Having been a VAF reader for many years now, and only a flying airplane owner for 6 months its my turn to return the favor and hopefully provide some motivation to keep pounding rivets.
This weekend was the first trip out of phase 1 and a very successful one.
Bit of backstory first. 5 years ago I meet Becca and her and I became a blended family of sorts. She has 1 son, and I have 1 son and 1 daughter. Her son will be 20 next week, and joined the Airforce 1.5 years ago.
My daughter will be 20 in July, and now lives in Tacoma WA going to school. (where I grew up and where all my family is)
My son is just 11 and lives here in Louisville Kentucky.
Becca and I got marries in December after having been "dating" for 5 years. With only 1 child around part time, and the other 2 off starting life we have a lot of chances in the future to put this time machine to work. This weekend was the first having just completed my 40 Hours in my RV9A.
Becca's son Michael is graduating Friday from Weather school in the AF at Biloxi Mississippi. Both our schedules were free this past weekend, and the weather was looking to be perfect for a trip, stretch the airplanes wings and my own pilot wings with a long cross country.
Friday morning Becca got up and worked from home until noon, while I flight planned and quadruple checked my weather predictions. All was looking good, the plane has been flying flawless, all lights were green.
Depart KLOU (Bowman Field Louisville Kentucky) at 1pm EST. First leg is to Winchester Municipal Airport in southern Tennessee for cheap fuel $3.8X. Being this was only Becca's 3rd time in my airplane, the just over 1 hours would be a good test.
Skys were clear, not a single cloud. Winds on the other hand were a bit brisk but manageable.
1st fuel stop was a success, flew down at 6500 feet almost perfectly smooth up there. My pilot nerves were calming down, RV was flying and doing its job perfect. Quick stop for fuel and empty the human tanks and off we went again.
Next stop Ocean Springs Airport. I had called ahead to the airport manager, he was very accommodating and waiting for us to fill us up, and park us in the big hangar for the weekend. Again up high clear sailing, down low gustin got 20 kts. Luckily most was headwind. The big surprise for me was trees lined the east and south side, winds coming from the north had me landing north. First approach felt a bit long, although I could have done it a go around just felt like the right thing to do now that I had my bearings. 2nd attempt went well, once below the tree line the bumps calmed down and landing was a non event.
15 minutes later the airplane was nestled in the hangar, and we were on our way into town to get a rental car, pick up her son Michael and then much needed BBQ.
After our BBQ, dropping Michael back off at the base and checking into the hotel we had plans for the next day making a trip to NAS Pensacola Air Museum.
This weekend was the first trip out of phase 1 and a very successful one.
Bit of backstory first. 5 years ago I meet Becca and her and I became a blended family of sorts. She has 1 son, and I have 1 son and 1 daughter. Her son will be 20 next week, and joined the Airforce 1.5 years ago.
My daughter will be 20 in July, and now lives in Tacoma WA going to school. (where I grew up and where all my family is)
My son is just 11 and lives here in Louisville Kentucky.
Becca and I got marries in December after having been "dating" for 5 years. With only 1 child around part time, and the other 2 off starting life we have a lot of chances in the future to put this time machine to work. This weekend was the first having just completed my 40 Hours in my RV9A.
Becca's son Michael is graduating Friday from Weather school in the AF at Biloxi Mississippi. Both our schedules were free this past weekend, and the weather was looking to be perfect for a trip, stretch the airplanes wings and my own pilot wings with a long cross country.
Friday morning Becca got up and worked from home until noon, while I flight planned and quadruple checked my weather predictions. All was looking good, the plane has been flying flawless, all lights were green.
Depart KLOU (Bowman Field Louisville Kentucky) at 1pm EST. First leg is to Winchester Municipal Airport in southern Tennessee for cheap fuel $3.8X. Being this was only Becca's 3rd time in my airplane, the just over 1 hours would be a good test.
Skys were clear, not a single cloud. Winds on the other hand were a bit brisk but manageable.
1st fuel stop was a success, flew down at 6500 feet almost perfectly smooth up there. My pilot nerves were calming down, RV was flying and doing its job perfect. Quick stop for fuel and empty the human tanks and off we went again.
Next stop Ocean Springs Airport. I had called ahead to the airport manager, he was very accommodating and waiting for us to fill us up, and park us in the big hangar for the weekend. Again up high clear sailing, down low gustin got 20 kts. Luckily most was headwind. The big surprise for me was trees lined the east and south side, winds coming from the north had me landing north. First approach felt a bit long, although I could have done it a go around just felt like the right thing to do now that I had my bearings. 2nd attempt went well, once below the tree line the bumps calmed down and landing was a non event.
15 minutes later the airplane was nestled in the hangar, and we were on our way into town to get a rental car, pick up her son Michael and then much needed BBQ.
After our BBQ, dropping Michael back off at the base and checking into the hotel we had plans for the next day making a trip to NAS Pensacola Air Museum.
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