Flight of Compassion

Flying is a wonderful experience and an exciting adventure. I have learned so much over this past year of studying for the PPL written as I save up my money for the lessons. I have many pilot friends who are so willing to encourage my goals and often offer me the opportunity to fly with them.

Many times flying allows us to do things that we wouldn't be able to if we relied on ground transportation. Recently, the mother of a friend of mine died after a brief illness. This would be tragic enough, but add to this the fact that her father had died suddenly and unexpectedly six months previously. I really wanted to go to the funeral to lend my support. The service was scheduled for a Sunday afternoon in a town 1- 1/2 hours away by car. I had work commitments in the morning and in the evening, and I realized that I would not be able to attend all three.

I called my friend, Robin, who is one of my "learn to fly" cheerleaders, to see if he would be available to fly me and two more friends to the funeral. He was friends as well.

We met at KEXX in Lexington, NC for the 25 minute flight to KTTA in his Baron 58. The four of us arrived with time to spare and were met and given a ride to the church. It meant a great deal to our friend to have representatives from her church family to offer support. Following the service and reception, we headed back to KTTA for the flight back to KEXX. We arrived just in time for me to make it to my important evening meeting.

This experience is just one more reason that GA is so important, and why I will fly one day!

A fine day in a Cessna 180

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!