Flight

I was browsing Craigslist
rideshares, seeing where
people were willing to
go with a stranger. An
interesting item caught my eye, and it went something like this:

Would you like to see St Petersburg and the Beach from the air? I'm a local Pilot, and I often fly for fun up the beach on nice days to take in the sights.... Generally I fly from the Skyway Bridge north to Clearwater Beach (about an hour flight).... If interested let me know and we'll share the expense pro-rata....
1 Person is about $55 dollars..... 2 People $35 dollars each.... 3 People $25 dollars each....
Maximum 3 People at 400 lbs Total Weight...

Despite the interesting capitalization of Total Weight, I figured I'd send an e-mail indicating my interest. I was interested because I really enjoy the small puddle hopper regional jets and the accompanying feeling of the floor dropping out in turbulence. I figured that a small plane flight would provide similar entertainment, amplified by the single engine suggested by many to be quite dangerous.

A response came back quickly from the pilot, and after a few missed dates due to bad weather, we went out on a mid morning flight with one other passenger out of St. Pete's Albert Whitted Airport. I was delegated to the back seat of the plane since I was the lightest of the group, but that was good for pictures to the left and right.

Apparently the controls in the cockpit are extremely similar to those in a basic home computer flight simulator. Our pilot is on the left going over the preflight checklist.

I've heard that flying in executive jets is pleasant because you get to the airport and go. The same thing was true with this plane: I parked, walked around the plane once, buckled up, and then we took off (movie clip).

The pier, shown here, was the first thing we passed over. I think they should pay me for this beautiful picture.

The pier is just off to the left. The pattern in the water is a grassy sandbar where I watched fireworks and partook in boxed wine on the 4th of July, 2009. An excellent place to celebrate America!

The North Shore Pool is where I like to swim sometimes.

We started to circle back towards the airport and pick up speed. I think we made about 100 knots for most of the flight, which I'm told is around 115 miles per hour.

Tropicana Field, form the air. It looks like a giant mushroom (gross!) and is probably a wonderful landmark for pilots. I added the picture to wikipedia to bulk up my contributions a little bit.

Golf courses and lakes were very prominent features on the inland part of the flight. St. Petersburg and the surrounding peninsula are revealed from the air to be pockmarked with water bodies and quite susceptible to a good hurricane.

This is how you build nice houses: right into the water. You can see the Sunshine Skyway in the distance, and what looks like a nice place to go with a boat in the foreground.

We flew towards Pass-a-Grille beach and the Don Cesar pink hotel, which marked the southernmost point on our expedition. The Pass-a-Grille beach is very nice for watching the sunset and going for a moonlit walk.

The fading quality of some of the pictures is due to low clouds. Perhaps due to our speed, when we flew through clouds it would appear as pounding rain on the windshield. Our pilot said that the clouds reduced turbulence, a fact which secretly disappointed me.

Flying up this stretch of coastline is a good reminder of the number of resorts which need to be investigated.

Clearwater Beach came up all too quickly: a substantial journey in a car, but a nice fast trip in a plane. Too bad they don't let you land on the beach.

Look at that nice white sand!

We turned inland and flew by the Clearwater causeway, a favorite rollerblading spot for me and one of the biggest "hills" in the area.

Surprisingly, nobody has tried to put a house on that island.

I'm not totally sure where this is, but the growth pattern is very confusing. A helicopter got in our way at this point so we moved along. Air traffic control is mostly up to the pilot under the conditions we flew in – many helicopters have alert systems that tell them of approaching air traffic though.

That's my house, with the tennis court.

Final approach back to the airport...

A St. Pete fly by...

A marina fly by...

And touchdown. See the video clip.

Since we landed safely, I got a picture of me and the plane.

It was certainly an interesting experience – learning to fly a small plane seems like an expensive and risky experience, but the ease with which we traveled was impressive. The hour long flight took around eight gallons of aviation gas, the airport was extremely pleasant and came with such amenities as free parking and no TSA bag checks. Photographs from 1000 feet were reasonable despite the clouds creeping into the frame.

Planning around the weather seemed like the biggest difficulty, and the flight cost was only economical because there were three of us sharing the expense. Further, a charter service would have no business operating under the informal arrangement we flew under.

So: if I had plenty of time, plenty of money, and an uncompromising need for risky behavior in my life, I would definitely fly around the country in a small plane. For now, I'll stick to the jets.

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