After several weeks of not flying, I had finally found the time and energy to unlimber the Debonair and get some air under its wings. I was out doing some basic maneuvers and just letting the airplane exercise itself before heading off to a nearby non-towered field for some landings and cheap fuel. I had the power pulled way back and was just enjoying a cloudless day over southwest Florida. Soon, I decided to head off to one of the area’s non-towered airports—call it Alpha Municipal—for the fuel, pointed the airplane in that direction and put its CTAF in the #1 comm radio.
Alpha Municipal’s CTAF was busy—I was not the only one out this fine morning—with at least three voices announcing their position and intentions. I was still about 30 miles out, listening to the conversations and dreading the line for the self-serve fuel pump. Normally, a busy CTAF doesn’t scare me when everyone seems to know what they’re doing, but what I heard next did set off some alarms.
