Well, another aviation journey is behind us. For this trip I was joined by Matt, a flight instructor that has some TwinCo time and Robin, an instrument rated pilot building a Vans RV-8 in his garage. This year our trip consisted of first stopping at Sun N Fun, and then onward to Key West. The flight down to Lakeland on Wednesday sorta sucked. For the first half of the trip it was IFR / marginal VFR, and the second half consisted of moderate turbulence and headwinds. At one point we attempted to climb over the bumps, but were getting a 40kt ground speed in a shallow climb over 10,000 feet. No that is not a typo, a 40kt ground speed in a Twin Comanche. Compounding the weather, we had difficulty managing the temps on the right engine. This has been memorialized through my posts on both the ICS Forum and the Delphi Forum. I won't re-hash them here. We landed in Kissisimee again (ISM) and were greeted with smiles and warm weather. By the time we arrived in Lakeland it was clearing out, and we got to see a lot of airplanes. Later the next day we headed to Key West to meet some folks from the ICS for drinks. This was the first time I have been to Key West and have to say it is a great place to see. Thursday evening we ended up at Sunset Deck (near the Westin), and a bunch of us watched the sun go down over cocktails and dinner. I cant begin to describe how beautiful it was to witness. Hopefully the pic above does it some justice. Judging by all the people, it seems to be a nightly ritual. Charlie Horton and his wife Melody were there. Alan Cheek was there with his wife Anna, as was Skip and others. We talked most of the evening about flying. Charlie told us some great stories about racing his Comanche 400.
Key West is a fun place. Lots of bars, lots of sights and seeing it all from a scooter without a helmet is a blast. Flying to the Keys was also an experience. Because I fly a twin, I shot straight across the gulf. Throw in a bit of haze, it becomes an IFR flight. It really is difficult to determine visually where the horizon is. It was a light blue haze straight up and down, at least until we were 30 miles out. So we were on the gauges for most of the trip out. We found ourselves talking how difficult it must have been for Lindberg to cross the Atlantic in a much lesser airplane with virtually no nav equipment. Approaching Key West International, flying over the pristine blue water and seeing all the sail boats was a thrill. Other than almost having a bird-strike on short final, it was a perfect flight. (My flight instructor friend Matt seems to attract birds whenever he flies. Recently he diced up a number of Canadian geese in a Cirrus SR-22). I elected to have him only fly at the higher altitudes.
We met other Comanche flyers such as Steve Davis, who was joined by Ed Hoger, a real life Alaskan bush pilot. Nick Constantine, a general contractor in New York. Nick was joined by Jose, who flew a 152 all the way down to Brazil. A group of us hit the Conch Republic restaurant for dinner and drinks, had several beers at Sloppy Joes, and got side-tracked at the Garden of Eden Bar. A bar where clothing is optional. I elected to keep my clothes on in order not to chase the patrons away.
We saw Hemmingway's House, the Southernmost Point, witnessed a bed race, and saw a really old cemetery in the middle of the island. One of the locals there pointed out an interesting headstone. It was a gentleman that died at the age of 50. On the headstone it said, "I Told You I Was Sick". (See pic above). How many people laugh at a cemetery - I did that day.
It was disappointing to see the trip end, as there are so many things to see, and difficult to leave the overwhelming beauty of the island. Two days clearly was not enough! We left Sunday, and as bad as our trip down was, our return was just perfect. Smooth as glass and severe clear. It was by far one of the nicest long cross countries I have been on. Flying over Ocala we saw John Travoltas home at an airpark. We saw all his airplanes from 5,000 feet. We basically shot straight up the coast, one stop in Charleston, and were back in N.J. in 7 short (and enjoyable) hours. For trips like these the Comanche shines - great ground speed, roomy, great useful load and reasonable fuel burn. It was also great meeting a good group of people from the ICS that shared the same love of the Comanche as myself. I can't speak for others, but this is something we are planning to do next year!!
If you ever get the chance, fly down to Key West. I have a feeling you wont be disappointed.
See ya next year.
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