Day Trip to Wilmington (ILM)

I hate it when I am not on call and also not in the airplane. Forecasts earlier in the week for this weekend weren't great, so I didn't plan a trip. By Saturday afternoon, with sunny skies and few clouds (far from the forecast), I was really feeling bad about not having flown somewhere. Besides my back was sore from tearing up the old flooring on the back deck. Started looking at Sunday's forecast, and decided it was time to fly. Was looking for about an hour flight to spend the day somewhere. Thought about Gatlinburg (TN), Asheville (NC), Charleston (SC), and Wilmington (NC).

After sleeping in, a final check of the weather showed a good route to ILM. My Uncle Jim and his wife Mary Jane live there. Gave him a call to see if they were free, and filed IFR UKF to ILM at 7000. Also filed return IFR a few hours later at 6000. Packed up the wife and kids and away we went. We were going to have mid afternoon grilled burgers!

Since buying my Cirrus SR22 in August 2008, my wife has never gotten to fly in the right seat. My 2 daughters always call shotgun before we ever get to the airport. Today, my 10-year old is my co-pilot. Robin and my younger daughter sit in the back. We have a deal in my plane - if one of the girls spots another plane before I do, I pay them a buck. I owed Christiana $3 by the time we were halfway there.

Calm winds at UKF for departue and scattered cirrus clouds at 12,000. Picked up a 27 knot tailwind and made 192 knots groundspeed to have the ocean in sight within an hour. Arrived behind a passenger jet and taxied to Air Wilmington FBO. Met Uncle Jim there and we loaded up to go to his house.

Got a tour of the historic district on the way to Monkey Junction and then his neighborhood. Had a nice time visiting with Jim, Mary Jane, and the 3 dogs. Grilled burgers and had a nice time. Got to play around on his new Martin D18 before we all loaded up for the trip back to ILM. Final check of the weather on the way showed no significant changes with a clear shot back to UKF at filed altitude.

After preflight, we taxied to depart 17 and maintained runway heading out towards to ocean. Finally got clearance to turn direct as filed and faced a 9 knot headwind, 1:10 trip back to the foothills. Saw a beautiful sunset through the high cloud layer and took the GPS 1 approach into UKF. Having to use my flashlight to illuminate the AP, as the infamous S-Tec backlight failure has affected my unit (will get it replaced at annual in April), I successfully captured the glide slope (I thought) but the autopilot flew us right through it. Turned off autopilot and hand flew the approach, greasing the landing with a stall warning just before touchdown. Still haven't seen a deer at night here, but others have - I think I will add the LoPresti wingtip lights when I have some extra bucks.

Pulled up to the hangar and pushed her back with thanks from the famly for a nice day. It was a nice day... looking forward to my next flight.