Maiden Flight.....April 17, 2011

[bsacks05]

Earlier this year, Bruce, my 15 y/o son, and I drove a couple hours to see Rush play in Atlanta. Bruce is a fledging bass player and I am an adequate drummer and we both dig Rush. Funny thing is that I saw Rush 30 years ago when I was 15. It was with great pride that I could expose my son to one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

Another band we like is Iron Maiden. And yes, I saw them about thirty years ago as well. Fortunately for us, Maiden's 2011 world tour includes only two shows in the US, both in Fla. We quickly lined up tickets for the Tampa show and, of course, we planned to fly the RV9. A two hour flight, yes we can do that easily. But, if the weather was bad we would have to drive six hours. Not what I wanted to do but would if we had to.

In case you don't already know, Bruce Dickinson, the band's singer is an ATP rated pilot who flies the band, crew, family, and equipment around the world in a custom painted B757.

Very fortunate for us is that the good weather fairies favored us with some incredible skies on Sunday, our trip to Tampa, and Monday, our return. So good in fact that we had a tail wind in both directions!

Prior to departing Georgia, I gave a ride to my friend's son, Matt who is also 15 and had never been in a small plane before. I will arrange a Young Eagles cert for him.

At 1015, Bruce and I departed. We used flight following and my son flew about an hour. He flies with me often and can hold a course, attitude and altitude with ease.







The flight from central Georgia to the gulf coast of Florida is a wonderfully surreal experience. Gradually, the farms and small towns of GA give way to the coastline which begins in the far distance and creeps forward as your courses join up over the deltas and wetlands. We continued into the Gulf of Mexico and maintained 5500ft and about 10 miles from the coast. This part of the trip is pure magic... nothing but agua to the right and terra firma to the left.

Floating on the thick coastal air, we were instructed to descend to 3500 ft and were cleared into the Tampa airspace. Then - maintain 2000 and contact St. Pete tower – experimental 9DB cleared to land 35R. Secured the plane at Signature, fueled, then off to the terminal for our rental car. And then on to the la Quinta motel near the airport to stow our gear and change into some beach appropriate attire. ( :

At Clearwater Beach, we ate at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill and walked the beach collecting shells and taking in the vibrant beach scene.



We made it to the St. Pete Times Arena in downtown Tampa around seven, bought some official (read, extra expensive) shirts, some drinks, and found our seats.

The show was incredible! There is a reason why Iron Maiden can still sell out concerts all around the world thirty years after they came on the scene. They are, and have always been, a band with integrity and respect for hard rock / metal music. The fans knew this in the beginning and have stayed loyal. That is the true sign of a great band no matter what genre of music it is.






The next morning, we departed into another spectacular sky and two hours later we were home. The trip came off without a hitch. Father and son bonded and rocked out. Who shall we see next?

[tkatc]

Perfect way to use the RV. Well done.

[aerhed]

In case you don't already know, Bruce Dickinson, the band's singer is an ATP rated pilot who flies the band, crew, family, and equipment around the world in a custom painted B757.

Man, if only I hadn't lost my hair (and my band) 30 years ago.

[rocketbob]

\m/. (>_<) .\m/

[Ironflight]

What a great trip! "Maiden" came by to visit our facility in Houston a couple of months back, and they are REAL aviation/space fans (especially the drummer, as mentioned). I didn't get to see their concert, but they left us some T-shirts (black of course) that are just about as "classic" as you can get - their demon "Eddie" planting a US flag through a green alien on the lunar surface, space hardware in the background. Now THAT'S a hard rock T-shirt....

[fl-mike]

and of course, Alex Lifeson of Rush is a pilot as well.
They also tipped their hat to NASA (STS-1):
"Young and Crippen really moving out now, velocity reading of 6200 feet per second." "What a view, what a view."

[The Wizzard]

Great airplanes, great friends and great Rock & Roll. Never seen Iron Maiden but have seen Rush 3 times. What a fantastic experience!