So both Aaron and I needed to get with it, IFR currency style.
Plus I hadda drop something off for him, and so on Sunday, I flew the 340A up to KPTK and met up with him
We flew my plane from Pontiac to Flint, did the ILS 27 with him as safety pilot and me under the foggles, then went back around and did the RNAV 27 approach to Flint.
Then the 27R approach on the RNAV to Pontiac.
Parked the 340, got into his Archer, and did it again, only this time with the roles reversed.
His approaches were better than mine, he nailed the localizer on the first intercept and held it, whereas I wandered left and right before getting my stuff together. I got better on the RNAVs though, and all of them were good enough. But competency comes as a part of currency, and IFR approaches are like shooting well….. if you don’t practice, you lose the edge.
We then had a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant that was very good.
Then, way too soon, it was time to leave before my home airport got weathered in: Low IFR expected after dark, so I filed a flight plan and took off for home.
The flight out was beautiful, what with the tailwind, I was hauling ass across the ground.
The flight back, of course, I had a killer 58 knot headwind, so I was only going 150 knots or so ground speed, 205-ish kts airspeed.
But one thing was pretty cool. If you look closely, you can see the glow of the turbocharger at the left side (back of the louvers)in this picture. EGT was about 1550f or so, (RAM engine specs are for 1600F but I always run just a bit under that.)…. But the turbo runs damned hot. Hot enough that you can see it sometimes when it is dark.
Either way, it was a beautiful flight out, and a smooth and clear flight back.
Right after I got home, the cloud cover began to descend. For once, my timing was good.
All in all a good day of flying.
Plus time with a good friend that I don’t get to see very often.
All in all a really good day.
3.4, 3 approaches, 2 landings….one night, one daytime.
Lots to log and more importantly spending time with a friend.
