AdamB
Pre-takeoff checklist
I just returned yesterday from a few days in Tampa, FL with some local pilot friends over on the Purple board, Bob and Dave.
Bob and I had been talking about this trip for awhile, and the timing worked out well, as I had just accepted a new job and have this week off in between.
On Weds the 14th, we loaded up our golf clubs and luggage into the Trinidad and headed for Tampa. Bob's dad, and his girlfriend, live there
so we had a place to stay and a car to use for the duration.
Dave met me at the airport, and we flew down to Norwood to pick Bob up.
It was pretty much VFR the entire trip down the east coast, with the exception of some marginal VFR weather in the NC and SC area, which we cruised right over the top of easily.
Our first planned stop was Suffolk, VA but we had some terrible westerly routing out to NY and PA before heading south, and ended up diverting to Hazleton, PA for a nature call. We then continued VFR to Suffolk, VA.
Just about 20 or 30 miles outside of VA, ATC informed us that they were no longer picking up our transponder. We cycled it a few times but noted that there were no return blips happening, and the light wasn't coming on in test mode, it was as if the unit didn't have power. A double check of the circuit breakers proved nothing amiss.
We then continued on to Jacksonville, FL and we again didn't seem to have any luck with the transponder. ATC was very helpful and primary target identified us and we were able to pick up our next IFR clearance in the air. I was really amazed at how much ATC was very helpful and accommodating to continue on in the IFR environment with an inop transponder.
The third leg of the trip proved to be a bit more tricky as we were headed into the Tampa Class B area. We also went IFR, but Tampa wouldn't accept us without a transponder. We continued on flight following and called them up, once we got dropped, to see if they could help. The controller was clearly flustered with all the traffic coming out of Lakeland right at that time and
wasn't exactly sure where we were. After a couple of attempts, and doing some circling just outside the mode c veil, we decided to head to an airport just outside the veil and land there. Dave had the brilliant idea to tell me to try again now that we're right over this airport as maybe the controller would have a better sense of where we were. That was the trick. ATC had me to a turn to a heading to identify us, and then vectored us into Peter O Knight field under the Bravo. Kudos to ATC for all the help.
We ate a wonderful meal and had some cocktails with Bob's dad and girlfriend, who have just an absolutely beautiful condo overlooking the waters of Tampa Bay. The guest apartment downstairs was equally amazing.
The next day Bob and I played golf, while Dave drove the transponder unit down to the avionics shop to get bench tested. It was a relief to hear back from Dave that the shop found a blown internal fuse and some other frequency out of spec. Unit should now be fixed and is yellow tagged. We swung by the airport, installed the unit and quickly confirmed that all seemed well. A huge relief and one less thing to worry about for the trip back.
Thursday night we headed to dinner at the Tampa Club with Bob's dad and girlfriend. It's a very nice place on the top (42nd) floor in the city.
Lots of spectacular views of the entire city and beyond. The food and company wasn't too shabby either.
Friday was a day at the show. We were there from about 9:30 to 5pm-ish. We were able to meet up with Andy (Anymouse) and grab some lunch together. We walked around until we could walk no more, and saw most everything, including a good portion of the airshow. It was a great day.
Friday night we went off on our own to Ybor City and ate at another amazing Greek restaurant called Acropolis. It was a lively place with some live traditional Greek music. The food was excellent and plentiful.
We did some walking around afterward and took in all the sights. It's an interesting part of the city and sort of reminded me of Austin, TX, in a way, with various types of music spilling out into the streets from every bar and dance club.
Saturday we packed up and headed for home. The trip home was mostly uneventful. Good VFR weather for 3/4 of the trip, other than getting up and down through a couple layers of scattered clouds. Up into the NY/CT/and MA areas we had to stay below the clouds as the risk of icing was too high to go IFR. We were able to get back in without issue after circumnavigating around some rain showers. Visibility was endless under the clouds so it ended up not being a big deal.
It was an excellent trip with some good friends and a well needed break between jobs, which I'm sure I won't get to do again for awhile.
Trip totals:
Trip down: 9.3 hours on the hobbs
Trip back: 8.3 hours on the hobbs.
