jsfBoat

I, and another member of this forum, recently flew a C-172 from Glendale Airport near Phoenix to Lakeland, FL. Trip took about 4 days, walking out and into my apartment. These are the highlight photos from the trip. I can now add "ferry pilot" to my resume under experience.

Starting out, parked behind the C-172 was one of my FAVORITE airplanes of all time, a PBY-5A Catalina. Later found out that it was build in Canada under license.


Just after departing Glendale.


Southeastern AZ near the border.

jsfBoat

Prior to leaving El Paso the second morning.


Enroute to our next overnight in San Antonio. Mountains of Western Texas.


Landing in Laporte, TX (east of Houston) looking towards Galveston Bay.

jsfBoat

My Dad's boat after having lunch.


Wildfire near the Texas/Louisiana state line.


Almost home, the lights of Tampa Bay, iPhone isn't good with night photos.


It was a really long flight, but a GREAT experience. Hope to do one again.

USMCFLYR

That would have been a great trip for sure!
Longer than any trip I ever took in a C-172. My longest was from Stillwater, OK (KSWO) to Gulfport/Biloxi Intl (KGPT) and back.
I was in El Paso only a few weeks ago.
You didn't get the two airports confused did you

USMCFLYR

captain152

Ah KSWO... my old stomping grounds. When did you graduate?

Sounds like a great trip! Hope your buddy still likes you, haha! That's a lot of close quarters flying!

Hope you had a blast

USMCFLYR

1989. You?

USMCFLYR

jsfBoat

We landed in KELP with lost comms and with just our reserve fuel left. Swapped out the radios overnight. My buddy and I butted head a few times, but we're still friends, but he was sleeping most of the flying. Did 24 hours of time. It was a great getting real world experience.

sinsilvia666

def cool stuff !

captain152

USMC - 2006 ... Still got a few decades of flying left, but it's good to look back on where it all began.

Good to see a fellow Cowboy on here though!

USMCFLYR

It is very strange coming back to where it all began for me.
Here I am, 25 years after I started flying, doing work around the very airfields that I started flying.
I started training out of KTUL and KRVS, finished up my private and got the rest of my ratings through KSWO. 'Flying Aggie' from '87-'88 and still have the jacket to prove it!
I have recently run across another former Cowby from that timeframe and a young lady who is currently enrolled. Coming back home makes it feel like a really small world.

jsf - have you taken many long x/cs like this (or obviously not as far in distance)? I always felt like I got the most out of flying somehwere else and getting out of the local area. On that trip to Biloxi, I did probably half of it in IMC with actual approaches in Jackson and Biloxi, MS. I felt like I was up there flying with the BIG boys

USMCFLYR