Texarkana KTXK

I haven't posted here in a long time. I finally got back in the air after a 2 year layoff and we headed to Texarkana for some cross country work. The fine folks at TAC Air let us borrow their nice crew car as we went for lunch at Applebees (no judgement because all of the good BBQ places were closed on Sunday).

Our crew car for the day was a grey Ford Focus. It was nice to finally get a crew car that didn't used to be a government owned vehicle. It was clean, didn't have any licenses plates n the inside and smelled good.

We took it to town for lunch and if you haven't bee to an Applebees in a while, you might be surprised with their new menu. We opted for the 2 for $25 meal with has 2 main courses, a side and either a pair of salads or an appetizer.

All in all, it was a nice trip for a good lunch and some very pricey 100LL. At least they were nice.

Mount Pleasant KOSA

After a summer of 29 100 degree plus days, our first cool front was a welcome addition to our daily lives. That being said, my friend Curtis wanted to head out to Mount Pleasant which is 82 nautical miles from McKinney. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon. So off to KOSA we went. On our way over there, we were reminded of one of the things that haunts pilots. You can have clear air or hazy air, take your pick. With clear air comes a lot of turbulence. With hazy air, you get a smooth ride. When you look up and see blue sky, all you can say to yourself is "I want to go flying!". And then as soon as you get up there and start getting beat up but the turbulence, you remember that old rule again.

That was today. On top of that, Curtis' headset had the noise cancelling go out because of batteries. So I volunteered to get batteries out of his bag. Turbulence and being in a position that only a contortionist would appreciate is probably not a combination you want to be in for very long (I'm speaking from experience here). We finally made our way into Mount Pleasant and were greeted by a beautiful 6000 foot runway in fantastic shape. This place is very well maintained.

We went in and was greeted by Paul Henderson who is the manager there. What a great place! This is what flying is all about.We inquired about a crew car and they have 2. He gave us the keys to 304 and told us to use the garage door opener to open the gate to get out.

It is your typical municipal city car (an old Crown Victoria). It was tough to get the key to turn but it finally worked. The A/C worked fine (unlike the crappy car in Beaumont). They have a sticker on the car that says that there is a 2 hour limit and to please replace any fuel you use. That is quite acceptable. If you can't replace the fuel you use, you really don't need to be "borrowing" anyone's crew car.

We needed to refuel before we headed back so we pulled over to the fuel pump where there were a group of plane that had just come in. These were a blast to watch.

So we went to get some decently priced fuel. Anything is decent when you see the prices they charge at McKinney. Since we left our jet at home, we had to settle for the 100LL.

All in all, a great trip. I highly recommend you head out there and meet the fine folks at Mount Pleasant and you will be "pleasantly" surprised (yes, I really did that).

KAQO Llano

I have to preface this by saying that the reason we went down to Llano was for the BBQ. I could have had to peddle a tricycle into town and been happy. The BBQ here is just that good. I've been to Hard 8 in Stephenville and Coppell and thought that they were awesome. This is a whole new level of awesome.


We began by leaving McKinney about 10:40 AM in the Cirrus SR 22 that Keith flies. It cruises at about 165 knots. Lucky for us that Keith is an IFR guy and a professional renter. He always files IFR no matter where he goes. When we left, the ceiling was about 2500 feet and about 1500 feet thick. After takeoff, ATC cleared us to 2000 feet and to expect 4000 in 10 minutes. When we finally got to 4000 feet, it was right at the top of the clouds so it was really bumpy. Our clearance to our cruising altitude of 6000 feet didn't come until we were out of the class B shelf. Once we got above 4000 feet, it was smooth.

A strange thing happens here in North Texas that prevents thunderstorms from developing. Normally the higher you go, the cooler the temperature gets. We're not normal here. We get this layer of very warm air that comes off of the plains of Mexico that prevent moist warm air from condensing (which is how thunderstorms build). So our temperature was 16C when we took off but was 17C at 6000. Normally it should have been about 6C at that altitude. That is a strange phenomenon.


