Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2005
- Messages
- 6,434
- Location
- Dallas, Texas
- Display Name
- Dave Siciliano
- Home Airfield
- Addison, ADS
Had one of those trips yesterday that reminded me of why I fly.
It's difficult to put it all into words, but I'll give it a try. I flew my Son and his little Westy to Florida on the way to my Daughter's in South Carolina.
The flexibility of the departure time was great. My Son had forgotten something at home, and we just moved the departure time back for him to go get it. He sat in back with his keyboard and jammed while I flew.
The trip to Florida was uneventful. Flew out at FL190 and got a nice tail wind. Was re-routed a couple times, but nothing big except as I approached Tampa. They were very busy and directed me to an intersection I couldn't locate. It all worked out, but was a bit stressful for short awhile.
It was on the leg from Bartow, FL to Greenville, SC that a joy just came over me; a satisfaction and calmness as my Baron just performed flawlessly at FL180. Heaven knows we all have our frustrations and challenges maintaining our birds. It's flights like this where it all pays off.
I had tinkered and adjusted everything after climbing up and all was excellent! 2200 rpm, 35" of MP, 16.5 gph truing out at 215. The radio was pretty quiet; Hotlanta Approach had settled down. There was a solid layer of clouds way down below that completely covered the ground. It looked like I was over a white ocean. The clouds were a bit rippled. The winds were pretty strong but it was smooth at my altitude. The sun was setting in the west which put it out my left window. As the sun sank down to where the clouds where on the horizon, the white clouds turned pink, Mother Nature put on a wonderful display of the painted sky and the CD player switched to the next song by the Moody Blues: Kings in White Satin. For a few minutes, I just thought about what an excellent trip this had become; where else in the world I would be allowed this freedom; and how great things were.
Merry Christmas to all. I hope each of you has at least one flight as memorable to you as this one was to me.
Best,
Dave
It's difficult to put it all into words, but I'll give it a try. I flew my Son and his little Westy to Florida on the way to my Daughter's in South Carolina.
The flexibility of the departure time was great. My Son had forgotten something at home, and we just moved the departure time back for him to go get it. He sat in back with his keyboard and jammed while I flew.
The trip to Florida was uneventful. Flew out at FL190 and got a nice tail wind. Was re-routed a couple times, but nothing big except as I approached Tampa. They were very busy and directed me to an intersection I couldn't locate. It all worked out, but was a bit stressful for short awhile.
It was on the leg from Bartow, FL to Greenville, SC that a joy just came over me; a satisfaction and calmness as my Baron just performed flawlessly at FL180. Heaven knows we all have our frustrations and challenges maintaining our birds. It's flights like this where it all pays off.
I had tinkered and adjusted everything after climbing up and all was excellent! 2200 rpm, 35" of MP, 16.5 gph truing out at 215. The radio was pretty quiet; Hotlanta Approach had settled down. There was a solid layer of clouds way down below that completely covered the ground. It looked like I was over a white ocean. The clouds were a bit rippled. The winds were pretty strong but it was smooth at my altitude. The sun was setting in the west which put it out my left window. As the sun sank down to where the clouds where on the horizon, the white clouds turned pink, Mother Nature put on a wonderful display of the painted sky and the CD player switched to the next song by the Moody Blues: Kings in White Satin. For a few minutes, I just thought about what an excellent trip this had become; where else in the world I would be allowed this freedom; and how great things were.
Merry Christmas to all. I hope each of you has at least one flight as memorable to you as this one was to me.
Best,
Dave
