Well, I have not had much chance to write of all my flying exploits as of late. Starting 3 businesses at once and raising my 2 year old boy doesn't leave a guy a lot of time for leisure writing. This post will not be as detailed or "flowery" as I'd like, but I just had to share my incredible weekend.

To put things in perspective, I have not had a real vacation in over 2 years (sorry gang, running a formation clinic - or 5- is great fun, but it is NOT vacation!). In that time I've been through the ringer. A far from amicable divorce, closing the doors on the family business, the death of 3 friends (separately), and an ailing mother have at times tested my sanity. Through it all, there have been times when I have been able to find peace and serenity only through escaping to the air to float on wings and feel the freedom that only comes through tracing arcs in the sky. Most here know of the therapy about which I speak...

Though the first 10 months of owning my Lancair could be added to the other calamities above, the last 6 have more than made up for it. I'm now pushing 90 hours on the airplane and the last 10+ are definitely on the top of the list.

Day 1

Blasted off from CNO hoping to make it to Half Moon Bay for one of their great burgers, but 30 min. into the fight I realize we're not gonna make it before they close for the day, so I punched Salinas (SNS) into the Chelton and 25 minutes later the friendly controller was clearing us for the overhead "altitude at your discretion, just don't hit us." Over the numbers at 200 feet and 2-- knots, 122LL was howling for joy as we pointed the nose upward and then rolled -- degrees to the downwind, briefly touching pattern altitude to throw out the gear and full flaps before turing back in to put her down on 31.

Burgers were great, and Laura and I hoped back into the plane to head up the coast. The marine layer was still on the Monterey Bay so we indulged in a few dozen miles of cloud surfing up the coast. Just outside of the class Bravo surface area along the San Francisco coast at 800' AGL we got a windscreen full of a KLM 777 departing SFO - what a beautiful picture of the huge lumbering jet climbing out over the puffy clouds pushed up against the pine tree lined coastline. Had planed to low level up the coast to Crecent City, but it looked like the marine layer was there to stay, so we diverted to Redding to check in on a Canberra bomber I knew of and add a splash of fuel.

From Redding we headed direct to Boeing field, which took us right by Mt. Shasta in the later-afternoon sun, and a comfortable 2 hour flight into BFI. Upon arriving into "the Valley" we were greeted with the spectacular Seattle skyline and cleared into the Bravo airspace for our decent. No issues getting into Boeing and the prop came to a stop at Galvin Flight Center with 4.4 hours of flying logged - just in time to get to the hotel, take in a gorgeous sunset, and enjoy a great Salmon dinner at Ivarr's.

Day 2

We had a busy day planned from the get go, but the marine layer came into the Sound early and it looked like we might be stuck at BFI (Boeing Field) through the TFR for the "SeaFair". Lucky for us the layer raised up just in time and we were literally the last one's off the tarmac before it was closed for our Navy's finest (Blue Angels) for the next two hours. The marine layer extended out a bit into the sound and it was fun zipping past a number of Beavers and other "slow movers" at 200 KIAS, even though I had it pulled back to 18/2400.

This was the first time over the sound for both Laura and I and we were simply taken aback by the incredible beauty given to us in this part of the country. As we approached our first stop, Diamond Point, I tuned the radio in to hear "Blackjack flight of 9 RV's is setting up for the overhead on 29". This was going to be fun! A friend of mine lives on this private community strip and they were having their annual airport day.

As the pattern cleared I called in for a low pass to check the runway environment and make sure I felt comfortable getting the Legacy down on this short and narrow strip (2000'x20'). Getting her slowed early, I was glad I had time in an S-3 simulator at North Island NAS....kept waiting to hear "call the ball" as I flew the AOA on the Chelton right down to the numbers at 90 knots. ;) On short final (about 20' AGL) I chopped the power and had just enough elevator to round out before she quit flying...we were easily stopped in 1700' at nearly max gross.

I'll just say that it doesn't suck to pull up to a small town fly-in in a Legacy. We got treated like rock stars! I think we sometimes forget we are flying the envy of most of the aviating public and it sure is fun to have all those folks admire these wonderful airplanes. To top it off I now have a $25 check and a certificate for being the migratory bird of the fly-in!


Me and my squeeze in front of 122LL at Diamond Point...