So we finally get to Llano after we broke out of the clouds at 2500 feet. Nice touchdown and taxi back where we were met by Llano Larry. The first words out of Larry's mouth when he saw Keith was, "I thought you had died!". Larry and Keith go a long way back. He is probably one of the best Ambassadors for the town of Llano there is. There is a great article on him, the airport and the hill country way of life at http://www.flyingmag.com/pilots-places/pilots-adventures-more/gear-taking-hill-country-spin.


We finally got a key to one of the vans so we could head into town to Cooper's BBQ. Coopers has a van there and so does the airport. It seems that Cooper's knows that there are a lot of people who fly in just for BBQ so what better way to get them fed than to let them drive themselves into town. These are big crew vans. Not the latest models but they get you to Cooper's. That is all you need.

I can't begin to tell you how good the food was. I had ribs and sausage and my wife and daughter had ribs and a pork chop that was about 2 inches thick. Don't be shy, get the sauce. It is awesome. All I can say hours later is still "WOW!".


We got back to the airport and decided that it was time for a little conversation on the porch with all of the rocking chairs.
It was a lazy overcast day with nothing moving faster than it had to. I guess everyone was still getting acclimated to the time change that occurred last night where we had an hour stolen from us while we slept. The hills in the background made for a very calm and peaceful day spent doing some hangar flying.
We knew we had to head home as much as we would like to stay so we saddled up and began our 200 nm trek back to McKinney. At least we had a slight tail wind this time although Keith predicted we would have a head wind both directions. We got out early enough to avoid the nastiness that will be over us tonight.


In conclusion, the presence of good BBQ trumps a crappy crew car, you don't need to review it. It did get us safely from the airport to Cooper's and that is what really counts. Maybe on my next visit, I'll actually pay attention.

KSSF (Stinson Field) - San Antonio Aviation

It's the 2nd time I've been to this airport, but the first time I've taken the crew car from San Antonio Aviation. We are starting to travel to SA more these days to spend time with my wife's aging grandparents. This is an awesome little airport on the south side of town, near the missions.

Two reasons why I chose KSSF over KSAT (San Antonio International). First, they don't charge a ramp fee for parking in front of the FBO (if you buy some fuel). Second, they charge a lot less for fuel. Third, because it's smaller, it's a lot easier to get into and out of quickly. There's no waiting on the ramp. Last and most importantly. We get outstanding service from Randy and his staff at San Antonio Aviation. Everyone there is friendly and they provide excellent service for their customers. Now on the the crew car...

It looked like a mercury marquis, but I couldn't tell you the year. There were a few things about this car that struck me. First, the A/C takes a good 20 to 30 seconds to kick on after you start the car. We were instructed by a series of post-it notes covering the window switches, not to roll down any of the windows (save for the driver's side window). There was a neat little crack in the windshield... and there was some kind of film on the windows (save for the driver's side window) that was not very well put on... in short, this was a crappy crew car. And I loved every minute of driving it! Did I mention that this thing drove like a boat riding in the wake of another, bigger boat. I was afraid to gun the engine and/or step on the brake too much for fear that the car would react in a very unsuspecting way... but hey, it did have a current inspection sticker on the windshield for whatever that's worth. Anyway, we had lunch with the grandparents as well as my wife's uncle and his girlfriend... and at the end of it all, we went to go pick up my mother-in-law who had been visiting her son for the last two weeks. We didn't test the radio or any of the other "amenities" that the car has to offer as I was concentrating on the road in front of me and controlling the SS Minnow.... I was concerned we'll have to throw down the anchor on this thing about a half of a mile ahead of our destination to stop the car, but we ended up parking in a structure at the top of a long uphill ramp that slowed up down to a manageable speed. Enjoy the pics.

