Cross-Country Flyin'

It had been a couple of weeks since I last flew and I was getting that itch again... but this time, I didn't just want to fly, I wanted to have a purpose. So, Friday, with the day off, I decided to fly out to Paris, TX. It wasn't a useless trip. I was actually using this as a dry run because my friend mark and I plan on flying out there this coming weekend to return his kids to their mother after his weekend visitation. The flight was planned in short order, so I went to http://www.duats.com and logged in to get a weather briefing and file a flight plan and everything looked alright. So, we got to the airport checked out the plane and took off. As we climbed out and got approved for a frequency change, I called flight service to open the flight plan and they told me that there were some areas of instability that were not moving south and east of Dallas and recommended I called flight watch when I leave Paris to return to McKinney.

We landed and hung out in the FBO for about 15 minutes, chatted with the guy manning the FBO, and watched clouds get a little taller and decided to leave. On the climb out I called flight watch for a report and they told me there were pop up cells all around my area and to be on the lookout, but that McKinney was clear. As we flew, we saw two menacing clouds just to the south and to the north of my flight path. In both of these clouds there seemed to be a wall of condensation that extended down to the ground so we made sure we were clear of that and continued southwest. We actually flew in between both "walls" toward the clear skies just beyond this cloud. I told my Mark to keep his eyes open for any lightning and tell me immediately if he sees any. Just as we got past the bad stuff, mark saw a bolt of lightning far away to the North. Since we were past it already and past any menacing clouds I didn't worry about it. That's not to say I wasn't more than a little nervous. Let's put it this way, I was flying a plane that has a brand new engine in it. The break-in instructions call for the pilot to fly at 75% cruise... let's just say that I was flying at a little bit more than 75% power on my way through this area of the sky.

Anyway, we made it back to McKinney in short time and landed with the wind 110 at 8 knots (a nice little crosswind) and landed without any problems.

The next day, my wife and I decided to go on a $100 hamburger run to the Blue Pig BBQ up in Ardmore, OK. The weather was much better, although there was a thick haze layer that cut visibility to less than 10 miles. We had to wait longer than usual to take off, as there were several planes in line to leave McKinney and still more landing. So when we actually left, we were about 20 minutes late taking off. Interestingly, one of the other club planes, 68K, a Cessna 150 left McKinney about 3 planes before us.

We got into the air and started toward Ardmore and I assigned the wife the task of tracking our checkpoints and making note of the times. She did so while reading a magazine. I guess I should take that as a sign that she trust my ability to control the airplane. When we got close, I figured out that Ardmore tower doesn't have any RADAR. THey asked us for position reports at 5 miles and then again when we were abeam of the tower. Anyway, we arrived in Ardmore and were met on the ramp by a very nice elderly gentleman who threw down a pair of wheel chocks and asked if we needed fuel. We said no thanks and went into the restaurant. I had a bacon cheeseburger and the wife had a brisket sandwich... both were excellent... while there we ran into the couple that took off from McKinney in 68K and said hello. They left before us, but we got there first, as our plane is a little bit faster.

It was a short lunch, but a good one, and after we finished we got back into the plane and started back to McKinney. Once again, having to announce my position at 5 miles out on departure. On the flight back, the air was a little choppier and the skies a little cloudier on the way back, but nothing to be concerned about. We were back a little more quickly than we left, all in all a fun time was had.

Updated Pilot Log