The $160 omelet
Jamie and I stuffed ourselves into a 172 Sunday morning and went to Brainerd for breakfast.
I've never been a '$100 hamburger' kind of a guy. If I'm flying someplace I much prefer to be doing something useful.
I'm all about making a trip much faster and efficient through the magic of small airplanes and small airports located close to where I want to go. My obsession with speed and efficiency is a bit of a personality defect but I suppose it could be worse.
After six months of near-constant training I was ready to fly anywhere, for any reason, as long as it didn't involve training.
So Brainerd it was.
Jamie is a student pilot with maybe five or six hours in his logbook, a member of my flying club and an all-around great guy I've known for ages now.
It's easy to forget how new and exciting the prospect of taking an airplane on a short cross-country flight is to somebody who has never done it.
I handled the takeoff, got us established in cruise at 3,500 feet and gave Jamie the airplane. We've flown together before and I know he can handle cruise just fine so I decided to add some basic navigation chores for him to deal with.
It was strictly pilotage (navigating by looking out the window and following a map to your destination, which is great fun and a bit of a lost art now that darn near everybody uses GPS).
I showed Jamie our route on the sectional chart and explained we'd follow Hwy. 169 until we could see Mille Lacs and then aim for the west shore of the lake before cutting northwest into Brainerd.
It was great fun and totally relaxing as Jamie followed the highway and did a good job holding altitude and heading in the smooth morning air. I'd occasionally point out our location on the sectional chart so he could start equating what he saw out the window with what was depicted on the map.
Nearing Brainerd I explained how we'd begin our descent by reducing power and how the airplane would just keep on flying at the same airspeed. We had a quick discussion about using pitch for airspeed control, power to manage the rate of descent or climb.
Jamie did a nice job getting us set up on a downwind for 12 at Brainerd and I took over then made a mediocre landing.
After an omelet at the Wings Cafe we checked out a Citation on the ramp then piled back into trusty 1724Y and headed home.
The winds were forecast to pick up and the forecast was right on the money. There was light turbulence at 3,500 so we climbed up to 5,500 to find smooth air.
I had Jamie track a GPS direct course back. He wandered around a bit but I kept my mouth shut and let him figure it out, which he did. We talked through how to effectively scan for traffic (pick a segment of sky and scan then move on, don't sweep from side to side) and I messed around with the Garmin 430 for a while and tried not to be too bothered by our 83 knot groundspeed.
I mentioned it to Jamie who wasn't bothered at all. “That's not really the point, is it?” he said.
I had to agree that speed wasn't the issue today, although part of me still wished we'd taken a 155-knot 182RG instead.
We motored along in silence for a while and I was struck by just how remarkable it is to be able to hop in a small airplane and just go fly for the hell of it.
It's easy to forget how fortunate we are to have such an excellent infrastructure for general aviation and how lucky I am to have flown enough to think a flight from Minneapolis to Brainerd isn't a big adventure.
Jamie flew the descent down into the bumps at 3,500 feet and he did a fine job holding altitude and course without any coaching from me, which was really fun to watch.
At 10 miles out I took over. There was a fair bit of mechanical turbulence on approach and a stiffening crosswind but I managed a really smooth landing with the upwind wheel kissing down first, just like they teach it. A quick stab on the brakes and we were stopped maybe 1,000 feet down the runway.
It was a totally routine flight for me but a great adventure for Jamie and that made it special.
I've never been a '$100 hamburger' kind of a guy. If I'm flying someplace I much prefer to be doing something useful.
I'm all about making a trip much faster and efficient through the magic of small airplanes and small airports located close to where I want to go. My obsession with speed and efficiency is a bit of a personality defect but I suppose it could be worse.
After six months of near-constant training I was ready to fly anywhere, for any reason, as long as it didn't involve training.
So Brainerd it was.
Jamie is a student pilot with maybe five or six hours in his logbook, a member of my flying club and an all-around great guy I've known for ages now.
It's easy to forget how new and exciting the prospect of taking an airplane on a short cross-country flight is to somebody who has never done it.
I handled the takeoff, got us established in cruise at 3,500 feet and gave Jamie the airplane. We've flown together before and I know he can handle cruise just fine so I decided to add some basic navigation chores for him to deal with.
It was strictly pilotage (navigating by looking out the window and following a map to your destination, which is great fun and a bit of a lost art now that darn near everybody uses GPS).
I showed Jamie our route on the sectional chart and explained we'd follow Hwy. 169 until we could see Mille Lacs and then aim for the west shore of the lake before cutting northwest into Brainerd.
It was great fun and totally relaxing as Jamie followed the highway and did a good job holding altitude and heading in the smooth morning air. I'd occasionally point out our location on the sectional chart so he could start equating what he saw out the window with what was depicted on the map.
Nearing Brainerd I explained how we'd begin our descent by reducing power and how the airplane would just keep on flying at the same airspeed. We had a quick discussion about using pitch for airspeed control, power to manage the rate of descent or climb.
Jamie did a nice job getting us set up on a downwind for 12 at Brainerd and I took over then made a mediocre landing.
After an omelet at the Wings Cafe we checked out a Citation on the ramp then piled back into trusty 1724Y and headed home.
The winds were forecast to pick up and the forecast was right on the money. There was light turbulence at 3,500 so we climbed up to 5,500 to find smooth air.
I had Jamie track a GPS direct course back. He wandered around a bit but I kept my mouth shut and let him figure it out, which he did. We talked through how to effectively scan for traffic (pick a segment of sky and scan then move on, don't sweep from side to side) and I messed around with the Garmin 430 for a while and tried not to be too bothered by our 83 knot groundspeed.
I mentioned it to Jamie who wasn't bothered at all. “That's not really the point, is it?” he said.
I had to agree that speed wasn't the issue today, although part of me still wished we'd taken a 155-knot 182RG instead.
We motored along in silence for a while and I was struck by just how remarkable it is to be able to hop in a small airplane and just go fly for the hell of it.
It's easy to forget how fortunate we are to have such an excellent infrastructure for general aviation and how lucky I am to have flown enough to think a flight from Minneapolis to Brainerd isn't a big adventure.
Jamie flew the descent down into the bumps at 3,500 feet and he did a fine job holding altitude and course without any coaching from me, which was really fun to watch.
At 10 miles out I took over. There was a fair bit of mechanical turbulence on approach and a stiffening crosswind but I managed a really smooth landing with the upwind wheel kissing down first, just like they teach it. A quick stab on the brakes and we were stopped maybe 1,000 feet down the runway.
It was a totally routine flight for me but a great adventure for Jamie and that made it special.
posted by Will at 10:19 AM
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