Where have you gone recently? Was the restaurant miles away and then lousy? Or was it the “best ever” and everyone should know. Please post details and pictures here!
Flight to Missouri in Jabiru Light Sport (03/03/11)
This day began badly when the motor did not work on the hangar door (the county guys were there immediately though) Then the poor little thing would not start (too cold) until we ran the heat on it for a while. Finally airborne about two hours later than planned….I hate that! But it was a beautiful day and the first (and last) for quite a while!
The Jabiru is an amazingly well equipped plane with two glass displays and synthetic vision. I was not totally up on the operation (OK I was just bad) and it took me a while to even figure out how to input the altimeter! (NY Center wanted a little better altitude accuracy) A drawback of flying many different displays (especially non-certified systems) is that they can be pretty unique (non-intuitive) We started communicating over Ohio somewhere.
I was torn between stopping at Lunken or over at Batavia (Sportys Pilot Shop; “Aviation Valhalla”) This was calling me since I own an Aeronca Champ built here in 1946.
This was not the most beautiful Aeronca model but it started the “affordable aircraft” surge that followed WW2. This was one of the most well-restored examples I have seen.
Eric is a Jabiru dealer covering four mid-western states. He also sells turbine aircraft but the “sales cycle” is extremely long on these high-ticket items so he also deals the Jabiru. As soon as I arrived he said we needed to get to St. Louis to catch Southwest to Detroit. We made the connection thanks to the hour time difference and some fancy navigating in the Bravo Airspace.
Eric was flying, I did the radio and “documented the moment.” A very cooperative controller kept us tight and fast behind a Southwest inbound so we landed long at Signature and got directly in the van and shuttled to the air carrier side of the airport. TSA line was over an hour long but they opened up a new line just as I arrived (full-body scan)
At this point it was great to have someone else do the flying! These guys have a sense of humor and move a lot of people. As I had my delicious diner in the terminal I bought a ticket on the last flight from Detroit to Ithaca on Delta.
The connection at Detroit was not too smooth since I bought two one-way tickets. First the sky bridge and a shuttle to Delta, then new ticketing, check-in and TSA (again). Finally, the unique “tunnel experience” to get to the C terminal. I really would like to meet the creator of this wonder. Many people claim it is haunted, I just wonder what they intended. Back to Ithaca by 11pm, what a day!
Flight to Texas in DiamondStar DA-40 (02/15/11)
After a day of flying it feels good to arrive safely! The weather was below zero in Ithaca and in the 70s in Texas. The plane performed flawlessly and the weather did not provide too many challenges.
This was the halfway point in Arkansas. We had to file IFR to get out of here to Dallas. It was important that the weather improved so we could cancel IFR and go VFR over the Dallas Class B airspace.
Here are some pictures David Solomon captured on a recent trip with Doug Cross and Tim Fallon to Lake Placid. An earlier trip to Piceco is documented here. For more ideas on where to fly, visit our fly and eat web page here.
Fly to Blairstown, NJ for breakfast or lunch; open seven days a week 7am-4:30pm
EHFC Members Talking! 