Some pics of the trip below:
Bob and I had been talking about this trip for awhile, and the timing worked out well, as I had just accepted a new job and have this week off in between.
On Weds the 14th, we loaded up our golf clubs and luggage into the Trinidad and headed for Tampa. Bob's dad, and his girlfriend, live there
so we had a place to stay and a car to use for the duration.
Dave met me at the airport, and we flew down to Norwood to pick Bob up.
It was pretty much VFR the entire trip down the east coast, with the exception of some marginal VFR weather in the NC and SC area, which we cruised right over the top of easily.
Our first planned stop was Suffolk, VA but we had some terrible westerly routing out to NY and PA before heading south, and ended up diverting to Hazleton, PA for a nature call. We then continued VFR to Suffolk, VA.
Just about 20 or 30 miles outside of VA, ATC informed us that they were no longer picking up our transponder. We cycled it a few times but noted that there were no return blips happening, and the light wasn't coming on in test mode, it was as if the unit didn't have power. A double check of the circuit breakers proved nothing amiss.
We then continued on to Jacksonville, FL and we again didn't seem to have any luck with the transponder. ATC was very helpful and primary target identified us and we were able to pick up our next IFR clearance in the air. I was really amazed at how much ATC was very helpful and accommodating to continue on in the IFR environment with an inop transponder.
The third leg of the trip proved to be a bit more tricky as we were headed into the Tampa Class B area. We also went IFR, but Tampa wouldn't accept us without a transponder. We continued on flight following and called them up, once we got dropped, to see if they could help. The controller was clearly flustered with all the traffic coming out of Lakeland right at that time and
wasn't exactly sure where we were. After a couple of attempts, and doing some circling just outside the mode c veil, we decided to head to an airport just outside the veil and land there. Dave had the brilliant idea to tell me to try again now that we're right over this airport as maybe the controller would have a better sense of where we were. That was the trick. ATC had me to a turn to a heading to identify us, and then vectored us into Peter O Knight field under the Bravo. Kudos to ATC for all the help.
We ate a wonderful meal and had some cocktails with Bob's dad and girlfriend, who have just an absolutely beautiful condo overlooking the waters of Tampa Bay. The guest apartment downstairs was equally amazing.
The next day Bob and I played golf, while Dave drove the transponder unit down to the avionics shop to get bench tested. It was a relief to hear back from Dave that the shop found a blown internal fuse and some other frequency out of spec. Unit should now be fixed and is yellow tagged. We swung by the airport, installed the unit and quickly confirmed that all seemed well. A huge relief and one less thing to worry about for the trip back.
Thursday night we headed to dinner at the Tampa Club with Bob's dad and girlfriend. It's a very nice place on the top (42nd) floor in the city.
Lots of spectacular views of the entire city and beyond. The food and company wasn't too shabby either.
Friday was a day at the show. We were there from about 9:30 to 5pm-ish. We were able to meet up with Andy (Anymouse) and grab some lunch together. We walked around until we could walk no more, and saw most everything, including a good portion of the airshow. It was a great day.
Friday night we went off on our own to Ybor City and ate at another amazing Greek restaurant called Acropolis. It was a lively place with some live traditional Greek music. The food was excellent and plentiful.
We did some walking around afterward and took in all the sights. It's an interesting part of the city and sort of reminded me of Austin, TX, in a way, with various types of music spilling out into the streets from every bar and dance club.
Saturday we packed up and headed for home. The trip home was mostly uneventful. Good VFR weather for 3/4 of the trip, other than getting up and down through a couple layers of scattered clouds. Up into the NY/CT/and MA areas we had to stay below the clouds as the risk of icing was too high to go IFR. We were able to get back in without issue after circumnavigating around some rain showers. Visibility was endless under the clouds so it ended up not being a big deal.
It was an excellent trip with some good friends and a well needed break between jobs, which I'm sure I won't get to do again for awhile.
Trip totals:
Trip down: 9.3 hours on the hobbs
Trip back: 8.3 hours on the hobbs.
Some pics of the trip below:
