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What did you do with your RV this weekend? (1/17-19/2020)

DeltaRomeo

doug reeves: unfluencer
Staff member
....gettin her started.

I spent some quality time upside down under the panel.

v/r,dr
 
....gettin her started.

I spent some quality time upside down under the panel.

v/r,dr

Flying the work plane this weekend.. thousands of miles away from my RV as I type this in Mexico. However.... I sent AFS a check for a deposit for my new panel! Coming May 2020.

I've decided on dual AF-5600s, ADS-B in/out via the 472 receiver, remote audio panel, EMS, Trig VHF comm, and the Garmin GNC 355 comm/GPS. Should be quite a nice upgrade from the Dynon D100/D120, Icom A200, GTX 327, and GPS 496. :D
 
Going to go plug it in tomorrow. It's supposed to be mighty cold for the commute Monday AM.
 
Mothers weekend made possible by Rv

Finally got to stretch the legs (wings) a little.

Left Friday right after the wife got out of school. Dropped her at Tampa Executive to spend time with her cousins and their moms (aka Girls Weekend around my house). It was a short hop from there to Sebring where I spent the weekend with my mom.

Monday morning, time to reverse the route.

Great weather both directions.

6.5 hours on the tach and 56 gallons on the truck meter.
 
I had a productive weekend.

I departed Thursday morning for a 3-leg day. First was a stop in Marianna, FL (MAI) to visit Air Prop Specialists. I've been using this shop for 12+ years. My Hartzell has an old hub which has an AD that requires an Eddy current inspection every 100 hours or annual whichever comes first. In my case it works out to about every 9 months. It's really not as obtrusive as it sounds. It's about an hour flight, takes me 5 minutes to remove the spinner, 10 minutes for the technician to do the inspection, 5 minutes to install the spinner, and 10 minutes for the paper work. The cost... let's just say I can do a lot of inspections for the price of a new prop! I usually combine it with a BBQ lunch or a visit to the nearby Florida Caverns State Park. Not this time though; I had places to go and people to see.

The 2nd leg took me to 28J, Palatka Muni to see a couple of Extra's that were for sale and being re-assembled. It was great to see them with all of the panels removed so that I could inspect everything. They looked good!

The 3rd leg (my first VFR leg of the day) took me to PMP, Pompano Air Park in S. Florida to visit with my brother and his family for a few days. PMP is home of the Good Year blimp. My brother and I enjoyed some seriously good donuts.

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Yesterday I came back in two legs. Had to depart IFR due to the Trump TFR in Palm Beach and the weather at my fuel stop at FIN, Flagler Co Airport just north of Daytona Beach. I don't normally stop for fuel going to or from S. Florida but Flagler's fuel was $3.99. I couldn't resist! I had hoped to see a couple of Extra's at Spruce Creek and St. Augustine, but I wasn't able to coordinate with the sellers. BTW, I never experienced any of the proposed GPS outages across the SE. I finally got past the front just north of Jacksonville and had a beautiful evening flight home for the last hour. The 30-40 knots on the nose gave me more time to enjoy the gorgeous sunset.

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Busy Holiday weekend. Saturday did my first formation flight as a two ship with a safety pilot in my right seat. I did better than I had feared! Still have lots to learn and it will take a while to get all of the controls working via muscle memory.

Sunday my wife and I took off to Paso Robles for a wine tasting overnight trip for her birthday weekend. Had a great tailwind and we got up there in record time. Got to cross LAX Class Bravo via the Coliseum Route at 8500'. The airport (KPRB) cleared up to VFR as we got close and then we had breakfast at the diner on the field, which was excellent (Joe's one-niner diner). We got our rental car from ACI Jet and then we hit several wineries and did some other shopping/dining. Back to the airport diner the next morning for another great breakfast, then we took off to head home. Cloudy high overcast with a few low clouds below, and some brutal headwinds the whole way, so we stayed lower along the coast and crossed back over LAX via the Coastal Route at 5500'. I can't say enough good things about SoCal TRACON and how helpful they are, even when it is super busy. We probably spotted and dodged 30+ airplanes just on the way back.

Another 5.2 hours in the logbook.
 
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