Albert Whitted for Lunch

 Video: Albert with Mike

The Albert Whitted Airport is located just blocks away from hotels, restaurants, museums, shopping and more. This district features some of St. Petersburg’s most fashionable dining and shopping destinations as well as independent galleries and museums.  Anchored by the Salvador Dali Museum, Mahaffey Theater  and the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, the district is bounded by St. Petersburg’s sparkling waterfront park system and includes the St. Petersburg Museum of History and the Museum of Fine Arts. We ate at "The Hangar Restaurant & Flight Lounge" on the airport. (My Turkey BLT had fried green tomatoes and was excellent.) 

"Welcome to the new St. Pete Pier! This gleaming new attraction on the city’s picturesque waterfront promises limitless fun for everyone, from first-time visitors to long-time residents. Its 26 beautiful acres seamlessly combine the peaceful blue waters of Tampa Bay with the vibrant greenery of downtown St. Petersburg’s parks, creating the ultimate place to stroll, bike, dine, drink, shop, swim, take in a concert and more. So get together with your family and friends and visit. It’s time to soak up some fun under the warm Florida sun!" ~ https://stpetepier.org/

It was on Mike's bucket list. The only question was what route to take from KVDF to get there. We couldn't fly direct as that would take us through Class B airspace and right over MacDill AFB. We could call Tampa for permission but doubtful that route would be approved. We could ask to take the "Bridge Transition" to fly directly over KTPA and out to the beach, or we could stay east of I75 and make our turn at Ruskin and fly over the bay. We did the latter.

The weather was very good, light winds, morning convection gave us a little chop but overall a very comfortable flight. I love the Tower folks manning KSPG. They are always very friendly and helpful. When we told ground we were there for lunch you could almost hear the smile on his face as he welcomed us to his airport. Landing fee was $5 since we didn't need any services. We sat in the shade out on the veranda overlooking palm trees and watching airplanes land. Paradise.

During the preflight prior to departure my ADSB returned a 1090ES fault. Not good. This means that ADSB was down and unless I got a waiver we could not leave the airport. Mike shut her down and got out and I scrunched under the pilot side panel to search for loose wires. The coax from the GPS antenna was loose. It never fit snugly and now it became an issue. After some jiggling and a few prayers the box finally passed its system check. We were good to go.

The next stop was Airport Manatee. Mike had never landed on grass before and I wanted him to have that experience. The first challenge is to find the airport. Even with GPS, a turf field looks just like another patch of grass from a distance. It's not until you see the hangars that you really get a feel for the runway environment. The next challenge is to fly a standard traffic pattern. Without runway reference markings its a bit difficult to tell when to turn and what to use for an aim point. Winds here were variable and gusty and it turns out we probably landed with a tailwind. But Mike did well. After looking at the sock we decided to take off in the opposite direction and head for home.

It was a great adventure.