8/1/08: Charlotte, NC
Dear Facebook. You suck. Please stop resizing my pictures to 10x5. If I wanted tiny blurry pictures where all of the interesting details are squished into a single pixel, I would have taken them that way.
Therefore my near-flawless record of keeping this journal read-only must come to an end. *sigh*
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So, Charlotte. It was awesome. Everything went perfectly, without even the slightest mistake.
What? It's August 1st, not July 25th? The radio died as I was starting my takeoff roll, and my trip consisted of less than 1000' of runway 23L? Oh, right.
After much frustration and too many delays, I finally made it this weekend. The trip down went well for once, departed RDU around 6:00, turned on the autopilot and enjoyed the view all the way to Monroe Regional (KEQY). An hour later, for the first time, I manage to avoid bouncing the airplane in front of an audience.
AIRPORT COUNT = 1
First item on the agenda: take David up for a ride. Note: he may have better style, but I'm the one with the $250,000 airplane.
Sadly we don't get to test the "flying is easy" theory too much. David gets to fly a bit, but between the radio towers and the controlled airspace for KCLT overhead, there just isn't much room.
We fly over UNC Charlotte, his old university:
We land at Concord Regional (KJQF), about 5 miles from UNC-C campus, to reset the GPS/radio for the trip into KCLT without having to worry about dodging towers.
AIRPORT COUNT = 2
Since downtown Charlotte is in the controlled airspace for the (very busy) Charlotte airport, the only way we're going to get the sightseeing trip David wants is by landing at KCLT. Which is fine, because we'll be meeting his sister downtown for dinner. On the way in, we get some nice pictures of the city with the sunset in the background.
Sadly I was too busy landing the airplane to get my photographer to take a picture of the line of airliners waiting to take off. And by "line", I mean about 5-10 of them waiting for me to land, burning away all their profits in extra fuel. I guess this means I'm the reason your airline tickets are so expensive.
AIRPORT COUNT = 3
Dinner at an Irish pub downtown is surprisingly good. Not really $700 worth of good, but how often do you get to be the designated pilot for your group?
We departed KCLT around 11:30 (it's a lot less busy that late!), landing back in KEQY 15 minutes later. It was an amazingly beautiful 15 minutes, no clouds, no wind, just the city lights below us, but sadly the pictures would just be a solid black blur. Please donate to the "buy Jonathan a professional-quality camera" fund.
AIRPORT COUNT = 3 (BUT +1 NIGHT LANDING)
One night of geekish stuff later, it's time to head back home. Weather along my route is nice and clear, but there's a threatening-looking blob of green on the weather radar, along the VA/NC border. Not a problem, it shouldn't arrive until long after I'm on the ground in Raleigh. Famous last words.
I dodge one isolated thunderstorm about halfway there. It's a pretty small one, so it's easy to dodge, and I just get bounced around a bit. The storm, about 10-15 miles away:
Picture yourself in a boat on a river...
Ok, so pretty landscape, but by now the weather radar in the plane is showing that evil green blob advancing quickly on RDU. But it looks like I can make it, they're still to the north, and I'm only about about 20 minutes from landing at this point.
Wait.
Famous last words: "it looks like I can make it."
Change of plans. Divert to Sanford (KTTA), getting bounced around the whole way there, and spend an hour or so watching the pretty storm clouds from a nice safe distance.
AIRPORT COUNT = 4
The trip home is just an anti-climax. Calm, clear skies, and fingertip-flying on a nice short trip back to RDU.
AIRPORT COUNT = 5
Total for today: six landings at five airports, a couple good scares, a very happy passenger, and my bank account is $700 lighter.
Therefore my near-flawless record of keeping this journal read-only must come to an end. *sigh*
====================================================
So, Charlotte. It was awesome. Everything went perfectly, without even the slightest mistake.
What? It's August 1st, not July 25th? The radio died as I was starting my takeoff roll, and my trip consisted of less than 1000' of runway 23L? Oh, right.
After much frustration and too many delays, I finally made it this weekend. The trip down went well for once, departed RDU around 6:00, turned on the autopilot and enjoyed the view all the way to Monroe Regional (KEQY). An hour later, for the first time, I manage to avoid bouncing the airplane in front of an audience.
AIRPORT COUNT = 1
First item on the agenda: take David up for a ride. Note: he may have better style, but I'm the one with the $250,000 airplane.
Sadly we don't get to test the "flying is easy" theory too much. David gets to fly a bit, but between the radio towers and the controlled airspace for KCLT overhead, there just isn't much room.
We fly over UNC Charlotte, his old university:
We land at Concord Regional (KJQF), about 5 miles from UNC-C campus, to reset the GPS/radio for the trip into KCLT without having to worry about dodging towers.
AIRPORT COUNT = 2
Since downtown Charlotte is in the controlled airspace for the (very busy) Charlotte airport, the only way we're going to get the sightseeing trip David wants is by landing at KCLT. Which is fine, because we'll be meeting his sister downtown for dinner. On the way in, we get some nice pictures of the city with the sunset in the background.
Sadly I was too busy landing the airplane to get my photographer to take a picture of the line of airliners waiting to take off. And by "line", I mean about 5-10 of them waiting for me to land, burning away all their profits in extra fuel. I guess this means I'm the reason your airline tickets are so expensive.
AIRPORT COUNT = 3
Dinner at an Irish pub downtown is surprisingly good. Not really $700 worth of good, but how often do you get to be the designated pilot for your group?
We departed KCLT around 11:30 (it's a lot less busy that late!), landing back in KEQY 15 minutes later. It was an amazingly beautiful 15 minutes, no clouds, no wind, just the city lights below us, but sadly the pictures would just be a solid black blur. Please donate to the "buy Jonathan a professional-quality camera" fund.
AIRPORT COUNT = 3 (BUT +1 NIGHT LANDING)
One night of geekish stuff later, it's time to head back home. Weather along my route is nice and clear, but there's a threatening-looking blob of green on the weather radar, along the VA/NC border. Not a problem, it shouldn't arrive until long after I'm on the ground in Raleigh. Famous last words.
I dodge one isolated thunderstorm about halfway there. It's a pretty small one, so it's easy to dodge, and I just get bounced around a bit. The storm, about 10-15 miles away:
Picture yourself in a boat on a river...
Ok, so pretty landscape, but by now the weather radar in the plane is showing that evil green blob advancing quickly on RDU. But it looks like I can make it, they're still to the north, and I'm only about about 20 minutes from landing at this point.
Wait.
Famous last words: "it looks like I can make it."
Change of plans. Divert to Sanford (KTTA), getting bounced around the whole way there, and spend an hour or so watching the pretty storm clouds from a nice safe distance.
AIRPORT COUNT = 4
The trip home is just an anti-climax. Calm, clear skies, and fingertip-flying on a nice short trip back to RDU.
AIRPORT COUNT = 5
Total for today: six landings at five airports, a couple good scares, a very happy passenger, and my bank account is $700 lighter.