Bahamas Flight August 2009

Beth and I took N1537J from Savannah, GA to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island for a four day weekend.

We departed Savannah at 7:00am and after a stop in Fort Pierce, FL we arrived in Freeport at about 12:15pm.

Prior to departure I went online and filled out a departing and arriving eAPIS form ( Electronic Advance Passenger Information System ) for Customs and Border Protection. Before leaving Fort Pierce I called in an International VFR Flight Plan with WXBRIEF. That way the USA knows you are leaving and The Bahamas knows you are coming. We did the same thing coming back, except I filed with Bahamas Flight Service. They have a direct line in the Customs building at the Freeport airport and all the forms that you will need.

There are lots and lots of rules and regulations about what is required to do this flight. Many of them are never asked about... I have a Customs Stamp Number decal on my plane now... I have a radiotelephone license now... I made sure that I had all my ducks in a row before making the jump and nobody noticed. LOL

We had a great time for four days and three nights. We stayed at the Reef Village at Our Lucays Resort. A very nice place with tons of things to do. We also went horseback riding with Leo... Saturday evening we went on a Sunset Cruise with Capt. Tony... We enjoyed it so much that we went back Sunday afternoon for the Snorkel Cruise.

We departed Freeport, Monday morning at 9:45am and arrived at Fort Pierce at 11:00am. We refueled, eat lunch, and closed our flight plan. ( Which I almost forgot...) The flight from Fort Pierce to Savannah took 3.1 hours.

Bonanzas to Oshkosh XX 2009

On Friday, July 24th, Hal Sims, his grandson Hunter Fries, and myself flew up to Rockford, IL in his Beechcraft Debonair N5735V. We joined up with 136 other Bonanzas, Debonairs and Barons for a formation flight to Airventure 2009 in Oshkosh, WI. The event is called "Bonanzas to Oshkosh", or B2OSH for short. The people who coordinated this event were great. From the hanger party Friday night, to the free breakfast Saturday morning, the formation briefing, and the flight itself were planned impeccably. My hat is off to all those responsible. This video is just a taste of what it is like to be in the air with 136 other aircraft on a cross country trip.

Handycam Remote Mic Demonstration

I had read on the internet how some pilots use a small lapel microphone placed inside their headset earphone. I intended to buy one someday, but when my friend Hal suggested that I get one to make sure we had good audio on our trip to Oshkosh in his plane I went to Radio Shack and bought one.

I went to the airport and tested it and it works great. I can't wait to make some videos of actual flights.

Regina had never been in a "small" plane before... She has the makings of a good pilot!

Beth and I went out flying around Savannah one night and decided that we should video the flight to show people who don't know how beautiful Savannah is from the air.

Birthday Flight...

Enjoyable flight...