EdFred
Taxi to Parking
I wrote this for a couple non-aviation boards, I'm sure everyone here knows what ATIS is. 
I left the office yesterday at noon and went home to change. I wear jeans at the office so I don’t ruin my nice pants when I venture out into the warehouse. I got back to my house; took a shower, changed into my nicer clothes, and headed out to the airport to inspect the plane. I was out there quite a bit earlier than I normally would be, but I wanted to make sure everything was on the up-and-up for this flight. The winds out at the field were very calm and the high overcast clouds made it look to be a very comfortable day for flying. I went into the airport office and bought the necessary aviation charts for today, and talked with the manager’s wife for a little while. There was still an hour I had before I needed to leave, so I took some time to straighten up the interior of the plane, and made sure all the headsets worked, and volume levels were all adequate for the various channels.
After filling up the tanks, and reading a couple of articles in the airport office, I headed out to my plane, and started it up. During taxi, I double-checked all the radios, and instruments like I normally do, and roll up to the hold short line for runway 12. I make my radio call for departure, and launch eastward toward Flint, MI. What a great day for flying. The light winds failed to create any turbulence, which is normally present when departing over the trees to the east. I climbed to three thousand five hundred feet and dialed in Lansing’s Automated Terminal Information System, or ATIS, on my primary radio. I picked up the approach controller’s frequency and tuned that in on the standby frequency. After listening to the ATIS information, I called up Lansing Approach.
“Lansing Approach, Cherokee 2-2-1-2-Romeo.”
“Cherokee 1-2-Romeo, Lansing Approach, Go Ahead.”
“1-2-Romeo is 2-1 west of the Lansing VOR, would like airspace transition to Flint.”
“1-2-Romeo Squawk 4-6-2-6.”
“4-6-2-6, 1-2-Romeo”
“1-2-Romeo, Radar contact, Lansing Altimeter 3-0-1-2”
“3-0-1-2, 1-2-Romeo”
I cruised on at 3,500 feet and through Lansing’s airspace on my way to Flint. The high overcast clouds were perfect, as they blocked out the sun, and kept the cabin of my plane from getting too warm. The temperature was perfect, and I didn’t even need to open the air vents to cool off the cabin. Lansing approach handed me off to Flint Approach Control and they told me to expect the straight in to runway niner. I acknowledged the clearance, and decided to dial in the Instrument Landing System frequency just to compare my visual approach path to the instrument approach path. Winds were very light out of the south so there was very little need for wind correction, and I kept the runway centered in my windscreen, and the needles centered on my glide slope indicator. I was handed off to tower frequency by approach, and was asked of my destination at Flint. I advised them I was headed to Avflight to pick up a passenger. I taxied to the Avflight FBO, put on my Lifeling Pilotsbadge and cap, and headed inside.
I was inside the FBO somewhere around 5 minutes when the reason for my flight today arrived. I was flying the first leg of a volunteer medical flight for a patient that needed to get from Flint, MI to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota. I introduced myself to my passengers and I had them fill out the necessary travel forms for today’s volunteer flight. I faxed the forms to Mary at the Lifeline office, checked the weather one last time, and carried their bags out to my plane. I asked them if they had ever been in a small plane before, and my patient said she had a long time ago, but her travel companion had not. So, I explained that there might be a few bumps as we climb up to ten thousand feet. I did my best to ease the nervousness of my passengers, as they had only known me for about five minutes. I called up Flint Clearance Delivery with my new call sign for this leg of the flight and to activate my flight plan that I had filed earlier in the day with Flight Service.
“Clearance Delivery, Compassion 1-2-Romeo.”
“Compassion Flight 1-2-Romeo, advise ready to copy.”
“Compassion 1-2-Romeo, ready to copy.”
“Compassion Flight 1-2-Romeo cleared direct to Uniform Echo Sierra, climb and maintain three thousand, expect one zero thousand one zero minutes after takeoff, squawk 4-1-1-2.”
“1-2-Romeo is cleared direct to Uniform Echo Sierra, climb and maintain three thousand, expect one zero thousand one zero minutes after takeoff, squawk 4-1-1-2”
“Compassion Flight 1-2-Romeo, read back correct, contact ground on 1-2-1-point-nine”
So I switched over to Ground Control.
“Flint Ground, Compassion 1-2-Romeo is at Avflight ready to taxi with Hotel.”
“Compassion Flight 1-2-Romeo, taxi to runway niner.”
“Taxi to runway niner, 1-2-Romeo.”
