ABS Day One

ABS stands for "American Bonanza Society", and tonight a group of Bonanza and Barons arrived for the formation clinic this weekend. I won't be able to participate in the flying end of it this year because the Baron is still in many pieces being worked on for its Annual, but I am going to sit in on the ground school and ride along on some of the flights and see what I can pick up on the knowledge end of things. The only problem I have is that the first ground school starts at 6:30 a.m. Yikes. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to concentrate that early! :O So I'm going to try to go to bed early here and set my alarm for an inhuman number and go for it. I always enjoy riding along on the flights-I did it last year too, and while I was focusing more on taking photos than on learning anything, it's still good experience. This year I'll pay more attention to everything else going on.

Today was Kaylee's last day of school prior to Spring Break, so she's free and clear for a week. :) When I picked her up from school, I took her home to pack a bag and then drove her out to the airport, where Chuck, Steve, Charlie and I set up tables, rearranged some things, cleaned up some things, and basically got the two hangars ready for the weekend. When we finished up, Judy had brought some chili and peanut butter and jelly and bread and fresh pears and hard boiled eggs and all sorts of stuff to eat, and we sat down and had dinner while we waited for the Bonanza guys to arrive. Kaylee was in hangar heaven with Maggie there to play with, and I didn't see a lot of the girls once they hit the outdoors with scooters and bikes.

Finally this evening the winds calmed down from what they'd been doing all day long to a reasonable level, and Chuck helped me pull out the T-6. The sun was going down, and Steve and I decided to go on a nice sunset flight. The Bonanza guys made it in, the ramp is full of Beechcraft products, they came over to chat and say hi for a few minutes, and then we were on our way. I gave my first instruction in the T-6, but I did it from the front. Steve did the takeoff, flying around, pattern/approach to short final from the back (and did well by the way). The sun had just dropped below the horizon when we taxied in, and we had a really nice time. Chuck and I took some photos that you can see on the bottom half of this page. I plan on trying to get some flying time in tomorrow when the weather is decent; I'm trying to get in a good amount of practice in to get as familiar and comfortable with the plane as I can before seeing if I am going to do a formation clinic in it in May or not...

I finished my logbook today, and I am finally all caught up again, including tonight's flight. It was interesting to me to break down the total T6 time and see how much was back seat, solo, G model, D model, formal training, etc. What an adventure. :)

Kaylee and Steve are spending the night out at the hangar with Maggie, Hannah, Chuck and Judy, and I'm home so I can take a shower in the morning prior to getting in a small airplane up close and personal with other people. I thought we all might appreciate that...and now I need to try to get some sleep so I can be halfway coherent at 5:45 a.m. when my alarm goes off...