I committed aviation.....for fun!

[colomtnflyer]

Yesterday I joined PJ (toronado) for a hop around the West side of Houston's Class B to bag a few airports for the CONUS challenge..
Interestingly, I had checked my log book the night before to find when I had last flown a SEL. It had been 37 MONTHS earlier!

We took off from SGR (Sugarland) and tripped up to West Houston (IWS) where PJ put down an awesome landing. There was some traffic, so off we went to Houston Exec (TME). Enroute, he was brave enough to hand me the controls... It sure felt odd after so long... As I set up for the landing at TME, PJ was ready to assume control, when I had to ask him if he didn't trust me. As we had never flown together before, he had every right to be cautious. (Just as I was acutely aware of his procedures and first landing) He allowed me to make the landing, which given it being my first in a 172 in over 3 yrs, wasn't too bad.

We were off again, enroute to Westheimer (O07) which turns out to be an extremely narrow rwy, with almost a direct x-wind. Again PJ was generous enough to allow me this landing (he must have gained some confidence after my first landing), and it was a fun little challenge to slip it on to the postage stamp size rwy and get it off again before the trees at the far end.

Heading back toward SGR, PJ took over again, and wanted to do a few T+G's. After a couple of normal landings, he decided to do a short field, which I was really quite impressed with! He had the aircraft at a dead stop before taxiway D, maybe about 400'.

He let me take it around the patch a couple of times, just to regain the feel of handling such a light aircraft again, and we decided to put it down for good.

It was the first time I had flown for "fun" in over a year, and it truly was enjoyable. PJ is a by the numbers type of pilot, always running his procedures, and it was a pleasure to fly with him! I'll look forward to doing it again soon!

Thanks, PJ!

 

[TangoWhiskey]

Heading back toward SGR, PJ took over again, and wanted to do a few T+G's. After a couple of normal landings, he decided to do a short field, which I was really quite impressed with! He had the aircraft at a dead stop before taxiway D, maybe about 400'!

Sounds like fun! What do you normally fly?

I wonder why the charts don't label taxiway Delta at SGR? They have A, B, C, E, F, and H labeled. Is there also a "Golf" that's not depicted?

http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0711/05537AD.PDF

 

[tonycondon]

sounds like fun Ric!

 

[colomtnflyer]

Troy-
Since my last SEL flight, I had a 6 month hiatus, recovering from a shattered leg (2 years ago, today!). Since then I have put in about 300 hrs, all MEL, the most recent 220hrs in a KingAir 200.

Taxiway Delta is the first rwy exit when landing 17 at SGR. I have no idea if there is a Taxiway Golf at SGR...the new taxiways to where they are building the new T- hangar area across the river on the SE side of the airport are labled as C1 and C2 on my airport diagram. (Its cool seeing taxiways crossing bridges/rivers between the rwy and the hangar area.)

 

[JasonCT]

Nice job! Did you put the pics up yet for the challange?

 

[colomtnflyer]

PICs are the responsibility of the PIC.....(little pun there...)

We did take a few pics of PJ's new house!

 

[t0r0nad0]

Unfortunately, we just did touch & goes due to time constraints, so no pics and thus no claims for ConUS. But, since it's been extended, that means we can go out again sometime!

Originally, the plan was to go through the I-10 VFR Corridor out to the San Jacinto Monument and back, so we got a squawk and handoff from SGR Ground/Tower. But, when we told TRACON our request, they said that since Hobby was landing on 22 all of the big boys were coming in over the monument and they couldn't accommodate us flying VFR over there. So, I canceled the request and flight following and dialed in W. Houston (IWS) CTAF. I got an airport advisory from UNICOM and announced my way around the pattern on the radio, and announced my "numbers" that Ric was referring to out loud in the cockpit - something I do even when flying alone. I made what I consider to be a pretty good landing, especially considering that I hadn't landed a plane since the beginning of September. The CFI in Ric came out a bit as he was coaching me and reminding me to put in my cross-wind correction on our landing and takeoff roll. We took off and headed out to the west towards TME, and I handed the controls off to Ric.

On our way to TME (about 7-10nm) we passed an opposite direction AT-6 Texan inbound to IWS (probably part of the CAF wing there), and a Bonanza that departed after our touch and go passed off our left side. I dialed in the CTAF and told Ric to click three times for the pilot-controlled AWOS. I also informed him of the wide traffic pattern for noise abatement at that airport. He set up for left traffic for 18, and as we were turning base a pipeline plane announced that they'd be crossing the north end of the runway at 400', and that they had us in sight. We spotted him off our left side and he passed over well before we got to the runway. Also, while we were on base, we saw two other eastbound aircraft flying formation off our right side, probably also heading to IWS. On short final I was going to take over for two reasons - my name was on the rental and I wanted to get Ric back for second-guessing my preflight walk-around (which he was right to do, because he noticed that our nosewheel was a bit under-inflated). Ric greased on his landing, rubbing in that even though he hasn't flown a light single in 37 months he can still land better than I can - the smart aleck even apologized for the non-existent "bump"! We took off again and headed southeast towards O07.

After I spotted the airport by the stream (water runway?) that runs parallel to the sidewalk that they call a paved runway, I pointed it out to Ric and he set up for left traffic for runway 11. He came around base a bit high, but dropped in all 40 deg of flaps and slipped it down. He did a great crosswind landing (winds were about 160 at about 11) on that tiny little runway, albeit a little long. But, he still raised the flaps to 10 deg, pushed in the carb heat and firewalled the throttle in time to get us airborne again well before the end of the runway. As we were climbing out he handed control back over to me, after he was sure to enforce who was the better pilot .

I flew around Katy, TX and spotted mine and the better half's new house and Ric was kind enough to take a couple of pictures while I was flying around in circles, then we flew back to SGR after I picked up the ASOS. I did two normal landings as touch & goes, then I did the short-field landing that Ric spoke so kindly about, followed by a short-field takeoff. Ric took over again and did a soft field landing and takeoff, where the nosewheel only touched the ground once or twice due to the wind gusts. I took over again and came around for a full stop.

It was a great time and thanks to Ric for joining me. Attached is an aerial pic of the new house.

 

[colomtnflyer]

Cool looking new house! I expect a great house warming party when you get moved in... I also noticed the kids play house in the back yard, PJ.... Something we should know about? (or maybe you are just as big a kid as I am)

PJ is being kind about my flying... it really did feel a bit rough and uncoordinated. Maybe it was the wind, but I attributed it to my own lack of recent experience in an SEL. And I'm not joshing PJ- he is a good stick.

I'm not going to let it be so long before I get out and do it again... As much as I enjoy flying faster and heavier aircraft for work, you can't beat the feeling of just going out and twisting the kinks out of a small plane and its pilot...

 

[t0r0nad0]

Indeed we plan on having a housewarming party, and I'm sure I'll invite the group. It's only 15.9 miles from TME and 8.4 miles from IWS, so fly-in visitors are welcome, and I'm sure transportation could probably be arranged. That kid's play house will be gone before the current owners leave.