Well, it started out as an adventure. Jeff had been wanting to fly to Florida for quite some time since he got his license. So things were working out for us to try it on his spring break.
The week before he spent many hours planning the flight - how high to fly, where to refuel, which air spaces to avoid, and where to land in Ft Lauderdale. The night before was full of excitement and anticipation (and very little sleep!)
We took off early in the morning on Saturday. It was really beautiful to see the sunrise from about 10,000 feet in the plane. We cruised over the mountains in West Virginia and Virginia. They started to clear in North Carolina. So it was time to stop and get some fuel.
The week before he spent many hours planning the flight - how high to fly, where to refuel, which air spaces to avoid, and where to land in Ft Lauderdale. The night before was full of excitement and anticipation (and very little sleep!)
We took off early in the morning on Saturday. It was really beautiful to see the sunrise from about 10,000 feet in the plane. We cruised over the mountains in West Virginia and Virginia. They started to clear in North Carolina. So it was time to stop and get some fuel.
Unfortunately, the clear skies had been taken over with a dense patch of clouds. So rather than stopping where we had planned, we picked another airport that was close to a hole in the clouds where we could descend.
After we refueled we got back in the plane but to our dismay the plane would not start. It seemed like a dead battery. The nice people at the airport tried to jump us but it didn't work. So we called the "mechanic on call" and waited for the prognosis. After about 4 hours of waiting we heard that dreaded news, "Your plane needs a new starter which will take about 4 days to get here."
Well, we were 12 hours away from our destination of Ft. Lauderdale. Our only option was to rent a car and drive the rest of the way. We actually had to rent a car in Hickory and drive to Charlotte to pickup another rental car that we could drive one way. We rolled into the condo at 2am instead of 1pm like we had planned.
Well it is now Thursday and we are ready to fly commercially back to Pittsburgh (arriving at midnight). We'll have to find a way to get back to Hickory, NC to pickup the plane and fly it home.
This has been a pretty big disappointment. Jeff really wanted to fly all the way to Florida. Well, he got half way there. We'll have to try it another time.
It was an adventure alright... an adventure in PATIENCE!
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