Some prep work for the trip

Hi All,

Dan here with some info about the prep work Pete and I are doing for the trip. Including some upgrades to the plane.

Pilots are required to have a flight review with an instructor every 2 years. Both Pete and I spent some time with his flight instructor, Deanna, a few weeks ago. She had us both do an online review course, she spent some time with us in the classroom and flew with each of us. After all that she signed us off for the next two years. We each also just got new medical exams done, so we are ready to go.

Pete has purchased a number of items for the plane: about 30 charts, a new Garmin GPS with XM satellite weather, a new ELT beacon, a new LED landing light and a new VOR navigation radio display. In case anyone is saying, 'what the heck is an ELT?'. Here's the deal. Every plane is required to have an emergency beacon. The old versions transmitted a signal over a regular radio frequency. The new ELTs broadcast a signal at 406 Mhz up to a satellite network (just like an EPIRB on a boat). Without getting into details, the short of it is, the new ones are better. So we got one.

The LED landing light is much brighter than the regular bulbs and will last forever. The old one's lasted about 50 hours. The plane also a few strobe lights. Pete wants to be seen!

There is already a Garmin 295 GPS on the pilot's side, which just had the database updated. The new GPS is a Garmin Aera 560. With an XM satellite radio subscription, we can see weather radar, cloud cover, current conditions at airports around us and other weather info. It also has a large database of all the airports in the country, including the runway info, radio frequencies, etc. It's very easy to use with a touch screen. I'll get to use the new one!

So the plane is currently in the shop getting all this new stuff installed. Terry (at the Westerly airport) is the expert on installing avionics and is doing a great job. Since the interior of the plane is somewhat dismantled, Terry is taking the opportunity to clean up some of the old wiring and general clean up. He's replacing some old aluminum wire with new copper wire.

Here's a photo of what the instrument panel looked like before Terry started.

Here's what it looks like now!

I'll show what it looks like when Terry is done.

Here's a view looking back into the tail of the plane.

And here's a pic of Pete at the shop with his plane.

That's all for now,
Dan

Why A Blog?

This summer, I am going to take off in my plane on a fun adventure, something I've wanted to do for many years. The idea began when my old friend, Jolly Woodbridge, invited me to his 80th Birthday Party.

Jolly and Maggie live in South Dakota ... and I thought, "why not?"  I could fly out there in my airplane and stop along the way in places I had always wanted to see, and visit other old friends.  As I started planning the trip I kept adding more old friends, family, and places I wanted to see. The trip then grew into a into a two-month adventure that will include Ithaca NY, Oshkosh WI, Hot Springs SD, Evansville IN, Knoxville TN, New Orleans LA, Gulfport MS, Orlando & Key West FL,  Savannah GA, Charleston SC, Cape Hatteras, Gulf Coast AL, Philadelphia PA and probably other spots along the way.

Ann has joked that I have to be careful not to leave my blinker on while flying across the country (very funny, Ann), but thankfully, I'll have an ace co-pilot, Dan Rumplik, sharing in the navigation and flying. As I've told friends about the upcoming trip, several have asked if I'll have a blog, so I've decided to give that a try, too. If you're interested, I'll be periodically posting photos and updates from interesting spots along the way.

All best,
Pete