NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER. November 6, 2017 TITUSVILLE FLYING CLUB. MEMBERSHIP DRIVE Ask a NEW AIRCRAFT??

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1 TITUSVILLE FLYING CLUB November 6, 2017 NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER NEW AIRCRAFT?? The Cherokee 260 is NOW on the flight line. Get Qualified and try it out, and INVITE ME ALONG!! Monthly Fly -In.. On Saturday, November 18 th, we are flying to Lakeland Florida, for the monthly fly-in. So far, Gary Collins and John Purdy, have reserved a plane and a number of others are considering. It is a fun airport and the home of Sun N-Fun, so it will be good to fly there for practice, without the big crowds and tons of aircraft in the air around it. The Tuesday night training class will be held this month on November 14 th at 6:00 PM, at the FBO in the club room, and we will have Robert Fisher telling the story of his adventure to Idaho and back to pick up his new airplane. Rumor has it that it is a beautiful aircraft. He has published a story and it is copied in the Newsletter, following this page. Bonanza Story: On one Tuesday in October, I was invited to take a trip in a V-35 B-Bonanza We took off from Orlando Executive and flew direct to Panama City, on the panhandle of Florida. We went over the center of the peninsula, then across the Gulf and Landed in Panama City. On the way out, we had a headwind and only managed about 165 Knots. One the way back, we had a tail wind and moved at a Blistering 205 Knots. It was great fun and the pilot, Captain Jack let me play with the controls and we spent then whole ride talking about his Bonanza and the Bonanza family in general. This was a Bucket List ride for me as the Bonanza has always been a star in my flying dreams. Maybe someday TWIN??? There has been ongoing negotiations between Buck and a reluctant twin owner to put a Piper Seneca Twin, on the flight line. Those of us that need the hours to move through the ratings, or who just want a Twin Endorsement will Maybe have a shot at a great Piper Twin, news to follow. IFR Training!!! Lately, there has been a bunch of interest in IFR training. Steven Graves has just passed his written, Gary Collins just got his IPC, even Buck is hinting that he wants an IFR rating...anyone with IFR news, let me know and I will mention it in the newsletter. Both the 172 s have just gotten their Garmin Updates, and are ready for instrument training and instrument check rides. I have been working on the written and am getting over 80% on the practice tests, maybe soon I will take the fed written. Good Luck to All!!!! MEMBERSHIP DRIVE Ask a friend to join the Titusville Flying Club. Members Make It Work!!

2 At the nexus of planning, opportunity, and circumstance is adventure! And an adventure was had across nine states and nine days dealing with weather, in a new if untested machine, piloted by a recently rusty pilot. With a year and a half of planning a 3,100-mile cross-country flight from My Cross-Country Adventure By Robert G. Fisher II Homedale Idaho (S66) to Titusville Figure 1 - N719Q & Author in Greenleaf ID Florida (KTIX) loaded in Foreflight on my I Pad, I was greeted by John McBean of FoxAir LLC at the Boise airport. The following morning his team took my breath away introducing me to the most beautiful plane I ve ever seen; N719Q, a Kitfox S7 Supersport. After two days intensive flying and getting an education with Paul Leadabrand of Stick & Rudder, the time arrived to put nose to the wind, push the throttle forward and without much convincing, launch into the air. Day 1 After following the Snake River east a short time, N719Q turned south towards Las Vegas stopping to refuel at Elko Regional airport (KEKO) and Perkins field (U08) in Overton Nevada. I was quickly reminded of just how cold it Figure 2 - Between Idaho's mountains Figure 3 - Las Vegas bound at 9,500 feet & what a view can get at 9,500 feet. Fortunately the aircraft is equipped with a heater to off set the 24 F Outside Air Temperature (OAT), shorts and golf shirt. Six hours after takeoff and Henderson Executive (KHND) rolled easily under the mains. The short taxi to the FBO found my sister and brother-in-law to greet me. Sadly, arrival was just a few hours before and a few miles away from the Mandalay tragedy. The act was cruel, heartrending and defies any understanding. That s all I wish to say about that.

