Today is my birthday. Doug took the day off and we finally got a chance to fly together. I flew up to Franklin County, closer to his house, and he rode he new motorcycle there to meet me. After a few minutes checking out his ride, we headed to Martinsville for lunch. Having missed a few minor details while planning, we found upon arrival that the Runway Cafe is closed on Monday… great. I had packed a small snack bag just in case, which we “enjoyed” while sitting outside on the patio. It wasn’t a particularly good meal, but it was a beautiful day and I couldn’t think of a better way to be spending the time.
After a fuel top off, we headed up to Smith Mountain Lake. Approaching from the south was much different than from the east were I’d come from before. There was higher mountainous terrain to pass over, but nothing the 152 couldn’t easily handle. Despite having my GPS, I still couldn’t find the airport until we were on top of it. I demoed a 360° turn and a full-flap forward slip to get us down to the runway; lot’s o’ fun.
We didn’t have time to stick around, so I just taxied back turned around and took off. We headed straight back to Franklin County, but took some time to demonstrate a few maneuvers and I let Doug do a little flying. A couple stalls, steep turns and just general flight control maneuvering were enough to give Doug a little information overload along with the fun.
Franklin County is the first right pattern I’ve had to fly; it was weird turning right, but I didn’t have any problems with it. After dropping off Doug and taking a quick stretch, I headed back to Sanford.
A 4.3 hour flight for me and a very happy birthday.