RV8Squaz
Well Known Member
I had a little break last week from my MD88 training and took advantage of my time off to do some?. You guessed it? flying! On Wed. my trusting copilot Max (my 5 yr old boy who probably has well over a hundred hours logged in the back seat) and I flew the RV to Fort Valley, GA. I have a lot at Plane Living Skypark which is across the highway from the Lane peach packing plant. I parked the plane, walked a hundred yards through the peach orchard and across the highway to the plant. It is set up for tourists and locals. They have a great restaurant, a nice gift shop, a park, tours, and of course you can watch the peaches go through the packing process. Max and I had a delightful afternoon and brought back a bunch of peaches, most of which I have already consumed. The field is a N-S 3000? grass strip, level and in good shape. It is 4.5nm NW of the Perry airport (KPXE) adjacent to Hwy 96. During the peach season I go about every other week to load up on peaches. Did I say? I love peaches! You?re welcome to fly out there with me or go on your own or we can plan a flyout sometime. I don?t believe the field has an identifier yet, but I can get the lat/long next time I get to my airplane. The pattern is to the west of runways 01 &19. Elevation is about 500?. Parking is adjacent to the approach end of Rwy 19 on the west side.
On Friday, Max and I flew out again, but this time our destination was the beach! We flew out to Destin, hung out at the beach for a few hours and flew back in the afternoon. Ahh what a plane! I love my RV. Going to Destin does take some special flight planning as the airport lies in Special Flight Rules area requiring radio contact and a clearance through the area similar to a Class B. The info is readily available on the chart and the FAA and AOPA websites. I also called the FBO to see what we could about transportation. Destin Jet is the new sheriff in town and they mean business. We had 3 people waiting for us as we taxied in, they rolled out the red carpet (ok it was really blue) for us, they had fresh baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, refreshments, and a beautiful facility. The best part of all was they handed me the keys to a brand new car to take to the beach for a few hours. They treated us as if we had pulled up in a $5 million dollar jet (there were plenty of them there) and purchased 300 gals. of jet fuel and yet there were no parking fees and never felt pressured to buy so much as a gallon of AVGAS. I did however buy some gas at $4.45 because of the level of service we received and the friendly atmosphere (even though it was against my cheap airline pilot nature. Hey it was discounted from $4.95!). This was a great day trip. It was a lot of fun and it was pretty quick getting down there and back up from the S. Atlanta metro area (near KFFC). I logged a 1.5 down at and average groundspeed of 160 kts and a 1.2 on the way back at a ground speed of 200 kts. The weather was awesome and the surf temp was perfect. Bring lots of sunscreen!
Jerry
RV-8 N84JE 350 hours of some of the finest and most enjoyable flying known to mankind!
On Friday, Max and I flew out again, but this time our destination was the beach! We flew out to Destin, hung out at the beach for a few hours and flew back in the afternoon. Ahh what a plane! I love my RV. Going to Destin does take some special flight planning as the airport lies in Special Flight Rules area requiring radio contact and a clearance through the area similar to a Class B. The info is readily available on the chart and the FAA and AOPA websites. I also called the FBO to see what we could about transportation. Destin Jet is the new sheriff in town and they mean business. We had 3 people waiting for us as we taxied in, they rolled out the red carpet (ok it was really blue) for us, they had fresh baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, refreshments, and a beautiful facility. The best part of all was they handed me the keys to a brand new car to take to the beach for a few hours. They treated us as if we had pulled up in a $5 million dollar jet (there were plenty of them there) and purchased 300 gals. of jet fuel and yet there were no parking fees and never felt pressured to buy so much as a gallon of AVGAS. I did however buy some gas at $4.45 because of the level of service we received and the friendly atmosphere (even though it was against my cheap airline pilot nature. Hey it was discounted from $4.95!). This was a great day trip. It was a lot of fun and it was pretty quick getting down there and back up from the S. Atlanta metro area (near KFFC). I logged a 1.5 down at and average groundspeed of 160 kts and a 1.2 on the way back at a ground speed of 200 kts. The weather was awesome and the surf temp was perfect. Bring lots of sunscreen!
Jerry
RV-8 N84JE 350 hours of some of the finest and most enjoyable flying known to mankind!
