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. 

Cruise Day 4 - Great Dinner and Great Craps.

For Day 4 after a great dive we had a specialty dinner to celebrate.

We went to the Moderno Churrascaria on board and were served meats on skewers until we could eat no more.  This was a fantastic Brazillian-style Steakhouse and to say it was awesome would be an understatement.

Feeling lucky I then headed to the casino.  I had lost $300 the night before so it was time to try and make it all back.

It began badly, with the table going cold and players leaving until it was just me, the dice and the crew.

A few rolls I crapped out on and it looked like this was going to end in disaster.

Then, I propitiated the dice by making a field bet for myself and for the crew - it hit.

Did it again and the 12 rolled and we made a double payout.

I was happy, the crew was happy, the dice were happy.

Then I began a great roll. Made point after point and nailed  a darkside shooter on a series of come out rolls by rolling three sevens in a row and then making the point.  Soon had a crowd back at the table and I was making money for everyone.

Walked away from the table very happy.

 

 

Bought in at $400, walked away with $1147, so after losing $300 the night before, I had netted $447.00 which was darn nice. Kept the two single chips as souvenirs of some great rolls.

Heckuva way to end a great day. 

Another Step Back For Michigan

Gov Half-Whit decided to roll back Northern Michigan's opening by restricting indoor gatherings to 10 people and banning indoor alcohol sales by bars, while allowing the Detroit Casinos to open at 15% capacity. 

That's right, not 50%, but a measly 15% - after all her supporters in Detroit need the tax money those Casinos bring to the table - but not too much or we may get out of this government caused economic doldrums before the election rolls around.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit casinos to reopen at reduced capacity; new restrictions Up North

Yep, if you had a wedding with 50 people planned for an indoor wedding this weekend or some other event, you're now SOL - with no notice.

Gotta love arbitrary and capricious one-woman rule.

Casino or Casin-Yes?

Gov Half-Whit's order shut down all the casinos across Michigan.

This was but one of the many hits to the economy from her orders.

Unsurprisingly, The City of Detroit relies on the taxes form those casinos - to the tune of $170 Million per year - it's the city's most stable revenue source. This makes it more urgent as its not just small businesses getting hammered, its the city's and state's revenue that will suffer.

The Detroit Free Press: Closed casinos are huge loss for Detroit: How much it could hurt

They're all shut down, with no clue as to when under the governor's arbitrary reopening plan - a plan that is very specific in how very unspecific it is - that they might reopen.

But the tribal casinos are starting to reopen now, and considering the tribal casinos are under separate sovereignty rules, they don't have to wait for the governor's grace to do so.

The Detroit Free press: Michigan tribal casinos to begin reopening as soon as this week

Good for them. I think Michigan's residents have had enough of these arbitrary and capricious shut downs, and people need to get back to work, or in many cases there won't be work to get back to for them. The curve is more than flat, and this continued lockdown is causing more harm than good.

You know the economy is bad when Casinos are losing money

MGM puts casino on the block: Las Vegas-based owner of Detroit's largest, most-profitable gaming house seeks to reduce debt.

MGM Grand Detroit, the city's largest and most profitable casino, is up for sale.

It's just one property across Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage's multinational empire being pitched to buyers as the debt-ridden company seeks to shore up its balance sheet, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed Sunday.

The specter of a sale of MGM Grand Detroit and other profitable properties like Bellagio on the Vegas Strip comes as MGM Mirage is seeking to erase tens of billions in debt, much of it financing the company's $8.6 billion CityCenter venture in Las Vegas.

Selling very profitable entities (and what is a casino but a private license to print money?) to balance out bad real estate bets has got to hurt.