Flying the Cessna 208 Caravan with Kris. The Caravan had just come out of it’s yearly annual inspection in Aurora, Illinois and she came along for the adventure. We drove up from St Louis and after paying for the inspection and doing a very thorough preflight we started the airplane and took off for St Louis. Unfortunately, during part of the trip the low level turbulence was really bad and she almost got sick. She toughed it out and we continued on the flight. We were in a race to beat thunderstorms that were quickly approaching the Spirit of Saint Louis airport from the west. This video includes the ATC radio communications and the cockpit view of the landing.
Tag Archives: flying
Flying the Cessna 208 to Aurora, Illinois
This trip in the Cessna Caravan starts at the Spirit of Saint Louis Airport with a short hop to the St, Louis Downtown airport. Then a quick turn and flying on to the Chicago/Aurora Municipal Airport. The landing at Aurora includes the Live ATC radio communications and the pilot cockpit view.
The Cessna Caravan is a large single engine turboprop that only requires one pilot. It’s a fun easy to fly airplane that can carry a large load and cruises at 170 kts. It’s also a great performer on short and unimproved landing strips.
Citation Excel Flight to Fort Myers
This is a flight to the Fort Myers Page Field airport in the Cessna Citation Excel. The Excel is a twin engine medium size private jet with a range of 1,700 nm. It carries 9 passengers and cruises at 420 kts. This is a vlog style video of what it’s like to work as a corporate pilot.
Flying Two different Cessna Private Jets in Two Days, The Citation M2 and Ciation XLS
This was a two day trip that involved flying two very different airplanes. One was a single pilot light jet with advanced avionics and the other was an older midsize Citation business jet. The plan was for me to fly the Cessna Citation M2, a single pilot private jet, to the Raleigh-Durham International airport for a pick up and be back in St Louis in time to fly the Citation XLS to the Chicago Midway airport. I would fly the Citation XLS back the next day. Unfortunately, the return time was an hour before the XLS flight. So, just to be on the safe side, I arranged for a part-time captain to be ready to fly the trip if it looked like I wouldn’t be back in time for the departure. I was really glad I had setup a contingency plan because as soon as I checked on with st Louis approach I head the XLS being handed off St Louis approach to Chicago center. I had missed the connection by 45 minutes. Fortunately, as a precaution, I had already purchased an airline ticket to the Chicago Midway airport. As soon as I shut down I secured he aircraft and jumped in my car getting to the St Louis airport in time to catch my Southwest Airlines flight to Chicago. The other Captain was flying back on the Airlines later that evening. I made it to Chicago, checked into the hotel and was ready for the return flight the next afternoon. This video is that two day trip with ATC, cockpit views and takeoffs and landings. Enjoy and safe travels.
Flying the Cessna Citation XLS to San Antonio Texas
Cessna Citation XLS
This is more of an aviation vlog format for the flying video with a mix of flying, ATC and travel. Our flight started with takeoff on pretty day from the Spirit of St. Louis airport. Enroute we encountered some interesting cloud formations we flew through. Once we start our descent into the San Antonio area the weather clears again, and you get a good view of the area. San Antonio approach vectors us for a visual approach to runway 13 right and the Tower clears us to land. We taxi to the FBO which is Million Air and after securing the aircraft we are treated to fresh cookies.
We have one free day in San Antonio which we use to tour the Alamo and then have lunch on the River Walk. Day three starts of with a dense fog but it clears, and we get delayed so that we eventually takeoff at night. The departure ATIS at the end of the video has an interesting NOTAM referencing a laser strike on an aircraft.
The Cessna Citation Excel is a turbofan-powered, medium-sized business jet That seats eight passengers. It has a range of approximately 1,900 nm and cruises at 410 kts.
Cessna Citation M2, Steep Turns and Landing Punta Gorda, FL
Flying the Citation M2, the newest version of the Cessna Citation Jet. The M2 is an absolute pleasure to fly. It’s an upgrade of the original CJ that has six passenger seats and is powered by the dependable Williams FJ-144 engines. It cruises at 400 knots and has the original service ceiling of 41,000 ft. The instrument panel has been completely redone and is now dominated by the three panel Garmin 3000. The new Garmin avionics are incredibly capable but, require a steep learning curve. FlightSafety is now requiring any pilot upgrading to the M2, who doesn’t have previous Garmin 3000 experience, to take a one time two day course on the avionics suite. 
Half the switches are gone and the systems they controlled are now selected and managed through the Garmin touch controllers, GTU’s. This isn’t always a plus. Now instead of just flipping a fan switch, you have to flip through a couple of pages to get to the selection option. The avionics master switch has been removed and when you turn on the battery the avionics come on. This is an odd adjustment if you transitioned from aircraft that would drain the battery in ten minutes if everything is powered up. The avionics now have their own full size battery. Systems are powered by the original battery. With the loss of both generators, and both batteries fully charged, you now have one hour till the total loss of avionics power. A properly managed electrical failure in this airplane is almost a non event. You still have one full panel in front of the pilot providing all the required information. Some of the other changes are the removal of one of the engine fire bottles, no inverters due to the fact that all lights are now LED’s and all equipment requiring ac power have integral inverters. 
The aircraft now has little winglets I like to call them stubies but, they are more for marketing appeal than anything else. Cessna had originally planed to provide the M2 with an option for an electric windshield but, recently announced that they had discontinued any plans to do so. In this video we go out for some training before picking up our clearance to Punta Gorda Florida. Some of the basic weights are maximum ramp weight 10,800 lbs., Maximum takeoff weight 10,700 lbs, maximum landing weight 9,900 lbs. Maximum fuel is 3,296 lbs and fuel burn is 800 the first hour then 700 lbs and 600 lbs.
Flying the Cessna Citations and Beechcraft King Air 350
A year of charter and corporate flying in the Cessna Citation Encore, Citation II, Citation Mustang. Citation Excel and the beechcraft King Air 350. This is a representative video of a year of flying with cockpit views of takeoffs and landings.
Cessna Citation Mustang Cockpit and Steep Turn
A short video made with a friends go pro camera of a steep turn in the Cessna Citation Mustang and a wide angle view of the cockpit. After practicing a couple of turns we head west to Wichita for a check ride in the Mustang.
A Year of Flying Cessna Citations and a King Air 350
This video is a year of corporate flying in 5 minutes. It’s mostly takeoffs, landings and approaches or what I like to call the fun part of the job. I enjoy what I do and like to share that experience in my videos. In actuality, over a years’ time, I’ve flown many more flights and in more airplanes than are shown in the video. So this video is more of an attempt to give you the feel of flying as a charter pilot than a day by day account. Unfortunately, I don’t always have the chance to pull out my camera and capture what would have made great video so some of the coolest things I’ve seen I didn’t get in the video. The aircraft in the video are the Cessna Citation Mustang, Citation Encore, Citation II, Citation Excel and a Beechcraft King Air 350. Some of the video is taken while acting as the pilot or co-pilot. A few of the included scenes are of the aircraft cockpits and the cabin. The name of the music is “Full Throttle”
Winter landing at Fond Du Lac County Airport
A Cessna Citation makes a Winter landing on runway 36 at the Fond Du Lac County Airport (FLD) in Wisconsin. With snow covering the ground it’s hard to pick out the runway till getting fairly close to the airport. The large flat area to the northeast of the field is frozen lake Winnebago. This airport is just 14 miles south of the Oshkosh airport and acts as a reliever during the yearly fly in. During the EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh Fond du lac is a popular stopping spot for aviators who want camp next to their airplanes and avoid the more crowded traffic pattern at the Oshkosh airport.