Flight Time–St. Augustine

The plan for today was to fly to the town of Thomasville, Georgia. The flight time would be two and a half hours. I expected to be back on the ground in Valkaria by 8:00 PM, with plenty of time to refuel the plane and relax in Georgia. That plan didn't happen. I then shortened the flight to Suwannee County, in Live Oak, Florida, which was less than two hours each way. That plan also didn't happen. Things don't always go as originally planned.

My mom drove down from DeLand to join me on the flight today. She got a late start and therefore arrived in Melbourne later than anticipated. This led to the first change to the flight plan. By the time we got to the airport, I was starting to consider changing the plan again. As I did the pre-flight tasks, I started to think that Live Oak was also a little bit too far away, so I changed the flight plan again. I finally settled for St. Augustine.

We departed Valkaria at 3:30 PM. I contacted Orlando Approach over Melbourne and climbed to 6,500 feet. Whatever issue ATC was having during the last flight was now fixed, as I was able to maintain constant coverage all the way to St. Augustine. Along the route, I was handed off to Daytona Approach, then Jacksonville Approach. Jacksonville Approach told me to keep my squawk code and handed me off to St. Augustine Tower. Tower told me to report midfield downwind for Runway 13. As I flew the downwind leg, a small jet took off, and there was a Cessna and another small jet holding short when I landed. I didn't realize that St. Augustine had so much small jet activity.

After landing, I contacted St. Augustine Ground and asked for taxi back for a south departure. I was given instructions to taxi back to Runway 13 via Taxiway B. There was a small jet still holding short of Runway 13, so I taxied as slowly as possible to avoid getting too close to those jet exhaust nozzles that were pointed our way. After a Cessna landed and cleared the runway, Tower cleared the jet for take-off. I pulled up to the line and finished my pre-take-off checks. Tower handed the jet off to Jacksonville Departure and I called in to let them know I was ready to go. Given that a jet had just taken off, I wondered if Tower would mention anything about wake turbulence. I expected to be told to wait a minute, but Tower just gave me clearance to take off. I read back my clearance, then asked if I could turn slightly east to avoid wake turbulence and was granted my request.

Once in the air and clear of the path of the jet, I turned south along the river. We flew right past downtown and could clearly see the fort and the lighthouse. I contacted Jacksonville Approach and asked for flight following back to Valkaria at 5,500 feet. On the trip back, I flew along the coastline so Mom could have more to look at. At one point, a Virgin Air jet heading for Orlando crossed our path, about 1,000 feet above us.

Near Daytona, we approached a higher level of clouds, so I asked to climb to 6,500 feet. Soon after, we were handed off to Orlando Approach. The first thing Approach said was to descend to 5,500 feet. I asked if I could delay my descent due to clouds. Approach asked me when I'd like to descend, and I said that I'd like to begin descending at Titusville. Approach told me to advise before beginning my descent. Approaching Titusville, a large gap in the broken layer of clouds appeared, so I asked to descend to 4,500 feet. Upon reaching 4,500 feet, it was clear that I needed to go even lower, so I requested 3,500 feet.

As we approached Melbourne, I cancelled flight following and continued descending into Valkaria. We were back on the ground at 6:05 PM.

April was a very busy month of flying for me. All said, I put 28.6 hours in my logbook this month.

The flight tracks are below.

Flight Time: 2.9 hours
Total Time: 731 hours

Flight Time–St. Simons Island

Today, I planned a flight to Jekyll Island, off the coast of Georgia. Susan and I went there to attend the Commander Owners Fly-in many years ago, but I’ve never flown there myself.

Susan and I left Valkaria at 2:25 PM. I contacted Orlando Approach while overflying Melbourne and asked for flight following at 6,500 feet. I was told to maintain 5,500 feet and that I could only get flight following in his sector. He mentioned that there was some issue transferring flight plans from one sector to another. That was odd. Passing Titusville, Approach ended our flight following. With no more altitude restriction, I climbed to 6,500 feet.

