Potential Tropical Storm 10

Not all storms are created equal.  Sunday while Texas was getting deluged with rain, the low which would eventually become potential tropical cyclone 10 was sitting over Orlando bringing some minor showers to Florida.

Taxiing out it was grey and a bit rainy.  Once I departed I was soon in the clouds and getting bumped around a bit but I broke out on top to this.  Ahead of me was improving weather.

Weather can be strange, from below a bit violent and dark and from above beautiful.

As my flight progressed I left the storm and arrived in nice weather.  Sadly the storm in Texas has not had a happy ending.

Fly In and BBQ

I have no idea how it started but there is a tradition in aviation of holding Fly Ins.  The basic idea is that an airport invites pilots to come and eat or participate in activities.  In May we went to Knoxville for one organized around people that own Beechcraft airplanes.  As a side note, it is an all inclusive group, we welcome all types of planes, it is just sponsored and organized by a bunch of Beech pilots.

Earlier this week I received an email from the Saint Augustine Pilots Association announcing a Fly In at Cook County airport in Adel, GA.  For those not intimately familiar with small Georgia towns, it is just North of Valdosta.  Still lost, it is 111 miles bearing 299 degrees from Jacksonville.  The online information was sparse but they listed a number and after several calls I confirmed that they would have a Fly In and that there would be lots of food.  They said to invite my friends and just show up, no reservations needed.

Armed with this information I called 3 fellow pilots and 2 were available to go.  We decided to arrive at 11 for a noon lunch.  Saturday weather looked good when I awoke and we headed out for a day of flying and eating.  On the way we had a bit of excitement that I detailed yesterday but once we had picked up our stranded comrades, we flew the last 23 miles and arrived at Cook County Airport.

Going to a new place is always a bit of an adventure, you need to find it and then you never know how good the facilities will be.  The runway was listed as good condition and it was smooth but it has some grass growing in the cracks.  When we touched down we could see about 10 other planes and a group of people sitting around an open hangar.  A BBQ was going and there was a spread of food.

We fueled the plane and met up with our third pilot.  Introductions were made as I knew both pilots but they had never met.  We had a pretty good group as we had each brought a spouse or Fiance.  After fueling, the guys helped me push the plane back into a parking spot.  We then went to meet the hosts.

The event is put on by the folks at Azalea Aviation, the local shop.  I never did figure out why other than for the fun and fellowship.  That may be enough, it was for us.  They put on quite a spread and welcomed us.  We met a few local pilots, looked at some planes and ate some food.  This was a real informal event and I was not even sure how it was funded.  They had a can with a small sign saying donations for food appreciated but no one ever asked us to chip in.  We did anyway.

Lunch consisted of meats and sides.  Not pictures are the healthy fruits and pear cobbler which was extremely tasty and less healthy.  After lunch I looked at the weather and told CC and my newly adopted passengers to get there butts in the seats as we needed to go.  There was some weather building.  Our flight home was un-eventful but a fun ride.

On the way out Ground control had asked me what was up as he had a sudden rush of planes heading to 15J.  Surprisingly Jacksonville to Cook county is not a heavily traveled route.  When I told him, he said it sounded good and I offered to bring him a plate but he declined.  On the way back in I got to tease him about the BBQ he missed but maybe next time I can bring the tower some good eats.

A bit of excitement

Generally we try to limit the excitement while flying.  You want a flight to go as planned.  Yes there is the excitement of flying and seeing new sights but beyond that we discourage it.  Today we had a bit and I am happy to say it ended well.  I had heard about a fly in happening in Georgia.  That will be the subject of a different post but is how it all started.

I mentioned it to two other local pilots so we all decided to head over their in our planes.  I was the first one off with a Cirrus that lives a few hangars over a few minutes behind.  The entire flight we could here him checking in as we both progressed to lunch.  We were descending from 8000 into Cook County airport (15J)  when I heard a plane call in with engine trouble.  I missed the call sign but was suddenly alert.

Not much you can do for another plane but sometimes you can be of assistance.  The next call confirmed what I had feared, it was our friends and their engine was running rough.  Rough is not good but much better than not running.  He has a similar engine which is a 6 cylinder Continental.  Airplane engine technology is way behind cars which means they are not as efficient and have other quirks.  The good thing is that they are much more redundant.

You can have issues with one cylinder and the other 5 can keep chugging along.  He had decided to divert to Valdosta, GA (VLD) which was closer.  Once he committed we asked ATC to ask him if he wanted us to come get him, he did and ATC gave us an immediate turn towards Valdosta.

Our problem at that point is that we were too close, high and fast.  I pulled the power back, increased my descent, reprogrammed the radios and briefed for arrival.  We broke out of a scattered layer just in time to see the airport and get the visual approach.



Coming in we could see the crash trucks rolling in preparation of our friends arrival.  I was a bit concerned I would make a mistake of some sort as I was rushed and rushing in a plane is not good.  Turning final, we triple checked the gear was down and locked, plane configured and cleared to land.  We touched down and then taxied in.  I kept a radio tuned to the tower as well as ground so I could hear what was happening.

We heard him call in as we were parking and then got out to watch.  Thankfully he came in normally and was able to taxi in.  The plane sounded normal on the ground.  The fire crew came over got some information and said goodbye.

To make this all much more fun I had CC along and he had his wife along.  Once the excitement died down, we headed inside for him to work on getting the plane repaired.  He arranged for a mechanic to check it out Monday.  Luckily we happened to have 2 empty seats and they were going our way.  We packed up their stuff and off we went for some nice BBQ but that's another story.