A Business Trip to Billings, Montana

I am frequently asked what it is like to fly a 2003 Beechcraft Bonaza A36 on business across the country. So, on a recent trip out to Billings to attend the Annual Meeting of Stillwater Mining Company on whose board I serve, I decided to capture a few moments in pictures.

The entire "album" contains about 50 pictures with captions and can be found by clicking: Billings Trip Album.

The trip took me from Leesburg to DuPage on the first leg. Then into Sioux Falls and from there to Billings. I left about 8:30 AM (EDT) and arrived in plenty of time for dinner with my colleagues in Billings.

The trip meant flying through a front with lots of rain. An instrument approach into DuPage was down to about their minimums. Sioux Falls was beautiful as you will see below. Billings had rain and required the ILS approach.

Coming back after the meetings on Thursday, I left Billings at 3:30 PM (MDT). I planned to spend the night in the Chicago area for a meeting on Friday morning. That was fortunate not only because arrival in Leesburg would have been very late, but as it turned out Northern Virginia was being pounded by a storm containing massive amounts of rain and even a few tornadoes.

It was a beautiful flying out of Montana back to Sioux Falls and then into DuPage for the night.

Friday morning, Leesburg was right at minimums when I left DuPage, but improved during the 3 hour flight. I flew the LOC 17 approach and broke out for a circle to land that gave me a nice shot of my home base airport.

It was a great trip that took N836CF nearly 3,000 nm with just over 18 hours of flying.

I hope you enjoy the photograhs. And, if you are interested in more information about the route of flight, you can find that by clicking on FlightAware.

Switch to Potomac Departure

Here I am departing from Leesburg Airport. It was a beautiful day in Northern Virginia on Wednesday morning. It turned out that this was best weather I would see over the entire trip.

Scanning the Panel

It was beautiful on departure from Leesburg, but most of the trip was flown in actual IFR conditions. You spend a lot of time looking at the panel. Here, N836CF was at 8,000 feet enroute to DuPage. The Garmin is getting weather from XM showing we are about to cross the front. It was smooth but I encountered a great deal of rain.

Cleared for the Visual Approach into Sioux Falls

Without a doubt, the nicest approach of the trip was into Sioux Falls over the downtown area. Of course, this was the only visual approach of the entire trip!

Billings Airport

From Sioux Falls, I flew to Billings, MT where the Stillwater Mining Company board had it's Annual meeting. The good people at Edwards are very helpful when I arrived in time to make it to my dinner on Wednesday.

They had my Bonanza ready to go the next afternoon to start the trip home. I flew back to Sioux Falls and then to DuPage where I spent the night.

A Beautiful Flight East

After climbing to 11,000 feet out of Billings enroute to Sioux Falls, I encountered some beautiful sights.

To see the whole album, click on Billings Trip Album....

DuPage Airport

After arriving Thursday night in rain and low clouds, N836CF was ready to go the next morning on a beautiful day. The DuPage executive terminal has the nicest facilities I have seen in a general aviation terminal...including the Kitty Hawk Restaurant which served a great breakfast.

Cleared Direct to Leesburg

Not long after leaving DuPage, Chicago Center cleared me direct to JYO. The Garmin shows I have 441 nautical miles to go in 2 hours and 45 minutes to reach Leesburg.

It was a nice smooth trip and especially helpful that the visibilities lifted while I was flying to JYO.

Circling to Land back at Leesburg (JYO)

I returned on Friday to a rain soaked Leesburg Airport. The ceiling had been about 500 feet, but lifted as I approached from DuPage. I broke out on the LOC 17 approach about 1,800 feet and circled to land on Runway 35.

Back to the Hangar

After traveling almost 3,000 nautical miles in three days, N836CF is going back into the hangar until the next mission.

Again, to see all the photos from this trip, go to Billings Photo Album.

Enjoy!

Over the Shenandoah Valley

Friends invited us to a Pig Pull at their home along the Shenandoah River near Woodstock, Virginia. I was so taken with how beautiful the area was, I returned the next day in the Bonanza to shoot a few aerial pictures. The little white spec just above the river in the lower left is the tent where we enjoyed a wonderful birthday celebration with roasted pig!


To see more (including the pig) go to: http://www.kodakgallery.com/clfgallery

A Trip to Santa Fe

The actual trip took place late last year. The pictures continue to amaze me. We flew from Dallas during the middle of the day. It was majestic!

The Last 15 Minutes into Wichita Were the Most Exciting

The NEXRAD weather shows us all the colors as we are just 35 miles out of Jabara Airport in Wichita. There were reports of heavy rain showers over Wichita and the commercial airport had stopped operations. As I was planning a turn to my alternate, Approach came on and told me to expect a visual at Jabara. I checked AWOS again and it had gone from 2 miles visibility in rain showers to 7 miles. I landed and was just pulling the last bag out of the Bonanza as the rain returned.

Thus began my 2 1/2 days at FlightSafety....

This year I was paired with an excellent pilot from Southern California flying a Bonanza exactly like my 2003 A36. He also flys on business and we both fly about 200 hours a year. We had a great time going through engine failures, fires, equipment failures, etc....while we, of course, never left the ground.

The return flight required flying through moderate rain for about 40 minutes. The NEXRAD allowed me to avoid places where the bumps were located. So, N836CF got a great wash and rinse and headed into clear air for the balance of the trip home to Leesburg.

As always, I felt more capable and more respectful of the Bonanza....and grateful to be back in my own plane.

Lake of the Ozarks

The Bonanza provided a perfect place to view the Lake of the Ozarks. It's easy to see why it is one of the country's most popular recreations areas!

