We had a cool front come through and clear out some of the summer haze. In fact, this morning it was 62 degrees when I got up. My wife and I decided to head to Starbucks for coffee this morning. While we were driving, my wife remarked that she figured Steve would have called already today to suggest flying. Well, not 2 minutes later I got a text message from Steve - Let's fly at 10.
Honey, can I? A roll of the eyes and I had the go-ahead. So, Steve and I met at 10 on an unseasonably cool August morning with sun and very high clouds. After a thourough pre-flight, Aggie was purring as we taxied to runway 2. A nice smooth takeoff roll and we were headed to Rowan (KRUQ) for gas. 5 minutes later we plopped down on Runway 2 and RUQ and pulled up to the gas pump. 32 gallons later, Steve took the left seat for a trip to Siler City (5W8), a place Steve had never been (I flew there a number of times in training b/c at 60 miles from JQF, it's a cross-country).
The flight to Siler City was nice and smooth at 3,500 feet. In a move not normal for us, we decided to forego flight following, so we were purely VFR. As we approached Siler City, the CTAF was buzzing from as far away as Columbia. Evidently a lot of weekend pilots decided today was a good day to go up.
We set up for a left base for Runway 04 for Siler City. There was some traffic at Siler City, including a tri-pacer coming in behind us. As it turned out, he was a part of a tri-pacer fly in. Steve put down one of his nicer landings in Aggie. As we pulled in, we saw a number of the cute little Pipers parked in front of a hangar. Anyway, we parked and went in to use the facilities.
The guy manning the FBO told us about a couple of aircraft on the field we should look at before leaving. One was a Commander that we were told hadn't moved an inch in 6 years. Considering the neglect, the Commander looked pretty good. A shame it doesn't get flown, because it's a great single engine 4 seater.
The other aircraft we were told to look at was a twin Bonanza. A twin Bonanza? I'd never heard of such a thing. I fully expected a plane built on the regular Bonanza frame with 2 engines, much like the Piper Comanche is a twin based on the Cherokee. But no - the twin Bonanza is a MONSTER! Two huge engines on the wings, with a fuselage sitting way up. But the most striking feature was the enormous rudder. It looked like it belonged on a DC-3! The plane was beautiful, with a lovely deep blue paint scheme. Finally, there was a Cherokee 6, clearly a project plane, that had a spray painted N Number!
After admiring other planes, it was back in the aircraft with me in the left seat. Siler City requires a taxi back on the active, so we headed to the turn around and did a quick run up, then take off trying to beat a Tri Pacer that was on downwind. We cruised at 4,500 ft. About 30 miles from home we saw the outline of Lowe's Motor Speedway and we headed in that direction. We set up for a right base for Rwy 2 at Concord. An uneventful approach and a nice flare resulted in one of the softest landings I've ever accomplished (I couldn't let Steve out do me today!). Taxi back, park and let Aggie rest for our normal Sunday morning flight the next morning.
All in all a great morning for flying! 2.5 hours.
