Mountain Flying

The wife and I have been on a nice and well deserved vacation for the last week. We visited some family and did some fun things on our own. I even managed to get in some flying, as I had hoped.

Before leaving Bradenton, I contacted Brandon at Knoxville Flight Training, and arranged a mountain flying lesson. It turned out to be just the ticket. Knoxville Flight Training had been recommended to me through the AOPA forums, a valuable resource from time to time. For a low-time flat lander like me, the training was very helpful. Some day I hope to be able to fly to my favorite vacation spots in the North Carolina mountains without endangering anyone (especially me).

We did about 45 minutes of ground instruction before heading out to the plane, and talked about topics like wind direction and speed over mountain ridges, updrafts and downdrafts, route planning, emergency landings and survival planning when flying over remote areas. After that it was out the plane and away we went.

My brother, Benny, went along and took the photos. Brandon did the navigating, which freed me to fly the plane and have fun. We took off from Knoxville Downtown Island Airport (DKX) and flew south to the Calderwood dam. The photo at top is downtown Knoxville. The University of Tennessee football stadium is at the top left of the photo. To the left is a photo of the dam where a scene in the movie "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford was filmed. We followed the river along the southern border of the Smokey Mountain National Park to Sylva, N.C. and the Jackson County airport (24A), where I performed my first mountain landing.

Yep, that's the airport running down the top of that ridge. We had some pretty good winds aloft that day, and were getting bounce around during the flight, but when we flew over the field, the windsock was hanging limp. The landing was uneventful, and with calm winds on the field, we taxied to far end of the runway, spun the plane around, opened the throttle for full power, leaned the engine for altitude and took off opposite of how we landed. With no wind on the field we took advantage of the topography as best we could. Brandon explained that it's not a good idea to take off uphill or into a mountain if it can be avoided. The photo below is us departing Jackson County.

As I mentioned, it was kinda bumpy at altitude. After taking off my photographer started feeling a bit sick, so the picture taking came to a quick halt. We didn't have an on board emergency, but you won't see photos of most of the rest of the trip. We flew to Franklin, N.C. and the Macon County airport (1A5) for another landing, where we got out of the plane for a few minutes. Benny took my picture with the plane in Franklin. After that it was back to Knoxville.

I did have my GPS logger with me, so I have a good track of the flight. Just click on the link and it will open, but you will need google earth installed. Brandon was great, and I would highly recommend a bit of mountain training to any Florida pilots thinking about flying into the hills.

Rain outs and practice time.

I haven't had much luck flying for the past few weeks. One practice session got rained out, and a planned trip with my wife to Sebring (SEF) for breakfast was cancelled because of thunderstorms along the route. I did get back into the air on Tuesday. Performed my stalls and slow flight for the first time in a while. The maneuvers felt strange, but everything else was good. The pattern at Whitted was busy and my landings were good, so I taxied back to the ramp happy.

Now for the fun news. We're driving to Tennessee the end of this month to visit my mother and brother. While there I though I might get in a little bit of flying, so I called the Knoxville Flight Training Center at Knoxville Downtown Island airport (DKX) to arrange things. I spoke to Brandon, who was very helpful and have schedule a mountain flying lesson during my vacation. I can't wait. We plan on flying to Jackson County (24A) and getting some landings in there. Check out this airport:

That's just too cool to pass up. Hopefully, we'll have good weather. My brother is going along and he should have some pics for the report.

Been a long time...

Sorry about not posting for some time. Usual excuse, I've been busy. March, April, May is the busy season for my business, and my wife and I are trying to sell our house and move. No need to tell me about the real estate market... At any rate, I've been flying a little, but just enough to keep the rust off.

The move is cutting into my flying budget, at least until I know where I stand. I had planned on getting a tail wheel endorsement this summer, but that may have to wait a bit. I'm flying every other week, and that seems to keep me comfortable in the left seat.

I did get in one cross country flight to Wauchula (CHN) and Avon Park (AVO). Other than that, I've just been taking friends sightseeing. It is more fun taking pax than flying alone. Who knows, I might get in a few more adventures this summer!

