A Beautiful Easter Flight

We wrapped up a quiet weekend at the hotel (holidays are usually slow in a
college town, since no one is actually *from* here), and the weather
couldn't have been better. Sunny skies, light winds, temps in the upper
50s, and expected to hit the 70s tomorrow.

But where to go? We wanted to do an Easter Brunch somewhere, but our usual
haunts were closed, and the greasy spoon diner in Lone Rock -- normally a
favorite -- just didn't seem up to the stature of the day.

Mary struck upon the idea of visiting the Black Angus, located in Prairie du
Chien, WI (PDC - http://www.airnav.com/airport/KPDC ) . This grand old
restaurant, located right across the street from the airport, never
disappoints, with its old-fashioned soup and salad bar, excellent service,
and great steaks. And landing in PDC is beautiful in any season, with the
airport located at the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers.

We figured that the Angus would surely be having an Easter brunch of some
sort, but it seemed that a phone call was in order, just to make sure that
food would be waiting at the other end of the flight. Digging out our
spanking-new copy of the AOPA Directory, we were surprised to find that the
Angus is no longer listed in "the Bible" (as we irreverently call this
indispensable book.). I suppose someone forgot to fill out the paperwork,
or maybe the owner got in a snit with the airport manager? Who knows?

Second surprise: No answer at the FBO. Amazingly, this municipal airport
was closed on a Christian religious holiday -- welcome to small-town
America!

So, we launched "blind", but with the assurance that we could always call
the nearby casino and get a ride over to their excellent buffet. (A casino
never misses a trick, Easter or not!)

The flight was surprisingly bumpy, given the sunny skies and calm winds --
until we broke out on top of the haze layer at 5000 feet. Once above it
all, the air was as still as a wading pool, and the kids and I sat back to
enjoy the flight while Mary did all the work.

The landscape unfurled beneath us, and it was interesting to see the mix of
winter and spring on the ground. From our lofty perch one could still see a
hint of snow and ice in the darkest forests and ravines, while in exposed
sunny areas the first blush of green grass was apparent. It's easy to see
how it will only take a couple of warm days to make life spring from the
earth anew -- and, boy, are we ready for it!

The pattern for Rwy 14 always takes you perilously close to the bluffs that
loom over the city, which makes for great sight-seeing and a relatively high
workload landing. (For sure don't EVER get low landing there at night!)
Mary pulled off a nice greaser with her usual aplomb, and we taxied in to
park next to a gorgeous 1949 Bonanza.

We knew it was a '49, because the owners cousin was right there, and had to
tell us all about it. The owner himself was no where to be found, but the
cousin had felt compelled to come out to the airport on this sunny spring
day, just to hang out near this beautiful machine, fresh as it was from the
restoration shop.

I understood completely.

The Angus was open, the meal was excellent, and reasonably priced. After a
long, leisurely repast, we ambled happily back to the plane, to find that
our neighboring Bo had been replaced by a 2000 Commander 115. This
perfectly stunning machine was owned by a strangely unfriendly couple, who
sullenly said "thanks" to our compliments about their beautiful steed. We
shrugged it off to bad luck at the gaming tables, and got on with our
preflight.

My 14-year old son was "pretend PIC" for this flight home, so I handed him
the fuel tester and let him have at it. Following him around silently, he
absent-mindedly overlooked giving the wheel pant a wiggle, so I pointed this
out to him. He gave it a gently tug, and we were both surprised to find the
top two screws quite loose!

Both looking accusingly at Mary, who immediately 'fessed up to having forgot
to check it earlier, we dug out a screwdriver and tightened the offending
screws down. Knowing that I was the last guy to have installed those
screws, I inwardly cursed myself -- but wisely kept quiet....
;-)

The rest of the preflight went well, and we hopped into the plane. Joey ran
through the pre-start checklist, and did everything "by the book" including
startup and taxi. He announced our intentions to taxi to the runway on the
radio, and stopped at the hold-short line, where he conducted a
picture-perfect run-up.

Rolling out onto the runway, he smoothly applied full power, and we trundled
down the runway and into the air. With the river bluffs looming in the
distance, we racked it around fairly tightly and proceeded downriver,
admiring the usually invisible campground where the kids and I usually
motorcycle camp each summer.

