Nina's Adventures in Aviation
Ms. Nina takes a brief lesson in basic flight controls – learning about how the yoke controls the ailerons and elevator in a Cirrus SR22. Then she takes a nap. She was a great passenger and co-pilot for the entire 6.6 hour flight.
This flight is en route from Venice, FL (VNC) to St. Petersburg, FL (PIE) to Claxton, GA (CWV) to Gaithersburg, MD (GAI).
Ms. Nina was supposed to co-pilot the SR22 to Albert Whitted Field (SPG) in St. Petersburg, FL to have dinner with Grampa Henry. Unfortunately typical Florida afternoon thunderstorms were rolling in so she decided to drive instead. When she arrived, Ms. Nina pretended she was an airplane and wanted to practice her “crash landings”. She made Mommy join in too.
Ms. Nina was a great passenger on a family trip to Florida. She didn’t spend any time up front, but she was still a pleasure to have on board. We stopped for fuel in Maxton, NC (MEB) and then in Gainsville, FL (GNV) to drop off Lori’s friend, before reaching our final destination of Venice, FL (VNC). The aircraft is a Cirrus SR22, N523RS.
Today, Ms. Nina had the opportunity to fly round-trip in a Cirrus Vision Jet (SF50) from Gaithersburg, MD (GAI) to Owensboro, KY (OWB) and back. It included a stop-over in Knoxville, TN (TYS) – home of the Cirrus Vision Center. Unfortunately, last night, Ms. Nina was bitten up by many mosquito bites and subsequently spent the entire night scratching them and not sleeping. She was not a happy passenger today. The flight to OWB was in N10RS. The return flight was in N99CV.
Ms. Nina studies the differences between the Boeing B-737-700 and the B-737-800.
This could have been the flight from hell. We were delayed 2 hours and 27 minutes departing out of BWI and then after landing at TPA, we were delayed on the ramp, unable to deplane for an additional 2 hours and 22 minutes. Ms. Nina could have kicked and screamed the entire time. But instead, while we were still at BWI, she opted to chase and flirt with boys all around the terminal, and when we landed at TPA, she made smoothies in her sippy cup. Southwest made it right though – two $100 LUV vouchers for our trouble. 🙂
Ms. Nina flies a 2021 Cirrus SR22-G6 home from her adventure at Sun ‘n Fun. Florida Baby (seen on the dashboard) is her co-pilot. During the flight, Ms. Nina learns about changing frequencies on the Garmin Perspective Avionics package. She already knows how to use flight controls, such as the side-stick yoke and power-lever. She also knows about all of the major parts of an airplane (wings, elevator, rudder, propeller, and wheels).
Ms. Nina enjoyed four days of Sun ‘n Fun 2022. She made lots of friends and gave many tours of a UH-60 MEDEVAC Blackhawk. She learned to identify all of the different US Army helicopters, some airplanes, seaplanes, and civilian helicopters. She watched the USAF Thunderbirds perform, ran (stroller) the Sun ‘n Run 5K, attended the #WomenInAviation booth, took a few naps, watched a STOL competition, and went swimming in a pool. She is looking forward to going back again next year.
Ms. Nina is excited to board an airplane to Florida for Sun ‘n Fun 2022.
After a long and busy weekend in Florida working the Tampa Bay Air Fest at Macdill AFB (shown in background), Ms. Nina is ready to go home and see her Mommy. On final approach for Runway 33L at BWI Airport, Ms. Nina got to see an aerial view of the hospital she was born at, ironically enough, the same weekend as the Tampa Bay Air Fest 2018.