AOPA Article

The article on the little Cherokee is out!  Seen in this month's issue of AOPA Flight Magazine.

First Long XC to Darlington SC

Hey guys,
Sorry for the delay it's been so brutally hot here for the last month that flying is just miserable. Today however we braved the heat and decided to take the little Cherokee for her first long cross country.
There were a few showers in the area and I wasn't really keen on flying through rain so practiced a little storm avoidance. Aside from a pretty good 17kt cross wind at our destination it was an uneventful flight. The little plane is doing great and did just fine today zipping around.
In total we flew right at 115nm which is the longest (in one sitting) that we've flown so far. The next goal is to take her on a first trip. Thinking I might take it to the beach for the day here coming up soon.

Engine out procedures

Finally, a weekend where I do not have a million things going on and can fly.  The weather cooperated however it was incredibly hot and as you can see from the start the video below take off and climb was sluggish.  Today's DA was 3180 so not a lot of power today in the climb out.

I wanted to do some power off simulations so I can see first hand the glide characteristics of the plane.  The book said that it's best glide speed is 79mph and it certainly seems to have held true.

The first power off 180 was so/so but the second one was a real belly flop, but I guess in an emergency it's nice to know you can get it down if needed.

AOPA Article Video Shoot

Wow what a crazy two days....the AOPA came down and did a full photo and video shoot in addition to a follow up interview.  I can't wait to see the article (it's scheduled for September issue of AOPA Flight Magazine)

On Tuesday I got to the airport very early to take some morning drone footage while the airport was nice and quiet.  We ended up shooting videos for almost 3 hours, it's so interesting to see how all of that comes together to produce a small piece on the internet.  I can't wait to see the finished product.

On Wednesday the other members of the AOPA came in from Maryland to do follow up interviews and to shoot some one on one video interviews.  I can't wait to see how that turns out, we ended up recording almost 3 hours of video and spent another hour taking pictures.

Here are just a few of the RAW video from the shoot.  These videos have no edits but still really cool shots...

iFly 740

It's pretty evident that most of the avionics in the plane are pretty dated.  A few months back I was able to pick up a gently used iFly 700 unit for the plane.  While having an iPad is great, I still wanted something that was geared specifically for aviation without fear of an arbitrary update rendering the app useless.

While an older unit the iFly 700 worked great and I was able to use it on a few flights, as seen in a few of my videos.  Well, fortunately the guys over at Adventure Pilot also follow the blog and sent me a note asking if I would like to upgrade my 700 to a brand new 740 unit!

Well the new 740 arrived today and what a difference!  The WIFI updating is very nice and it will even connect to the stratux ADS-B unit.  I like the idea of the backup battery being able to power the unit in the event the plane power goes out, and I'm really stoked for the ability to have an "augmented" instrument panel which can serve as backup to my steam gauges.

I cannot wait to try this new unit out!

Visit to KCLT

Hey guys,
The weather has been bunk lately so not much flying, but if you've been following along on the blog I've updated a few videos of our recent flights.
I wanted to drop send a quick update and let you guys know that we are currently planning our first "real" trip in the plane, just as soon as schedules and weather allow. The planned route is KEQY -> KFLO -> KMYR

The reason for this is that I really need more exposure to controlled airspaces. I want to get more familiar with them particularly as I begin to venture outside of my 'home turf'. One of my buddies who is also a CFI and majors Pilot has started working with me on this and you can see him in the last video as we took a late evening flight. He's really pushing me (in a good way) to really expand on my flying and get more comfortable with not only the plane but experiencing new things...such as flying in late evening (dusk) and getting controlled work. As such he organized a tour of the KCLT tower for me and a few friends from Monroe.

While I know it's not really cherokee related but I thought you guys might want to take a peek at what the guys on the other end of the radio see...

This is the actual radar station that the controllers use. They have many of these stations and this one was tuned to Monroe. I was able to apologize in person to the guy I get flight following from to go 20nm in my 85mph airplane. LOL (KEQY->KUZA) I was finally able to visualize what the systems do when they hand you off between the different airspaces.