We continued along up the coast as planned. Just south of St. Augustine, I contacted Jacksonville Approach and asked for flight following to Jekyll Island. As we approached Fernandina Beach, Approach asked if I minded flying two miles off the coast, to avoid parachute activity. At 6,500 feet, I responded that I didn’t mind. We soon heard the call out of “Jumpers away”. Once clear of the area, I turned back towards the coast, cancelled flight following, and started descending towards Jekyll Island.

The weather at Jekyll Island did not look good. There was a direct crosswind of 14 knots. The maximum demonstrated crosswind component for the Cherokee is 17 knots. This concerned me. Meanwhile, another pilot in a Jabiru was setting up for a landing on Runway 36. I entered the pattern and followed his lead. He successfully landed and warned me about a wind shear on final. On final, the turbulence increased the lower and closer to the runway that we flew. As we crossed the numbers, I struggled to keep the plane aligned with the runway and descending at a constant rate. I had already considered my options while on downwind, so I was prepared to go around if I wasn’t comfortable with the approach, so that’s what I did. I added full power, climbed away from the runway, and diverted to St. Simons Island, which has a runway more aligned with the wind.

We landed at St. Simons Island at 4:30 PM and taxied to the FBO. Meanwhile, a Cessna Citation jet and a Pilatus turboprop departed. A ‘follow me’ golf cart appeared and we were marshalled to a spot to park. The marshaller offered us a ride back to the FBO and we accepted.

St. Simons Island FBO

Inside the FBO, we found the kitchen and ate our snacks. I pulled out Foreflight and updated my flight plan back to Valkaria. The original plan was to spend a few hours walking around Jekyll Island, then leaving around 6:00 PM. We considered sticking around, but the sky was starting to close over the airport. Instead, we returned to the plane and departed at 5:15 PM.

St. Simons Island FBO

There was a thin, broken layer of clouds over the airport, but it was clear above it. We flew south a few miles before seeing an opening to the west. I climbed up through the opening into the clear blue sky, then turned back to the south. I contacted Jacksonville Approach while passing Fernandina Beach and got flight following back to Valkaria. South of St. Augustine, I realized that Foreflight was not recording the flight, so I manually started recording.

Approaching Melbourne, I cancelled flight following and prepared to land at Valkaria. It was now after 7:00 PM and I was considering doing three take-offs and landings after dark to reset my night currency. I didn’t want to sit at the airport and wait for dark, so we continued flying south past Vero Beach before turning around and returning to Valkaria. We landed at 7:45 PM.

At 8:10 PM, we departed Valkaria again and flew towards Melbourne. Night officially started at 8:19, so we flew outside Melbourne until 8:20, then contacted Melbourne Tower about doing three full stop landings. Tower said that they no longer support pattern work at night, so I asked for one full stop landing followed by a departure to the south.

My experience with Melbourne Tower has always been a little bit tense. I imagine it is due to all of the student traffic that they deal with all the time, but something is always off with them. Tonight was no different. I already felt like Tower was upset with me for asking to do a full stop after he told me they no longer support night pattern work. After landing, I was directed to taxi back to Runway 9L. When I was ready to take off, I asked for a south departure and was told to fly to the river before turning south and no response was required. I read that back, thinking he meant that I didn’t need to tell him that I was turning south. He replied in a flabbergasted tone, “I just said not the respond.” Ok, whatever. Clearly there was room for misinterpretation in what he just said, and who doesn’t read back a take-off clearance? I took off and flew straight out to the east. Over the river, Tower told me to turn right, frequency change approved, and press Ident to respond. I couldn’t read the transponder buttons in the dark, so I had to turn on my headlamp before finding and pressing the button. Tower than said, “Ident received”.

The new plan was to do two more take-offs from Valkaria. After shaking off the unusual vibes from Melbourne Tower, I prepared myself to enter the black hole that is Valkaria at night. There were two other planes in the pattern. I followed one for the first landing, then had the pattern to myself for the second. I landed at 9:05 PM.

The flight tracks are shown below.

