So Lisa and I finally got back in the air together for our first cross country flight together in quite some time. Pretty much our fligt together have either been for my training or just flying our the San Diego area. This was the first time I have planned, filed and flown a cross country IFR flight to an area I had not been as the pilot in command. I flew mostly under he hood on the way up using mainly airways tracking VORs. It was pretty cool to fly that far and take of the hood and be lined up on final at an airport I had not ever been to before.

We landed and took a quick break. The plan was to switch seats and have Lisa fly left seat for the return flight. It got a little exciting when the plane would not start. The starter just made a thump and the prop did not turn. A quick call to the plane owner yielded a possible solution to free up the starter mechanism so that it would engage with the drive shaft. Unfortunately, there were no tools available, so I had to resort to disassembling a ball point pen to fashion a tool to unjam the mechanism. Luckily I was able to get it free, furthering my MacGuyver reputation.

We got the plane started and departed. On the way out we had occasion to fly around the good year blimp which was cool. Lisa navigated us back to Montgomery Field and performed her first real instrument approach which was cool.

All and all a great flight and great to be back in the air with Lisa. Can’t wait to add Ethan tithe mix in a few months.