Flight to the Red River

I promised roommate Stephanie Ponder that I would take her on a flight. On September 1st, her dream of a flight with me came true!

So where does a pilot go for sightseeing? I didn’t want to practice landings or shoot a practice approach. I didn’t have a destination. So I decided a fly-over destination was the best plan.

We took off from Addison in sweltering heat. As you can see from this picture, I can handle the heat.

Outside temperature: 98° F (36° C)


I didn’t file or do flight following. Instead, I just keyed the mic for a north VFR departure. After I left Addison’s Class D airspace and DFW’s Class B airspace, we cruised at 3,000 feet. It was just high enough to catch a break from the heat but not in the clouds, since I wasn’t on an IFR flight plan. The clouds above us were a good thing: shade!

East of Lake Lewsiville


After about 20 minutes or so, I could finally see the blue snaky image and state border dotted across the GPS map.

“We’re almost at the Oklahoma border.”

I flew us over the Red River then East a bit tipping the wings at times so my passenger could take pictures and take in the scenery. The Red River isn’t close to the magnificence of Niagara Falls, but around North Texas with no coast and no mountains, you take what you can get. 



The impressive part was getting there in about 30 minutes of flight. Ground speed getting there was 135 knots thanks to a hefty tailwind. That same wind slowed us to 85 knots on the way home even though indicated said 120 knots. I landed in a lot of headwind, but it was a smooth boring landing, the best kind!

Afterwards, I had her help pushing the plane back into the hangar space and double checking that everything was off.




The flight was short and not exactly an adventure, in my book, but my friend really enjoyed her time which made it worth it. And I had an excuse/reason to go fly.

So if you are reading this and you would like a flight for the fun of it, let me know!  I need more excuses and reasons to fly with friends!

Stephanie

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