EdFred
Taxi to Parking
I got to start the day off at the dentist's office. I was in need of a crown on one tooth, and a filling in another. The first 4 shots of Novocain didn't numb me up real well, so I got hit with another 2. I get out of the dentist's office and check the voice mail on my phone. Two waiting. They are both from the DPE about part two of my CFI ride, asking if I can do it today (Wednesday) instead of tomorrow. I said let me check to see if the Arrow is available, and will let him know. Of course it’s a bit hard to talk correctly because the Novocain hasn't worn off. The Arrow was available in Ann Arbor until 4:30 pm, so I can get it done.
I haul butt to Hastings to get to my plane. I top it off, and head on over to Ann Arbor to pick up the Arrow. As I am getting the paperwork for the Arrow, I tell them about a slight vibration I have felt when taking off and landing, so they will check it out for me while I am off to Cadillac for my check ride. As I am leveling off in the Arrow, I notice it is really loud in the cabin. Ah great, the door didn't latch all the way. Ah screw it; it is safe to fly, and the bottom half is latched. So I plod along and finally it is really annoying, luckily Alma is less than a mile off my course, so I land, double latch the door, and take back off. I get to Cadillac and the DE isn't there yet.
Meanwhile, my dad's plane is inbound from Charlotte, NC and we are trying to figure out a way to get the seller from Hastings to Cleveland. Whether it is on a one way from Grand Rapids or Lansing, a one-way car rental, or myself flying him to Cleveland.
The DE arrives and we do a short field take off on 7 with light and variable winds, head straight east do 1 set of 8s on pylons - one of, if not the best set I've had - and come back for a short field landing. In the past all my short fields have been "hit this spot on the runway" types. This one was a bit different - cross the numbers at 50' and get it down. And that was all that needed to be done.
There was a possibility that I would head to Hastings from Cadillac, pick up the seller, go to Ann Arbor, transfer to my plane and then head to Cleveland. Well, the seller was running late, and I wouldn't have been able to get the plane back to Ann Arbor by 4:30 if I picked him up in Hastings, since his arrival was to be around 3:00. Back to Ann Arbor it is. I drop off the Arrow, find that the strut seal needed to be replaced on the right main, and that's what was probably causing the vibration. While waiting for that I run into town with the courtesy car. I am right down on the University of Michigan campus and I notice in the rear window there's a Michigan State sticker. Nice. I can't find the sub shop I was looking for so I settle on McDonald's. I get 12R out of the shop, and head back to Hastings.
I check out my dad's plane, and then get asked if I can give a ride to the seller back to Cleveland. Yeah, I guess. So, I top off my plane, and we head off to CLE. I pick up VFR flight following from Lansing Approach; get handed off to Detroit Approach (CHICAGO - PAY ATTENTION!) who clears me through the Bravo at 5500 without me even asking. I then follow the Erie lakeshore to CLE and get handed off (VFR!! - CHICAGO TAKE NOTE) to Cleveland approach. I make my radio calls just as a new CFI would, and am told to expect 24L. I get vectored out over Erie for departures, and then get clearance to land behind a Chautauqua ERJ. I thought the taxiing was going to be a mess because 6/24C is closed, some taxiways are closed, but I'm given a left on Hotel, right on Lima, left on Lima Two, and I'm at I X Jet Center at about 9pm. Well, that was easy enough. First time landing at a Bravo, that's pretty easy.
I X Jet center has at least (I only saw) two large flat screen plasma TVs, a bunch of leather couches, and the sweetest reclining chairs I have ever sat in. It was like laying back in a leather hammock. I dropped off my passenger, relaxed for a bit in the chair, and then headed back out to the ramp. I asked the extremely nice lady at the desk how much I owed, and she quietly smiled and said, "You weren't here long enough to worry about it, you're all set." As Wayne Campbell would say - "Excellent."
Great, how many freaking frequencies are there for this place? 4 tower frequencies, two ground frequencies, ATIS arrival, ATIS departure, and a handful of approach and departure, clearance delivery, pre-taxi (whatever the heck that is) and yeah, a lot of them. So I call up clearance delivery, and it was like talking to a briefer from FSS - very informal. I give him a waypoint of PCW just so he can get me in the system like I was an IFR flight - and I verify I'm on point seven for ground. Ground gives me instructions to leave like I arrived, and turns me over to tower after I cross Kilo on Lima. Tower asks what I need for runway length, and I tell him not much, 2500 will be plenty. I am cleared for departure on 24L at Romeo, and am given take off clearance before I am even able to hold short at 24L. Excellent.
"12Romeo, I am not picking up your transponder - you should be squawking 4433."
"Clearance gave me 4633, squawking 4433."
"Ok, I've got you tagged, climb 4500, turn right 270, contact departure and have a great night."
Uneventful from there, I'm given a resume own navigation while still in the class B and I head off for home along the southern shore of Erie. Toledo approach takes the hand off, gives me a new squawk, and then cuts me loose as I head off towards 9D9. I call up Lansing approach when I was 10 SE of JXN, not because I wanted flight following however, that was really my secondary reason for calling them up.
"Lansing Approach Cherokee 2212R, 10 southeast Jackson, 4500, would like VFR flight following to Hastings and the score of the Tigers game if you have it."
"WILCO! Radar contact, squawk 4630."
Turns out the game was cancelled at that point, and him and I have a conversation about me not having to rush to get home to catch the bottom of the ninth, he laughs, and then comes back a few minutes later stating that he called FSS for me, and found out the game was possibly going to be played, and that I could get home and watch the whole thing. I inform him that I have to work at 8 and am not going to stay up and watch it. He laughs and after a few more minutes, I tell him I have Hastings in sight, and will terminate services. He says good night and go Tigers. I say thank you and fly a 15-mile final to 30. I finally got home around midnight.