Valkaria to St. Simons Island

St. Simons Island to Valkaria, around Vero Beach

Valkaria to Melbourne to Valkaria

Flight Time: 6.4 hours
Total Time: 728 hours

Flight Time–Merritt Island

Ever since joining Valkaria Flyers, one of my partners has had a nice, used audio panel sitting on a shelf. My partner even had a mounting bracket and harnesses built for it, but yet it sat, uninstalled. We’ve talked about installing it but never had a real need. Lately however, the intercom has been giving me trouble, so we decided to get an installation estimate.

This week, my partner made an appointment with Sebastian Communications at Merritt Island Airport to get an estimate for installation. Today we flew the Cherokee to Merritt Island.

My partner hasn’t flown the Cherokee much. He has a current medical and a current BFR, but he hasn’t done his three take-offs and landings within the past 90 days, so he cannot take passengers. We decided that I would do the flying while he regained familiarity with the process. He did the preflight while I watched. After departure, I let him take the controls for part of the flight to Merritt Island. We flew a westerly route due to clouds at 2,400 feet. I landed the plane, then taxied to one of three buildings that might be Sebastian Communications.

We guessed right and met our contact. My partner showed what he had put together, then we went to the plane to show our contact the current state of the panel. Our contact seemed impressed by what my partner had, and told us that he’d send us an estimate.

For the flight back, the clouds had broken up, so I decided to fly over Patrick SFB and Melbourne’s Class D airspace. I climbed to 2,500 feet, then let my partner fly down the beach at 3,000 feet.

After landing, my partner asked if I was busy. He was interested in getting current again. Given that I am a CFI, it is legal for him to fly with me as a passenger/instructor. I told him that I had time, so we shut down the plane on the ramp and swapped seats.

My partner started the plane and taxied to Runway 10. I knew that he was pretty rusty, so I paid very close attention to everything he did, and made sure that he didn’t miss anything. He did three laps around the pattern.

After the third landing, he asked if I wanted to fly outside the pattern. I told him that I was getting hungry, so we compromised and he flew one more lap around the pattern. My partner is now current to take passengers, and I now have time in the “Dual Given” column of my logbook.

The flight tracks are shown below.

Valkaria to Merritt Island

Merritt Island to Valkaria

Around the pattern at Valkaria

Flight Time: 2.4 hours
CFI Time: 1.0 hours
Total Time: 721 hours

Flight Time–St. Petersburg

While preparing for my most recent flight review, I planned a flight to Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg. During that flight, we had radio problems and diverted to another airport. Today, I planned this flight again.

Susan and I departed Valkaria Airport at 3:20 PM and turned to the west. I contacted Orlando Approach and asked for flight following while climbing to 6,500 feet. While we were climbing, Approach contacted me and mentioned that I was turning southwest and that the restricted airspace was active. I responded that I was just maneuvering to get above the clouds and that I would remain clear of the restricted airspace.

The Tampa Class B airspace begins about 5 miles west of Lakeland, so I planned to start my descent at Lakeland. About that time, Approach told me to descend to 4,500 feet. Soon after, Approach told me to descend to 3,500 feet. Next, I was told to turn to a heading of 200 degrees. Both of these descents and the turn kept me clear of the Class B airspace. My next instruction was to descend to 2,000 feet and fly direct to Alfred Whitted Airport. This instruction would require me to enter the Class B airspace, so I asked Approach to verify that I was cleared to enter Class B airspace and was specifically granted permission.

As we crossed Tampa Bay, we were handed off to Whitted Tower. We were told to enter the downwind for Runway 7, following a Cessna on downwind. I complied and we landed at 4:20 PM. Tower asked my intentions, and I told him I wanted to taxi to the FBO. He gave me the taxi route, and I complied. We were met by a marshaller, who parked us near the FBO.

The Cherokee on the ramp near the FBO

Inside, I paid my $10 ramp fee, then started exploring the place. The Hangar restaurant is on the second floor and has a great view of the airport. Although we were tempted, we are on a tight budget and grabbed a to-go menu just in case we changed our minds later.