I'm sure there are some controllers reading this and I'm sure they can expand on what I saw or fill in the details that I got wrong but it was a great experience and I am truly grateful for the chance to visit. I was able to ask and get answers on several questions I had about flying in and around Charlotte, and it has helped ease some of my fears of speaking on the radio in controlled airspaces or wondering what I could and could not do...

Here is what the supervisor sees he will see all planes heading towards the airport (in this case KCLT) and can pull up any radar and any 'screen' he needs to fit all the guys in.

Late evening flight

I went to the airport last Friday not planning to go fly but it was such a beautiful day.  After some prodding from a friend we decided to take the plane up for a quick stroll around town.  However once we got in the air it was so smooth and clear we decided to head over to Anson county (KAFP) for a quick touch and go.

This video is a little longer than my other ones just because it was a nice view, particularly on the return trip to KEQY.

We have begun planning for our first "long trip" right now we are planning to fly to Florence (KFLO) and to Myrtle Beach (KMYR)

Flight to KCQW

No real agenda other than poking holes in the sky.  Took a short flight down to Cheraw (KCQW) Did however get in some gnary direct crosswind landings.  The winds in Cheraw were blowing directly xwind at 16-18 kts.

First Fly-In!

Ok guys, here is a monster update for today. I got to take the Cherokee out on her first fly-in today to the Rock Hill Airport (KUZA) for the South Carolina Breakfast Club. A co-worker of mine came along with me over to Rock Hill and to experience his first SC Breakfast Club!

The weather was severe clear today and I knew that the crowd would be large so I decided to depart no later than 7:30am to beat the rush. It was a very short 19 minute flight over to Rock Hill clipping along at a crisp 110mph smooth as glass.

We were the first one to arrive at the fly-in but that lasted no time as before we had even taxied to parking people started arriving.

I lost count with how many airplanes ended up showing up but I took an absolute TON of pictures.
The plane did great and we had a great time!

Video from today:

Here is a huge picture album from today over 144 pictures...

https://goo.gl/photos/PTWtreDmBGbAo1Ku7

KEQY to KPYG

Just a small update today but still an important one. Took a quick trip from Monroe to Pageland. What makes this important is Pageland is a much smaller runway and airport than Monroe. Still plenty of room for the little Cherokee, but still got to perform a short field departure.
Most importantly today was the first day we reached out to CLT approach to verify the xponder. I was able to talk to CLT approach and not only did they immediately pick me up with no issue but the altitude was reading perfectly.

Finally today was my first flight with my 'new to me' iFly 700 as a backup to my iPad. It's a nice unit and I really enjoyed having it in instrument mode so I could get the heading indicator in a heads up view. It was really handy to have and easy to read in the full sun.

Here is the video if you would like to see how she handles on a much shorter runway. Please note how it leaps off the ground on that short field.

KEQY to KUZA

The little cherokee is still humming right along, we flew her for the first time this weekend from EQY to UZA, even tho that trip isn't very far it's the first time we've had it over populated areas and skirting the class B of Charlotte. 

It was really cool to see big heavy jets passing over top of us as we made our way under the shelf between the areas and following the river to Rock Hill and back.

This is all in preparation for taking the plane for it's first fly-in post restoration on April 17th, which will be held in Rock Hill (UZA). We will be there for the SC Breakfast Club http://www.flyscbc.com/

If any of you guys are based out of Rock Hill or will be attending the fly-in be sure to say hello!

First Flight Away from Airport

Finally! After months of preparing we took the little Cherokee out of the immediate area for the first time in 10 years.

This was just a small 20nm trip from KEQY to KLKR, I'm pleased to say that the plane did very well and we had no issues.  In fact on the return trip I even got to practice my ILS approach and landing.

Pretty Breezy Sunday

Pretty breezy Sunday for some landings.  Winds were 10kt gusting to 19 straight down the runway.  Made for very bumpy take offs and landings.  Good rudder work practice as the plane would get tossed around the closer to the ground you got.

Alot of fun and so glad to finally get back into the air after several weeks of really crappy weather.