The bumps were still there, but Joey did an excellent job of ignoring them,
keeping us on course and climbing. He's been flying all of his life, and is
just a natural. I had to chastise him a bit for arguing with his little
sister on the intercom -- an absolute no-no while flying -- but otherwise he
was a smooth stick all the way home.

Cutting loose from Cedar Rapids Approach ten miles out, Joey did the
announcing again as we approached the pattern for an overhead entry to
Runway 30. He spotted traffic off the arrival end of the runway (that
never responded to my radio calls, and eventually disappeared), and expertly
brought us into the downwind leg before I took over, mostly due to the bumps
that were making a stabilized approach impossible.

After landing, he taxied us to our hangar, and completed another .9 hours of
"flight training" that will hopefully make getting his ticket a breeze.

The weather was so nice that we decided to pull the Mustang convertible out
of the back of the hangar, and clean the plane up a bit. (It sat outside
for a week in Florida, and was really a mess.) While polishing the prop, a
new neighbor pulled up on his motorcycle, and we happily chewed the fat with
him about his 5-year-and-counting RV-9 project... The sun was warm, the
winds were light, the music was playing... It just doesn't get any better
than this.

I don't know about you guys, but I simply can't imagine a better way to
spend Easter Sunday. Can you?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Great story Jay I was relegated to a ground pounder today. :-(

Bob Barker N8749S

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:zEJ1e.112246$Ze3.15858@attbi_s51...
We wrapped up a quiet weekend at the hotel (holidays are usually slow in a
college town, since no one is actually *from* here), and the weather
couldn't have been better. Sunny skies, light winds, temps in the upper
50s, and expected to hit the 70s tomorrow.

But where to go? We wanted to do an Easter Brunch somewhere, but our
usual haunts were closed, and the greasy spoon diner in Lone Rock --
normally a favorite -- just didn't seem up to the stature of the day.

Mary struck upon the idea of visiting the Black Angus, located in Prairie
du Chien, WI (PDC - http://www.airnav.com/airport/KPDC ) . This grand old
restaurant, located right across the street from the airport, never
disappoints, with its old-fashioned soup and salad bar, excellent service,
and great steaks. And landing in PDC is beautiful in any season, with the
airport located at the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers.

We figured that the Angus would surely be having an Easter brunch of some
sort, but it seemed that a phone call was in order, just to make sure that
food would be waiting at the other end of the flight. Digging out our
spanking-new copy of the AOPA Directory, we were surprised to find that
the Angus is no longer listed in "the Bible" (as we irreverently call this
indispensable book.). I suppose someone forgot to fill out the
paperwork, or maybe the owner got in a snit with the airport manager? Who
knows?

Second surprise: No answer at the FBO. Amazingly, this municipal airport
was closed on a Christian religious holiday -- welcome to small-town
America!

So, we launched "blind", but with the assurance that we could always call
the nearby casino and get a ride over to their excellent buffet. (A
casino never misses a trick, Easter or not!)

The flight was surprisingly bumpy, given the sunny skies and calm winds --
until we broke out on top of the haze layer at 5000 feet. Once above it
all, the air was as still as a wading pool, and the kids and I sat back to
enjoy the flight while Mary did all the work.

The landscape unfurled beneath us, and it was interesting to see the mix
of winter and spring on the ground. From our lofty perch one could still
see a hint of snow and ice in the darkest forests and ravines, while in
exposed sunny areas the first blush of green grass was apparent. It's
easy to see how it will only take a couple of warm days to make life
spring from the earth anew -- and, boy, are we ready for it!

The pattern for Rwy 14 always takes you perilously close to the bluffs
that loom over the city, which makes for great sight-seeing and a
relatively high workload landing. (For sure don't EVER get low landing
there at night!) Mary pulled off a nice greaser with her usual aplomb, and
we taxied in to park next to a gorgeous 1949 Bonanza.

We knew it was a '49, because the owners cousin was right there, and had
to tell us all about it. The owner himself was no where to be found, but
the cousin had felt compelled to come out to the airport on this sunny
spring day, just to hang out near this beautiful machine, fresh as it was
from the restoration shop.

