Just to liven up the '09 season, I've decided to attempt a cross-over with my non-racing simming.  This season, I'm attempting to fly the schedule using flight simulator X.  In order to accomplish the task at hand, having loaded up flight sim around the first of the year, was an around the country hop, flying various planes to get a feel for what I felt I could fly comfortably.  I settled on the Beech King Air 350.  This was mainly for the "realism" factor, it can carry a number of passengers, in comfort.  Has speed and range, and from what I understand, several teams use one on making trips. 

The initial SOAR schedule trip started with a flight to round up all the CFM team members, starting at Shenandoah Regional, conveniently located near the CFM shops.  The trip took us north to Toledo, Cleveland, Richmond, Tampa and finally to Daytona for Speedweeks.  The race, which proved to be one of the better Daytona races in recent memory, saw a CFM front row in qualifying, with David Hudson on pole and Mike Johnson to the outside.  Rick Reynolds picked up the win.

At dawn, Monday, CFM loaded onto the King Air, to haul the drivers across country to California.  After a couple of fuel stops, one north of Houston and Casa Grande, where the lunch counter serves up an excellent fajita, the team landed, late afternoon at Ontario International.  The team checked into their hotel for some R&R, with haulers and motor coaches due in at the track on Tuesday.

02/24/09 - Las Vegas, Nevada

Tuesday morning, saw a late breakfast and Team CFM hopping in the King Air for the short hop over the mountains and across the desert to Las Vegas.  All in all, a pretty good California race.  Chris Chambers picking up the win via a late run through the pits, under caution, while the leaders stayed out.  Pole sitter, Rick Reynolds led a race high 55 laps, but staying out on the final caution dropped him to fifth.  Brian Mac, Garry Brant and Mike Johnson, all of CFM, took 2-4.

The hop was a bit bumpy, heat of the day creating plenty of turbulence for the 40 minute flight.  We nailed the touch down at McCarran 25L, taxied to general aviation and cut through to Luxor for a little action at the tables.  Worked our way up the strip to Caesar's and an early evening dinner at Nero's.  Plenty to do in Vegas while we hang out until the weekend, maybe catch Wayne Newton!

With the restrictions imposed on practice, we may take a couple of side trips while in Vegas - Lake Meade, Hoover Dam, Area 51, so hopefully, we'll have some good weather for flying.

02/25/09 - Boulder City

Took a quick drive over to Boulder City, which lies a few miles to the southeast of Vegas.  Swung into Boulder City Muni to check if they had anything available for a site seeing excursion.  I was in luck, they had a Piper available, so after a quick check ride, we took off to take a look around.  Headed out, due east in search of the Colorado River, which is pretty easy to find, as there's not much out this way.  Turned north, following the canyon to one of the wonders of the modern world, the Hoover Dam.  After flying the King Air, the Piper felt like piloting a kite.  Lots of wind, slow going, but after a couple of hours, we were back on the ramp and ready to head back to Vegas check in to the hotel and crash.  Stopped by Bellagio to check out their fountains on the way to the crib, awesome stuff.

A day to kill, starting off with a little golf with the Garry and Jim Brant at The Wynn.  Great course, right on The Strip, a little pricey, but with Garry Brant picking up the tab....  A quick nap and off to The MGM Grand for a little casino action with Steve Metzler and Wayne Smith.  Steve and Wayne are on a roll, while lady luck does not smile upon me.  I'm off to The Hilton and The Star Trek Experience.  My luck is really not holding out, Star Trek closed in the fall....  Looking for a sure fire winner, for a change, and as luck would have it, Donnie and Marie at the Flamingo!  What can you do to top Osmonds.  

After a late night of wandering around Vegas, David Hudson and Mike Johnson both express interest in a little government installation north of town.  Nestled between some peaks, about 20 minutes north of town, lies Area 51.  So it was off to north Las Vegas Executive to borrow a buddies Mooney Bravo for a little recon flight at dawn.  As there is a pretty hefty no-fly zone around the base, we opted for some high altitude patrolling around the eastern border.

As we were reaching altitude, Mike thought he saw something to port, David zoomed his camera and snapped away.  No one was certain as to what Mike saw, but Dave did provide us with an image that was captured, and displayed to the right.  This shot was highly zoomed, and then further blown up in photoshop and cropped for size.

After some down time, it will be off to the track, team meetings and we'll begin our prep for the cup race!