So we taxied to 9, and I explained what a run-up is and why we do it. (My engine has 2 sets of spark plugs for each cylinder, and they run on two separate magnetos. We increase the RPMs of the engine, and then test each magneto separately to make sure each or functioning properly.) We watched a regional jet land and I advised tower we were ready to take off. Tower advised me to position and hold, and then cleared us for take off. I gave the engine full power, and started to roll down the runway. Everything went smooth, and we turned toward the west to fly back across Michigan, and Lake Michigan to Waukesha, Wisconsin. The climb out was smooth, and explained every detail of the flight, what I was doing, what the aviation jargon was that they heard on the radios, and what we may encounter based on the weather. Everything went smooth, and we talked about everything from baseball, to where they used to live, and how horrible it was to drive through Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, and North Dakota. We talked a little about her condition, and why she was going to the Mayo Clinic.
Sometimes, you think your life is not going so great, thinking how bad certain things are, and you let your attitude get you down, and then you encounter someone like my front seat passenger. Here she is, thirty-five years old, not expected to survive being born because her internal organs had developed outside her body, and were put back in after birth. Her kidneys were shutting down, hence the reason for the trip to Mayo, and she has the most positive, upbeat attitude about everything. I was expecting a rather somber flight, and here we are, complete strangers, having a great time. We crossed Lake Michigan, and I gave a quick brief on what to expect if something should happen to the engine when over the lake. She laughed, and said she didn’t care; she loved water and loved to swim. The conversation just continued with no worries.
We were handed off from Muskegon Approach to Milawaukee Approach who let me remain higher until I was within glide distance of the shore, and then started our descent into Waukesha. She was excited to see the stadium the Brewer’s play in from the air, and we got vectored for the visual approach to runway 10 into Waukesha, number two behind a Cessna. I set up for the landing: Lights on, auxiliary pumps on, trim set, flaps set, throttle reduction, and prepared to slide the plane over the numbers. Just before getting to the threshold, I noticed a very cherry P-51 Mustang waiting for me to land, and behind him, a T-33 jet. I pointed this out to them, and said the P-51 was a WWII fighter plane, and said that was a training jet the military used behind it. They weren’t as excited about that as I was, however. I crossed the numbers, pulled the power completely out, and settled on to the runway with barely a chirp of the wheels.
“Wow, that’s a better landing than I’ve had on any airliner!”
“Well, those guys are getting paid, they don’t have to worry about how they land anymore.”
They both laughed, and we taxied over to the FBO, and parked right next to the Cirrus that was to take them on leg two of their journey. I unloaded their bags, introduced them to their leg two pilot, and talked briefly with him about the flight over. I was thanked numerous times by the patient, and how appreciative she was for me volunteering my time, plane and money for helping a complete stranger. I wished her well with her diagnosis and treatment, and said goodbye as they met another complete stranger who would fly them from Wisconsin to Rochester, Minnesota.
I left the office yesterday at noon and went home to change. I wear jeans at the office so I don’t ruin my nice pants when I venture out into the warehouse. I got back to my house; took a shower, changed into my nicer clothes, and headed out to the airport to inspect the plane. I was out there quite a bit earlier than I normally would be, but I wanted to make sure everything was on the up-and-up for this flight. The winds out at the field were very calm and the high overcast clouds made it look to be a very comfortable day for flying. I went into the airport office and bought the necessary aviation charts for today, and talked with the manager’s wife for a little while. There was still an hour I had before I needed to leave, so I took some time to straighten up the interior of the plane, and made sure all the headsets worked, and volume levels were all adequate for the various channels.
After filling up the tanks, and reading a couple of articles in the airport office, I headed out to my plane, and started it up. During taxi, I double-checked all the radios, and instruments like I normally do, and roll up to the hold short line for runway 12. I make my radio call for departure, and launch eastward toward Flint, MI. What a great day for flying. The light winds failed to create any turbulence, which is normally present when departing over the trees to the east. I climbed to three thousand five hundred feet and dialed in Lansing’s Automated Terminal Information System, or ATIS, on my primary radio. I picked up the approach controller’s frequency and tuned that in on the standby frequency. After listening to the ATIS information, I called up Lansing Approach.
“Lansing Approach, Cherokee 2-2-1-2-Romeo.”
“Cherokee 1-2-Romeo, Lansing Approach, Go Ahead.”
“1-2-Romeo is 2-1 west of the Lansing VOR, would like airspace transition to Flint.”
“1-2-Romeo Squawk 4-6-2-6.”
“4-6-2-6, 1-2-Romeo”
“1-2-Romeo, Radar contact, Lansing Altimeter 3-0-1-2”
“3-0-1-2, 1-2-Romeo”
I cruised on at 3,500 feet and through Lansing’s airspace on my way to Flint. The high overcast clouds were perfect, as they blocked out the sun, and kept the cabin of my plane from getting too warm. The temperature was perfect, and I didn’t even need to open the air vents to cool off the cabin. Lansing approach handed me off to Flint Approach Control and they told me to expect the straight in to runway niner. I acknowledged the clearance, and decided to dial in the Instrument Landing System frequency just to compare my visual approach path to the instrument approach path. Winds were very light out of the south so there was very little need for wind correction, and I kept the runway centered in my windscreen, and the needles centered on my glide slope indicator. I was handed off to tower frequency by approach, and was asked of my destination at Flint. I advised them I was headed to Avflight to pick up a passenger. I taxied to the Avflight FBO, put on my Lifeling Pilotsbadge and cap, and headed inside.
