Todays Flight

[Tundra]

  Andrea cashed in on the flight I bought for her today. Perfect morning, good visibility and beat the heat. Her first time up in a single engine prop plane. (Piper) I booked a Cessna 172 for better visibility/pictures but someone landed a little nose up this morning on the flight before us and smashed the tail section/rear tie down. She really enjoyed herself. We flew out of St. Petersburg/Clearwater Airport and head South over the bridges, Howard Franklin, Gandy, Sunshine Skyway and out in the Gulf. We then headed North up the beaches, Shell Island, Don Caesar Hotel, John's Pass. We also got in low over the house and got some good photo's.
Signature Aviation...good outfit

Taxiing into position for take off.

The start of the Howard Franklin Bridge, Pinellas County side.

St. Pete Boat Basin & Albert Whitted Airport



Mouth of Tampa Bay, beginning of Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

John's Pass Bridge

Wheels Down

Great Morning

My next bike...now it's motorcycle related

[HayHauler]

Man!  She's got one of those "I just rode a Valkyrie" grins on her face!  hehe 
That was cool...

Hay 
Jimmyt

[Thunderbolt]

Looked like she had a smile on her face alright!!  He even let her drive I see.  Beautiful pictures, you will never see those places the same again.  Flying home from Italy on a SP2E Navy Submarine Hunter in 1970 with a crew of 12 I was the radio operator and who is there to talk to out in the Atlantic so the captain asked if anyone wanted to drive.  I said yes and went up and sat in the co-pilot's seat.  He said keep it on this heading and keep the little airplane on the gauge level.  He dropped his hands off the yoke and said "okay you've got it I have some paperwork to do".  Little did I know it was on autopilot and I couldn't mess up too much.  It was a thrill for me and I'm sure it was for her too.

[John Schmidt]

Hey Doug, that's reall cool, the smile on her face tells it all. Was she surprised how easy it is to control the plane? Wish Rita could handle flying, she went up with me twice but had problems each time. Everyone in her family has an ear thing, including her kids.

My former wife was also licensed and we've been in/out of both St. Pete/Clearwater and Albert Whitted. Years ago we went to a Gaither concert in the amphitheater next to Whitted. Flew in, parked at that end of the ramp and walked around the fence. Later, after the concert our youngest who had flown over with us decided to ride home with friends in their car. We took off to the north and flew over the I-275 bridge which was backed up for miles due to an accident. We were home in 50 minutes, she got home six hours later. I gave up flying when I found out Rita can't handle it, gets sick every time.

I noticed the pilot had his flaps extended in all the pics, must have been in slow flight for quite some time.

[James III]

  Congratulations to Andrea on her flight!! It can be very addicting.

The plane in your photos is not a Cessna 172. Looks like a Piper Arrow or Archer. I always found the Piper low wings much smoother than the high winged 172's, 150's etc.
I let my currency go in 1997 but still get out with a couple of friends a few times a year for lunch fly in's and a little air time.

James



 

[Valkahuna]

Congratulations to Andrea on her flight!! It can be very addicting.

The plane in your photos is not a Cessna 172. Looks like a Piper Arrow or Archer. I always found the Piper low wings much smoother than the high winged 172's, 150's etc.
I let my currency go in 1997 but still get out with a couple of friends a few times a year for lunch fly in's and a little air time.

James

James, if you read Doug's post again, you'll see he knew it wasn't the 172. He said he wanted it for better visibility, but the renter before him damaged the tail from a "too high Nose-up" landing" and so he had to fly the Piper.

BTW, I agree with you on smoothness of low wing aircraft.

[Tundra]

Jimmy T,
Yes, she was a grinning. That's exactly what she said..."That was cool"

Terry,
  Yes, she really had a good time. The flight plan was perfect. It was more meaningful to her for the first time as she recognized all of the landmarks. Makes it more enjoyable to see stuff you recognize from the air.
  I got allot of stick time in the service too. I was Coast Guard Aviation for 13 years and was qualified on Sikorsky H-3 Rotory Wing (helicapopters) and the 60 J-Hawk. I got qualified on fixed Wing just before getting out. The C-130.

John,
  Yes, she was surprised at how easy it was to fly. She was good, very gentle on the controls. She has the ear thing going on too. We just never got to an altitude that bothered her. (1000' max)

James III
  You are correct, the Cessna 172 was damaged from a hard/nose up landing and we took a Piper.
(which I would prefer for flying) But I wanted the over wing for her visibility and picture taking.

Pete,
How long will you be in Florida? We need to get together again before you go.
 You'll have to pick a spot 1/2 way for a lunch gathering. Pick it, they will come

[John Schmidt]

John,
  Yes, she was surprised at how easy it was to fly. She was good, very gentle on the controls. She has the ear thing going on too. We just never got to an altitude that bothered her. (1000' max)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
That's fortunate, usually with the inner ear problem you don't have to be 10' off the ground....let alone 1000'.  Rita will get green around the gills just riding in the car if I get too jerky in stop 'n go traffic. Strangely enough, riding the bike never bothered her....go figure. Last time she went up with me was in the evening, smooth as glass, but still had trouble. As I taxied into my parking spot she asked if they had a Coke machine in the FBO...which they did. She was out of the plane before the prop quit turning. She also loved looking out and seeing stuff she recognized from the air. The first ride was over to Cedar Key, perfect day for a flight. But by mid-afternoon the heat thermals were bouncing us around pretty good coming back. Even at 7500' we still got some good bumps and she was ready to get out...sick as can be. But....she gets that way on an L-1011 or 747, a real white knuckle flyer. Makes her mad, she loves the view up there.

[JimmyG]

Makes me wanna start flying again.... great pics and looks like she loved it. Nothing like flying.  I also have a great story of piloting a large aircraft, but I don't want to hijack the thread.  Good job

[DD]

Congratulations Andrea!!!   
      Way to go girlfriend.    

[FloridaValkRyder]

I never knew you did some flying in the Coast Guard Doug. That was a pretty neat gift you gave Andrea. Really neat pictures too of many places I have been. I dearly love flying in helicopters. When I worked for the FD, I had a part time job working for Air Care out of ORMC as a Flight Paramedic for about 3 years. We flew a BK-117 twin engine, rigid rotor, half German, half Japanese, fast as hell helicopter. We did emergency medical transport all over Central Florida. We would land almost anywhere we were needed to do a quick transport from the emergency scene back to ORMC, which is a Level 1 Trauma Center. We had 2 Vietnam era pilots who were just unbelievably good at their craft. I also had a good friend who had a Robinson R-22 and used to go flying with him quite a bit. I always wanted to be a pilot in the military, my brother was a MAC pilot (C130, C141, C5, and when they took over IFR from SAC, he flew KC135's and KC10's.) They have this stupid rule about being able to see without glasses..petty if you ask me  so that dream never materialized. Thanks for sharing that with us.