For the fans

Okay. You are right. I got lazy on the last one. Actually the reason I did not post pictures on the last post was that I didn't think they turned out very good. But because I'm here to please...

Here is a shot of the restaurant. Horrible picture but you get the drift.

The inside was kinda cool. Seating for 20-30 people. Everyone else gets to stand at the counters. You can see some of the merchandise that they sell on the shelves. You just grab a burger and belly up to the bar wherever there is room. This was just before we got our food. By the time we left the line came all the way down the aisle!!

Well here I am bored again so I will update you on the last week or so. Last Monday was an out and back trip to Naples Florida to pick up a gentleman from Little Rock along with his wife and mother. The trip itself was nothing spectacular but the reason for going was a little strange. See this guy ownes a Diamond Jet. The diamond is alot like the Hawker/beechjet 400 that I fly. (Older with smaller engines and less fuel capacity. ) It seems that after takeoff, climbing through about 5000ft. the pilots felt a strange wiggle and heard something. They turned off the autopilot and checked the controls and everything seemed fine. Occasionally they just hiccup. So they continued from Little Rock all the way to Naples. after landing they got out of the airplane and found that the upper cowling for on of the engines was GONE! Missing. Not there. Further inspection showed that two screws were missing, but the rest were all still in their holes. It must have just ripped off over the screws that were still there. So Lance and I picked up two mechanics in Little Rock and went down and dropped them off, picked up the passengers and came back to Little Rock. Needless to say the passengers were a little on edge for the trip. Cant say I blame them.

I spent last Wednesday and Thursday in beautiful Fort Worth TX. Hey, at least it wasn't Dallas again. Phillip Gilespie went with me in the Citation II for that trip. We decided that we would find the best burger places in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex area to eat at. After some research online we found Kicaid's burgers and grocery. This joint ranks in the top ten of all burger joints on some websites. It did not disappoint. That was pretty much the highlight of that trip.

That brings me to today. Today the alarm went off at 4:00. Out the door by 4:30 to the airport to get my flight bag and my bosses spare car. Then the 2:30 drive (due to rain and traffic) to Little Rock to pick up the Law Offices of Gary Green's airplane and one passenger. They have a Citation II that is single pilot certified. Airborne at 7:30 to Springfield MO, then on to Colombia MO. Hopefully the mediation won't take long and well be out of here by two. Then it's back to Little Rock via Springfield. By then Lance should be back to Little Rock from New York (or wherever he is) and we get to drive to Jonesboro. Nothing like spending 5 hours in a car to fly for less than 2 hours!

The last few weeks have been pretty busy for me at work. Some of the trips that I have done in the past have given me a chance to snap a few pictures on my phone of some things that I found interesting. You see, when we are out on a trip, my job is to get people where they want to be and then home safely. However, the time between those flights is pretty much mine to do what I want.

Take for example last Friday. The trip was to Manasses VA, just outside of Washington D.C. Lance (one of the other pilots at Airsouth) and I were to pick up three passengers at 7:00 pm. We left Jonesboro empty and because we figured we could kill a few hours there better than we could in Jonesboro, we left at lunch. By 2:00 we were in Manasses. If you are a history buff, you may remember that Manasses was the site of the first major battle of the civil war.

(Aside - the confederates named battles after the town nearby, Manasses. The union usually named the battle after a nearby body of water - Bull Run)

So Lance and I decided to get a look at this Historic Battle Field.

This is where Thomas Jackson rode up to rally troops. Another Soldier said "There stands Jackson as a stone wall..."thus he became Gen."Stonewall" Jackson.

Here are some pics from other recent trips

You probably know this guy. This was the day of the Obama rally in Jonesboro. We picked up some staffers in Pine Bluff and brought them to Jonesboro. After the rally we took some of the Congressmen back to Little Rock. The best part was getting to talk to the secret service guy on the airplane Clinton was on. Oh, the airplane in the background is the Hawker 4oo aka Beechjet that I fly.

This is the Mackinac Bridge. It connects the Northern Peninsula of Michigan to the South. It is HUGE!

A cool covered Bridge near Lewisberg WV.

A good thing the leaves were pretty, because there is NOTHING to do in Lewisberg. We were there for 4 Days. Lest you think that all I do is drive around and look at cool stuff, let me say that some days are not so much fun. My day today started at the airport at 6 am. From Jonesboro it was a slow 3 hours to Galveston TX. Here are the pictures I was able to get before the rain got to bad.

Here was one of the buildings at the airport. Apparently, this is what most of Galveston looks like after Ike.

From about 10:00 until 2:00 pm this was my view.
I am typing this in a Holiday Inn at McKinney Texas. McKinney is probably my most common destination. It is a suburb of Dallas that was apparently nothing a few years ago and has exploded over the last ten years. Optus communications has an office in North Dallas and the airport here at McKinney is a lot easier to get in and out of, both by the air and on the ground. Anyway, today's trip started at 6:00, airborne at 7:00. I made it to the hotel at 7:30 PM and it has been storming all day. Not a fun day to fly, but the others make up for it.

I guess that will wrap it up. I know that was a huge post but I had so much to start with. I promise I will keep the posts smaller as I do them on a trip by trip basis.