Traveling to FlightSafety in Wichita

I look forward to my annual trip to Wichita for 3 days of recurrent training at FlightSafety International. This year was no different, but instead of going in August, I pushed it back to October.

The six hour trip was beautiful out of Leesburg, Virginia. Refueling was in Evansville (KEVV).

I have crossed Missouri many times but rarely seen the Lake of the Ozarks so clearly. It is a spectacular body of water as suggested on the Garmin...this day scene was spectacular....

A Memorable Favor

One of the great joys of flying is introducing general aviation to people.

Some good friends shared a problem. Their son was in a sports camp in Baltimore that ended Saturday afternoon and he needed to be at Dartmouth early the next day.

So, I suggested, why not let me fly him in the Bonanza on a recent Sunday afternoon.

It was fun to meet Grant and his father, Lee, at Martin State airport (KMTN). I actually flew over from the airport I use when I'm at the beach, Sussex County/Georgetown (KGED) in Delaware. It was a short hop over from Georgetown, but enough to see that there was plenty of weather moving Northeast along our route....the NEXRAD had more red areas along the planned route of flight than I had seen in quite some time!

We boarded the plane with father, son, bags, cold drinks and sandwiches and headed off on the instrument flight plan to Lebanon, NH (KLEB). It was clear from the start that much improvising was going to be needed.

First, we stopped the climb at 5,000 feet stay below the clouds that were building far higher than the Bonanza was going to go. Then, I requested an immediate course change to the Northwest to keep me clear of the cells that were developing along our direct route to Lebanon. The very helpful folks at Harrisburg Approach worked out not only my requested diversion, but came back with a whole new clearance.

Only problem, after keeping me clear of the weather, NY had routed me back through the massive showers not once but twice in order to get to Lebanon. Hardly the way to introduce my passengers to flying.

Once I got everything entered into the GPS and got my timely NEXRAD update, I developed another plan.....I asked for and got "present position to Burlington, VT." That was easy to get and kept me out of the mess that was developing over New Jersey and New York where the words "ground hold" began to be heard.

As you can see from the route of flight, we proceeded directly for Burlington until we had a clear shot at Lebanon. With a tail wind the entire way, we reached Lebanon in just over two hours without a bump. Boston handed me off high for a visual approach into Lebanon in a rain shower, but visibility was fine and we landed without any issues.

The ramp seemed a bit crowded. I learned inside at the very friendly FBO that they had been playing host to several planes for a few hours trying to get into the NY area.

Grant delivered the best line I've heard in awhile, saying the experience was great in "something metal that goes fast!" He wants to know when the first lessons start.

Having delivered my valuable cargo, I turned to the question of the return trip to the beach....

With my Bonanza based in Leesburg, VA (KJYO) and flown frequently on business, I do most of my flying with an IFR flight plan. Problem for the return trip was that the flight plan on file took me East and then over JFK and Atlantic City into the Delaware beach area and Georgetown. There was way too much weather for that kind of route.

Realizing that I could stay under everything at between 3,000 and 5,000, I ventured out VFR. I couldn't help but feel lucky to be able to fly in and out of this beautiful area with all the freedom we have in general aviation.

I retraced my flight path, staying out of airport areas and the Washington ADIZ, and enjoyed a beautiful 2 1/2 hour VFR flight back to the Delaware. Flying low over the Poconos was a real treat. Once again, even with cells building to the East of me, I had not a bump. And, I was home in time for dinner.

The one item I forgot on this trip....my camera! But, the adventure was too memorable not to record.

Amazing Flight Tracking Program -- FREE

I happened upon the most amazing flight tracking website. It's located at http://www.flightaware.com . You can sign-up for free and find a remarkable record of past flights....or, let people track your own flight.

My return to Leesburg today was memorable because 15 minutes out of Eastern Iowa (KBRL), Chicago asked if I wanted a shortcut....the clearance that Chicago offered was "direct Leesburg." So, for 3:45 minutes, I flew direct to my destination.

The Sunriver Airport (S21)

Sunriver, Oregon is a beautiful resort just South of Bend. The airport boasts of having the third longest runway in Oregon. One thing is for sure, they have the friendliest staff. It was a wonderful place to be based for a week in July.

In the Air During July

Business and pleasure mixed nicely during July and allowed me to log almost 50 hours of flying in just two weeks. Starting from home base in Leesburg, Virginia (KJYO), I flew the first day to Bozeman, Montana. The next morning, I flew on to Portland for the Schulte Family Reunion in Sunriver, Oregon. Sunriver has it's own airport and after picking up family members at KPDX, the resort airport became my base for a week. A board meeting in Billings, Montana took me back over the mountains and past a growing number of forest fires....and, the during the trip back the next day to Sunriver the smoke from the fires was even worse.

Some sightseeing flights were part of the agenda and then Mary and I flew to Denver. From Denver, it was on to a meeting in Nashville (KJWN).

The Bonanza took mountains, heatwaves, kids, baggage and smoke in stride all over nearly two weeks.

It was my first general aviation experience in Oregon and I must say, I can't wait to get back one day.

Exceptional service was provided by the good people at the Sunriver Airport (S21). They even managed to have a fly-in pancake breakfast that provided some great entertainment on the day of our departure. Also, the multiple "shuttle flights" could not have been easier into KPDX. Portland really treated this general aviation aircraft well. And, the FBO, Flightcraft, picked up my passengers just as soon as they called from the main terminal.

Hope everyone is enjoying their own flying this summer.