely tar Democrats as antisemitic socialists, and the progressives will try to use it to prove their misguided belief that the country wants free grocery stores and social workers in subways instead of cops,” said Dan Gerstein, an independent-leaning strategist and longtime aide to former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Well, if the shoe fits and all that.  No "falsely tar" about it  - you own it now Democrats.

 Calls to "Globalize the Intifada"  is a call to attack Jews worldwide such as the attacks in Colorado and the arson at Gov. Shapiro's residence by left wing pro-Muslim attackers.

Since NYC is a Democrat enclave, failing the populace there waking up and realizing what they've done and voting against Mamdani in the general, NYC is in for some serious trouble.

Snake Plissken, you have a call waiting on line 1.

Democrats Learn A Little, Take Impeachment Off The Table

Democrats may just be learning that always being on the 20% side of an 80/20 issue isn't the best place to be.  Not if they're going to succeed in politics beyond their rather out of touch, Trump-hating, progressive, base.

The Detroit News: House shelves effort to impeach Trump over Iran strikes

As the strikes on Iran were impressively successful, effective, popular, and didn't cause World War III to break out, impeachment is off the table.

Someone likely also explained to the radical Dems pushing the matter that impeaching Trump for doing what Obama and other Democrat Presidents had regularly done would be a tad embarrassing should the matter move on to a hearing. 

After all,  Democrat Presidents had no problem using military action without Congressional Authorization, and in the case of Obama it was a whole lotta unauthorized military action.  Obama had over 25,000 bombs dropped without Congressional authorization.   Kinda hard to impeach Trump for doing that which the great Democrat light bringer did to a far, far greater (and much less successful) extent - and for which Democrats had supported him doing even as the same ones seek Trump's impeachment for less. Well, if the Dem politicos didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all, would they?

On top of that, as presidents, including future Democrat presidents, may need to use force without congressional Authorization in the future, this was likely not a winning move.

Good on Democrats to realize there's at least one 20/80 hill of theirs that they're not willing to die on. 

No,That Doesn't Belong In Your Carry On

Really, it does not.

The Detroit News: Feds seize inert grenade at Detroit Metro Airport

Not sure how the traveler didn't get the memo,  but grenades, whether live or inert, do not belong in your carry-on.

Federal security officials seized an inert hand grenade last week at Detroit Metro Airport, they said.

Transportation Security Administration officers discovered the grenade in a traveler’s carry-on bag on June 15 during routine screening, officials said Monday.

So no, don't do that. 

In other news you ought to know already, your Costco membership card does NOT COUNT as REAL ID to get you on an aircraft. Seriously, a dimwit has tried.

Florida Weekend

Went to Gainesville this weekend to show a friend's kid the University of Florida.

Got an AirBnB near the University which was very Gator.

A rather comfy place with all that was needed.

We hit some favorite eating spots like Cantina Anejo, Pho Hanoi, and Raisin Canes.

We had signed the kid up for a campus tour on Friday, and it was very well done.  He liked the campus and he's going to apply there.  Friday evening, we found out the Tigers were in Tampa for a series, with a game Saturday at noon, so why not go?

So on Saturday we got up and headed out to Tampa. We managed to get a screaming good deal on some great seats, so we did the two hour drive to the stadium.

The game was held at George Steinbrenner Stadium as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' regular stadium is out of commission.

 This will be the only season they are playing in there.  As a minor-league stadium hosting major-league teams, home runs were definitely on the menu.

It's a nice stadium and they've tried to have as many Rays logos over the Yankee logos as possible.

 

Interestingly enough, there were about as many Detroit fans in the stands as there were Tampa Bay fans and many Detroiters traveled to the stadium to watch the entire series. 

We got great seats, 5 rows back, right behind home plate.

 

Great seats. Real hot and sunny out, so lots of water was consumed.

We unfortunately got to watch the Tigers get eaten by the Devil Rays up close and personal. 

The Tigers in the first inning managed to leave men stranded on the bases without scoring. But, they did manage to load up the bases with Devil Rays and then walk in a run, and after striking the very next player walk in a second run! Then a base hit right after brought in two more runs for an early 4-0 lead for Tampa, with none of the runs counting as earned.  A rather inauspicious start.

The Tigers manged to get in a run in the 4th but by then it was 7-1, with some solo home runs smacked in by the Devil Rays. You knew they were homers just how they sounded coming off the bat - fun to watch it happen.

We got to see the major league debut of Devil Rays' pitcher Paul Gervase, at the top of the seventh inning, and in six pitches he retired the Tigers.  Not a bad welcome to the big leagues.

The game mercifully ended 8-3 for the Devil Rays. The game was still a heckuva lot of fun to watch, and that's a nice little stadium, even as Detroit lost badly. 

I then drove back from Tampa and we got some BBQ for dinner at a great BBQ place in Gainesville, Adam's Rib.

 A solid slab of ribs were rather happy-making.

Got up Sunday morning for breakfast in Gainesville and then drove back to Jacksonville. Flew home yesterday and after over an hour delay departing from Jacksonville, arrived home to find the power had been out for three hours and the place was sweltering.

