Tanya & Bryan Duke's RV-6 Flying Reports
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13 Feb 05: Tanya & I got a call yesterday morning from her sister. Her water broke & she was on the way to the hospital. There were thunderstorms the whole way from our place to theirs so we weren't about to push it, but the weather cleared today. We hopped in the plane & scooted up to Salt Lake City. Normally it takes about 7 hours to get to Tanya's sister's house, but in the plane it was just over 2 hours from the time we started the engine until we shut it off. Man we love this thing!

One thing of note. Don't go to Salt Lake City without a Terminal Area Chart. We looked all over Vegas & couldn't find one. I just dropped an F-16 off at Hill AFB (just north of SLC) a couple months ago so I figured it wouldn't be an issue. Oh boy were they pissed when I didn't know the VFR arrival to SLC. Don't do that.

A few minutes later, we were at the hospital visiting with Tanya's mom & 1 day old Zakary. Mom & Dad were off getting lunch at the cafeteria. We spent a few minutes visiting with Tanya's mom before she had to leave to get back to work. Her sister & husband made it back just before their mom had to leave, hugs all around. We spent a couple hours getting to know Zakary. Pint sized! Tanya logged lots of time holding the newborn kiddo. We helped them check out of the hospital & escorted them to their car. Zakary's definately going to be a lady killer. In a few years... He wasn't interested in going flying though. I've got some mentoring to do with this one. More hugs & we were on our way back to the airport.

I picked up the Terminal Area Chart (TAC) from Million Air (great service & good cookies, BTW). I kindly informed clearance delivery that I had the TAC. Yippee, they said we could leave! I guess they weren't that mad after all. After a long wait for much bigger airplanes than mine (what are they on a schedule or something!?), we blasted off. Our routing out of town took us back over the airport & out over the Great Salt Lake before turning south for home. Before long, they cut us loose & we zoomed up & past the Cessna we were following out. Two more hours & we were pushing the plane back into the hangar at Boulder City.

Trips like this show the real power of having a plane with capabilities like the RV-6. We woke up at a normal hour, flew to Salt Lake City (400 miles away), met our 1 day old nephew, and flew home in time for dinner.

ALSO Tanya took the controls for the first time today. In fact, she flew about 1/2 way on the trip there & a good chunck of the way home. I love my new autopilot! :) She's an amazingly quick learner - she'll be a great stick before long!



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