Inside the FBO

Outside, we took some pictures, then walked a few hundred feet to the trolley stop. St. Petersburg has a free trolley service that runs around downtown with a bus arriving every 15 to 20 minutes. We caught the next trolley and rode it a few stops to the pier stop.

Outside the FBO

David at the airport entrance

I've never seen a pier quite like this. It was very long. It actually has its own shuttle bus system to move people to the end and back. It has a parking lot, an aquarium, a community marketplace, a very nice playground, a memorial to the first commercial seaplane operation, and a fancy building that has a deli and a nice restaurant inside. And the best part - it is free!

Monument to the first commercial seaplane flight

We walked along the pier primarily to see the fancy building. The marketplace had little tents set up with vendors selling what appeared to be mostly African items. When we reached the end of the pier, we walked up the steps to the restaurant on top. The views in all directions were superb.

Cool structure on the end of the pier

On our walk back to the trolley stop, we checked out the very nice playground, then ate some snacks in the shade nearby. When we reached the trolley stop, a trolley approached but then turned the wrong way and parked. I didn't want to wait, so we walked north along the route. We came to another park near the bay, so we walked through it. We could see more tents setup nearby. Turns out, they were preparing for a triathlon. To our surprise, we saw a large group of people swimming in the bay. I guess they were preparing for the upcoming event. We continued north a bit further, then went west a block or two, then headed back towards the airport. Along the way we passed by many restaurants with sidewalk seating. I was almost tempted to grab a slice of someone's delicious looking margarita pizza. The smell of fresh-baked waffles coming from an ice cream shop just about knocked me off my feet.

We eventually arrived back at the FBO. We considered getting an appetizer at The Hangar but decided against it. Meanwhile, there appeared to be a photoshoot happening out on the ramp. The Mooney "Anomaly" was parked near the door, and a female model wearing a tight gold dress was standing near it. I was thinking to myself that I'd seen that plane before, probably at Sun 'n Fun 2024. Meanwhile, the model starts pulling black and yellow fabric from a case. She pulls it over her head and the next thing you know, she's dressed like a bumblebee! A few minutes later, she came inside the FBO, and I told her that she seems to lead a very fun life.

After finishing my flight planning, we walked out onto the ramp. I saw the Mooney pilot and asked about the plane. Yes indeed, the plane was at Sun 'n Fun in 2024, but it was also the cover plane for the 2025 Sun 'n Fun poster. Pretty cool.

Sun 'n Fun 2025 poster with the Mooney "Anomaly"

I did a pre-flight, then we were ready to go. I pulled out my headlamp and spare flashlight, knowing that we'd be flying in the dark shortly. I listened to the ATIS and was told that Runway 36 was active. I called Ground and was given taxi instructions to the far corner of the airport. We took off at 7:40 PM. I tuned Tampa Approach and was given a heading and told to stay below the Class B airspace. To comply, I flew across the bay at 800 feet. We were told about converging helicopter traffic from the south and my mind instantly jumped to the crash in Washington D.C. The flight proceeded without incident, and we landed in Valkaria at 9:00 PM.

To summarize the trip, St. Pete is a fantastic, walkable destination. Being night current was a bonus, allowing us to stay later than we would have otherwise.

The flight tracks are shown below

Valkaria to St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg to Valkaria

Flight Time: 3.0 hours
Total Time: 719 hours

Flight Time–Ocala

Today, I chose to fly to Ocala. I updated and briefed an existing flight plan, then headed to the airport. I pre-flighted the plane and was in the air at 12:25. I climbed to 6,500 feet to get on top of a scattered layer of clouds. I flew north along the east side of the Orlando Class B airspace, then turned to the west as I passed Sanford. The restricted airspace R-2910 was active, so I descended down to 3,500 feet to fly below the northwest side of the Orlando Class B airspace. From here onward, the flight was moderately turbulent.

As I approached Ocala, I tuned the ATIS frequency to get the airport information, then contacted Ocala Tower at 10 miles out. Tower told me to call back at four miles out. During those six miles, I heard Tower giving hand-holding instructions to a student pilot. Tower informed him that they did not have radar and repeatedly gave him turning instructions. In the meantime, there were two other aircraft in the pattern west of the airport and a jet on a straight in approach to Runway 18. In my mind, I expected to enter a left downwind on the east side of the airport.

