My help for Katrina victims.

Well I had a very long flight last Monday to pick up a Katrina volunteer
and take her home. Her group cooked meals that the Red Cross Served.

The flight started out in Cleveland, OH where I was a visiting friend
for the weekend. My airplane broke last week (see another story), which
turned out to be a good thing.
My Co-pilot flew in on Independence, non-rev. We picked her up at
Hopkins and headed downtown to Burke Lakefront. The flight Originated at
Burke Lakefront Airport (KBKL) first stop Mussel Shoals, Alabama (KMSL)
then on to Hammond, Louisiana (KHDC) to pick up our passenger. We left
Hammond late in the afternoon and flew well into the night. We stopped
at Greenville Downtown (KGMU) and Greenville Spartansburg (KGSP). We
continued on to Newport News, Virginia (KPHF) and the on home to
Leesburg, Virginia (KJYO)
Total time 14.3 hours in a twin at about 150kts. Approx 2000 NM covered.

My co-pilot and I departed IFR Burke Lakefront airport around 11:30 am
and flew south over Cincinnati, Bowling Green, Nashville then into
Mussel Shoals total leg time 4.3 hours. Weather mild IFR to clear. She
flew the first leg.

We fueled the airplane picked up a few quarts of Oil, not being sure if
we could get any at our pick up point. This is also the reason for the
first long leg. I had planned a short third leg in case we could not get
fuel either. I flew the second leg.

Off we went to IFR Hammond, LA. Uneventful, No indication at all of any
hurricane damage. They have set up a temporary military tower set up at
Hammond. It appears the military is using it for an operation base.
Shortly before we arrived a C-130 took off and shortly after a pair of
Apache’s or Aztec’s took off on a spraying operation.

It was also packed with bizjets. Hammond is the closest airport one can
get to the area to evaluate companies interests. The FBO’s ramp was
packed and overflowing. It seems their normal traffic is about 1/3 of
what it is currently. They were prompt, efficient and helpful. We fueled
up, loaded up and headed out as quickly as possible. I flew the third leg.

It was about 7 Pm when we left Hammond and started home with our passenger.
We once again departed IFR and started heading East and then North East.
We encountered some light IFR and watched day pass into night. The
Highlight of the leg was watching the moonrise. What an awesome sight.
Shortly after nightfall our passenger became sleepy and went to sleep
for most of the leg. We started our approach into Greenville, SC and
woke up our passenger. By now it was after 11 PM EDT. We landed and
taxied towards the FBO. They were closed. They were supposed to still be
open. So we taxied back to the runway and took off. We called the
approach controller from our inbound flight and asked him if fuel was
still available at GSP. He said he would check and called us back about
30 seconds later saying the FBO was open and waiting for us. This
controller turned out to be our best friend this evening. He also asked
about our outbound flight plan and took care of changing our origination
airport and departure time. We taxied into the FBO and made a beeline
for the bathroom. The FBO was nice and gave us a fuel discount.

Once we fueled up and paid we back in the Seminole for another leg. As
we taxied out the towered closed. So here we are surrounded by Airliners
at an un-controlled field with an 11,000 by 150 runway. As we approached
runway 4, I heard over the tower now CTAF “Wisconsin 4.... CRJ200 left
downwind runway 4 Greenville.” That surprised us! They landed and we
took off. As soon as we were in the air. We heard another.” American
Eagle ... Embrarier.... left downwind runway 4” Truly a unique
experience. This leg was to be about two hours. Dark very dark,
un-eventful. Other pilot flying. PHF is normally a Towered airport as is
Greenville Downtown and Greenville-Spartansburg. They too were closed
upon our arrival. The whole airport was closed! I had called ahead to
make sure our passenger could get out. No problem. An added bonus we
were able to go to the bathroom.
Our last leg home was quick and un-eventful. Once we took off the
controller cleared us direct Leesburg. This turned out to be quite cool.
We truly flew direct. We passed right over Manassas just west of Dulles
on into JYO. We were the controller only traffic and Dulles was dark. No
runway lights on. Kinda weird. We touched down around 3:30 had the
airplane unloaded quickly. I had to drop my co-pilot off back at Dulles
and then I headed home. I made it to bed at 6 AM. A very long day. But
worth it.

Cost: It would have been cheaper to give the Salvation Army a couple grand.
Expression on our passenger's husband face when we arrived at PHF:
Priceless.

Michelle P wrote:

A very long day. But worth it.

Marvelous!

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

Cost: It would have been cheaper to give the Salvation Army a couple
grand.
Expression on our passenger's husband face when we arrived at PHF:
Priceless.

Thanks for posting this Michelle.

A couple weeks ago I signed up with Operation Brothers Keeper. At that time
they were flying missions out of Atlanta to Baton Rouge to flyin doctors and
retrieve homeless families. I had the entire weekend free and thought it
would be a great opportunity to help considering that they were specifically
requesting twin engine 6 place planes. On Sunday morning because I hadn't
been contacted yet, I decided to sign up with LifeLine Pilots and Angel
Flight. I flew my first mission for LifeLinePilots on Sunday the 11th. My
passenger lives in Anderson, IN, north east of IND and needed to get to the
Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN for surgery the following day.

Sunday morning came with VFR weather but the haze had visibilities down to
3-5 miles, even at 9000 ft. I got up early and headed to the airport for a
wheels up at 6:30am for an arrival at AND at 9:00am. Although Indy Center
vectored me straight in to a final approach course, I couldn't see the
airport until I was 3 miles out and just on the verge of requesting the GPS
approach. After some trouble with the fuel pump, I managed to get the tanks
topped off and settled in to wait for my passenger who was scheduled to
arrive at 10am.

