Birthday Flight And Activities

So, having turned 53, I decided to go for a flight to somewhere I had not been before.

So I went with a friend and picked up Leah and the three of us headed to the airport. Abby was unavailable as she was heading back from an academic conference out of town as she was presenting there after she had just published a scientific paper as a co-author- as a junior no less - not too shabby at all.

So the three of us went to the airport, and I did the preflight, got a weather brief which looked good and METARS and TAFs all were in favorable territory, and then we headed out.

Overall everything looked favorable for a flight to Traverse City, a decent crosswind ws expected but well within my personal limits.

Departed VFR with flight following to the northwest on a sunny day with a bit of wind.

 Very smooth in the air though.  Detroit Approach had me hold my climb at 4,000 and then divert 20 degrees left to avoid traffic that apparently was coming right for us, which is one of the reasons I like flight following - its a great extra safety measure. Soon got cleared to head back on course and to my desired altitude of 6,500 feet.

Got switched to Great Lakes Approach and mosied through their airspace at 154 knots ground speed, which was nice. Both passengers were nice and relaxed and both fell asleep on the way.

Getting closer to Traverse City, I got switched to Minneapolis Center and got the weather at  Traverse City.

ATIS was now reporting a direct crosswind gusting between 18-28 knots; a low level wind shear warning; and of pilot reports from landing aircraft of moderate turbulence on final on top of that.

Those conditions are outside my comfort zone, especially when carrying passengers who depend on me to make good decisions. 

I let the passengers know that going to Traverse City would have to wait, and suggested we go to Mt. Pleasant instead as it was close by and we could hit the Casino for lunch and activities.

I let Minneapolis Center know that we were going to divert to KMOP due to the current conditions at TVC and they updated my fight following and I was soon talking to Great Lakes Approach and heading to KMOP.

Arrived there in almost no time and the wind conditions there were also gusty with a crosswind of up to 17 knots.

On the first approach, I did a go around due to a late gust, and then on the second attempt I did a darn nice landing that both passengers liked.  They didn't quite get how much I was working to do it with the gusts on final on that one. 

But, I got it down landing long having added a bit more power to deal with the gusts, but on center-line, and apparently made it look easy to the non-pilot set.

We got the shuttle to the Casino and had lunch. We had chicken from the Chicken Guy for lunch and it was quite good.

We then hit the casino floor and tried our luck.  I hadn't brought my gambling fund with me as I hadn't planned on the casino, but had an emergency hundred tucked in my wallet and played with that.

Played craps for awhile and I had a good roll, but was then up and down with other players, and after an hour plus of playing I walked away having broken even, which was not bad for the entertainment value.

Leah, having not been at the casino before decided to try slots for the first time.

I gave her $10 to play with for her first try with the machine.

She then made $13.50 on the penny slot machine.

 

Not bad.  My friend also made $43 playing slots as well on the neighboring machine so it was a great time.

We then headed back to the airport.  I got a weather brief and all looked good, as did the preflight.

Took off and contacted Great Lakes Approach in the air and got flight following.

It was a fair bit bumpier on the return trip but not a big deal, and both passengers soon fell asleep again.

Soon we passed by Flint airport on the way back.

 Pontiac was soon seen in the distance and I got in touch with Pontiac Tower and was cleared into the downwind for Runway 27R.  I did have an oncoming aircraft as I was heading for the downwind, but Pontiac Tower maintained a good separation keeping me higher and he passed off my wing and below me.

I then descended to pattern altitude and flew a good pattern.  Winds had calmed down to a pretty steady 9 knots from 200, and I made a nice crosswind landing that I was very happy with and my passengers complimented me on yet again. That one was so much easier than the landing at KMOP.

After that, we refueled, cleaned, and put the plane away, dropped Leah off, and my friend took me out for sushi for dinner which was excellent.

Then we went for a swim and had a good time and headed home after that.

Thar was a great birthday day. 

That's 2.3 and 2 great landings.