My brother called me early on Monday morning (8-15)wondering if I could do him a big favor. It seems like his plans to get from Suffolk, Va to Hickory, NC fell through and he needed me to meet him halfway between here and there. His wife would then take the kids to visit friends and family in Philly, and he would get home for work the next day. This favor means 5 hours of driving and killing a whole day...which I am more than happy to do for my brother. But as I was talking to him I got an idea.....
I had met Carl a number of times over the past years, but about 6 weeks ago we had dinner together for a Kiwanis club meeting. Carl is a long time pilot who has a very nice Cessna 180 tail dragger. As we talked, he encouraged me to give him a call sometime to go flying. I filed that invitation in the back of my mind hoping to take him up on it some weekend to go get a "$100 hamburger."
Well, I figured that the opportunity to fly on a beautiful day would be hard to resist, so I gave him a call. I asked if he would be willing to go flying to pick up my brother at KFKN. He thought this was a great idea. His 180 had been through its annual, but he had not made the effort to take it flying since. He told me that he likes to have a destination to fly to rather than just flying in the pattern.
I met him at KEXX (Lexington Davidson)at 11:45 a.m. He had just preflighted the 180. I hopped in and off we went. We were flight planned direct from KEXX to KFKN at 7000. The day was not as clear at altitude as it looked on the ground. Lots of cumulous clouds with mild turbulence. I experienced actual IMC as we pounded through the clouds. It certainly requires a lot of trust in the ATC system. The cover was not continuous and were were in and out all during our 1:15 minute flight.
Norfolk approach did not get us down as quickly as we requested and were still at 4000 when only 10 miles out of KFKN. We cancelled IFR and went VFR with the airport in site. Then we dropped fairly quickly to get to pattern altitude. (I must say that my ears are much more of a fan of 500 fpm than 1500 fpm). We landed on 27 with just a mild crosswind.
Bud and his family were waiting for us at the FBO. He was excited to get his first ride in a small plane; I think his son almost wished he was joining us!
While we were waiting for fuel, I noticed a B-25 with one engine missing on the ramp. If we hadn't been in such a hurry, I would have spent some time examining it. I'll make a note that if I am ever in the area again, I'll stop by to see it.
We loaded Bud and his stuff up, and we were off. This time 6000 but with a good headwind. We had to divert around a couple of ugly looking clouds and with the headwind our return trip was 1:30. By this time, Carl had decided that he could help me out on my flight training endeavors. So, I began handling the radio calls with ATC. This was great practice. As mentioned, we had to request some diversions around some clouds; also we had a number of hand-offs that I took care of.
Too soon, it was time to land on 24. We taxied to his hanger. Bud and I jumped out, thanked Carl, and were on our way.
Many thanks to Carl for going out of his way to help me out. It was a great day and a great excuse to go flying. His 180 is a beautiful plane (circa 1956) and flies great. I look forward to more trips with Carl in the future!