I understood completely.

The Angus was open, the meal was excellent, and reasonably priced. After
a long, leisurely repast, we ambled happily back to the plane, to find
that our neighboring Bo had been replaced by a 2000 Commander 115. This
perfectly stunning machine was owned by a strangely unfriendly couple, who
sullenly said "thanks" to our compliments about their beautiful steed. We
shrugged it off to bad luck at the gaming tables, and got on with our
preflight.

My 14-year old son was "pretend PIC" for this flight home, so I handed him
the fuel tester and let him have at it. Following him around silently, he
absent-mindedly overlooked giving the wheel pant a wiggle, so I pointed
this out to him. He gave it a gently tug, and we were both surprised to
find the top two screws quite loose!

Both looking accusingly at Mary, who immediately 'fessed up to having
forgot to check it earlier, we dug out a screwdriver and tightened the
offending screws down. Knowing that I was the last guy to have installed
those screws, I inwardly cursed myself -- but wisely kept quiet....
;-)

The rest of the preflight went well, and we hopped into the plane. Joey
ran through the pre-start checklist, and did everything "by the book"
including startup and taxi. He announced our intentions to taxi to the
runway on the radio, and stopped at the hold-short line, where he
conducted a picture-perfect run-up.

Rolling out onto the runway, he smoothly applied full power, and we
trundled down the runway and into the air. With the river bluffs looming
in the distance, we racked it around fairly tightly and proceeded
downriver, admiring the usually invisible campground where the kids and I
usually motorcycle camp each summer.

The bumps were still there, but Joey did an excellent job of ignoring
them, keeping us on course and climbing. He's been flying all of his
life, and is just a natural. I had to chastise him a bit for arguing with
his little sister on the intercom -- an absolute no-no while flying -- but
otherwise he was a smooth stick all the way home.

Cutting loose from Cedar Rapids Approach ten miles out, Joey did the
announcing again as we approached the pattern for an overhead entry to
Runway 30. He spotted traffic off the arrival end of the runway (that
never responded to my radio calls, and eventually disappeared), and
expertly brought us into the downwind leg before I took over, mostly due
to the bumps that were making a stabilized approach impossible.

After landing, he taxied us to our hangar, and completed another .9 hours
of "flight training" that will hopefully make getting his ticket a breeze.

The weather was so nice that we decided to pull the Mustang convertible
out of the back of the hangar, and clean the plane up a bit. (It sat
outside for a week in Florida, and was really a mess.) While polishing
the prop, a new neighbor pulled up on his motorcycle, and we happily
chewed the fat with him about his 5-year-and-counting RV-9 project...
The sun was warm, the winds were light, the music was playing... It just
doesn't get any better than this.

I don't know about you guys, but I simply can't imagine a better way to
spend Easter Sunday. Can you?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Glad you got some good flying weather Jay. I lucked out yesterday as
the weather was great. Not that I noticed any of it from under the hood
doing two VOR approaches and a couple of holds. Out of 1.6 hours, I got
to look outside for maybe .2. First circle to land from the VOR
approach at my home airport though. Nobody was in the pattern so we
were able to pull it off. It just felt wrong circling that low and
throwing the anchor out once we saw the VASI. Fun though and I can see
how it would work if the ILS was out of service and the ceilings were
somewhere above 500 ft.

Today the rain is back as we have a storm rolling in. Old man winter's
last hurrah.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-IA Student-Arrow Buying Student

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

Great story Jay I was relegated to a ground pounder today. :-(

We had a great time, but I just received the sobering news that there was
not one, but TWO fatal plane crashes near here today -- one of them a
Cherokee 235 that crashed on take-off, with three fatalities and one badly
burned little girl survivor.

The other accident I just got called about by my CAP squadron commander. A
fatal crash just south of Iowa City's VOR, circumstances unknown.

I have no word on who was involved, but we're all on pins and needles
waiting to hear something...

Be careful out there, guys. This thing we love so much can bite -- hard.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Well, I woke up this morning to this beautiful naked lady lying next to me,
and we had the most wonderful suggestions as to how to pass the time of day
....

