It was time for me to extend my training with a solid solo day and also test some of the reasons I bought the plane. My goal was to keep my day as normal as possible and not impact the girls, but also reach out there with the performance of the 400. 6:30 AM: I woke up and once I was ready (Jennie already left for work) I woke Mia up and got her ready for school and then dropped her off. 8:30 AM: FerrariChat.com morning office at McDonalds! 10:30 AM: Departed Northwest Regional in Roanoke, TX for the 345 NM trip to Salina, KS. Filed IFR and decided on only 7k to take advantage of the strong low level south winds. 31/2500 LOP only 180-185 KTAS, but my GS was up over 200 most of the way on 17.5 GPH. 12:20 to 2:00 PM: Both Jennie and I graduated from High School around Salina and our families still live there. We recently moved my Grandma from Texas to Salina for good Alzheimer's care. Only a 1:50 flight and my mom picked me up from the airport for some lunch. We then went over and visited my Grandma, she was about ready for a nap, but still got to visit with her a little. 2:15 PM: I took off again going up to 13k on Oxygen to get lighter head winds. 31/2500 again LOP for 195-198 KTAS 17.5 GPH and the light headwinds knocking off 5-10 kts most of the way. Made it back in exactly 2 hours. 5:45 PM: Jennie and I did spin class at the Health Club. 7:15 PM: The girls and I had dinner together. Pic 1 - getting Mia ready. Pic 2 - FerrariChat.com morning office. Pic 3 - Run-up about ready to takeoff Northwest Regional. Pic 4 - MFD screen shot, 7k straight and level 2500/31/17.5 GPH 185 KTAS 212 Kts groundspeed. Pic 5 - Mom at lunch. Pic 6 - Grandma TRYING to nap until her Grandson visited. Pic 7 - Ladies out to eat. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
People used to ask me "well, what's a private airplane good for anyway'?... My answer was that it was a "Time machine"... It lets you do things that you couldn't do in an ordinary time frame, it creates time.... This is a perfect example of it, if you tired to do this with a car or commercial airline you wouldn't have a chance...
awesome pics and story. I hope to be in your shoes someday! Food looks pretty good too. Are those mini-corndogs?
that is exactly why I want to get a plane....you can do things with your own plane you can't do with any car (regardless of how "fast" it is), or even with commercial aviation. btw Rob, I drove through Salina KS on Wed. small world. Kansas isn't as flat and boring as we're led to believe...
Did you stop in at Flower Aviation to refuel? Pick up some free steaks and wine? Warm Otis Spunkmeyer cookies? I would usually take on about 500 gallons there. That was good for about 14 steaks and 6 bottles of wine. Congrats on the new plane. Cessna is a great product. I've been in my SII for 13 years and have never had a problem. Its true they are time machines. Just remember; Flying is a great way to get somewhere very quickly, if you're not in a hurry. Safe flying.