This is when the confusion began. I told Tower that I was four miles southeast of the airport. Tower told me to continue my heading, and he would advise my turns. I asked for clarification, saying, "Do you want me to continue northwest, or turn to the north?" Tower said something about me being southeast, then started talking to another plane in the area. I continued northwest, thinking that he wanted me to enter the right traffic on the west side of the airport. I was just about to cross the airport when Tower told me to remain on the east side of the airport and enter a left base for Runway 18. I made a hard right turn and joined the left downwind - which is what I expected to fly from the beginning. Tower then called my base turn, and I was number two behind a Cessna doing a touch and go. As I neared the numbers on short final, Tower told me to go around, so I added full power and started to climb. Tower then told me to turn left as I passed the tower. I turned left and looked back at the runway, where I saw a jet on short final. Tower apparently decided to make me go around rather than the jet. I entered the left downwind leg again and was told to turn base and follow a plane on right base. I located the other traffic and followed it in for landing. I cannot believe that an airport of this size and with this mix of training planes and private jets does not have radar and do a better job of managing traffic.

Tower told me to turn left at the next taxiway, hold short of Taxiway A, and contact ground. I stopped just short of Taxiway A and contacted ground. I told him that I wanted to taxi to the self-serve fuel pumps. He asked if I was familiar with the airport. I said that I could see the pumps on the north ramp. He gave me taxi instructions and a tip to take the service road directly to the pump. I was quite pleased with his clear and helpful instructions. To give the tower operator a break, he was handling about 6 planes in the air and two on the ground when I arrived.

I topped the tanks and taxied south between the hangars to the ramp outside the FBO. I parked near another Cherokee and shut down the plane. When I got out, a line guy came up to me. I asked about my parking spot, and he said he'd move the plane later. I said let's just move it now. He helped me turn it around and put it in his preferred spot. I'm not sure why he didn't just marshal me there in the first place.

Sheltair FBO at Ocala International Airport

As I walked to the FBO, I noticed a strong horse theme. The funny thing is, I had anticipated this. Last week, I downloaded the Ocala airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The simulated version made mention of the horse theme and even included the lawn jockeys that are standing near the entrance.

Collection of lawn jockeys

Collection of lawn jockeys

I walked into the FBO and talked to the receptionist. I told her that I already bought gas, then handed her the $5 "security fee" that I was told about when I called before the flight.

Inside the FBO

After visiting the restroom and filling my water bottle, I headed outside. I walked across the road to the Ocala Breeders Sales. This place had over a dozen long stables, each containing at least 40 stalls. There was an occasional worker, cleaning out a stall. I walked past a set of tiki huts and what I assume is the sales area, where people come to show and bid on Thoroughbred horses. I ran into a lady on a smoke break and asked her about the place. She told me that they have about five big sales a year.

Back at the airport, I planned my return flight. I decided to add a quick stop at Inverness. I had visited Inverness last year while researching the Mesa Pilot Development program. At the time, I was considering joining their program to build 1,500 hours of flight time and be guaranteed a spot in their next regional airline pilot class. During that visit, the office was full of time-building pilots, and the hangar was packed full of training planes. I eventually decided not to join their program. It turns out that that was a good decision because they closed the facility and moved to Arizona.

I was back in the air at 3:30. I climbed to 2,500 feet and flew to Inverness. As I approached and flew the pattern, I noticed that the airport looked dead. I landed, taxied back, and departed. I climbed to 5,500 feet and flew towards Winter Haven. I soon realized that 5,500 feet was right at the tops of the clouds, so I continued climbing to 7,500 feet. I was back on the ground at Valkaria at 5:00.

After doing the normal post-flight cleaning, I was about to head home. I locked the hangar and, as I walked towards my car, I noticed another car a few hangars down. It was the owner/builder of a Van's RV-7. I've talked to him a few times over the years. He recently finished the build and has been doing the required test flights. He saw me and asked if I wanted to go up for a flight. I immediately responded, "Absolutely!".