{-

Jim




I don't know about you guys, but I simply can't imagine a better way to
spend Easter Sunday. Can you?

I don't know about you guys, but I simply can't imagine a better way to
spend Easter Sunday. Can you?

Well, I woke up this morning to this beautiful naked lady lying next to
me, and we had the most wonderful suggestions as to how to pass the time
of day

Well, okay -- you got me beat!

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

(Jack Allison wrote)
snip
Today the rain is back as we have a storm rolling in. Old man winter's
last hurrah.


You are not allowed to call your Sacramento weather ...winter.

Please come up with another name for it :-)


Montblack
(Ahhh, finally!!!)
55F-60F forecast for a couple of days this week

"Jay Honeck" wrote

The sun was warm, the
winds were light, the music was playing... It just doesn't get any better
than this.

I don't know about you guys, but I simply can't imagine a better way to
spend Easter Sunday. Can you?

Curses, for reminding me that somewhere, there was better weather than
drizzle to moderate rain, ALL DAY LONG!!!

It looks like there might be one sunny day in the next seven days that are
left in my Easter break. There is a low pressure sitting and spinning,
sitting and spinning.

There are buds popping open, everywhere. A bright note, compared to your
spots of snow, cold weather, and severe weather that is sure to return to
your fair city! ;-)
--
Jim in NC

Jay Honeck wrote:

We wrapped up a quiet weekend at the hotel (holidays are usually slow in a
college town, since no one is actually *from* here), and the weather
couldn't have been better. Sunny skies, light winds, temps in the upper
50s, and expected to hit the 70s tomorrow.

But where to go? We wanted to do an Easter Brunch somewhere, but our usual
haunts were closed, and the greasy spoon diner in Lone Rock -- normally a
favorite -- just didn't seem up to the stature of the day.

Mary struck upon the idea of visiting the Black Angus, located in Prairie du
Chien, WI (PDC - http://www.airnav.com/airport/KPDC ) . This grand old
restaurant, located right across the street from the airport, never
disappoints, with its old-fashioned soup and salad bar, excellent service,
and great steaks. And landing in PDC is beautiful in any season, with the
airport located at the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers.

We figured that the Angus would surely be having an Easter brunch of some
sort, but it seemed that a phone call was in order, just to make sure that
food would be waiting at the other end of the flight. Digging out our
spanking-new copy of the AOPA Directory, we were surprised to find that the
Angus is no longer listed in "the Bible" (as we irreverently call this
indispensable book.). I suppose someone forgot to fill out the paperwork,
or maybe the owner got in a snit with the airport manager? Who knows?

Second surprise: No answer at the FBO. Amazingly, this municipal airport
was closed on a Christian religious holiday -- welcome to small-town
America!

So, we launched "blind", but with the assurance that we could always call
the nearby casino and get a ride over to their excellent buffet. (A casino
never misses a trick, Easter or not!)

The flight was surprisingly bumpy, given the sunny skies and calm winds --
until we broke out on top of the haze layer at 5000 feet. Once above it
all, the air was as still as a wading pool, and the kids and I sat back to
enjoy the flight while Mary did all the work.

The landscape unfurled beneath us, and it was interesting to see the mix of
winter and spring on the ground. From our lofty perch one could still see a
hint of snow and ice in the darkest forests and ravines, while in exposed
sunny areas the first blush of green grass was apparent. It's easy to see
how it will only take a couple of warm days to make life spring from the
earth anew -- and, boy, are we ready for it!

The pattern for Rwy 14 always takes you perilously close to the bluffs that
loom over the city, which makes for great sight-seeing and a relatively high
workload landing. (For sure don't EVER get low landing there at night!)
Mary pulled off a nice greaser with her usual aplomb, and we taxied in to
park next to a gorgeous 1949 Bonanza.

We knew it was a '49, because the owners cousin was right there, and had to
tell us all about it. The owner himself was no where to be found, but the
cousin had felt compelled to come out to the airport on this sunny spring
day, just to hang out near this beautiful machine, fresh as it was from the
restoration shop.

I understood completely.

