t0r0nad0
Pattern Altitude
Well, I did my duty as an American and stimulated the economy with my gift from Uncle Sam this past weekend. Between Saturday and Sunday, I logged 4.0 hrs and 8 landings in two different airplanes.
First, on Saturday, I rented N533SJ, a 172N with extended-range tanks, from Anson Air at SGR. It had been almost 3 months since I last logged a landing in that aircraft model, so I did a soft-field takeoff and a quick touch & go on 35 at SGR before departing for Hobby for Wings & Wheels.. I got my Class B clearance from Houston Approach (I love how the controllers here are so GA-friendly) and was instructed to proceed direct to the Astrodome and expect 12R. I was handed off to another Approach sector and I requested 17, as that is a much shorter taxi to the Museum. I was told to proceed direct to the 17 numbers and to maintain maximum forward speed. At 105 kias in the pig of an airplane I was flying, I pretty much was at my maximum forward speed. I was able to come in on a short, tight approach and landed a bit long, but with 7000' of runway, that was no problem. I was still able to turn off at G2 and taxi to the museum.
It was a great day at Wings & Wheels, with many Beechcraft on the ramp for Beechcraft Day. I believe it was a total of 4 Bonanzas, a Staggerwing, and a T-34 that were out there that day. On the street side, we had a local Corvair club on display. I got talking with one of the Corvair owners who was looking at our raffle plane, and could immediately tell that he was a life-long lover of aviation. He got "the look" in his eyes as we talked about airplanes, and was very excited about all of it. I couldn't help but to offer him a quick ride. So we jumped in the plane, called up clearance and took off for about a 30-45 minute sortie to the south of the airport. When we landed, he thanked me profusely, then I was immediately grabbed from a couple of people from the CAF who needed to meet with me, so I unfortunately couldn't talk to him any more.
I left around 2:20p and flew back to SGR, performing a short-field takeoff on my departure from HOU. So, despite the sometimes rainy weather and not-too-great visibility, I was still able to get in 1.8 hrs of flying and 4 landings.
On Sunday, the weather was much, much better. I had reserved N1629E, another C172N, this one with standard tanks. This is also the plane in which I did my first solo flight, I earned my PPL, and I took on my first pax flight. I love this plane, and even more so now with the fresh interior that Anson put in it just this month (it looks great!). Anyway, I digress.
The plan was to take Heather and her family flying around the area. It was only her second time flying with me, and the first time that most (if not all) of her family had been in a small plane. I really couldn't have had better weather for it. There were blue skies, sunshine, a few high cumulus clouds, and vis was +50. So Heather and I got there right at 11:00am and did the preflight. We jumped in and took off, then did a couple of circles around the community south of the airport to get a couple of pictures of the old prison building. We then departed northwest to Katy so I can show her our house from the air. I tried to do a touch & go at O07, which is a 2400' x 35' runway, but I floated a bit too far and decided I didn't have the space to make it a touch & go and clear the power lines on the other end, so I just poured on the coals and did a go around instead of landing. I could have landed and taxied back, but I didn't want to take the time to do that. We went to the new part of Cinco Ranch and took a couple of pictures of the new rec center there instead, then we headed back to the airport.
Her family arrived soon after we landed and her mother decided to be my first passenger (probably to just get it over with as she is a bit scared of heights). I gave her a nice pre-flight briefing and told her that if she gets nervous at all, to just let me know. We took off and flew to the south of the airport so she could see her house. We then went a bit southeast to find the school that she works at before heading over to Richmond to find the school that her son attends. On the way over, we saw the little league fields that her son plays at and got some pictures of those. I called up the tower to transition their airspace from east to west on the way to Richmond, and I invited her to shadow my hands on the controls. She didn't appreciate it too much when we hit a thermal and I said, "What did you do?!"
We found her son's school, took a picture, then headed back to the airport. We taxied in, she hopped out, I grabbed a drink, then started to load up Heather's brother into the plane.
I gave him the same briefing, but he indicated that he was a bit nervous. So I told him that his job as my co-pilot was to read the checklists for me, which he did rather well. I took him on the same route that I took his mother, and let him fly for a bit on the way over to his school. He did pretty good at that too! I told him to keep the nose pointed at a specific shopping center ahead of us, then I had him turn to point at a different building, then I took the controls and told him to look down off his right-hand side so he could see his school. He thought that was pretty cool. After that, I took him back to the airport, we taxied in, and hopped out. I went for another drink of water (pretty warm up in that cockpit) and to use the "little pilots' room" then loaded Heather's father into the plane.
I gave him the same briefing as the other two, but for this flight, I called up ground and asked for a squawk and handoff to approach so that we could go do some sightseeing over downtown. My request was granted, so after I took off I was handed off to Houston Departure and asked to proceed to downtown, do a circle around it, and head back to Sugar Land. Approach immediately cleared me into the Class B and told me to proceed direct to downtown (as opposed to vectoring me north to intercept the I-10 VFR corridor) - did I mention how much I love having a GA-friendly ATC here? We went around the north side of downtown and swung around it, then headed back to Sugar Land.
So, another 2.2 hrs of time logged, another 4 landings, and a whole bunch of fun on a spectacular day!