It had been a great weekend getaway. 

There Are No Walmarts In Iran

Only Targets.

President Trump ordered a successful strike of  Iran's nuclear facilities.

6 B-2 bombers dropped MOP bombs on Fordow and Natanz 

All aircraft involved have returned safely, thanks to excellent planning. stealth, and Israel systematical dismantling Iran's air defense systems, with the B-2s landing back in the United States after a 36-hour mission. 

FoxNews: A full breakdown of Operation Midnight Hammer, the 'largest B-2 operational strike in US history'

Hopefully, this sets back Iran's nuclear ambitions for quite some time, making it's nuclear programs pronouns was/were - at least for the immediate future.

Well done Mr. President.  The strike has been years overdue.

It Would Take A Heart Of Stone Not To Laugh

So some western proggy-types decided that they would go to Egypt and then march on the Gaza border to support Hamas and show solidarity with Gaza.

This did not work out how they planned it. 

Even as, as plans go, it had all the hallmarks and forethought of a gnome-stealing-underpants scheme.

Instead of these great leftist, noble, oh-so-caring, white, saviors being welcomed as the heroes they claimed to be, they got their asses beat.

By the Egyptians.

The Spectator:  The delusion of western Palestine activists in Egypt

 National Post: Danielle Kubes: Naive western activists get a harsh dose of reality in Egypt

A lovely example of the self-righteous naïveté of these left wingers is the exchange one had with an Egyptian policeman:

In one video on X, you can see an Egyptian policeman say, “Please respect our country.… Your message has been already received and you can go back and turn back to Cairo.”

Article content

“We can do it in America. Why can’t we do it here?” a protester in the crowd asks.

Article content

“It’s our law,” the officer responds.

Yep, different countries are different.  And while Leftists are all about diversity, as long as it's leftists on top of the diversity pyramid, they were clearly unprepared for the diversity they faced in Egypt, the land of the pyramids.

So the leftists in the March on Gaza got arrested, their asses beat, their stuff stolen, and many of them deported from the country.  Now the head of the March on Gaza is calling it off as a bad idea and telling the naive participants  to go home. Apparently it is much safer to harass Jews, commit vandalism, and block traffic in their home countries.

The Flight Back From KMCD

Once at the Airport, I called for a weather brief.

The briefer was very enthusiastic and helpful and suggest flying at 5,000 on the way back to  avoid a lot of the clouds and such on the way.  He also noted there might be some light precip but no issues affecting the flight.  He then filed the IFR flight plan for me, which was rather nice, and it was quickly approved.

We then headed out to the plane and I did the pre-flight, started it up, went to the run up area for Runway 8 and did the run up and then called Minneapolis Center on my cell phone for a clearance. 

I got the clearance and then did a good take-off and started flying back to Pontiac.

Once in the air and at sufficient altitude I gave Minneapolis Center a call and  got cleared to climb to 5,000 feet.

We headed over Bois Blanc Island in the haze.

 We were pretty much under the clouds in the haze most of the way home and we did fly in a fair bit of clouds and picked up some light rain that washed the plane as we flew in them.

 Other than the clouds there was haze.  Lots and lots of haze. I probably could have counted a fair bit of the time ion the haze as IFR as visibility was impressively limited, but just counted the time in the clouds themselves. Leah napped as usual.

We did have ground contact through the haze most of the way, and were only in clouds for about a half hour of the trip  so it was pretty uneventful. We got passed off to Great Lakes Approach and continued on our way.

We then flew over Saginaw Bay.

 

If you embiggen and then look hard, by the second bridge in the river you can just make out the USS Edson in the picture.

The haze continued all the way back to Pontiac, where I did a visual approach to Runway 9R and did what Leah described as a fantastic landing. Completely greased it in nice and smoothly.

That was 1.9, .5 instrument time, a fantastic landing and a great day trip to the island.

Mackinac Island

Walking into town is a nice 20-mimute walk, mainly downhill.

You pass by some nice houses along the trail.

 And walk past a rather menacing sign.

 

 

But instead of being a dangerous hill, it didn't menace us in the least nor try to trip us even once.

We did pass by quite a few horse-drawn carriages.

 We then reached town and had lunch at Millie's on Main, which has the best Fish'n'Chips.

 We then went to sample and buy the Island's most famous export product - fudge!

 We sampled and shopped and brought some home as well.

We then wandered the main street and browsed a bit and then called for a taxi back to the airport.

 The taxi:

More of a ride share than a taxi, it was pretty loaded with a bunch of golfers headed to a course for their tee time, very pleasant people, so we clambered on. 

We went past the Grand Hotel.

 

And then to the airport, with some stops along the way to rest and water the horses.  The golfers wished us a safe flight. 

Heh.

So the French have apparently had a snit over Israel's strike on Iran, and decided to block Israel's exhibits such as that from Elbit Systems from public view at the Paris Air Show.

Israel responded thusly:

And on Social Media:

 Very nicely done.

Saturday Flyday - To KMCD

Saturday morning I got a weather brief, and then picked Leah up and headed to the airport.

