jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
Yesterday morning I received a phone call informing me of a friends death. I ended up taking Thursday and Friday off so that I could fly down to Des Moines, IA to attend the wake and funeral and a couple of other things. I tried my best to get a Diamond rented for the trip but it was too late to schedule one. I ended up having to rent a C172.
At about 5PM I lifted off from Minneapolis heading south with an ETE of
1.5 hours. I was crusing along at about 2,000 AGL below a solid overcast layer. The winds were kicking strong out of the north and I had a 145 knot ground speed. Controllers kept referring to me as a Skylane. The controller gave me a traffic alert and I tried to respond 'negative contact' but he kept giving me the alert over and over. It was obvious at this point that my transmiter wasn't working. I switched from COM1 to COM2 and he now heard me fine.
As I approached the Minnesota/Iowa border the layer started to slowly drop. I was down to about 1,500 AGL at this point. I had several airports in the area I could land at and it was time to get more information. So I attempted to call Flightwatch with no response. I was probably too low so I tried Princeton FSS instead. The briefer told me what I wanted to hear--it would lift in about 20 miles and become a scattered layer. As I headed south into Iowa the layer kept lifting and finally started to break up enough for me to climb above it. I climbed to about 6,500 MSL above the layer. It's funny how much happier you feel when you get above the crap and have a nice day. I was thinking some about the flight and how often one's life can change for the worse. I couldn't help but appreciate the moment.
About 35 miles north of the Des Moines Class C I called up Approach. They assigned me a squawk code and I was now welcome into the class C. A few minutes later the controller stated he was not getting my transponder. The reply light did not appear to be flashing and turning it on or off was no help. The controller didn't seem to mind and just had me confirm altitude and position a few times. I stayed above the layer until the last possible moment and came back down.
The wind was kicking about 25 knots down the runway and I touched down before the numbers. I could have made a complete stop on the numbers. Off the runway, request progressive taxi to "anything but signature" and to Elliot Aviation I went. Tony was waiting for me.
After hearing Phil Boyer of AOPA speak about user fees in Des Moines I flew back to Ames, IA. The transponder appeared to be working fine now. After takeoff tower handed me off to Departure. For the hell of it I asked if the controllers name was Rick. He said yes. I told him I was from Pilots of America and he was familiar with the board (he is the controller that identified Pilot Kent based on his voice from the podcast). Rick has the perfect quick/consise center controller voice. He wants to give this whole glider thing a try sometime soon since the last glideathon fell through. Another pilot or two after that started just calling him Rick instead of Approach
A perfect flight with a little excitement. You've got to love the stock Cessna radios. They require constant flicking of switches and powering on and off during the entire flight. It makes it exciting.
Time for me to take a shower and go to the wake. Appreciate what you have in life.
At about 5PM I lifted off from Minneapolis heading south with an ETE of
1.5 hours. I was crusing along at about 2,000 AGL below a solid overcast layer. The winds were kicking strong out of the north and I had a 145 knot ground speed. Controllers kept referring to me as a Skylane. The controller gave me a traffic alert and I tried to respond 'negative contact' but he kept giving me the alert over and over. It was obvious at this point that my transmiter wasn't working. I switched from COM1 to COM2 and he now heard me fine.
As I approached the Minnesota/Iowa border the layer started to slowly drop. I was down to about 1,500 AGL at this point. I had several airports in the area I could land at and it was time to get more information. So I attempted to call Flightwatch with no response. I was probably too low so I tried Princeton FSS instead. The briefer told me what I wanted to hear--it would lift in about 20 miles and become a scattered layer. As I headed south into Iowa the layer kept lifting and finally started to break up enough for me to climb above it. I climbed to about 6,500 MSL above the layer. It's funny how much happier you feel when you get above the crap and have a nice day. I was thinking some about the flight and how often one's life can change for the worse. I couldn't help but appreciate the moment.
About 35 miles north of the Des Moines Class C I called up Approach. They assigned me a squawk code and I was now welcome into the class C. A few minutes later the controller stated he was not getting my transponder. The reply light did not appear to be flashing and turning it on or off was no help. The controller didn't seem to mind and just had me confirm altitude and position a few times. I stayed above the layer until the last possible moment and came back down.
The wind was kicking about 25 knots down the runway and I touched down before the numbers. I could have made a complete stop on the numbers. Off the runway, request progressive taxi to "anything but signature" and to Elliot Aviation I went. Tony was waiting for me.
After hearing Phil Boyer of AOPA speak about user fees in Des Moines I flew back to Ames, IA. The transponder appeared to be working fine now. After takeoff tower handed me off to Departure. For the hell of it I asked if the controllers name was Rick. He said yes. I told him I was from Pilots of America and he was familiar with the board (he is the controller that identified Pilot Kent based on his voice from the podcast). Rick has the perfect quick/consise center controller voice. He wants to give this whole glider thing a try sometime soon since the last glideathon fell through. Another pilot or two after that started just calling him Rick instead of Approach
A perfect flight with a little excitement. You've got to love the stock Cessna radios. They require constant flicking of switches and powering on and off during the entire flight. It makes it exciting.
Time for me to take a shower and go to the wake. Appreciate what you have in life.
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