Still Hot!

Man it's Hot. I didn't want a lot of time to pass between flying so I coaxed my self into the airplane today at 06:00. I mean, hey, it's only 91 degrees! I also must admit that a morbid curiosity brought me to the airport today. Last night, the greater Phoenix area had one of the most severe storms in history. In the 21 years that I have lived in Arizona, I have never been in a storm like it. Wind gusts were clocked at 75mph and I witnessed golf ball sized hail falling on my patio.

I did get a few droplets of water when I sumped the fuel tanks. There was only about 4 drops in each tank and I rocked the wings and waited awhile and checked again - nothing. Though I must admit that I was watching all of the engine instruments like a hawk during my taxi and run-up.

I was cleared to take off from runway 22L and given a right turn once I hit 2300 feet MSL (about 900 feet AGL). I headed north up through Fountain Hills, Rio Verde, and then westerly toward, Cave Creek, Carefree, and North Scottsdale. All of the typically dry washes were running and I observed toppled trees. I didn't see any damage that was incredibly extensive (thankfully).

I didn't have enough time to actually go anywhere exciting; however, it felt good to be in the air and simply flying. I did notice that my radio transmissions were not as sharp as they usually are (I'm sure much to the chagrin of the folks in the tower). I decided to head back for some touch and goes to get some landing practice in.

I radioed the tower from about 9 miles to the north. I was told to contact the other tower frequency and to enter a 5 mile right base for runway 22R. There was only one other plane and one helicopter in the pattern. I was cleared for touch and go and then for right traffic on runway 22R. I made 4 touch and gos and quite honestly they were rather good! I worked really hard on flying a tight pattern and managing my speed on downwind, base, and final. For my final landing (which was a full stop) they were kind enough to clear me for a right base for runway 22L. This is really cool because to get to the FBO where I park I would have needed a long taxi and I would have had to cross the primary active runway which can mean a lot of waiting and fuel burn!

Much like my touch and gos, I greased the full stop landing and taxied in feeling pretty good about my flying for the day. I know that this post is not overly exciting; however, it was great to be back en the air and I was happy to see that my skills (flying skills anyhow) hadn't suffered to any great extend as a result of a 6 week hiatus!

Good times...

Flight time: 0.9

Total time: 94.4