S
SJP
Guest
The day started with a frantic hunt for the cellphone, which was rudely clamouring for my attention from the discarded pair of jeans on the chair in the corner. My Mooney-owning buddy was calling, concerned at the grey overcast and distinct wetness outside his window.
A quick stumble into the computer room, a couple of bookmarks later, and the weather was determined to be marginal, but probably going to improve. We decided on a 30 minute slip from our 8:00 meeting time, and we'd take a game-time decision on the weather then.
I picked up our current victi.....passenger...from the office parking lot, and trundled over to the airport, still seeing light rain and a distinct grey overcast, but a definite lightening of the sky to the north. We got to the hangar at about 8:00, did a quick once over on the plane, put together the flight plan and called up the breifers. After about 15 minutes, the very helpful FSS gentleman had pretty much confirmed what we'd seen. A line of preciptiation from about Bad Axe (BAX) through Jackson (JAX) was very slowly moving south, and was expected to start breaking up within the next 2 hours. There was no realistic chance of it moving north, and should stay south of our route for the entire duration.
Buoyed by the news, we pulled the plane from the hanger, preflighted, and got set to depart. The departure from Pontiac was uneventful, straight out from 09R and on course to OEB direct. As usual, we couldn't raise Lansing Flight Service from the air...so the nicely filed flight plan was never activated. We are going to have to start opening them with a time off estimate by cell phone prior to departure.
Other than one small shower just detectable on the windshield, the ride was smooth, clear, and comfortable for our passenger - his first 'small airplane' experience. GPS groundspeed clocked a respectable peak speed of 169Kts @ 4500ft - not bad for a '65 Mooney with orignal paint !
Coldwater was busy as we entered the area - good radio discipline was being used on the whole. The runway was a little hard to pick up in the Michigan Murk, but surpisingly, it was exactly where our VOR calculations , Eyeball v1.0, and GPS map all told us it should be. An easy 45degree entry to the downwind for rwy 7, and a pretty standard, if a little wide, pattern flown. Just as we turned and called final, a Cessna announced taking the runway and departed in front of us...but we had plenty of separation.
Score : B+
Once off the runway, the marshalling was a little vague...we got to the parking area, were waved past by the marshall, who then turned away from us...and left us to try and work out where he'd wanted us to go. People milling around in the taxi areas was a second concern, but we got parked ok and headed off for breakfast.
Score : C
Some really nice planes on the field, including the local Medivac helicopter, at least 3 other whirly-birds...one small bizjet (impressive takeoff too !), couple of V-tail bonanzas plus a good selection of new and older planes. A very large community presence appeared to be in attendance, which can only be a good thing.
Score : B
Breakfast was $5. Pancakes were good, Sausages were so-so, no eggs. Coffee was passable but pretty gritty. Looked like it had been EXTREMELY busy earlier, and the demand had overwhelmed the planners ! Only one 'porta-potty' was available...which had a line for most of the time.
Score : B
My buddy won a door prize - Pilots register on entry, and some 50 prizes were given out. A nice LED flashlight....he now has four !!
Departure was again uneventful, if a little busy. We had to offset slightly on climbout to avoid chewing up the rear of the Cessna ahead of us - but good communication throughout meant everyone knew what was going on. As we continued out, we had some fun with an inbound pilot/passenger who seemed to think that they could only talk on the intercom if they held the PTT down....half the conversation, and a lot of frequency congestion !!
Score : B-
The flight back to PTK saw some headwind, slowed us to about 130kts GS (indicated 145), so pretty consistent with the outbound leg. PTK was just switching from the 27 runways to the 09 rwys as we arrived, so we had the easy straight in approach - flown ILS monitored just for the hell of it.
Score : B
Plane back in the hanger, short debreif after the flight - 2.0 on the hobbs, and smiles all around.
Overall fly-in rating was a B-/B, but a great overall trip...the first one of the new season for us, and hopefully a lot more to come.
A quick stumble into the computer room, a couple of bookmarks later, and the weather was determined to be marginal, but probably going to improve. We decided on a 30 minute slip from our 8:00 meeting time, and we'd take a game-time decision on the weather then.
I picked up our current victi.....passenger...from the office parking lot, and trundled over to the airport, still seeing light rain and a distinct grey overcast, but a definite lightening of the sky to the north. We got to the hangar at about 8:00, did a quick once over on the plane, put together the flight plan and called up the breifers. After about 15 minutes, the very helpful FSS gentleman had pretty much confirmed what we'd seen. A line of preciptiation from about Bad Axe (BAX) through Jackson (JAX) was very slowly moving south, and was expected to start breaking up within the next 2 hours. There was no realistic chance of it moving north, and should stay south of our route for the entire duration.
Buoyed by the news, we pulled the plane from the hanger, preflighted, and got set to depart. The departure from Pontiac was uneventful, straight out from 09R and on course to OEB direct. As usual, we couldn't raise Lansing Flight Service from the air...so the nicely filed flight plan was never activated. We are going to have to start opening them with a time off estimate by cell phone prior to departure.
Other than one small shower just detectable on the windshield, the ride was smooth, clear, and comfortable for our passenger - his first 'small airplane' experience. GPS groundspeed clocked a respectable peak speed of 169Kts @ 4500ft - not bad for a '65 Mooney with orignal paint !
Coldwater was busy as we entered the area - good radio discipline was being used on the whole. The runway was a little hard to pick up in the Michigan Murk, but surpisingly, it was exactly where our VOR calculations , Eyeball v1.0, and GPS map all told us it should be. An easy 45degree entry to the downwind for rwy 7, and a pretty standard, if a little wide, pattern flown. Just as we turned and called final, a Cessna announced taking the runway and departed in front of us...but we had plenty of separation.
Score : B+
Once off the runway, the marshalling was a little vague...we got to the parking area, were waved past by the marshall, who then turned away from us...and left us to try and work out where he'd wanted us to go. People milling around in the taxi areas was a second concern, but we got parked ok and headed off for breakfast.
Score : C
Some really nice planes on the field, including the local Medivac helicopter, at least 3 other whirly-birds...one small bizjet (impressive takeoff too !), couple of V-tail bonanzas plus a good selection of new and older planes. A very large community presence appeared to be in attendance, which can only be a good thing.
Score : B
Breakfast was $5. Pancakes were good, Sausages were so-so, no eggs. Coffee was passable but pretty gritty. Looked like it had been EXTREMELY busy earlier, and the demand had overwhelmed the planners ! Only one 'porta-potty' was available...which had a line for most of the time.
Score : B
My buddy won a door prize - Pilots register on entry, and some 50 prizes were given out. A nice LED flashlight....he now has four !!
Departure was again uneventful, if a little busy. We had to offset slightly on climbout to avoid chewing up the rear of the Cessna ahead of us - but good communication throughout meant everyone knew what was going on. As we continued out, we had some fun with an inbound pilot/passenger who seemed to think that they could only talk on the intercom if they held the PTT down....half the conversation, and a lot of frequency congestion !!
Score : B-
The flight back to PTK saw some headwind, slowed us to about 130kts GS (indicated 145), so pretty consistent with the outbound leg. PTK was just switching from the 27 runways to the 09 rwys as we arrived, so we had the easy straight in approach - flown ILS monitored just for the hell of it.
Score : B
Plane back in the hanger, short debreif after the flight - 2.0 on the hobbs, and smiles all around.
Overall fly-in rating was a B-/B, but a great overall trip...the first one of the new season for us, and hopefully a lot more to come.
