Flying to ‘Papa’s’

Yesterday (Sunday, the 4th), was my Grandpa’s (Papa) birthday party down in Litchfield, IL, about 86nm southwest of us.  He will be 76 this year…his birthday is the 7th…and my mom puts together a yearly get together for his birthday.  To make the drive down there is 2 hours.  I HATE driving, even riding in the back as we would’ve done going with my parents.  The day was perfect, and with an airplane available, I made the call to fly down there, and if they wanted to, my parents could ride with us.  It took about 2.2 seconds for them to decide they would ride along.  See, it’s 35 minutes of flying vs. 2 hours of driving.  Of course, there is the drive to the airport, getting the airplane ready, taxi…blah, blah, blah.  It was still no more than just over an hour of total time either way from home to Papa’s and back.

We arrived at the airport just after 11am, and were taxiing out at 11:30.  Dad was up front with me, mom and Brit took the back seats.  We departed off of runway 20 in to calm winds, climbed on up to 6500′ to cruise down to 3LF with a 150 knot ground speed.

Here’s the fam at 6500′ in the ‘ol Comanche…

Smooth flying in the cool morning air was very welcoming to Brit and my mom.  Arriving in to the Litchfield area, I flew just to the west of the airport to get a look at the windsock and wind “T”.  They both favored runway 27, guessing the wind was about 250 at 8 or so (half filled wind sock).  I try really hard to make smooth landings all the time, but with mom and Brit on board, my senses are elevated even further.  I got a “great landing” from both of them.  That was nice to hear.

We spent the afternoon at Papa’s house, had a great big lunch, enjoyed the time visiting with everyone.  At about 4:15 in the afternoon, we made our way back out to the airport.  My aunt, her boyfriend, and my cousins helped us get everything back in to the Comanche, and we hopped in, fired up, and taxied out to runway 27.  Winds were calm, and three arrivals were using 27.  We departed, and made a left turn to the southeast to fly over Papa’s house to give him a wing wave.  He was outside waiting for us.  Two passes over the property with a big wave from him, and we were climbing out to head home at 5500′ northeast bound.  It was a little choppy going home from the afternoon heating, but not bad.  Mom hates the bumps, but she said it was tolerable.  Cruising with a slight tailwind gave us 154 knots ground speed (I cruise the Comanche at 65% power for about 150kt true airspeed…and it STILL burns 14gph!!!!)

Arriving back in the Bloomington area at 5:15, my mom got to see a regional jet depart as we were on a downwind for runway 20.  She loves to see other airplanes in the air…I think we all do.  Winds were 220 at 6, and I made another nice touchdown.  They said it was a good landing…I have to say it wasn’t as good as the one in Litchfield, but good enough for them.

This was one of those days that will be remembered for a long time.  Flying with my family, seeing Papa for his birthday, most of the rest of the family, and some old friends, plus some of the best weather available to the Midwest made it a great one!

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