Things were,  however, delayed due to some git hitting and destroying the gate mechanism and motor to enter into the hangar area.  So we could not enter through the normal gate.  There was a sign that says to use the Astropark entrance but not saying where the Astropark was located.  Very helpful, that.

So, I had to call Airport Maintenance and find out the alternative entry point and also the access code for same.

Made it to the plane, did the preflight, and filed for an IFR departure and a flight at 8,000.

Got the plane started, got my clearance, which was approved as filed, and after a run-up we got to take off. 

We were soon up on runway heading climbing to 3,000 feet in the haze and on our way.

Detroit Approach had me then go direct and immediately start the climb to 8,000.

We then got handed off to Great Lakes Approach, and were flying over Saginaw Bay in heavy haze.

Right after Saginaw Bay, we entered into IFR conditions.

 Not much to see outside, so I was right on the instruments.

Leah had fallen asleep before we hit the Bay and she woke up inside the clouds which was a tad disorienting for her.  Her first time in instrument conditions in a small plane.  

Thankfully the clouds were happy ones - not much turbulence at all and very stable air for a nice, smooth ride. 

At times we were in between layers which was rather serene and pretty. 

 

We stayed IFR practically all the way to Mackinaw Island.  Minneapolis Center had me descend to 3,000 and we broke out over Beaver Island.

 

Still all sorts of hazy, but I saw enough so I could do a visual approach to the airport and Center had advised that two prior planes had done the visual with no issues.

I then did a nice visual landing on Runway 8 at Mackinaw Island and closed my IFR flight plan.

I parked the plane and we went in and paid the landing fee.  Another plane landed as we did so. 

 

Then we walked into town.

 1.8 on the way up, and 1.2 of that in IFR conditions, and a very nice landing.

Father's Day 2025

Father's Day 2025 began with the kids taking me out to brunch, as one does.

It was a most excellent time with the both in town. 

Leah got me a present:

 

How she managed to get that is the subject of the next post.

Hope all the Dads out there had an awesome Father's Day!.

Great Success, That

So The No Kings "protest" really got results.

No Kings in America before the protest, and none after.

Very well done, really. 

Some Great Places To Avoid Saturday

The Detroit News:  Metro Detroit police preparing for Saturday protests against Trump immigration policy

Since there's always a chance these Democrat/Progressive grievance fests may become, as the media is wont to describe them, "peaceful", its best to stay away from the areas where the grievance-fests will be held. With 30 of them being organized in this state, that's a decent amount of areas to avoid.

The basic theme of the rather inaptly named "No Kings" organized protests seems to be:

 

This is along with a smattering of all other leftist grievances as per the usual. 

Remember, the issue is never the issue.

It's best to be away from such children when they're having tantrums.

Israel Hits Iran

A nuclear-armed Iran is a threat not just to the region, but the world. 

The world's leading sponsor of terrorism, supporting the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, and others, Iran has attacked Israeli and US personnel around the world.

When even the UN finally admits that Iran is on the road to acquiring a bomb, and has been actively hiding its activities from inspectors, it is more than late in the game to stop it.

UN.org: Atomic watchdog says Iran not complying with nuclear safeguards

It's more than overdue that action is taken to stop them from getting a working nuclear device, especially as they have continually worked to enrich uranium beyond the level required for "peaceful" nuclear power and towards the level for a bomb.

 PJ Media: BREAKING: Israel Bombs Iran in Preemptive Strike 

In addition to hitting research sites in Tehran, the main enrichment site at Natanz has reportedly been hit:

Fox News: Israel hits the ‘heart’ of Iran’s nuclear program in Natanz facility strike

Hopefully, the strikes are successful and Iran is setback yet again from its path to nuclear weapons. 

Mexico Dips In To Fight For Remittances

Mexico is concerned that remittances from the USA might be taxed. 

Yahoo News:  Claudia Sheinbaum denounces proposed US remittance tax as ‘unacceptable’

El Paso Times: "This is worrying": Remittance tax would take money needed to support migrant families

The tax of 3.5% (and it should be more, the originally proposed 5% would have been a decent start) would hit the $64.7 billion sent to Mexico from the USA and raise two and a quarter billion dollars to the treasury, helping defray some of the costs imposed by illegals.

This was one of Trump's failures in his first term - had he pushed for, and imposed a tax on remittances then, Mexico really would have paid for the wall.

The remittance tax needs to become a law. 

Well, That Was A Fun Way To Start Off The Morning

 

A quick reminder for people on how to use roundabouts (traffic circles):

 

1.     When the way is clear, you enter the traffic circle.

 

2.     Once you enter a circle you proceed and you do not suddenly slam on your brakes for no damn reason (allegedly because you see a car coming from the other side of the roundabout that isn’t an actual factor), causing the car behind you that was following and had also entered the circle to slam on their brakes.

 

On the upside, speed in the traffic circle is low, and my brakes work really, really good, even with the surprise factor of the elderly lady deciding to lock up her brakes right in front of me in the circle as she apparently got confused as to roundabout operation.

 

Not even a scratch on either car, nor any injuries, which is nice.

 

Startle response and blood pressure increase to start the morning off, not so much.