Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Phoenix - Tucson / Boeing 747-4AA (N705ML) / IFR

A huge jet for a tiny flight—great fun. I took one of my private 747s out for a whirl today, departing terminal 2 at Sky Harbor and arriving at Tucson, which is only about 20 minutes away. I filed TFD2 TFD DINGO5 at 17000.

I was assigned 7000 for my initial altitude in the clearance (which matched the SID). My FMS didn't know the details of TFD2, so I flew part of it by hand, and part of it in HDG SEL. Once I was cleared direct to TFD, I gave the computer all the work. I did fly the approach by hand, though, from a couple of miles out. The landing was smooth, but I can't say that I was right on the centerline and glide slope the whole time.

I did consider buzzing downtown at 500 feet AGL with two F-16s on either side, just like the DoD does in its inexplicably classified photo shoots, but I wasn't stupid enough to actually do it.

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