Airport hopping on a MONDAY!

Sep 2012 Airport hopping on a MONDAY!

If you think Monday is the day of the week people hate most, you’d be wrong. Studies show people not only hate Monday, they hate Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday equally! Favorite day of the week? All the rest – Friday, Saturday & Sunday!

Of course, those Monday haters couldn’t possibly be taildragger pilots and love to fly no matter what the heck day it is.

So on this Monday, with a little planning and a lot of luck, I found myself with half a day free. YES! Right in the middle of the day, on this beautiful, severe clear Monday! I was pulling N55SX out of the hangar at 12:40 and half way to the departure end of runway 25 by 12:45 with no where special to go.

Full throttle barreling down 25 I still didn’t know where I was going but UP and NORTH seemed like a good idea. First landing turned out to be I99, home of the Central Indiana Soaring Society for the past five years. This airport seemed like a really good idea because I’d recently had an invitation on Facebook…. “The guys would enjoy seeing your plane. Stop by, you might get a glider ride.” OK, sounds good to me!

Arrival at I99. Buttoned up tight. Nobody home. Oh ya, this is Monday.

That’s OK, I’ll stop by MZZ and visit my buddy Ray.

Work day for Ray. It’s Monday 🙁

No problem, over to OKK, surely things will be hopping over there.

No welcoming party here either.

Hey, sure would be nice to see somebody but I’m having a great time flying around making landings everywhere!  I haven’t been to IWH in a while – today’s the day.

At first glance, it didn’t look good.

But I saw some movement inside the FBO and went in to check it out. Sure enough, airport manager Jeff LaSalle  and his buddy were there and anxious to talk airplanes…. Rans S7s, Zenith 701s, 601s, all good stuff.

Jeff reminded me I owed him an S7 ride and I was ready to show it off.

Turns out the ride I gave him in my S7 was the FIRST taildragger ride he’s ever had. He owns an Interplane Skyboy with a 80 hp Rotax but had never been in a taildragger. What a pleasure to be lucky enough to introduce him to the best kind of flying there is!

Jeff’s Skyboy

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What a great Monday!