Autumn Color

The objective of this flight was very easy: 1) Go north to the Georgia mountains and see the fall colors. N53361 is in for an annual inspection, so I got switched to N737SA, another 172P but without a GPS. It was definitely not required for this flight. Nate called from Cedartown, he had just finished sky diving and wondered if we could pick him up. I was sure that with full tanks, the three of us, and his gear, that the weight and balance numbers wouldn't work.

We were a little late getting to the airport, and as it turned out, the plane needed gas which got us out later then I had wanted. Preflight was normal, but the radio stack was a little different so it took me some time to figure out how to set the frequencies needed for ATIS, ground and tower. The air temperature was a little cooler today, mid 60's, and clear blue sky. Taxi and runup normal, and I decided to let Kathy try a take off. Smooth power, a little rough on the rudder and nice take off attitude. Pretty good for her first attempt. We departed to the north at 2500 feet roughly following I75.

There wasn't as much color as I had hoped for. Maybe because of the low angle of the sun, but the trees were mostly brown and green, not the oranges, reds and yellows I had expected. I let her fly most of the time, no problems encountered. After about twenty minutes she did a 180 and we headed for home. The setting sun illuminated the glass buildings in Atlanta making them seem almost on fire. Entered the pattern on an extended left base and finished with a beautiful landing.

The Flying club was having a Turkey Fry, so we met with Nate for a great dinner. My kind of ambiance, sitting in a hanger watching airplanes land.


The 96c is working better, but still didn't get a complete track.

C172p
Time = 0.7