Happy Labor Day! I’ve been itching to get back up in the air, and James & I decided to take the SportStar (919LA, which is harder to say than 901LA) up for a spin. We planned a short trip from 52F, around the Class B, to Alliance (KADS). After topping off the tanks, we departed! The wind was calm at the field, so I departed to the south, but the winds ended up picking up enough to have us switch around to landing & taking off to the north.

About 13 miles from KADS, I picked up their ATIS and we listened. It told us to contact regional approach for any VFR traffic inbound. That was a new one for me! So we contacted regional approach, got a squawk code so they could track us, and handed us over to Alliance Tower. After the handoff, we were given the option to make left or right traffic (I always prefer left as you get better visibility of the runway), so we called out left traffic and were cleared to land.

We taxied to one of the FBOs on the field to be greeted by three VERY eager guys wanting to give us fuel. The SportStar burns 5 gals/hour, so the 30 minute flight really did not give them a reason to roll the truck. They looked a bit disappointed. Sorry guys.

We sat in the FBO for a little bit, and then packed up to leave. This was a practice run for us as I’m going to be taking some folks skydiving (not out of the plane I am flying) in October, so I wanted to have seen the layout of Addison with my eyes before asking folks to meet me there. Though, after looking more closely at the chart, in order for me to get cross country credit for the trip, it I need to take off from Alliance. That will be easy for the folks to get to (much easier than 52F).

On the way back, things were uneventful (as on the way out). 52F was much busier when we landed. Two planes departing the runway, one departing the pattern, and one doing a run up. We landed without incident and taxied back to the flight school. Off to park, and then in the car!

Now it is time to do expenses. FUN!