Michael
Pattern Altitude
Thought we could all share our experiences here.
My year in review:
January: I bought my Mooney. Insurance requirements had me flying with an instructor again. Had to do 10 dual, then 10 solo. Thise seemed to take forever because i had so many friends who wanted to go for a ride, and I really wanted to show off my new plane. All in all the 20 hours took me about 2 and a half weeks.
Febuary: Flew out to Lancaster and met Diana. This was her first mooney ride, and i was still a newbie mooney driver. The plan was to goto PRB and meet Richard. Although we never made it because of weather, we did meet some interesting folks at Buttonwillow, and Bakersfield. I learned a few new things about scud running, weather, and RC Planes.
March: I met my Girlfriend April. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful woman. she loves to fly and even more, tollerates my enthusiasim for flying. On our first date i took her flying .
April: My first flight into LA Airspace with the mooney. Went to Long Beach, CA to pick up my Daughter for her spring break. She thought it would be cool to tell her friends she was traveling to Lake havasu for spring break in a private charterd plane.
May: April and I took a few trips together. Our first biggie was to Santa Maria. Her first look at Californias central coast. A week later we headed upto Salt Lake City to meet up with a good friend of mine. Both trips were great.
June: Gastons. What a flight. Mark flew down to meet me and fly to gastons with me. I picked him up in Vegas, and the fun journey began. The plan was to fly direct to ABQ and pick up Nick. Although we ran into weather, that pushed us as far south as phoenix, then back north to Showlow. We decided we had enough of zigzaggin Arizona, and called it a day at Showlow. The next morning at 6am we were off and on our way again. An hour later, we made it to ABQ where we picked up Nick and proceeded to Gastons. Nick flew most of the way, and Mark and I constantly harrassed him about any small deviations in altitude or heading. Poor Nick, he was a good sport though. We Landed in Arkansas in the afternoon, dripping sweat from that insane humidity. Had a blast that weekend, Met too many great people to mention here. Sunday morning, and it was time to head back. The day didnt start off well, on my takeoff roll out of Gastons, I managed to miss the trees, but it wasnt pretty. The visibillity was just barley VFR. and not the kind of VFR i am used to. We headed back to JEF to drop mark off. however, the trip to JEF proved to be hairy. The visibillity was so bad, i ended up on instruments and after landing, decided i would leave my plane and fly home commercial. A week Later i went back to JEF and retrived my baby
July: Again, I took April up to central californias coast. We ended up in Monterey where she swears she sawa famous football player get into a jet. (that same jet aborted their takeoff roll) Nice day walking the fishermans warf.
Aug: Another trip out to Long Beach to pick my Daughter up for another week with dad. That airport is CRAZY.
September: Diana was out in Lancaster again, so we decided to give it another try at meeting richard. This time we made it. We picked up Richard, then flew north to meet up with AirBaker. Had lunch and then headed back. When we landed in paso Robles, Richard showed us his beautiful warbird, and gave Diana and me some great parting gifts! Thanks Rich! (I love that wall chart)
October: My first trip to Mexico. Almost got thrown in a mexican jail, but had a blast.
Most memorable flight to goodyear airport in phoenix to drop off a friends daughter. This was a very dark night flight accorss the mountanous terrain of central Arizona. I did learn how hard it is to judge clouds at night.
November: A series of small hops to Bullhead. no long XCs here.
December: I got to meet Elizebeth in Vegas. She was a super nice person. We flew around lake mead for an hour then headed back to New York New York for drinks. Another friend of mine was in vegas, and we met up, and proceeded to dance the night away at a local club.
All in All a great year for flying. I look forward to new ratings in 2006 as well as meeting all of you again at Gastons. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
My year in review:
January: I bought my Mooney. Insurance requirements had me flying with an instructor again. Had to do 10 dual, then 10 solo. Thise seemed to take forever because i had so many friends who wanted to go for a ride, and I really wanted to show off my new plane. All in all the 20 hours took me about 2 and a half weeks.
Febuary: Flew out to Lancaster and met Diana. This was her first mooney ride, and i was still a newbie mooney driver. The plan was to goto PRB and meet Richard. Although we never made it because of weather, we did meet some interesting folks at Buttonwillow, and Bakersfield. I learned a few new things about scud running, weather, and RC Planes.
March: I met my Girlfriend April. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful woman. she loves to fly and even more, tollerates my enthusiasim for flying. On our first date i took her flying .
April: My first flight into LA Airspace with the mooney. Went to Long Beach, CA to pick up my Daughter for her spring break. She thought it would be cool to tell her friends she was traveling to Lake havasu for spring break in a private charterd plane.
May: April and I took a few trips together. Our first biggie was to Santa Maria. Her first look at Californias central coast. A week later we headed upto Salt Lake City to meet up with a good friend of mine. Both trips were great.
June: Gastons. What a flight. Mark flew down to meet me and fly to gastons with me. I picked him up in Vegas, and the fun journey began. The plan was to fly direct to ABQ and pick up Nick. Although we ran into weather, that pushed us as far south as phoenix, then back north to Showlow. We decided we had enough of zigzaggin Arizona, and called it a day at Showlow. The next morning at 6am we were off and on our way again. An hour later, we made it to ABQ where we picked up Nick and proceeded to Gastons. Nick flew most of the way, and Mark and I constantly harrassed him about any small deviations in altitude or heading. Poor Nick, he was a good sport though. We Landed in Arkansas in the afternoon, dripping sweat from that insane humidity. Had a blast that weekend, Met too many great people to mention here. Sunday morning, and it was time to head back. The day didnt start off well, on my takeoff roll out of Gastons, I managed to miss the trees, but it wasnt pretty. The visibillity was just barley VFR. and not the kind of VFR i am used to. We headed back to JEF to drop mark off. however, the trip to JEF proved to be hairy. The visibillity was so bad, i ended up on instruments and after landing, decided i would leave my plane and fly home commercial. A week Later i went back to JEF and retrived my baby
July: Again, I took April up to central californias coast. We ended up in Monterey where she swears she sawa famous football player get into a jet. (that same jet aborted their takeoff roll) Nice day walking the fishermans warf.
Aug: Another trip out to Long Beach to pick my Daughter up for another week with dad. That airport is CRAZY.
September: Diana was out in Lancaster again, so we decided to give it another try at meeting richard. This time we made it. We picked up Richard, then flew north to meet up with AirBaker. Had lunch and then headed back. When we landed in paso Robles, Richard showed us his beautiful warbird, and gave Diana and me some great parting gifts! Thanks Rich! (I love that wall chart)
October: My first trip to Mexico. Almost got thrown in a mexican jail, but had a blast.
Most memorable flight to goodyear airport in phoenix to drop off a friends daughter. This was a very dark night flight accorss the mountanous terrain of central Arizona. I did learn how hard it is to judge clouds at night.
November: A series of small hops to Bullhead. no long XCs here.
December: I got to meet Elizebeth in Vegas. She was a super nice person. We flew around lake mead for an hour then headed back to New York New York for drinks. Another friend of mine was in vegas, and we met up, and proceeded to dance the night away at a local club.
All in All a great year for flying. I look forward to new ratings in 2006 as well as meeting all of you again at Gastons. HAPPY NEW YEAR!