DAY ONE.
Sunday July 29th.07
I had a fantastic flight from Albany Georgia to the Cape.
I plan my long flights very carefully; I have exercise times and plan my meals in the air. I record all my temperatures every thirty minutes. And sometimes talk to ATC.
My IFR did not show up on departure so I continued VFR and requested flight following. I had filed for 16,000 so settled for 16,500 vfr. On reaching 14,500 I was below a cloud layer so settled for 14,500’
A fantastic flight and I had remembered to open the oxygen bottle. First couple of hours were uneventful but very enjoyable. The air conditioning had kicked in and ducts were producing cold air (the oat was +2 c.). My bare legs were getting cold so I had to shut off the vents.
Every waypoint showed up exactly on time, flying could not get any better.
Time for lunch, I had rescued a quarter chicken from a party that I worked Saturday night and had her secured in a zip lock bag. With a nice salad on the side.
I am not an expert, but for those of you that have not tried to eat a chicken at 14,500’ with oxygen canules stuck up you nose, and a boom mike. I would suggest something less messy. As I had a mouthful of chicken I got a call from Memphis Center, the salad was on the right seat. We worked it all out. A very good meal. I had a banana for dessert.
The next part of the trip was interesting. When a pilot behaves himself, maintains his altitude and stays on course, center does not call very often. So not receiving any calls did not bother me. I was in Memphis airspace so just continued.
I was monitoring 121.5 on my comm2, as we all should, when I heard a call saying
“N377SB contact Memphis Center on ???.?. I called them on the assigned frequency and they gave me the local pressure setting. They then asked if I had heard them on the emergency frequency, I told them that I had. They then thanked me for monitoring 121.5. This may be something new.
I arrived at TKX and fueled up at $3.49 per gallon and then flew the last sixty miles to the Cape. What a fantastic flight.
Life is a barrel of fun.
Ken Andrew.