Over 800 miles in PA28s, a new certificate, a new plane in the family, first time landing at a Bravo. And I am still beat yet today.
I haul butt to Hastings to get to my plane. I top it off, and head on over to Ann Arbor to pick up the Arrow. As I am getting the paperwork for the Arrow, I tell them about a slight vibration I have felt when taking off and landing, so they will check it out for me while I am off to Cadillac for my check ride. As I am leveling off in the Arrow, I notice it is really loud in the cabin. Ah great, the door didn't latch all the way. Ah screw it; it is safe to fly, and the bottom half is latched. So I plod along and finally it is really annoying, luckily Alma is less than a mile off my course, so I land, double latch the door, and take back off. I get to Cadillac and the DE isn't there yet.
Meanwhile, my dad's plane is inbound from Charlotte, NC and we are trying to figure out a way to get the seller from Hastings to Cleveland. Whether it is on a one way from Grand Rapids or Lansing, a one-way car rental, or myself flying him to Cleveland.
The DE arrives and we do a short field take off on 7 with light and variable winds, head straight east do 1 set of 8s on pylons - one of, if not the best set I've had - and come back for a short field landing. In the past all my short fields have been "hit this spot on the runway" types. This one was a bit different - cross the numbers at 50' and get it down. And that was all that needed to be done.
There was a possibility that I would head to Hastings from Cadillac, pick up the seller, go to Ann Arbor, transfer to my plane and then head to Cleveland. Well, the seller was running late, and I wouldn't have been able to get the plane back to Ann Arbor by 4:30 if I picked him up in Hastings, since his arrival was to be around 3:00. Back to Ann Arbor it is. I drop off the Arrow, find that the strut seal needed to be replaced on the right main, and that's what was probably causing the vibration. While waiting for that I run into town with the courtesy car. I am right down on the University of Michigan campus and I notice in the rear window there's a Michigan State sticker. Nice. I can't find the sub shop I was looking for so I settle on McDonald's. I get 12R out of the shop, and head back to Hastings.
I check out my dad's plane, and then get asked if I can give a ride to the seller back to Cleveland. Yeah, I guess. So, I top off my plane, and we head off to CLE. I pick up VFR flight following from Lansing Approach; get handed off to Detroit Approach (CHICAGO - PAY ATTENTION!) who clears me through the Bravo at 5500 without me even asking. I then follow the Erie lakeshore to CLE and get handed off (VFR!! - CHICAGO TAKE NOTE) to Cleveland approach. I make my radio calls just as a new CFI would, and am told to expect 24L. I get vectored out over Erie for departures, and then get clearance to land behind a Chautauqua ERJ. I thought the taxiing was going to be a mess because 6/24C is closed, some taxiways are closed, but I'm given a left on Hotel, right on Lima, left on Lima Two, and I'm at I X Jet Center at about 9pm. Well, that was easy enough. First time landing at a Bravo, that's pretty easy.
I X Jet center has at least (I only saw) two large flat screen plasma TVs, a bunch of leather couches, and the sweetest reclining chairs I have ever sat in. It was like laying back in a leather hammock. I dropped off my passenger, relaxed for a bit in the chair, and then headed back out to the ramp. I asked the extremely nice lady at the desk how much I owed, and she quietly smiled and said, "You weren't here long enough to worry about it, you're all set." As Wayne Campbell would say - "Excellent."
Great, how many freaking frequencies are there for this place? 4 tower frequencies, two ground frequencies, ATIS arrival, ATIS departure, and a handful of approach and departure, clearance delivery, pre-taxi (whatever the heck that is) and yeah, a lot of them. So I call up clearance delivery, and it was like talking to a briefer from FSS - very informal. I give him a waypoint of PCW just so he can get me in the system like I was an IFR flight - and I verify I'm on point seven for ground. Ground gives me instructions to leave like I arrived, and turns me over to tower after I cross Kilo on Lima. Tower asks what I need for runway length, and I tell him not much, 2500 will be plenty. I am cleared for departure on 24L at Romeo, and am given take off clearance before I am even able to hold short at 24L. Excellent.
"12Romeo, I am not picking up your transponder - you should be squawking 4433."
"Clearance gave me 4633, squawking 4433."
"Ok, I've got you tagged, climb 4500, turn right 270, contact departure and have a great night."
Uneventful from there, I'm given a resume own navigation while still in the class B and I head off for home along the southern shore of Erie. Toledo approach takes the hand off, gives me a new squawk, and then cuts me loose as I head off towards 9D9. I call up Lansing approach when I was 10 SE of JXN, not because I wanted flight following however, that was really my secondary reason for calling them up.
"Lansing Approach Cherokee 2212R, 10 southeast Jackson, 4500, would like VFR flight following to Hastings and the score of the Tigers game if you have it."
"WILCO! Radar contact, squawk 4630."
Turns out the game was cancelled at that point, and him and I have a conversation about me not having to rush to get home to catch the bottom of the ninth, he laughs, and then comes back a few minutes later stating that he called FSS for me, and found out the game was possibly going to be played, and that I could get home and watch the whole thing. I inform him that I have to work at 8 and am not going to stay up and watch it. He laughs and after a few more minutes, I tell him I have Hastings in sight, and will terminate services. He says good night and go Tigers. I say thank you and fly a 15-mile final to 30. I finally got home around midnight.
Over 800 miles in PA28s, a new certificate, a new plane in the family, first time landing at a Bravo. And I am still beat yet today.
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<Jk>
Man, I think I would be blubbering and talking to myself after a day like that.