3 Day 2 The original plan was to fly a course on the northern side of the Grand Canyon to Monument Valley, stopping overnight in Albuquerque NM. However, the forecast of high winds at the fuel stops mandated a safer southern course paralleling Interstate 10. Now flying with my sister, we talked the hours and were awed by the mountains and expanse that are Arizona and New Mexico. Landing in Lordsberg (KLSB) New Mexico we found transportation for a good meal, a hot shower and a hard sleep. Figure 4 - Las Vegas! Day 3 An early wheels up at eight o clock put us on course towards San Antonio Texas. As we passed El Paso, a hole became obvious in my planning. Our course across the west Texas plains found few airports with services and a real-time decision to back track to Dona Ana (KDNA) proved to be wise and interesting. In addition to a good price on 100LL aviation fuel, the field hosts an air museum with a bevy of aircraft. We lingered only for a few photographs and pressed on to our final fuel stop, El Dorado (27R) Texas and the final push to Castroville (KCVS) just outside of San Antonio. 50 miles from San Antonio we discovered that the telltale fragrance of a skunk really does reach a mile high!! Figure 5 - Arizona & following roads Days 4 & 5 Weather rolled in grounding N719Q for a day, but allowing us to visit with long time friends Chuck and Billy and to decompress a little. On the second day, weather cleared long enough to enable a quick run home to Houston. The over-flight of the Johnson Spaceflight Center (JSC) provided a perspective I had only seen in photographs. The short three-hour flight ended in La Porte (T41) only 10 minutes from my house and family and ending my sister s part of the journey. The nights planning included a Figure 6 - Approaching San Antonio

4 serious look at Hurricane Nate that was racing across the Gulf of Mexico. Day 6 I was determined to get to Florida before the hurricane, but needed to take my wife on a short flight before departing the Houston area. After a short trip to Galveston and her approving smile on our plane, I turned once more east to Florida. I selected a small field in Louisiana, Pineville Municipal (2L0), for fuel based on the Self Serve price. I should have looked a little closer at the field as the approach to runway 36 is preceded by a lake and roads creating some interesting thermals. After three attempts I finally set the Figure 7 - Turning East from Houston plane down on the fourth approach with halfflaps and only minor difficulty. Fuel for the plane, some water for me and I headed for Middleton Field (KZGH) roughly 100 miles north of Pensacola Florida. Weather reporting indicted Nate s arrival would be the following evening, so I refueled and with the kindness of the FBO manager, got a lift to the local hotel for the night. Day 7 The FBO manager arrived promptly at 7:15a as promised and I was hoping for enough good weather to resume the journey towards Tallahassee. Waiting for weather conditions to clear is akin to watching grass grow. By lunchtime, I borrowed the FBO s crew car and jaunted off to town for a light snack. Finally, at 3p the weather cleared locally and enroute, to ensure a safe flight though a strong headwind slowed my progress. I was determined to get as far away from the storm as I could, but after 3 ½ hours Tallahassee was barely behind me and the sun was setting in the west so I turned back to the capital city s airport (KTLH) for the night. Approach vectored me around the FSU stadium TFR, which should have been a clue to the reception I received at the FBO. Apparently in the last minutes of the game I flew around, Miami defeated Florida State leaving a lot of alumni in shock. It seemed all of FSU s fans Figure 8 - Best dressed in Tallahassee

5 were streaming through the FBO to their planes... in silence. The few Miami fans passing by me, trying hard to be empathetic, were trying to get out of town before being discovered by angry mobs with torches and pitchforks! Days 8 & 9 Though I won the race against Nate, the hurricane left enough ugly weather to keep me in the FBO an entire next day waiting for a clearing. Though several times VFR conditions existed locally, intermediate METARs remained IFR until the evening. The following morning I arrived bright and early and was rewarded with broken skies locally and enroute. Departing midmorning and scud-running at 2,000 feet, I finally found an opportunity to climb to open skies above the clouds and turned towards Jacksonville. Cloud tops dropped significantly beyond Gainesville, Florida and I was able to turn towards Daytona Beach and Titusville. When Spacecoast Tower crackled over the radio clearing a straight in approach to Figure 9 - Throttling to Jax above broken cover runway 18, I was both thrilled and saddened the adventure was concluding. The landing was perhaps the smoothest of the entire flight and the taxi to the T-hangars uneventful. Figure 10 - Safe & sound, ready for bed A line from the movie Peter Pan came to mind, That was a great game, Peter! and it was. From the adventure I learned... Weather must be respected, but not feared... Expect your flight plans will change with conditions... In the open skies of Idaho and Nevada, flight following is a warm fuzzy... and finally, the sky is not the limit, it truly is a playground!