poadeleted3
Pattern Altitude
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2005
- Messages
- 2,055
Had a really fun flight today. As some may recall from Cathy scrounging information a couple months ago, her pre-school is having aviation month this month. Even have a simulated ticket counter built in the school's lobby. As part of that, she somehow managed to persuade me to go flying and circle her school.
Took Sean with me in a rented 152 from N10 (Perkiomen Valley), first time I've been in one for a couple months. Fun planes to fly, I'd managed to forget already how light they are on the controls. Finger light, made most of the flying a breeze, except for my landing, where I overcontrolled when I caught a bit of mechanical turbulence just before landing.
Weather was so-so. I was supposed to fly out of Wings, but weather reports showed a low scattered layer in that direction, and I confirmed that with the Mark 1 eyeball on the drive there. Weather also called for rain here and there in the area, and it looked kinda yucky over toward Philly. I turned around and headed the opposite direction to Perk Valley. Glad I did, we haven't seen our friends there in too long. They accomodated me with a no notice rental request, and I got to fly 4732Q, an old friend I finished my PPL in. Winds weren't any big deal, 7-9 knots direct crosswind out at Perk Valley, as it turned out.
I'd forgotten how relatively leisurely takeoff is an a 152, waiting and waiting, and trying not to let the crosswind wiggle the plane around too much. We started getting some very light rain just after lift off, but visibility was quite good, 10 miles or so. We got rained on the whole flight, but Cathy said they weren't getting any on the ground until after we left. Weird... guess it was evaporating. I'd taken off early, so I decided today was a good time to practice some basics. Holding precise altitude, heading, etc. I limited turns to 30 degrees bank, cause Sean doesn't care for any more, so no steep turns today. Picked a point and did some really nice turns around a point, and did some general sight seeing until Cathy used a borrowed handheld to call me and tell me the kids were all outside ready for us. We cruised over the school, gave them a nice big wing waggle, then circled a couple times while the kids told Sean "HI" on the radio. Let Sean fly for a second and brag to his friends, circled a couple more times, then gave them another waggle and headed back to land. I really wasn't sure if they'd enjoy an airplane just flying in circles 1,000 feet overhead, but everytime Cathy keyed her mic I could hear them yelling in the background. I could see them in the parking lot, too, a bunch of little dots bouncing around. When I took Sean back to school, the kids were still fired up, and Sean was swarmed with his buddies. Most cool, and lots of fun. I had one little girl follow me all through the building yakking away. I told Cathy to offer her and her parents a ride. That's a future aviator if I've ever seen one
Took Sean with me in a rented 152 from N10 (Perkiomen Valley), first time I've been in one for a couple months. Fun planes to fly, I'd managed to forget already how light they are on the controls. Finger light, made most of the flying a breeze, except for my landing, where I overcontrolled when I caught a bit of mechanical turbulence just before landing.
Weather was so-so. I was supposed to fly out of Wings, but weather reports showed a low scattered layer in that direction, and I confirmed that with the Mark 1 eyeball on the drive there. Weather also called for rain here and there in the area, and it looked kinda yucky over toward Philly. I turned around and headed the opposite direction to Perk Valley. Glad I did, we haven't seen our friends there in too long. They accomodated me with a no notice rental request, and I got to fly 4732Q, an old friend I finished my PPL in. Winds weren't any big deal, 7-9 knots direct crosswind out at Perk Valley, as it turned out.
I'd forgotten how relatively leisurely takeoff is an a 152, waiting and waiting, and trying not to let the crosswind wiggle the plane around too much. We started getting some very light rain just after lift off, but visibility was quite good, 10 miles or so. We got rained on the whole flight, but Cathy said they weren't getting any on the ground until after we left. Weird... guess it was evaporating. I'd taken off early, so I decided today was a good time to practice some basics. Holding precise altitude, heading, etc. I limited turns to 30 degrees bank, cause Sean doesn't care for any more, so no steep turns today. Picked a point and did some really nice turns around a point, and did some general sight seeing until Cathy used a borrowed handheld to call me and tell me the kids were all outside ready for us. We cruised over the school, gave them a nice big wing waggle, then circled a couple times while the kids told Sean "HI" on the radio. Let Sean fly for a second and brag to his friends, circled a couple more times, then gave them another waggle and headed back to land. I really wasn't sure if they'd enjoy an airplane just flying in circles 1,000 feet overhead, but everytime Cathy keyed her mic I could hear them yelling in the background. I could see them in the parking lot, too, a bunch of little dots bouncing around. When I took Sean back to school, the kids were still fired up, and Sean was swarmed with his buddies. Most cool, and lots of fun. I had one little girl follow me all through the building yakking away. I told Cathy to offer her and her parents a ride. That's a future aviator if I've ever seen one
