Palm Beach

Steve, Kaylee and I went to Marble for dinner last night. I did the scallops this time. Not as much food, still good. When I finally got back, I was exhausted, but also starved, so the three of us went and did that, which was all quite good, came home, and Kaylee came over with a box game called "If You Know, You Know". I'll be honest, I didn't want to play a box game. Steve wanted to work on billing, and I just wanted to chill and finish reading the book I'd started in the airplane. But...Steve and I had just talked the other day about how he wished he'd gone to have breakfast with his dad every morning when he was in the rehab place, because he can picture things differently now.  I decided the time to hang out with Kaylee and do things is probably less than I'd care to think, so I played with her while Steve did some work next to us. Then he got drawn in and started playing too. It's a game where you draw a card with a question, any question, from "My favorite berry is" with four options, to "I'm running for political office. My platform would be" with four options. Everyone has 4 cards, A, B, C and D. You choose your answer and put it down, everyone else chooses what they think is the answer, you flip your cards over. We didn't track 'points', just had conversations about most of the questions; why we chose what we chose, etc. We did that for like 90 minutes, and had some fun, before both Steve and I got tired first and crashed. It had been a really long day, no surprise the 24 year old out-lasted us, even me, the affirmed night owl. But my day had started at 4:45 am and hers at like 11 am, so... ;)

Like I said, day started pre-dawn for me. I was up and at 'em and headed for Marion Airport in the dark. He got the Meridian pulled out just 3 minutes late instead of 15-20, which was an improvement for him. I'd said I really needed it out on time so I could make it to FL on time. While I'm waiting up by the building, I see movement overhead, and I look up and see a Ginormous spider with a huge fat body just hanging up there, walking along a web thread. Huge. It was huge. I took a photo and told the guy who pulled out the plane that he had a spider up there big enough to put a saddle on and ride. He went over and looked and said "Well damn, that really is a big one!" Ick.

I had almost enough fuel to go non-stop, except only if I could get right there and right out. Which didn't end up happening. Which you can expect any time you go to FL. So I stopped in Cleveland, Tennessee, because they're CAA. I shot an RNAV approach in, and some 172 in the pattern doing a wide pattern decided to turn in front of me, in a turboprop. I ended up waiting until the last second, but had to do a go-around because he was still on the runway. Ate up another 10 minutes of time I kind of needed, but so it goes at an uncontrolled field.

I don't fly the Meridian much, so it's good when I do. The buttons are in different places--the push to talk switch in there is on the front right side, and the autopilot disconnect button is where the index finger would be on the back. But in the Conquest, that's where the push to talk switch is--where the autopilot disconnect is on the Meridian. The knobs to adjust baro pressure, heading, select altitude, all in different spots. So you fly one airplane a lot and you find yourself reaching there to do things and it's not the right place in the other airplane. So it is good to get some time in the different ones now and then.

I had the plane to myself on the way down to Palm Beach, but no internet. So I read a book, old style. ;) Nothing exciting on the way down, or in. I made it about 15 minutes later than I wanted to (thanks to Cessna), and they took a little longer to top us off because we were #2 in line to get fuel, but Andy is patient and laid back and steady, moreso than you'd expect, moreso than his brother Ethan, and he was fine wandering home a little bit later, and slower, and with a fuel stop. With the Conquest down, Ethan chartered a Citation XLS to go to Colorado in 2.5 hrs, and Andy said "Why don't you just come get me in the Meridian?" I appreciated it, you know? When I got back from being sick in April, he and his wife said they realized they really appreciated having me as their pilot, and I appreciated that.  I just used the word 'appreciated' three times in one sentence, but it fits. I mean, the Colorado trip with all of the family there couldn't have been done in the Meridian so I didn't expect that, so that came out not quite right. Hard to describe, but it's the thoughtfulness that's a little different. One who goes back and forth on selling his planes, getting different ones, or just chartering for the same cost, and then talking about how awesome the charter was, just making me feel, I guess, insecure in my position there. Though I've spent the last two years putting everything else on hold to demonstrate my willingness and ability to get the job done. I don't even have the promised back-up pilot yet, so I haven't been able to arrange to do anything else; I've had to let my formation cards expire, I've not participated in tour stops, I've not even been able to do most doctor appointments, and haven't been able to keep a hair appointment or dental appointment on the original scheduling. I haven't taken any new flight students, or instructed in the CAF stuff, or any of it. I need him to put Morgan on the Conquest so I can actually make plans and appointments for things too. I've been all right being on demand and sometimes busy and sometimes sitting for long periods of time, things getting ramped up and then coming to a halt, plans made and then changed, but it was always on the eventual expectation of a steady stream of flights and a back up pilot, neither of which has happened. Feast or famine on steroids. In his defense, he wanted to have me or someone on salary, exclusively for him, and I get why, for what would benefit him. But that's not what's best for me. I dunno, we'll see. Being Andy's primary might be what's best for me in the end. I don't know. Like I said, we'll see.

Arriving at Palm Beach was really easy. The FBO is right next to the runway. One taxiway down there, and an exit. So in my head, leaving was just as easy. Except it wasn't, and I screwed it up. They gave me taxi instructions and I assumed it was go down the one taxiway, hold short of a runway, cross when they said to the end and takeoff. I'm taxiing along and he says "You just missed Echo". I asked if he wanted me to continue or 180 on the taxiway back to Echo, and he told me to keep going forward, but then he gave me a string of directions. I'm trying to write, ran out of space, thought I caught it, read it back, and he didn't correct me on anything. I'm taxiing along and he said "You were supposed to turn right on Romeo 5!" I hadn't read back Romeo 5, and he hadn't caught that I didn't read back Romeo 5. I made it the rest of the way safely and correctly after that, but I don't know that I've ever missed two taxi instructions in a row, ever. Twas really embarrassing. I was just glad my back seater didn't have a headset on! But we did taxi right past, and I do mean RIGHT past Trump's airplane on the ramp. I couldn't take a picture because I was having enough problems and needed to focus. But I mean, RIGHT by. I think Andy got some photos or a video. :) When I was handed off to tower, I mumbled something like "over to tower, sorry!" I wanted to say "I'm not normally an idiot, I swear", but sometimes you just gotta accept the fact that someone out there thinks you're an idiot because you just acted like an idiot even if you're not normally an idiot. ;)

My full piece of confusing 'paper'

We have to move all our planes out of Kokomo before Wednesday, as they're closing the whole airport down for at least 2 weeks. We only have a few days to do it and not a full on plan yet. But that'll be coming, probably today or tomorrow. I can tell Steve is working on it now...