Cedar Key (CDK)

My wife and I took a day trip to Cedar Key, an old fishing village on the "nature" coast of west Florida. It's sort of a peaceful, tranquil, quiet, less crowded version of Key West. Most likely being located in the middle of no-where helps with that atmosphere. The place is known for good seafood, wildlife, fishing, arts, and relaxation. It's not a beach community. The coastline is saw-grass marsh in that area of Florida, hence all the wildlife. There was only one thing wrong with the trip, and that was the traffic jam we got into on the Skyway bridge getting to the airport. Otherwise, a perfect day.

Cedar Key has a paved 2355 foot runway that is orientated 5/23. I'm guessing that's usually a good orientation with the morning land breeze/afternoon sea breeze we have on this side of Florida. However, I picked a day with the wind directly out of the south. So I landed with about a 10 knot crosswind. I didn't do poorly for a guy used to airports with multiple runways. Sorry that the runway pic is not better. The sun was in front of us as we landed. There is a small apron at the west end of the runway with tie downs.

The only other airports my wife has landed at have been controlled fields. We get out of the plane and she says "Where's the airport?" I don't really understand and reply that this is it, after all didn't we just land on yonder strip of pavement? "No, I mean the terminal building." Now I get it, and while trying to suppress a huge grin I explain that not all airports have the facilities she has become accustomed to.

I called ahead and reserved a golf cart for the day. Cedar Key is made up of several small islands. The place is not too big, but you need some type of transportation to see all of it. There is a cabby on the island who monitors the CTAF and will be happy to drive you into town for a small fee. The cabby will also give you her idea of the wind conditions prior to landing. Somehow, letting the cabby select my runway seems risky. I can't find that section in the FAR, but I think pilots are supposed to make their own decisions. The golf cart worked out well. The owner drove the cart to the airport to meet us, and when we were done for the day, we left it at the airport as instructed.

After the obligatory tourist photos, Alice and I headed out on the cart to explore. Our first stop was the island's school, where I had my picture taken with the school's mascot. Yep, they're the sharks. Alice is a teacher and just loves schools. I guess if they had a car wash on the island, I would have had to take a look at that. Next it was on to the museum. Cedar Key has a history that pre-dates the Civil War, kinda rare in Florida, and the museum has historic and natural history exhibits. We skipped the trail because we were getting hungry.

We checked out some of the restaurants along the waterfront and decided on the Dockside Depot. It was not the fanciest place, but the prices were reasonable and we could sit by the water. Both Alice and I had the blackened grouper sandwich, a Florida staple. My sandwich was good with a generous portion of grouper. There's a good half dozen restaurants to choose from and I would try something different next time, just to be adventurous. We did a bit of shopping after lunch. I bought a cap, and Alice got a shirt and we found a nice water color print that now graces the foyer in our house. My wallet was a bit lighter when we flew home.

We rode around the islands looking at old houses and wildlife for a bit. This osprey has taken up residence by the airport and pelicans are all over the place.

This would be my Cedar Key dream home. Guys, you're gonna love this:

Backyard: Gulf of Mexico

Front yard: Private taxiway to the airstrip

Top Floor: Residence

Bottom Floor: Hanger

I don't need to know any more.

So much for the dream home, this is what I probably could afford:

As we departed, Alice was able to get a shot of the light house, which is accessible only by water.

I was able to log 2.5 hours of PIC cross country time. I'll try to make most of my flights cross-country so that they build toward that instrument rating. The ride home was bumpier than the trip north. I followed the coast, and I guess there was some convection working. Next time I would take life jackets and fly direct, climb more and probably have a smooth ride. My landing back at Whitted was horrible. The wind was splitting the runways, so I had another cross wind to deal with, but I was barely crabbed on approach so I thought it was no big deal. About the time I crossed the threshold I started drifting left, a lot. Left rudder, right aileron to correct. I landed straight, but I had drifted to the left half of the runway before I had it under control.