Getting my fix again

After a full month of no flying (as PIC) I was starting to really itch to get back in the air again. My schedule and the weather had conspired against me for a while, but today I was finally able to get 1.2 hours in.

In addition to testing some of the latest ForeFlight software, I was able to grab a few pictures of the family's newest addition - an aluminum dock at the lake house. The dock was built and installed by Alumadock of Henderson, NC.

It should come in handy for docking the newest edition to our family's transportation collection - the good ship USS ForeFlight:


We've had that jet ski up to about 65MPH so far - on calm water. I don't think it will go any faster than that, but I'm quite fine with that. :) The previous owner said it will tow skiers nicely and the little bit of knee-boarding we've done with it so far confirms that.

I flew down to the lake area at 5,500' - just enough to remain under the clouds. This had at least 2 benefits - the first is that I could glide farther if I had engine trouble (helpful since there are few good landing spots in that part of the state) and the second is that it was a good bit cooler up there (and shadier) making the vent air feel like air conditioning.

I took quite a few shots of the dock once I was within visual range of it. Here's one of the better ones. I'll let you guess which dock is the new one - hint: look for the blue.


The winds were calm today but the ride was a bit bumpy. I attribute the rough ride to rising thermals - the autopilot was definitely working hard for me today. I kept adjusting the throttle to keep RPMs in check and make sure I wasn't going too fast through the heavier bumps.

I ended the flight with a fairly tight pattern. I crossed the threshold a bit slow though so touched down a little firmer than I wanted. I truly hope it won't be another month before I get more PIC time.

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