KBMT (Beaumont Municipal)

Darren and I went to Beaumont to get some BBQ from Patillo's. If you have never had Patillo's BBQ, you don't know what you are missing. You can't put it in any class of BBQ that you have ever had. It isn't Texas, Kansas City or Carolina style BBQ. It's just Patillo's. I've been eating this stuff since I was old enough to remember. My dad used to bring us BBQ from when they were located in a shack next to the railroad yards. They are located on 11th street across from St Elizabeth Hospital Washington Blvd at Fannett Road, the old location is now a Jack In The Box. It is well worth the trip for some good BBQ. Don't forget to get one of their links!

(I sent this picture to my brother, who also loves Patillo's right after we finished. His response was "You Suck!")

To the matter at hand. I called BMT a couple of days before we left and asked if they had a crew car. They did, but you had to leave a credit card because they have had a few people forgot to give the keys back. According to the guy at Beaumont Wings (the FBO), it costs $100 to get a new key because of the chip in the key. After giving my credit card and getting the keys, it looks like the keys are worth more than the car. This cream puff has a couple of interesting features.

First thing you notice when you get in is the cassette player. It had a cassette in it and Darren tried to eject it and see who it was but it made a sound like sheep sheerers being turned on. This continued for 3 tries. Next was the lack of A/C. It's Texas and it gets hot here. You need A/C. Oh well, we'll roll down the windows and work on our Bubba tans. NOT! The driver window would roll down but not the passenger window. The rear passenger window would roll down but not the driver side.

So we took off to get us some BBQ. This thing drove like a boat. It sloshed around like a boat trying to ride the wake from another boat. We finally made it to Patillo's, docked this beast, got our food and brought 4 lbs back to the plane for the girls. But not before we took this picture below. I don't know what it means, but it is Beaumont after all, where lot's of things don't make any sense.



When we got back to BMT, we took some pictures of a bunch of Chinook and Apache helicopters that were staged there. I don't know if they were going or coming, but there were a lot of them.

Look in the background for the Apaches.

We finally said our goodbyes and headed off to Leesville (L39) but that is another story.

KXBP Bridgeport 3/29/2009

With nothing but crappy weather for the last several days, what a shock when I got up and saw a METAR that read: KTKI 291253Z 00000KT 10SM CLR M01/M02 A3000 RMK AO2 SLP171 T10061022. My friend Darren wanted to go flying on such a beautiful day, so we headed out to Bridgeport for some cheap fuel ($2.69/gal) and a trip to Yesterday's for a $100 hamburger. Once we got to Bridgeport, we called the police department to get the code to get the crew car. It was a beauty (not). You have to call the police department and give them your name, DL number, cell phone number and tail number. When you do that, you get to take this beauty out for a spin.



I got a surprise when we got in the car.


When we took off, we used our iPhones to try and locate Yesterday's. Unfortunately, Google hasn't updated their database to reflect the new one in Bridgeport so we went to the one in Decatur.



It's a 50s & 60s style diner that has a decent burger but they are big. The normal is a half pounder, and the next 2 are 1 lb and 2 lbs. Way too much for a guy on a diet (actually the regular one is too much for someone on a diet).

KGKY - Harrison Aviation

I finally got to post something here about a crew car. My friend Darren and I went to Arlington last night to see Phil Boyer speak at a Pilot Town Meeting. It is one of his last meetings before he retires at the end of the year.

We flew from McKinney (KTKI) to Arlington (KGKY) and visited Harrison Aviation. They were very nice and friendly. They have a $10 tie down fee if you don't buy any fuel but the very nice lady at the counter waived the fee for us.

The car was a Ford Taurus in good shape, so I can't bag on them for this car (just wait till we go to Paris). Darren is going to leave a good note on Airnav. All in all we had a great time flying in the cool night air and even had a good drive over to the Hotel. Pictures are below. Sorry about the quality. My iPhone was the only thing that would take a decent picture. My Fuji Camera looked even worse.

I received a tip that the quality of the crew car is directly related to the price of fuel, so I am going to include the price of fuel for each post.

Fuel Price
SS 100LL - $5.29
FS 100LL - $5.99
Ramp Fee $10.00 (if no fuel purchased)

Darren and his pimp mobile.

The only good shot.


Darren's iPhone shot (Why did my iPhone shot look better than my "real" camera?)