Trip to Kent (1G3)

Today, I woke up to a buzzing cell phone. "You have '3' missed calls." I checked the numbers and they were all from my Dad. "Are you up yet?" It was 9:15AM, and I told him - "Sorry - I overslept, and I'll be there in 15 minutes." Due to the truly fantastic weather creeping our way, we had planned to visit my brother who lives up in Stow, OH today. Unfortunately, we hadn't agreed upon a firm "wheels up" time, so I was sawing logs in the back 40 all morning, when I should've been pre-flighting the airplane.

Well, I threw on some clothes, brushed my tooths, and drove off to the airport, just as Dad was pulling the DA40 out of the hangar. This was the first time that the airplane had been out since we had chipped out the 6 inches of ice that had accumulated around the hangar door over the past two weeks. It looked like it could go 150mph, just sitting there in the morning sun. Beautiful.

We packed into the plane, and dodged the snowdrifts piled by the sides of the taxiways at Richard Downing as we made our way to the runway. Once up in the air, we cruised at about 3500ft and about 135kts groundspeed on the 35 minute flight to Kent (1G3). The air was really clear, and with the exception of the haze stuck in the inversion layer, the air was crystal clear at an altimeter of 30.35inHg. If you look at the picture that I took off the wingtip into the morning sun, you can really see how clear the air was. Fantastic!

The air was also so clear that downtown Cleveland and the lakeshore were clearly visible from over 40nm away, just around Wadsworth, OH. My camera only has a 3x zoom, so it doesn't really do the view justice. I'd really like to have Nikon D10 and a 300mm Zoom lens, and then I'd have a good shot....but I'd also be $1500 poorer. I've got a good memory:).

Downtown Cleveland from ~40nm south, over Wadsworth/Akron area

Same photo, just cropped a little better

We had a very nice visit with my brother and his wife, and my little nephew, Ambrose, who is getting bigger and cuter every time I see him. We drank some exquisite vanilla coffee, talked a little shop, read books to the little guy, ate some Hungry Howie's Pizza, and zipped back to the airport for departure. The plan was to fly directly to Newark-Heath (VTA) and drop me off to go have a belated valentines dinner/birthday party with my wife's sister and her husband. Right before we got into the airplane, I looked at Dad and said "Are you going to let me sit here?" (pointing at the left-hand seat) "Sure." he said, sealing his fate:).

I was really stoked - First hours as PIC in the DA40. It was a fairly routine flight, about 82nm from 1G3 to VTA. I programmed in the flight plan to the G1000, completed the checklists, and taxied down to runway 1 at Kent. We took off, and started climbing away at ~1000-1300ft/min. Before we had gone very long, I was over 1000ft above the Class C CAK airspace, but I thought it would be a good idea to call in and request flight following. Practice, you know, and I can always use more of that! It was fairly routine, and I really like flying the DA40 - great visibility, and I really think that the visibility is BETTER from the left-hand side:). It sure seems that way, anyhow:). Total time logged was 1.1hrs. I was walking on air after the flight. It took three cannelonis later at Buca di Beppos in Columbus to weigh me down enough so that my feet touched the ground. It was a truly great saturday.