I had never flown in a homebuilt plane before. I've only flown in a couple tail draggers over the years. This was a pretty rare opportunity that I didn't want to miss. He showed me how to get in and strap in, then started his preflight. Being an experimental aircraft, it does not require expensive, certificated instrumentation. It had two Dyson screens, an autopilot, a NAV/COM radio, and an old Garmin GPS.

David standing beside the Van's RV-7

Once up and running, he asked me if I wanted to taxi the plane. I had never taxied a tail dragger before, so it was an interesting learning experience. Being a tail dragger, you cannot see what is directly in front of the plane. To compensate for this, you must do small "S" turns to get the full sight picture. I taxied to Runway 14, then gave the controls back to the owner. He took off, then let me fly. I climbed to 5,000 feet, then did a 180 turn to the left, followed by a 180 turn to the right. He asked me if I was familiar with the Garmin 430, and I said that I was. He took over the controls while I tuned in the Treasure VOR, set the CDI to VLOC, and he set the Garmin as the input on his Dyson display. The HSI updated to green and he turned the course knob to center the needle on the HSI. He verified that the needle did as one would expect, then I showed him a few other 430 tricks, like pages and sub-pages, including the Nearest pages. I found Valkaria on the Nearest Airports page and clicked Direct. I changed the CDI back to GPS and the HSI on the Dyson screen turned magenta and centered on the direct course. He approached the airport, then maneuvered the pattern. He did one low approach, then came around and landed. Afterwards, I was bubbling over with excitement. I wish the Cherokee had a tenth of the instrumentation that this plane has.

The flight tracks are shown below.

Valkaria to Ocala

Ocala to Inverness to Valkaria

Flight Time: 3.6 hours
Total Time: 716 hours

Flight Time–Homestead

Every time that I look at my Visited Airports map, I see a lack of pins in southeast Florida. I think about flying down the Keys, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Today, I planned to change that by flying to Homestead.

My mom and I were airborne from Valkaria at 11:45 AM. I climbed to 6,500 feet and enjoyed the cool, smooth air. The plan was to descend below the Fort Lauderdale Class C airspace and the Miami Class B airspace. This required me to fly west of Miami at 2,500 feet, below the 3,000-foot shelf. As we descended below 5,000 feet, the ride became turbulent - as expected. I pulled the power back to lessen the effect of the bumps. I wanted to stay on the edge of civilization, rather than fly over the Everglades, but that would have required flying below 2,000 feet - an altitude I didn't want to get down to. To make matters even more interesting, there was a wildfire burning near Wellington, which was creating a 15-mile-long smoke screen from the ground up to 5,000 feet. I heard several other pilots mention it, and some asked for airspace transitions to avoid it. I decided that the visibility through it was sufficient and continued on through it. We were out the other side within a minute.

Once beyond the Class B airspace, I prepared to land at Homestead. Homestead has a grass runway parallel to Runway 10 with planes towing gliders into the sky. I paid close attention to make sure there were no planes or gliders approaching as I flew the downwind leg. We landed and taxied onto the first ramp that we saw. The ramp was empty, and I couldn't see the fuel pump. I looked closely at the airport diagram, but it wasn't clear where it was. I took a chance and taxied west. Soon I saw the pump. 

After topping off the tanks, I pushed the plane into a parking spot while Mom headed for the FBO. When I joined her, I saw a food truck. She headed for it, and I pulled out the iPad to start planning the flight back home.

I knew that I didn't want to return via the same route that I flew earlier. I asked a couple instructors what they'd do, then I decided to fly over the Miami Class B airspace at 7,500 feet. With Homestead being so close to the edge of the Class B airspace, I would need to fly south towards the top of the Keys first to gain altitude before flying north.

