Ray Dabney and I met at the Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport and and waited for TacAir to tow the Civil Air Patrol Cessna 172 from the shop to Double A hanger where Ray and I waited in the ops room. The sky was clear, winds were light and variable and the temperature was in the upper forties and rising. Let's go flying!
Civil Air Patrol Cessna 172Q ("CAP 4239")
parked at the Double A hangar
at the Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.
It was a great day to practice takeoffs, landings, navigation, operation of the GPS (Apollo GX50) radio procedures, altitude selection, traffic spotting, runway selection, and, we were monitoring the aircraft and systems to insure that recent squawks--vacuum pump replacement, low voltage light indications, weak signal on radio number 1 and a new gasket on cylinder number 3 were in good working order. Because of the recent work on cylinder number 3, we needed to get 10 tach hours on the plane (before we could resume CAP cadet orientation rides), and, we did not want to fly too far from our home airport just in case warning lights came on indicating that we might need to fly back back home and return the aircraft to the shop.
So, our flight today was aircraft checkout and pilot/crew proficiency training. We planned to be up about 3.5 hours flying to various airports in the Texas Panhandle and not getting much more than 50 miles away from Amarillo International. Our flight plan included landing at Texas Panhandle airports near Pampa, Borger, Dumas, Dalhart, Vega and Hereford, and, then returning to our home airport Amarillo International.
And Kendrick? Why is his name in the heading of this blog?
While I was waiting in the Civil Air Patrol ops room for TacAir to tow our plane from the shop, Kendrick sent me a text message stating that he was about to take off in "Riddle 34"--an Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Cessna 172 based at the Prescott Municipal Airport in Prescott Arizona.
Cessna 172 G1000 N636ER ("Riddle 36")
based at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
in Prescott, Arizona.
(Thanks to FlightAware for this photo.)
(Thanks to FlightAware for this photo.)
Kendrick--my grandson and an 18 year old aeronautical studies student at ERAU--was going to fly solo from Prescott, Arizona to Winslow, Arizona, land at the Winslow airport, taxi back to the take off point, and fly back to Prescott. His flight--a training flight that was, in part, preparation for his upcoming FAA Private Pilot check ride--would have him in the air about two hours.
Let the flights begin.
Ray and I took off from Amarillo International's runway 4 at 10:45 AM central time (16:45 zulu) and headed for Pampa, Texas. At Pampa's Perry Lefors Field, we made one touch and go on runway 17 and continued on to Borger. At Borger's Hutchinson County airport, we made a touch and go on runway 21 and continued on to Dumas. At Dumas' Moore County airport, we made a touch and go on runway 19 and continued on to Dalhart.
Civil Air Patrol Captain Warner
flying CAP 4239 in the skies over the Texas Panhandle.
On this leg of our flight we could see the Rocky Mountain foothills looming across the New Mexico border, so Ray and I got our cameras out and began snapping. Also visible in our photos are the crop circle and pivot sprinkler systems so common in the northwest Texas Panhandle. (The white stuff on the ground is snow.)
At exactly 12 o'clock noon, we landed at the Dalhart Municipal airport on runway 35 and taxied to the parking area for our planned lunch stop. Ray then took this photo of me at the Dalhart airport.
While awaiting lunch at the Dalhart airport, I sent the above photos to Kendrick and said, "Hope you're having a good flight."
Moments later, while Ray and I were ordering lunch, my phone buzzed and I received the following photos.
Kendrick making a proficiency solo flight in Riddle 36
from Prescott, Arizona to Winslow, Arizona.
Visible out the window is Sedona. Arizona, and,
if you look carefully bottom right,
a portion of the Sedona Muincipal Airport.
Kendrick's view from his plane over Arizona
was quite different the view
from my plane over the Texas Panhandle.
Looking southwest into the sun during a flight from Prescott, Arizona to Winslow.
We both had good flights today and enjoyed sharing photos.
One side note
The Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico controls air traffic in a portion of eastern Arizona (including Prescott), most of New Mexico, and a portion of west Texas (including Amarillo). For a short time this morning, Kendrick and I were both speaking with flight controllers in the "Albuquerque Center."
Air Route Traffic Control Center (this one in Miami, Florida)
Although Kendrick and I could not hear each other on the radio, I guess I could have told my controller to tell Kendrick's controller to tell Riddle 36 that CAP 4239 said, "Hi."
