Flight from Last week... and PICTURES!!

[spleisher]

Took my daughters up last week. Thought you might enjoy some photos. You may even recognize some landmarks in our "hometown"

[kallieb]

Hey Scott,

Your girls are more beautiful than anything outside the window. How proud you must be. That is so sweet to see that they are obviously close to each other. I'm sure they have their 'moments' but it is so lovely to see moments like this!

[UGOBill]

Hey, these are great. There are some kids enjoying their day. Do you ever take their friends on "rides"? Bill

[spleisher]

Oh sure... My future brother in law (who's 16) has been bugging the heck out of me. We have not gotten around to it yet, but I'm sure we will. Usually, I have to have somewhere to go in order to fly. DOn't get me wrong, I love flying just for the heck of it, but gas is getting expensive. You figure if the Archer burns 10 gallons an hour at $4 a gallon, it adds up quick.

[mercier]

They're gorgeous. You're in for trouble. I know, I've got two teenage girls who were once cute like that. Now I've got boys breaking down the door.

[Agne]

Scott, great pics !! And your girls are beautiful !

Let's see whether my dad can recognize some place of his "second home".
Photo 2 = It seems he recognized Downtown Orlando, Hi 4, and the SunTrust building.
Photo 3 = he said "ehm..water"
Photo 4 = he said Epcot

Did he get right?

[spleisher]

Very good guesses Agne... The one over the water is really just somewhere over Southwest Orlando, maybe Clermont area, not sure. Just included it to show pictures of the clouds and such. I have alot more pictures from that flight, but I don't want to overdo it...

[CaptainStark]

CALL CHILD PROTECTION!!!

How could you expose your kids to something as dangerous as flying!!!

Looks like they are having a ball. I remember when my dad would take my older brother and his friends flying, I'd tag along. Dad would always do "roller coasters" so my bro and his friends could float around. I remember with distinct clarity being in the baggage compartment of my dad's 170, behind the back seat, taking my Fisher Price wooden Twin Comanche apart. Just as I was starting to put it together, I saw all the pieces float off the floor and realized that I, too was floating. Parts scattered everywhere as I bounced off the ceiling in slow motion and into and around my brother and his two friends who were also weightless. I was about five then. I also vividly remember air dropping ice cream to my brother's Boy Scout troop up in a canyon south of Big Bear. It was my job to hold the door open while my brother chucked the package and chute out. I remember staring down into space, not unlike what you experience when slamming a car door under way. Sure felt good to have that seat belt tugging tight on my tummy. I was a little scared but I was having a blast.

Proof again that some of the events we experience in life that generate a little fear can produce life-long memories of pure enjoyment.

Your kids are very lucky indeed.

:ray:

[spleisher]

Thanks for that post Ray... What a great story. You know, in your post I can hear the passion you have for aviation and the major part in your life it has played. I know a lot of people who have been in aviation for decades, and I am always envious at the way it literally flows through their veins in their blood. Although I did not have the fortune of having a long aviation history in my family, I like to think that the same passion is inside me. And to me (not to take antything away from airliner flying) nowhere is the real "essence" of flying more present as it is when flying a small airplane. My good friend Chuck (who flies L-1011's for a living) often says that nothing compares to flying the little bird.

Here are some more pictures... If you look carefully at the picture of the houses, you can see my Mom standing in the driveway of her house taking pictures of us as we did a little "fly by".

This to me is heaven!

[spleisher]

Thanks Deb... And here's one more of them waiting on their flight to MCO... Unfortunately, they won't be here in October... :sigh:

[hbailey682]

Scott, your girls are beautiful. I'm sure they'll cherish those wonderful memories you're giving them...what an experience. Just wish I looked as happy when I fly :shocked:.

[Lynda]

Your girls are really pretty Scott.


They look like they are having a great time! More photo's please!

[Agne]

Very good guesses Agne... The one over the water is really just somewhere over Southwest Orlando, maybe Clermont area

So my dad got right. I don't tell him he was right or he will boast too much about it.:) I have not much sense of direction. Even if I've been there many times I am not yet able to get to the airport from our house without a map.

Do you have more photos ??

[MarcoAviator]

CALL CHILD PROTECTION!!!

How could you expose your kids to something as dangerous as flying!!!


:ray:

LOL ... after Young Eagle Day I oughta be in jail for life then ... :lol:

[MarcoAviator]

Took my daughters up last week. Thought you might enjoy some photos. You may even recognize some landmarks in our "hometown"

Scott, are you IFR rated?

(I know that looked like a VFR day ... just curious ... you flying above the clouds made me think about that).

Your girls look like are having a blast and it looked like a great day to fly!

[spleisher]

Yep... Although that flight was not in IMC, the clouds did build a bit as the flight progressed... Such is Florida in the summer. We could have filed IFR if needed, but on this day we were content to shoot for the holes. It was a fun flight! I must admit, though... the younger of the two girl's tummy did not hold out for the entire flight. She got a bit queazy after we did a fairly rapid descent to drop between a few clouds. I found a good hole and nosed it over and came down through, after which we leveled off at about 1600 below the clouds. Her tummy was not the same after that little maneuver, but hey... what are you going to do. A spare baseball cap can make a nice receptacle in a pinch, I guess. LOL

[UGOBill]

Ray, that is such a great story, thanks for posting it. Scott, a question I thought about last night (this is a really great thread!) Do you need permission to fly near DisneyWorld. How does that work? Just curious. Thanks, Bill

[spleisher]

Actually, that is a good question. And there's actually an interesting story behind it. Diney had been trying for a LOOOONG time to get the FAA to establish flight restrictions over their property. The real motivation was that they did not want Banner-pulling advertizement planes flying over the parks advertizing to their guests. DIsney like to have a captive audience. Well, the FAA continually said no, citing that Disney did not own the airspace above the park. That changed after September 11th. Even though there was no credible threat against Disney, they basically used the terrorist attacks as the leverage they needed to go ahead and get their ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone) in place. The FAA imposed the ADIZ (often referred to as the Mickey Mouse ADIZ by pilots for obviouls reasons) and planes have since been forbidden to overfly Disney Property below 3000 feet AGL.

As you can tell, we were quite a bit lower than 3000 feet on our picture (about 1400 feet to be exact) so here's the scoop on that. All you have to do is position yourself out to the west of Disney and call ATC for permission to enter the airspace. In our case, we are flying to and from Orlando Executive Airport (ORL) and Disney Represents a huge roadblock in the way if you are flying out over, say the Clermont area. 99 times out of 100, you'll get permission... you punch in your transponder code, and proceed over the house of the mouse. You can't go circling over it, you just have to pass over en route to your destination.

If you linger too long, Disney Security will fire big Pluto turds out of a giant cannon in an attempt to shoot you down (just kidding)