There I was innocently sitting in our monthly squadron meeting...
When the commander announced that our squadron's assigned airplane would be gone next week, having been volunteered to sit at Sun 'n Fun as one of two CAP aircraft on static display. The plan was that the squadron would wash and wax the plane tomorrow, and then someone from the squadron would fly it down to Lakeland on Monday. Because another squadron would be providing a lift back to the pilot, and the "lift" aircraft would already have two occupants, the pilot flying our aircraft down would have to fly into Sun 'n Fun alone. From what I had read about flying into Sun 'n Fun, this was not a mission for the faint of heart, nor one who hadn't flown in before. So, I resigned myself to not flying for the next week or so - at least not in the CAP aircraft.
Well, for better or worse, I ended up hanging around for a few minutes after the meeting ended. During this time, the commander got a call requesting that the aircraft be delivered to KLAL today. Guess who got nominated to fly the mission? Far be it from me to turn down some free flying... I checked the weather, and while it wasn't CAVU, it was VFR, as long as I didn't tarry, and didn't wander too far west too soon after take-off. The forecast called for broken clouds, so I figured I would be able to get on top. As usual, I requested, and received, VFR traffic advisories (flight following) from ATC - thank goodness I did!
Long story short, the entire trip was flown at 2,200 feet, bumpity bump, with prodigious amounts of vectoring by ATC to keep me away from thunderstorms and heavy precipitation. Even though Lakeland is in central Florida, I ended up flying almost to the west coast of Florida before being able to head back to the southeast to get to KLAL.
The flight included a number of firsts for me - the aforementioned vectoring around weather, my first glimpse of lightning while piloting an aircraft, my first flight through rain (very brief and in case you are wondering, it is legal for a VFR pilot to fly through rain - as long as visibility and cloud clearance minimums are maintained), transit through Class Bravo airspace, and seeing people under canopy while flying an airplane. The controller was nice enough to point these out to me at my 9 o'clock - I don't think he realized what a kick it was for me. Nor did he probably realize what a kick it was for me to see Zephyrhills again from the air - even if it was while sitting in an airplane rather than in freefall or under canopy.
My landing at Lakeland wasn't bad - especially considering the brisk crosswind.
Even though the airplane that was supposed to ferry me home was supposed to be waiting on me, it didn't arrive until almost 5:00 pm. Unfortunately, by the time it arrived, a solid line of thunderstorms had formed between us and home. We ended up only being able to make it as far as Ormond Beach - the home of the two other CAP members. The aircraft was one of CAP's new G1000 Cessna 182's. It was so cool to watch the XM WX Satellite Weather™ high resolution weather in real time.
Since I wasn't keen on the idea of spending the night in a hotel, I ended up renting a car and driving the two and a half hours home. One of the members was nice enough to drive me to Daytona to rent the car. I must admit, given the brutal rain that I had to drive through for part of the trip home, I sure was glad that I was in a car rather than in a small aircraft.
I can't end the post without noting how great Flight Service and Air Traffic Control were today. I know the FAA is taking a lot of heat lately, but I couldn't have asked for a more thorough weather briefing, nor better service from ATC.
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Posted by David at April 05, 2008 10:55 PM