Reason #72 I Will Go To Vegas Every Year

Chad, my good buddy from college, lives in Vegas and just finished a cross country trip in his new airplane. He bought the aircraft in NC and picked up Ted, my other college buddy, in Memphis to complete the trek to it's new home in Vegas. Since it was a 2 seater, I wasn't able to join them for this awesome journey. The three of ous haven't been together for quite a while. We've had some great trips throughout the past 10 years. Good news is we'll all meet up next year in Hawaii for Chad's wedding.

This is a short trip report from Chad.

A quick hello from NV where we arrived Friday with my newly acquired 1994 Christen Eagle. I started the journey with an instructor at it's former home in NC. We worked our way to Memphis where Ted (college buddy/United pilot) jumped in. We got as far as western Arkansas before the weather grounded us for two days. Thursday we made three legs to Carlsbad-NM, then Friday four legs to Henderson Executive here in Vegas. From NC to NV was about 18 hours of flying averaging 155 mph, and we never got above 8500 feet. With only 25 gallons our longest leg was about 1+50, which is about all your butt can take sitting on a parachute. West Texas, NM, and Arizona are beautiful a couple thousand feet above the ground. Come out to visit for a hangar cookout and an airplane ride...

Chad is acrobatic rated and I have done a few loops and such with him in the past while we were flying in a Great Lakes (this is a sample photo, not the one we flew). I haven't flown in a small aircraft for many years, but I am really looking forward to doing some flights in this bad boy. Like I needed one more reason to head back to Vegas. You'll also notice the aircraft grill in his hangar that does a great job for BBQing. I guess I'll have to save/earn some poker money for aviation fuel and some steaks for the grill.