Last weekend was predominately aviation oriented...
Last Thursday, I received a call from the Civil Air Patrol squadron commander asking if I could make myself available to participate in the Florida Wing SAR EVAL (Search and Rescue Evaluation) the following day (Friday). I replied that I could not on Friday, as I had to work, but I could on Saturday. Nick called back a bit later to inform me that Wing indicated that there was a need for one aircrew from our squadron, but there was a wrinkle: we would need to be in Ormond Beach (KOMN) by 7:30 AM, and we would have to drive, as the airplane assigned to our squadron had been moved to another squadron on the other side of the state a few weeks earlier. The idea of having to drive two and a half hours to arrive at 0730 was not super appealing, but I agreed as I knew we were needed. After thinking about the situation for a bit, it occurred to me that Nick and I are both members of the flying club, so I checked ScheduleMaster and saw that the club plane was available all day and suggested to Nick that we fly the club plane down and back.
I awoke on Saturday at 4:00 AM so that I had enough time to shower and get a weather briefing before heading to the airport. I arrived at the airport at 0530 so I could have the pre-flight completed by 0600. Nick and Frank arrived about 0545, and we were wheels up by 0615. We decided that I would fly the leg down to KOMN. Nick flew right seat so that I could show him how to use the GPS and autopilot, and so he could play with the GPS some. The flight down took a little over an hour due to headwinds which allowed us to arrive at the mission staging area right on time at 0730. We got checked in and participated in the general briefing for the day. Around 1000, Nick was directed to go to mission base to receive a mission briefing. When Nick returned, we learned that we had been tasked with an ELT mission. We decided that Nick would act as mission pilot, Frank would act as mission scanner (back seat) and I would act as mission observer (right seat). The mission went really well. Long story short, we were able to acquire the target fairly quickly, pinpoint the location and then direct the UDF team's vehicle right to the target. While we were waiting for the UDF team to arrive, we also served as radio relay for a couple of other teams that were operating out of radio range of mission base. Total time in the air for us was around three hours. After going through the debrief, we enjoyed box lunches provided by CAP and then sat around for a couple more hours before being released to return home. Because Nick had flown the mission, I was elected to fly the return trip home. Since Frank had been in the back seat both for the flight down, and for the mission, Frank flew right seat on the way home. Both Frank and Nick were career airline pilots and have thousands of flying hours. I must admit, I could get spoiled having a professional pilot in the right seat when I fly somewhere. Between the little tips they offered, and the fact that every time I went to search for the next frequency to tune the radio to, they had already entered it into the standby frequency, it made flying in and out of a class D airport under class C airspace much easier.
On Sunday, I did the usual coffee thing at the airport, then attended the flying club meeting, then helped wash the club plane. For this wash, we used UltraLuster Waterless Wash. The product was brought to us by one of the club members. Even though it is sold through network marketing, something which I am very skeptical of, the product really was quite amazing. It did a great job of removing the grime and bugs without a lot of scrubbing, and provided a smooth glossy finish without any buffing. The process was as simple as pouring some product into the supplied refillable sprayer, spraying it on a small section, using a terry cloth to wipe off the dirt, waiting a few moments until a haze appeared, then using a microfiber cloth to wipe off the haze.
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Posted by David at May 19, 2009 05:02 AM | Categorized under: A day in the life, Flying