The Angus was open, the meal was excellent, and reasonably priced. After a
long, leisurely repast, we ambled happily back to the plane, to find that
our neighboring Bo had been replaced by a 2000 Commander 115. This
perfectly stunning machine was owned by a strangely unfriendly couple, who
sullenly said "thanks" to our compliments about their beautiful steed. We
shrugged it off to bad luck at the gaming tables, and got on with our
preflight.

My 14-year old son was "pretend PIC" for this flight home, so I handed him
the fuel tester and let him have at it. Following him around silently, he
absent-mindedly overlooked giving the wheel pant a wiggle, so I pointed this
out to him. He gave it a gently tug, and we were both surprised to find the
top two screws quite loose!

Both looking accusingly at Mary, who immediately 'fessed up to having forgot
to check it earlier, we dug out a screwdriver and tightened the offending
screws down. Knowing that I was the last guy to have installed those
screws, I inwardly cursed myself -- but wisely kept quiet....
;-)

The rest of the preflight went well, and we hopped into the plane. Joey ran
through the pre-start checklist, and did everything "by the book" including
startup and taxi. He announced our intentions to taxi to the runway on the
radio, and stopped at the hold-short line, where he conducted a
picture-perfect run-up.

Rolling out onto the runway, he smoothly applied full power, and we trundled
down the runway and into the air. With the river bluffs looming in the
distance, we racked it around fairly tightly and proceeded downriver,
admiring the usually invisible campground where the kids and I usually
motorcycle camp each summer.

The bumps were still there, but Joey did an excellent job of ignoring them,
keeping us on course and climbing. He's been flying all of his life, and is
just a natural. I had to chastise him a bit for arguing with his little
sister on the intercom -- an absolute no-no while flying -- but otherwise he
was a smooth stick all the way home.

Cutting loose from Cedar Rapids Approach ten miles out, Joey did the
announcing again as we approached the pattern for an overhead entry to
Runway 30. He spotted traffic off the arrival end of the runway (that
never responded to my radio calls, and eventually disappeared), and expertly
brought us into the downwind leg before I took over, mostly due to the bumps
that were making a stabilized approach impossible.

After landing, he taxied us to our hangar, and completed another .9 hours of
"flight training" that will hopefully make getting his ticket a breeze.

The weather was so nice that we decided to pull the Mustang convertible out
of the back of the hangar, and clean the plane up a bit. (It sat outside
for a week in Florida, and was really a mess.) While polishing the prop, a
new neighbor pulled up on his motorcycle, and we happily chewed the fat with
him about his 5-year-and-counting RV-9 project... The sun was warm, the
winds were light, the music was playing... It just doesn't get any better
than this.

I don't know about you guys, but I simply can't imagine a better way to
spend Easter Sunday. Can you?
Jay;
I know from your many posts of your love of all things aviation and your
families involvement in it. I also know from many of your posts that
you have not completed your advanced ratings including CFI. I wonder
what structures and information are you using to teach your son to fly.
I worry that without having gotten training yourself in teaching
flying skills to others, you may be in-adventinly teaching Joey some
"bad" things that will have to be re-learned later or worse yet set him
up with wired responses to situations that may not be the right thing,
but since they are the first thing he learned may use them when
stressed. I'm certainly not saying your are doing any of these bad
things, but wonder what you have done to make sure you don't. You
normally seem very prepared for things, so I wonder what you have done
in this case. I know that in my own case, I've taken my son up for
many flights and have let him "fly" the plane, but only basic straight
and level stuff. It may come to pass that he wants more before he
decides to take lessons and I want to be prepared for it.

As for a great way to spend the day, my family and I drove 400 miles
round trip to visit my Mom and all I could think was, "This would have
been much better if I flew"

John

I don't know about you guys, but I simply can't imagine a better way to
spend Easter Sunday. Can you?

Sure I can, like going to church with my friends and family to celebrate the
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Flying is great, but its not
everything.

Why bother relating your story to Easter if the day means nothing to you ?
Wait, I see, if you emphasize how you're going flying on Easter, then you
can throw darts at KPDC's FBO for having the gall to be closed.

It's amazing I say ! Those small town bumpkins actually closed on Easter
Sunday ! They are probably at church, have you ever heard of such as
travesty ?