A short December Flight

It was cool for Florida, about 14°C OAT. I decided to clean her up later in the week when the temperature was forecast to get warmer. (25°C) Instead, I spent time doing a thorough preflight. It took about 30 props to get a burp, oil was in the middle of the stick. Fuel came out of the sumps clean. Tires are a little worn but the inflation was good. Lots of spider webs but nothing covering the vents or pitot tube. Considering I hadn't flown her in two weeks she looked pretty good.

The mission was simple: just exercise the systems and get a few landings in.

Winds were variable 020 to 050 at 7 gusting to 18. I chose RWY36. The runup went well. I felt comfortable. As we took the runway I searched for the sock and found the winds blowing straight down the field. Static check at 4950RPM. We lifted off quickly. All indications
were nominal. We did two landings to a full stop without any problems (4 out of 5 stars). Then we departed to the east and climbed to 2500'. I expected more turbulence but it was relatively smooth. We did a few steep turns, some slow flight, then headed for home. All systems worked well with no annunciator lights.

As I checked in with KVDF another Light Sport was giving a position report over "Kidney Lake" (Lake Thonotosassa ) which is northeast of the airport. He said he was at 300', departing and returning to Peter O'Knight. I looked to my right and found him climbing to the south. I turned and my formation training came back to me in a flash. I joined him in trail and came up on his left side. I had never seen an Icon A5 before. What a beautiful aircraft. After a minute or so I broke off to the left and reentered the traffic pattern at KVDF. A great no flap landing followed.

Another beautiful day to fly in Florida.