I was inside the FBO somewhere around 5 minutes when the reason for my flight today arrived. I was flying the first leg of a volunteer medical flight for a patient that needed to get from Flint, MI to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota. I introduced myself to my passengers and I had them fill out the necessary travel forms for today’s volunteer flight. I faxed the forms to Mary at the Lifeline office, checked the weather one last time, and carried their bags out to my plane. I asked them if they had ever been in a small plane before, and my patient said she had a long time ago, but her travel companion had not. So, I explained that there might be a few bumps as we climb up to ten thousand feet. I did my best to ease the nervousness of my passengers, as they had only known me for about five minutes. I called up Flint Clearance Delivery with my new call sign for this leg of the flight and to activate my flight plan that I had filed earlier in the day with Flight Service.
“Clearance Delivery, Compassion 1-2-Romeo.”
“Compassion Flight 1-2-Romeo, advise ready to copy.”
“Compassion 1-2-Romeo, ready to copy.”
“Compassion Flight 1-2-Romeo cleared direct to Uniform Echo Sierra, climb and maintain three thousand, expect one zero thousand one zero minutes after takeoff, squawk 4-1-1-2.”
“1-2-Romeo is cleared direct to Uniform Echo Sierra, climb and maintain three thousand, expect one zero thousand one zero minutes after takeoff, squawk 4-1-1-2”
“Compassion Flight 1-2-Romeo, read back correct, contact ground on 1-2-1-point-nine”
So I switched over to Ground Control.
“Flint Ground, Compassion 1-2-Romeo is at Avflight ready to taxi with Hotel.”
“Compassion Flight 1-2-Romeo, taxi to runway niner.”
“Taxi to runway niner, 1-2-Romeo.”
So we taxied to 9, and I explained what a run-up is and why we do it. (My engine has 2 sets of spark plugs for each cylinder, and they run on two separate magnetos. We increase the RPMs of the engine, and then test each magneto separately to make sure each or functioning properly.) We watched a regional jet land and I advised tower we were ready to take off. Tower advised me to position and hold, and then cleared us for take off. I gave the engine full power, and started to roll down the runway. Everything went smooth, and we turned toward the west to fly back across Michigan, and Lake Michigan to Waukesha, Wisconsin. The climb out was smooth, and explained every detail of the flight, what I was doing, what the aviation jargon was that they heard on the radios, and what we may encounter based on the weather. Everything went smooth, and we talked about everything from baseball, to where they used to live, and how horrible it was to drive through Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, and North Dakota. We talked a little about her condition, and why she was going to the Mayo Clinic.
Sometimes, you think your life is not going so great, thinking how bad certain things are, and you let your attitude get you down, and then you encounter someone like my front seat passenger. Here she is, thirty-five years old, not expected to survive being born because her internal organs had developed outside her body, and were put back in after birth. Her kidneys were shutting down, hence the reason for the trip to Mayo, and she has the most positive, upbeat attitude about everything. I was expecting a rather somber flight, and here we are, complete strangers, having a great time. We crossed Lake Michigan, and I gave a quick brief on what to expect if something should happen to the engine when over the lake. She laughed, and said she didn’t care; she loved water and loved to swim. The conversation just continued with no worries.
We were handed off from Muskegon Approach to Milawaukee Approach who let me remain higher until I was within glide distance of the shore, and then started our descent into Waukesha. She was excited to see the stadium the Brewer’s play in from the air, and we got vectored for the visual approach to runway 10 into Waukesha, number two behind a Cessna. I set up for the landing: Lights on, auxiliary pumps on, trim set, flaps set, throttle reduction, and prepared to slide the plane over the numbers. Just before getting to the threshold, I noticed a very cherry P-51 Mustang waiting for me to land, and behind him, a T-33 jet. I pointed this out to them, and said the P-51 was a WWII fighter plane, and said that was a training jet the military used behind it. They weren’t as excited about that as I was, however. I crossed the numbers, pulled the power completely out, and settled on to the runway with barely a chirp of the wheels.
“Wow, that’s a better landing than I’ve had on any airliner!”
“Well, those guys are getting paid, they don’t have to worry about how they land anymore.”
They both laughed, and we taxied over to the FBO, and parked right next to the Cirrus that was to take them on leg two of their journey. I unloaded their bags, introduced them to their leg two pilot, and talked briefly with him about the flight over. I was thanked numerous times by the patient, and how appreciative she was for me volunteering my time, plane and money for helping a complete stranger. I wished her well with her diagnosis and treatment, and said goodbye as they met another complete stranger who would fly them from Wisconsin to Rochester, Minnesota.
