Angel Flight June 9th 2017

     Our Angel Flight today took us down to Asheville NC were would pick up our passenger Pam Jones. We have flown Pam many times and think of her as family (As a matter of fact, Pam was chosen to present John the Endeaver Award out in Las Angeles CA back in 2015 !)  Today Pam was traveling home from Atlanta GA to Roanoke VA, her pilot from Atlanta to Asheville was Paul LoRusso (This was Pauls first Angel Flight ……. Congratulations to Paul !) 

     We arrived in Asheville a little ahead of schedule and found out once in the FBO that Pam and Paul had been delayed leaving Atlanta… so we had about an hour and 45 minute wait…. which was not all that bad since the FBO had great coffee and fresh cookies ! (Plus we had a good view of several military helicopters coming and going along with a Gulfstream that read on the side “United States of America” operated by the Federal Aviation Administration. So as we enjoyed coffee and a cookie, we also enjoyed a little airshow ! (Included in photos below)  After Pam and Paul arrived we greeted Pam and exchanged some great big hugs. Then after some conversation with Paul and congratulating him on his first Angel Flight we loaded up and departed Asheville for Roanoke VA. 

     Our departure clearance started out by flying runway heading…. which took us right past the Biltmore Estate (actually, right at the Biltmore is where we were instructed to turn right … direct Roanoke) …. see photos of the Biltmore below. After turning direct Roanoke we were cleared to 9000 feet which did not clear the clouds so we requested and received 11000 which put us in very smooth air for the remainder of the flight. Our approach into Roanoke was a visual to runway 34. After landing the staff at Signature Aviation treated us like gold with great hospitality…. (they also had coffee and cookies !)…. and we visited with Pam some more while waiting on her husband to pick her up. Then it was time to say goodbye and exchange some more big hugs before we boarded up to return home.  We got our clearance and departed Roanoke heading back to home base Luray. The ride was smooth and the visibility great as we made our way back into the valley. After landing on runway 4 we snuggled 49Bravo back into her hanger and promised her a flight again real soon. At this point it was getting late, so after already having coffee at both Asheville and Roanoke we decided not to have any in the hanger and off we were on one of our most dangerous parts of the day…… the ride home !  

     Total flight hours for todays flight was 5.2 hours covering a distance of 571 nautical miles over 2 states. 

Total Angel Flights to date:  John (376) Nevin (264)

Hope you enjoy the following photos

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Thanks For Viewing and Have A Great Day !