And that she did. At precisely 10am I looked out the window of the FBO to
see a middle aged woman struggling to get her bags out of a full sized van.
I knew this had to be her so I ran out to lend her a hand, which she greatly
appreciated. She immediately began telling me about her illness and the
reason for the trip, not that it mattered to me, I was just happy to help
her. She explained that she had been forced to quit her job to take care of
her 91 year old mother and that she was the reason that she had the big van
with the wheel chair lift. She said that there was simply no way that she
could physically take the 12 hour drive to Rochester, and the cost of the
gas alone would use up most of her spending money.

She explained that she'd had several occasions to request LifeLine flights,
and because of them and pilots like us, she was able to live at home and
continue to care for her mother. She went on to tell me that without us,
she would be not have received the care she needed and both her and her
mother would be forced into nursing homes as they could not afford any type
of in house care or assisted living.

By 10:20am we were off the ground, headed to Rochester, MN. I had pre-filed
all 3 IFR flight plans, so it was just a matter of getting a clearance from
the AND tower while we taxied out and we were gone. 2 hours 30 minutes
later we touched down at RST on the back side of a front that had winds
blowing straight down the runway at 20 knots, gusting to 25. We had turned
a 12 hour drive requiring 2 days for her to complete into an enjoyable 2
hour 30 minute flight with non stop conversation and music playing in the
back ground.

I'd asked my passenger along the way if she had arranged ground
transportation to the Clinic, and that if she had not, I'd be happy to
request a courtesy car from the FBO and drive her there. She had never
heard of such a service, so I explained that pilots normally fill up the car
with gas as a courtesy to the FBO and the FBO then charges us $4.00 per
gallon for avgas. She laughed and said that sounded fair. Actually, RST
gave me $0.25 per gallon off of their $4.50 price because it was a LifeLine
flight, and they were more than happy to let us use their van.

As I taxied out, RST tower had me hold at the end of the runway for landing
traffic. I was entertained by first a Supercub and then a C-120 land. The
Supercub was fitted with 30 inch tundra tires that looked absolutely huge.
He really put on a landing clinic for me into that 20 knot wind, he came in
slow and touched down with a bounce then pushed the stick ahead to keep the
tail flying. He was stopped by the first turn off, which was only about 200
feet down the runway. Amazing. The ride home to STE would normally take
about 50 minutes in the Aztec, but the winds were in my favor and I climbed
up higher to speed things along. It knocked about 10 minutes off the
flight.

882 nm.
6 hours on the hobbs
150.1 gallons of fuel

The sense of accomplishment and satisfaction... priceless. The thanks and
appreciation from my passenger... immeasurable.

For those of you that are wondering what you can do with your pilots
liscense and are tired of the $100 hamburger trips, get involved. The
expenses you incur are tax deductible if you sign up with one of the IRS 502
type organizations as listed on Air Care Alliance's website below, the
rewards are far greater than any amount of money. You do NOT have to be an
airplane owner, renters with adequate insurance also qualify.

http://www.aircareall.org/

Jim

For those of you that are wondering what you can do with your pilots
liscense and are tired of the $100 hamburger trips, get involved. The
expenses you incur are tax deductible if you sign up with one of the IRS
502
type organizations as listed on Air Care Alliance's website below, the
rewards are far greater than any amount of money. You do NOT have to be
an
airplane owner, renters with adequate insurance also qualify.

BTW, Jim -- per your suggestion, I contacted Angel Flight, and we've worked
out a good deal for them where Angel Flight pilots and their ill passengers
(and families) will be staying at the inn for half-price from now on.

They're a class act, and we're glad to be a small part of it.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Just a comment... For decades I have alternately used the Greenville
and Spartanburg airports as my refuel stop for the run from Michigan to
Florida... In recent years I have taken to using Greenwood County KGRD,
40 miles to the south.. Good runways, approaches, and a friendly
staff.. Their fuel is usually less than at the jetports...

denny

Awesome! As we discussed before, Iowa City's many medical facilities and
their patients seem to depend heavily on Angel Flight. There isn't a week
that goes by that I don't notice several AF missions in and out of IOW.

Way to go Jay!
Jim


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
newsQJZe.366230$x96.189302@attbi_s72...
For those of you that are wondering what you can do with your pilots
liscense and are tired of the $100 hamburger trips, get involved. The
expenses you incur are tax deductible if you sign up with one of the IRS
502
type organizations as listed on Air Care Alliance's website below, the
rewards are far greater than any amount of money. You do NOT have to be
an
airplane owner, renters with adequate insurance also qualify.

BTW, Jim -- per your suggestion, I contacted Angel Flight, and we've
worked
out a good deal for them where Angel Flight pilots and their ill
passengers
(and families) will be staying at the inn for half-price from now on.

They're a class act, and we're glad to be a small part of it.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Denny,
I will keep that in mind. I needed an airport with late night or all
night fuel availability. I called ahead at Greenville downtown and
expected availability until 12 AM. That did not happen. So we hopped
over the "big" airport and got what we needed. We had enough fuel for
another hour plus reserve if necessary.
Michelle

Denny wrote:

Just a comment... For decades I have alternately used the Greenville
and Spartanburg airports as my refuel stop for the run from Michigan to
Florida... In recent years I have taken to using Greenwood County KGRD,
40 miles to the south.. Good runways, approaches, and a friendly
staff.. Their fuel is usually less than at the jetports...

denny