After a quick snack and bathroom stop, we headed back out to the ramp. I checked the fluid levels in the plane then prepared for departure. We took off at 2:20 PM. As planned, I turned south after takeoff and continued to climb out over the water. While climbing, I turned left towards Key Largo and continued climbing to the northeast. By the time we reached the Ocean Reef Club, I was at 7,500 feet. I turned directly towards Miami Internation Airport, then contacted Miami Approach and asked for flight following to Valkaria. Approach was busy and told me to stand by. A few minutes later, I called again and was given a squawk code. Being above the Class B airspace, I was able to fly the course that I wanted with no inputs from Approach. Unfortunately, there was a strong headwind at that altitude, so we were only doing 95 knots over the ground. I didn't mind, since we had full tanks and beautiful weather.

Once past Miami, I turned slightly east towards West Palm Beach. Other than a frequency change, we were not told where to go by ATC. We did get a traffic advisory at one point. There was a Virgin Airlines A330 heading our way at our altitude, but it was descending, so it was no factor.

Just south of West Palm Beach, Approach told me to fly heading 360. We remained on this heading until we passed the north edge of their Class C airspace, and I was handed off to the next controller. I asked to descend to 6,500 feet and resume own navigation. I was told to proceed on course. We continued along the Intercoastal all the way up to Sebastian, at which point I cancelled flight following.

I started to descend for the approach into Valkaria when Mom suggested that we continue to Cape Canaveral. She wanted to see if there were any cruise ships in port. We still had three hours of fuel in the tanks, so I said, "Sure!" I leveled off at 3,500 feet to cross over Patrick Space Port Base. I was listening to Orlando Approach, and I heard a "heavy" heading for Patrick. I thought that would be interesting to see. I looked at Foreflight and saw a plane labeled "Grizzly" and thought that could be a military plane. Sure enough, it turned towards Patrick's Runway 3. The huge C-17 flew under us, over the runway, out over the ocean, then turned southwest on the downwind leg.

Clear of Patrick's Class D airspace, I descended to 2,000 feet and flew slowly past the port. There were no cruise ships in port, but it was still interesting to see the port from low and slow. We continued west along FL 528, hoping to see a Brightline train. We didn't, but we did see a long freight train. Then we turned south and flew along the St. John River, past Viera, over Lake Washington, and around the Melbourne Class D airspace. We landed at Valkaria at 5:05 PM.

So now I have a pin in my Visited Airports map at Homestead. I still have several more general aviation airports to visit in that area. I didn't like flying low over the Everglades, so I'll probably stick to the high route, or wait until I can go there IFR.

The flight tracks are below.

Flight Time: 4.8 hours
Total Time: 712 hours

Flight Time–Marco Island

This week is shaping up to be gorgeous - clear skies and low humidity for days. Today I wanted to take a long flight with Mom. I started looking along the coast of Georgia, but the winds were too high to be comfortable for Mom. Then I looked at Western Georgia, but clouds were predicted to build in the afternoon. Then I looked at the Keys but decided that I should build up Mom's comfort level before dealing with Miami airspace. I ended up choosing Marco Island.

We went to Valkaria and were in the air at 11:00 AM. The flight was very smooth at 6,500 feet. I started my descent around 20 nm away and entered the pattern for Runway 35. After landing, I taxied to the fuel pump while looking for a place to park. I topped off the tanks, then manually pulled the plane over to an open spot between two Cessna 172s. Luckily, they are high wing planes because they were not that far apart. The Cherokee wingtips were underneath the Cessna wingtips. I wasn't planning to stay long, so I figured this was acceptable for the short term.

We caught a ride to the FBO with a line worker and checked in. We talked about our flight and where we were from, then they offered us the courtesy car. We accepted the offer and headed outside to find our Hyundai. I drove out to the main highway and onto the island. Mom and I enjoyed looking at all of the expensive house and condos for a while, then headed back to the airport.

Marco Island FBO

After eating a sandwich made from ham and cheese from my cooler, I planned the next leg of the flight. I was thinking about going to Crystal River or Inverness, but settled on Brooksville, which is a regional airport north of Tampa.

