Albert Whitted Airport

The airport is named for Lieutenant James Albert Whitted, USNR, a St. Petersburg native. Albert was one of the U.S. Navy's first 250 Naval Aviators, commissioned at age 24 just as the United States entered World War I in 1917. He served as chief instructor of advanced flying at NAS Pensacola, Florida and was later assigned to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Leaving active duty, he returned home in 1919 and introduced the people of St. Petersburg to flying. Albert would take people up in the "Bluebird", a plane he designed and built. He never charged for the flights. Albert's aerial maneuvers always left spectators in awe. Albert also designed and built the "Falcon". The Falcon and Bluebird were used in a commercial flying business he had with his brother, Clarence. On August 19, 1923, James Albert Whitted and four passengers were killed during a flight near Pensacola aboard the Falcon when the propeller broke off. The city's airport, known until then as Cook-Springstead tracks, was renamed Albert Whitted Airport on 12 October 1928. ~ Wikipedia

I usually get to the airport about an hour or before flight time to do the preflight and make sure I have any materials I need for the training flight. Then I pull Sally out, put the truck in the hangar, close the doors and taxi over to the FBO to meet with the student. During the taxi today two airplanes were in the runup area for RWY05, a Seneca and a C712. The Cessna asked to go first and went out to the hold short line. The Seneca alerted him that a seat belt was hanging out the (pilot side) door. How does that happen?

The weather was supposed to be perfect. It wasn't. By 9:00 AM the low scud was already moving across the bay and soon the scattered layer would turn to broken. The visibility was less than 10 miles, my guess would be no more than 7. No horizon. We took off to the north and climbed to about 1000ft. Then traveled south from KVDF by VFR reference to the ground staying east of I75 and well clear of my "nightmare towers" (1667ft). We crossed the bay near the smokestacks at Apollo Beach and couldn't see the other side. It's about 10 miles across at that point. Leo contacted the tower at KSPG and was given a heading of 270°. We could hear some other fliers out today but we didn't see any of them. At 4 miles Tower asked if we could see the lake (Maggiore) at our 2 o'clock? We were directed to fly over that lake and use it as a right base for RWY07.

I wish I had my cameras on because the final provides a beautiful shot of downtown Tampa. It's a little intimating to see that the runway ends at the bay. Don't land long. Leo did well.

The return trip was uneventful until we got to the pattern at home field. It was a training morning and a lot of students were learning to fly. Wide and long. I wanted to tell them to tighten it up but didn't. We did two go-arounds before we were finally done for the day.

A good day for flying.