Page 1 of 1

My First Passenger

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 12:38 pm
by Half Fast
Flew this morning for the first time since my checkride and carried my first passenger along. My son Pryce went with me and had a great time. He loves airplanes. He was a CAP cadet when he was a kid and in high school he worked as a line boy at Jack Brown's Seaplane Base in Winter Haven. He'll be leaving town for his job in a couple of months, so I'll try to fly with him as much as we can until then.

Weather was gorgeous this morning, no clouds, winds about 2 knots, and we flew out of Apopka (X04) and headed south for a short sight-seeing flight. I stayed at 2500' for the entire flight which was great for enjoying the view. We flew down to Lake Wales, got an airborne view of Bok Tower ( https://boktowergardens.org/ ), then headed back north and overflew my house in Haines City on the way back to Apopka.

Winds were gusty back at Apopka, but I got us back on the ground okay and the plane can be flown again, so I guess it qualifies as a great landing. 1.5 on the Hobbs, and a score of 10 on the funmeter. My son loved it and is looking forward to going up again soon.

And I have to say... It certainly was a pleasant change to make a flight without the engine failing six times, without having to land on a soft field, then a short field, then a soft field, without a cabin fire, without equipment failures, and on and on. :mrgreen:

Re: My First Passenger

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 12:44 pm
by TimTaylor
That's what it's all about.

Re: My First Passenger

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 1:34 pm
by Type47
Great fun!
I spent a lot of time giving rides around lake apopka too.
One of my favorites is flying to breakfast at Tampa North X39.
Nice flight, not too long, and great food at the little restaurant there.
Careful of the class bravo.
Congrats on getting your cert and happy flying!

Re: My First Passenger

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 5:50 pm
by Half Fast
Type47 wrote:Great fun!
I spent a lot of time giving rides around lake apopka too.
One of my favorites is flying to breakfast at Tampa North X39.
Nice flight, not too long, and great food at the little restaurant there.
Careful of the class bravo.
Congrats on getting your cert and happy flying!

I'll have to try that. I'm looking for a place to take my wife for her first flight, and X39 might be a good option. I was also considering Williston (X60) as I think she'd enjoy flying over the Ocala horse country. I've heard Williston also has a good restaurant at the airport.

Re: My First Passenger

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 8:56 pm
by akroguy
Wow....it just so happens I took my 15 yr. old son up today for his first ride in our new (to me) Sportstar! He hadn't flown with me in several years....just couldn't get jazzed about the Cessna 180 we had. So far, Momma AND the boy both love the little airplane. (It's daddy's toy but I let them think it's our airplane).

I wish the winds were as peaceful as on your flight. We got tossed around a bit and flew final back at home with a helluva crab angle. Into the flare, the wind settled down and all was well. The Skywagon was a real handful in such crosswinds. I think I'm a low wing guy but it's taken 600+ hours to figure that out.

I'm taking my dad up tomorrow.

It just keeps getting better. :D

Brian
06 Sportstar

Re: My First Passenger

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 11:52 pm
by foresterpoole
Half Fast wrote:And I have to say... It certainly was a pleasant change to make a flight without the engine failing six times, without having to land on a soft field, then a short field, then a soft field, without a cabin fire, without equipment failures, and on and on. :mrgreen:
I read this and blew coke out my nose I was laughing so hard! Sounds like you had a blast!

Re: My First Passenger

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:10 am
by Half Fast
foresterpoole wrote:
Half Fast wrote:
I read this and blew coke out my nose I was laughing so hard! Sounds like you had a blast!

My apologies. I'm sure cocaine must be very expensive. Sorry you wasted some. :twisted:

And we did have a blast!

Re: My First Passenger

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:22 am
by foresterpoole
Wow, yea cola-cola, that reply was even funnier though.

Re: My First Passenger

Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 1:05 pm
by Half Fast
akroguy wrote:
I wish the winds were as peaceful as on your flight. We got tossed around a bit and flew final back at home with a helluva crab angle. Into the flare, the wind settled down and all was well. The Skywagon was a real handful in such crosswinds. I think I'm a low wing guy but it's taken 600+ hours to figure that out.

Well, winds were peaceful when we took off, and we had smooth air at 2500, but the descent and landing were pretty bumpy. Down below 1500 we were getting knocked around a lot, and the gusting crosswind on landing was difficult. My landing was a bit harder than I'd like and we had a small baby-bounce at touchdown, but pilot, passenger, and plane were all reusable. Apopka (X04) is known for gusting crosswinds, made worse by the landscape, and landing there can be a challenge sometimes.

If it had been any worse, I would have flown over to Orlando North and set it down there. That's not too uncommon, and the folks from First Landings will send a car over to pick up a pilot if necessary. They'd rather do that than have a crunched airplane.