I suppose I oughta include a few pics:
1) On Final with my pax at Wings & Wheels
2) Telfair model home village
3) Approaching Westheimer (O07)
4) Cinco Ranch logo in the middle of the lake
5) N1629E getting ready to depart
First, on Saturday, I rented N533SJ, a 172N with extended-range tanks, from Anson Air at SGR. It had been almost 3 months since I last logged a landing in that aircraft model, so I did a soft-field takeoff and a quick touch & go on 35 at SGR before departing for Hobby for Wings & Wheels.. I got my Class B clearance from Houston Approach (I love how the controllers here are so GA-friendly) and was instructed to proceed direct to the Astrodome and expect 12R. I was handed off to another Approach sector and I requested 17, as that is a much shorter taxi to the Museum. I was told to proceed direct to the 17 numbers and to maintain maximum forward speed. At 105 kias in the pig of an airplane I was flying, I pretty much was at my maximum forward speed. I was able to come in on a short, tight approach and landed a bit long, but with 7000' of runway, that was no problem. I was still able to turn off at G2 and taxi to the museum.
It was a great day at Wings & Wheels, with many Beechcraft on the ramp for Beechcraft Day. I believe it was a total of 4 Bonanzas, a Staggerwing, and a T-34 that were out there that day. On the street side, we had a local Corvair club on display. I got talking with one of the Corvair owners who was looking at our raffle plane, and could immediately tell that he was a life-long lover of aviation. He got "the look" in his eyes as we talked about airplanes, and was very excited about all of it. I couldn't help but to offer him a quick ride. So we jumped in the plane, called up clearance and took off for about a 30-45 minute sortie to the south of the airport. When we landed, he thanked me profusely, then I was immediately grabbed from a couple of people from the CAF who needed to meet with me, so I unfortunately couldn't talk to him any more.
I left around 2:20p and flew back to SGR, performing a short-field takeoff on my departure from HOU. So, despite the sometimes rainy weather and not-too-great visibility, I was still able to get in 1.8 hrs of flying and 4 landings.
On Sunday, the weather was much, much better. I had reserved N1629E, another C172N, this one with standard tanks. This is also the plane in which I did my first solo flight, I earned my PPL, and I took on my first pax flight. I love this plane, and even more so now with the fresh interior that Anson put in it just this month (it looks great!). Anyway, I digress.
The plan was to take Heather and her family flying around the area. It was only her second time flying with me, and the first time that most (if not all) of her family had been in a small plane. I really couldn't have had better weather for it. There were blue skies, sunshine, a few high cumulus clouds, and vis was +50. So Heather and I got there right at 11:00am and did the preflight. We jumped in and took off, then did a couple of circles around the community south of the airport to get a couple of pictures of the old prison building. We then departed northwest to Katy so I can show her our house from the air. I tried to do a touch & go at O07, which is a 2400' x 35' runway, but I floated a bit too far and decided I didn't have the space to make it a touch & go and clear the power lines on the other end, so I just poured on the coals and did a go around instead of landing. I could have landed and taxied back, but I didn't want to take the time to do that. We went to the new part of Cinco Ranch and took a couple of pictures of the new rec center there instead, then we headed back to the airport.
Her family arrived soon after we landed and her mother decided to be my first passenger (probably to just get it over with as she is a bit scared of heights). I gave her a nice pre-flight briefing and told her that if she gets nervous at all, to just let me know. We took off and flew to the south of the airport so she could see her house. We then went a bit southeast to find the school that she works at before heading over to Richmond to find the school that her son attends. On the way over, we saw the little league fields that her son plays at and got some pictures of those. I called up the tower to transition their airspace from east to west on the way to Richmond, and I invited her to shadow my hands on the controls. She didn't appreciate it too much when we hit a thermal and I said, "What did you do?!"
We found her son's school, took a picture, then headed back to the airport. We taxied in, she hopped out, I grabbed a drink, then started to load up Heather's brother into the plane. I gave him the same briefing, but he indicated that he was a bit nervous. So I told him that his job as my co-pilot was to read the checklists for me, which he did rather well. I took him on the same route that I took his mother, and let him fly for a bit on the way over to his school. He did pretty good at that too! I told him to keep the nose pointed at a specific shopping center ahead of us, then I had him turn to point at a different building, then I took the controls and told him to look down off his right-hand side so he could see his school. He thought that was pretty cool. After that, I took him back to the airport, we taxied in, and hopped out. I went for another drink of water (pretty warm up in that cockpit) and to use the "little pilots' room" then loaded Heather's father into the plane.
I gave him the same briefing as the other two, but for this flight, I called up ground and asked for a squawk and handoff to approach so that we could go do some sightseeing over downtown. My request was granted, so after I took off I was handed off to Houston Departure and asked to proceed to downtown, do a circle around it, and head back to Sugar Land. Approach immediately cleared me into the Class B and told me to proceed direct to downtown (as opposed to vectoring me north to intercept the I-10 VFR corridor) - did I mention how much I love having a GA-friendly ATC here? We went around the north side of downtown and swung around it, then headed back to Sugar Land.
So, another 2.2 hrs of time logged, another 4 landings, and a whole bunch of fun on a spectacular day!
I suppose I oughta include a few pics:
1) On Final with my pax at Wings & Wheels
2) Telfair model home village
3) Approaching Westheimer (O07)
4) Cinco Ranch logo in the middle of the lake
5) N1629E getting ready to depart
