captbrando’s log

Voiceover extraordinaire Ryan Pugh and I took the SportStar up today. BEAUTIFUL day to fly! We started by hitting KAFW for a couple of touch & go’s on the big runway (16L). Ahh the old days.

After that, we headed north west. I was just planning on flying around the lake; nothing big. But then we decided to go do the downtown Dallas tour. Turns out, the Adolphus Christmas Parade was going on! Got to see it from the air.

Oh, and if you are a pilot and happen to fly over a parade, watch out for stray balloons. We did not hit any, but a couple zoomed by pretty close. Felt about as scary as seeing a hawk do a dive-bomb right off your nose.

Anyway… so D/FW was too busy to let us fly over the top today (although someone else DID get routed over D/FW shortly after we were denied), so we flew on the south end, exited the Class B, and then had to transition Alliance’s Class D to get home.

On approach and landing today, we finally had the forethought to VIDEO IT! Yep, you want to see what it is like to fly a visual approach to 52F? Here it is. Enjoy!

Garrett needed some one on one time with Daddy. What better way to do this then to strap in to a SportStar and go flying?

This one was very uneventful. Flew over the parents house three times, and did a go around on the landing. The wind was coming in from the north, and I don’t like landing on the 35 end of the runway. Wanted a practice approach before setting down.

Boy that thing REALLY moves in cold air. Cruising at 95 kias, 2,500 feet, and something like 80% power. In warm air, we NEVER get that kind of performance.

So he did well. As you can see, he has flown a plane WELL before he has driven a car. He gets a little bored with straight and level (though Daddy never seems to), and eventually decided it was time to land.

Next flight may be this week down to Hard 8 BBQ in Stephenville. Just exploring it now.