Last Friday morning at 1130, three LSAs departed from Apopka, Florida’s X04 for a long weekend in Franklin, North Carolina. Another sport pilot and I flew the Remos while the SportCrusier (formally a PiperSport) and Gobash each had a sport pilot (one working on his private) and a CFI. Pilots and passengers of a Cessna 182 and Piper Arrow joined the group too, making it a baker’s dozen of folks in toto heading to the mountains. The plan was for those in the 182 and Arrow to fly ahead on their own to Franklin (IA5) while the LSAs flew as a flock to IA5 via the midpoint of Vidalia Regional (KDVI). Once in Franklin, we’d spend the weekend hiking and whitewater rafting before flying home on Monday under the same plan.
When First Landings, the flight school where I received my Sport Pilot training, announced it was organizing a North Carolina “adventure flight,” I just had to sign up for it despite the fact the trip was completely intimidating to me. I thought, “What better way to leave my comfort zone of local flying than with a group of other pilots and instructors?” And that was exactly one of the school’s intentions for the trip, according to Chris Esposito, co-owner and instructor at FL.
