Dad vs. son (or Joel is ahead in flight hours by 1/2 hr.)

Joel had his 2nd powered flight today. He flew in a Cessna Skylane plane from Rocky Mt. airport to Sterling, airport.

His co-pilot (for when he was flying) was Capt. Smiley. The pre-flight check had already been done (and that’s not what they were focusing on anyway.)

Joel’s mission was: to learn more about the radio and be able to listen and identify messages for their plane, to listen for DIA traffic, to make sure they used proper responses, to do manuevers and do some VFR flying. So if the tower said ‘clear for runway 2 left’ the response would be ‘this is plane (blah, blah) ready for take-off on runway 2 left’. There are 6 runways at Jeffco and you don’t want to go right if you were told to go left. It was a beautiful day for flying so the terminal was pretty busy.

Cessna’s and private jets were coming and going as Joel and the Capt. went through the engine checks. I like Centennial airport, but Jeffco does have a nice view of the flatirons.

The flight plan was to fly north a bit to skirt around DIA air traffic and then head east to Sterling (near the Nebraska border.) Capt. Smiley said they would do maneuvers (like 360 turns and steep banks) near Sterling since there would be less traffic there. We watched until Joel taxied down the runway and took off and then left to eat.

After we ate we found a toy store to shop in. Grace got a baby sperm whale, Hannah got a little otter that’s holding a star-fish and Bethany got a nameplate for her bike. I tried to find something for Joel, but he already had all the magic tricks there. We drove around for a bit and then went back to the airport. I had books and the girls had toys to play with, so we just sat and waited for Joel to come back.

The pilot said they’d try to call when they got to Sterling, but if they weren’t able to, not to freak out. I said it’s fine, I was really only freaking out the first time he went up, now it’s old hat. Sure enough they weren’t able to get a signal in Sterling (Can you hear me now? No? Oh!) and they spent longer debriefing and closing the flight plan than anticipated (which is normal.) What still makes me nervous is the glider (he’s doing that tomorrow.) After all, the thing has no engine, but I bet it’s really cool up there riding silently on gusts of wind.

The captain drilled into Joel that you always want to close your flight plan. We already knew this because you can buy key chains at the pilot shop with tags on them that say ‘Did you close your flight plan?’ as a reminder. To close it you just report that you landed and sign off a piece of paper. But, if you forget (no matter if you are a CAP pilot or just a private pilot) guess who comes out searching for you? CAP planes and cadets. So, it is very important to close the flight plan. Captain Smiley was gushing about Joel, how much he already knew, how good his hand/eye coordination skills were, his flight responses, his yoke handling. He was surprised at how much Joel knew about the instruments (especially the ASI since he just wrote a paper on it!) He told Joel not to get complacent about the flying and that even when he is not in the air there is much to learn. Joel told him that he juggles and the captain said that’s why he has such good hand/eye skills (see, juggling came in handy for something!) They did more VFR flying than IFR because the weather was so good (that’s relying more on visual things like mountains/ rivers, than instruments.) Every pilot must be able to fly IFR though, what if the weather turns bad or you get lost following a river; then you must be able to read your instruments to find your way back.

James has been using Chatfield Lake as a visual reference when he flies. There are so many things to remember when flying, you really have to know they lay of the land too. The count is Joel ahead by ½ flying hour (until tomorrow when James has another lesson!)

After Joel was done we went to the Rocky Mt. PBS kid’s fest. I don’t remember it being this hot a few years ago. We sampled some food, saw the why guy and dressed up in the Colorado Ballet’s clothes.

We went outside and played some games, got wet, and pet some animals (Al has them beat by far!)

The girls got a book, Joel got a speed racer pin and we all got yogurt bars (which I’m betting they won’t like.) I think a giant tent that covers the whole place would have made it better (and maybe something really cool like ice block racing down the street.) Now we’re just home hanging out. I was going to go to the antique store, but I think I’ll just stay here and read a book instead.

Tomorrow we have to: pick up James at the airport, take Joel to Boulder to do his glider flights, get Maisy’s shots, take James to the airport for his flying lesson……….