When I finished planning, Mom asked for a ride back to the plane. When we arrived at the plane, there was a guy refueling a Cessna 206 on amphibious floats. I couldn't resist the urge to talk to him. He flies for a local company that takes people to the Keys. He also flew in Alaska and knows some of the pilots at Jack Brown's Seaplane Base.

After the chat, I pulled the plane out from under the Cessnas and did the preflight. Once the engine was started, I turned on the radios and intercom and found that the intercom was not working. This happened before on a flight in northern Georgia. I turned it off and on a few times, but it was clear that it wasn't going to work. I taxied to and took off from Runway 35. While climbing out, another pilot told me that my transmission was weak. I turned off the intercom and asked him if it sounded better now. He said that it did. At least I now knew that I was being heard over the radio.

After departure, I flew low and slow around Marco Island, then followed the coast to the north. With the failed intercom, I couldn't talk to Mom. This resulted in us trying to communicate with sign language, gestures, and screaming at each other. I soon got frustrated with this and decided to divert back to Valkaria.

On the ground at Valkaria, I topped off the tanks and prepared to put the plane back in the hangar. While pushing the plane, a man pulled up in a golf cart. He knows my partners and said that he almost bought the share that I ended up buying. He seemed very impressed with the plane, so I told him to give me a call at the end of summer. If all goes well, I may be moving out of state and therefore be interested in selling my share.

The flight tracks are shown below.

Valkaria to Marco Island

Marco Island to Valkaria

Flight Time: 4.0 hours
Total Time: 708 hours

Flight Time–Post Annual Local

Ever since the mechanics completed the annual inspection of the Cherokee, I’ve been itching to go fly the plane. Unfortunately, the winds have been too strong this week. Today, however, the winds were expected to subside around 7:00 PM, so I planned to go for a local checkout flight.

Susan and I left home at 6:00 and were in the air by 7:20. The flight started with a wide, left turning oval near the airport as I climbed to 3,500 feet. Once I was comfortable with the sounds and feels of the plane, I turned south to do a VOR check on the Victor 3 airway between Melbourne and Vero Beach. The Melbourne VOR has been out of service for some time, but I thought the Treasure VOR was still in service. I tuned both radios to it, but neither received a signal. Neither was identifying the VOR either. So much for flying IFR with VORs these days.

Since we were close to Vero Beach, I decided to go ahead and land there. I noted the ATIS information while doing a right 360 to lose altitude. Once I had the details, I called the Vero Beach Tower and asked for clearance to land. Tower did not respond. I looked up the hours of operation, thinking that the tower might be closed. Foreflight indicated that the tower was open until 2300. It was not clear if that was local time or Universal time. I did the math, and 2300 UTC works out to be 7:00 PM local. I therefore assumed that the tower was closed. I made another call, announcing my intentions to anyone listening. A minute later, I thought it odd that I didn’t hear anyone else, so I tuned COM2 to the tower frequency and immediately heard others on frequency, including the controller. I told him that I thought the tower was closed, but it appears that my COM1 radio is not receiving. He cleared me to land on Runway 12L.

After landing, Tower cleared me back to Runway 12L for a north departure. As I climbed to the north, I tried COM1 again. By this time, it was after sunset, so I used my headlamp to illuminate the radio. Just for grins, I twisted the volume knob. To my surprise, I could now hear Vero Beach Tower loud and clear. Somehow, while trying to tune and identify the VOR, I must have turned down the volume on COM1 by accident. DOH!

We continued flying up the beach and I noted the Hobbs time when it officially became night. We flew over Melbourne, then turned around and headed back to Valkaria. I turned on the lights at Valkaria by clicking five times on the CTAF frequency, then entered the left pattern for Runway 14. This was nearly a direct crosswind landing, but the winds were almost calm by this time, so it was not a problem.

One thing to note was the navigation lights. As part of the annual, we installed new LED lights for the navigation lights. I’m happy to report that they are extremely bright and light up the ground under the wings when taxiing. That was likely the least expensive upgrade you can make in an airplane.

The flight track is shown below.

Flight Time: 1.5 hours
Total Time: 704 hours