Flight Log 28-Apr-10a

I plan on going back to 3 airports I have been to before and getting some new pictures.

Weather Brief

I haven't flown since 04/11 due to weather and schedules and this weekend is forecast to be rainy again so I decided to take off on Wednesday afternoon and go flying.

In checking the schedule, I saw Paul was booked and Jenny only had a 5 hour block available. I couldn't get there at the beginning of that so we would only have 4 hours.

Rather than going somewhere new, I figured we could just go and get some new pictures of airports I have been to before.

I did all my flight planning including alternates if the Lindburg A or B or Salem Military Operations Area (MOA)s were active. I didn't want to fly through them if they were.

President Obama was planning on visiting Macon, MO and Quincy, IL. As a result, the Secret Service and the FAA established Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) along his route. This conflicted with mine.

Since violating a Presidental TFR can result in Civil Money Penalties, Loss of Pilot Certificate and even deadly force, I decided to stay away.

I dropped my plan for going to Bowling Green and planned on just Camdenton and Piedmont.

My next problem was when Jenny called and told me there was a mix up and N6329T was not available. This is the Turbo Charged Cessna 182T I had scheduled. I said that was fine and she told me N2173E was available, they just had to put the prop back on.

73Echo is also a Cessna 182T, just not turbo charged. The difference is about 10-15 knots/hour.

Jenny said Jason was working on putting the prop on and we should be fine. I told her we needed a prop, otherwise the plane was a glider.

I called Flight Service and got my VFR Flight Briefing at 11:15, everything looked good. There were some scattered clouds around 5,000 feet, but that just meant we would stay below them.

Unfortunately, I ran into traffic on the way and even though it normally takes about 50 minutes, today it took over a hour to get to the airport. I got there just before 12:00.

When I went out to pre-flight the plane, it was parked in front of the hangar. Jenny was out there talking to someone. I commented that they had put the propeller back on. She said yes and we would have to check a few things when we got going. I said I was all for checking, I didn't want to lose the prop. It is important. She agreed.

After I finished the pre-flight, we pushed the plane back and then pulled it away from the hangar.

Jenny said it might be hard to start, the battery was low. I got ready and turned the key to start the engine and it was slow to turn, but the engine started and then ran fine.

I finished my pre-flight checks and got the current weather. (It was reporting winds from 230 @ 8, scattered clouds at 5,500, runway 26Right in use.)

I called Ground and said I was at Air Associates with India, ready to taxi for departure to the southwest. Ground cleared me to 26Right via Echo. I acknowledged and headed out.

I did my final pre-flight checks and engine run-up before calling Tower. I said I was at 26Right, ready to depart. Tower cleared me to depart 26Right. I acknowledged and pulled onto the runway.

I put in 10 degrees of flaps, got centered, and applied power. Keeping it centered, I lifted off at about 55 knots.

Runway 26Right has an actual heading of 256 degrees magnetic. My on course heading was 248 degrees so I didn't have to adjust much once we were airborne.

We we flew along, I was wondering why we seemed to be nose down so much. It was a little bumpy, but I couldn't figure it out.

After about 25 minutes, Jenny finally figured it out. I put put in 10 degrees of flaps on take off and never took them out.

Flaps out and we leveled off better. I'm still not use to putting in 10 degree on take off and then taking the out after climb out.

When we were about 10 miles out, ATC said the airport was at our 12 O'Clock, no traffic between us. We still couldn't find the airport. Even with GPS and knowing where it should be, we were almost on top of it before we spotted it. Fresh looking black top blended in well.

I did 3 touch and gos. There was only a slight crosswind but the winds were gusty so it made it fun.

Flaps out, power in, and I was back up. I reported airborne off 15, departing the area to the southeast.

I headed for Salem Airport (K33) first to stay out the of the Military Operations Areas (MOAs) and Restricted areas around Fort Leonard Wood.

I picked up Flight Following again and asked if any of the MOAs were active. They said no. This meant I could go direct from Salem to Piedmont. This saved me about 17 miles.

I was on the wrong side of the airport so I had to overfly the airport and enter a left downwind.

I got set up and did 3 fairly nice touch and gos. The wind was a bit more crosswind, but less gusty.

We flew past Six Flags Over Mid-America at Eureka, MO. It looks a lot smaller from up here than when you are walking around on the ground.

I was approaching Spirit of St Louis from the south. St Louis Approach asked if we had the airport in sight. I reported when we did and they told us to contact Tower on 124.75. I acknowledged and switched frequencies.

I called Tower and said I was 10 to the south, with information Lima, inbound for landing. Tower told us to make right base for 26Right. I acknowledged and got set up for right base.