Thursday, January 14, 2010

7N8

There was no weather! Miraculous! After weeks of cold, blustery, wind swept winter days with cold front following cold front, today there was no weather. The temperature must have reached the high 40s with virtually no wind. One high over Maine, another over North Carolina left Pennsylvania VFR. Time to go out to the airport.

Another first, with her busy schedule actually clear for the afternoon, my wife was able to come with me for her first flight in the Cirrus. That raised the stress factor a bit as I was very excited to show off this wondrous airplane. She is prone to motion sickness, so for her to get near an airplane takes courage...and flying with me, well she is one special lady.


I took my time with all the ground procedures and let her see what I was doing as I explained the "why" behind each task. Start up was a bit long as I didn't want to flood the engine. I was stingy with the primer and fuel pump, anticipating a warm start. Once I primed her a bit she jumped to life. Taxi and run up were normal. The first attempt at take off was aborted (wind noise - door not latched properly). That gave us a bit more time to get comfortable and enjoy the other aircraft using the field. The second attempt went well.


Butter Valley is within 3 miles of our house, but the tiny field won't support a Cirrus. I could land but would not get off again.(Runway 34 1535 x 24 asphalt, remainder turf). We headed in that direction for some sight seeing and a low approach. Along the way I proudly demonstrated the avionics and pointed out familiar landmarks. We finished up with obligatory fly by the house and headed back to Wings.

Mission accomplished. We had fun. Hopefully this will lead to some more significant adventures when the winter weather subsides.



Sr20
Time = 1.1 hours