Jun 05 2009
200th Landing and First Flight to DuPage Airport!
Today marked my 200th landing as a pilot and my first flight to DuPage Airport (KDPA). After getting back in the air yesterday after almost 50 days without flying, today I wanted to fly somewhere new and different for me. I decided upon DuPage Airport because I wanted more practice at a towered airport as well to try the Kittyhawk Cafe there - which I heard is pretty good.
The flight down to DuPage went great as I had both the plane’s (1981 Cessna 172P) old GPS system as well as my new trusy Mio C320 with NavGPS Pro software on it to get me there. Both systems worked great and had perfectly consistent data between the two. The southerly winds today lent to a straight-in approach to runway 20R at DuPage. That runway was absolutely huge and I felt like I landed literally in the first TENTH of it! After taxiing to the ramp I had lunch at the Kittyhawk Cafe. I felt like lighter fare, and in homage to the $100 Hamburger, I had what I’ll call a “$100 Club Sandwich”…even took a pic, what you see pictured here (what was left of it halfway through lunch, anyway). It was great food and the flight center is very modern and posh. I felt like a high roller.
The flight back to Westosha I just enjoyed the gorgeously clear skies and the view. The flight went quickly as those southerly winds helped push me back north a little more swiftly. The landing back at 5K6 marked my 200th as a pilot. It’s hard to believe that less than 1.5 years ago I had never landed a plane, now I have 200 landings under my belt! Time certainly does “fly”!
This flight I logged 1.2 hours of flight time and my 200th landing.

Although I haven’t had a chance to fly in over a month now (which stinks), I’m happy to report I’m still alive and kicking. Work has been crazy busy, and weekend weather (and plane availability when there is nice weather) have been uncooperative recently…all making it difficult to get up into the sky. Hopefully this week/weekend I’ll MAKE time to fly, but I wanted to just write a blog post to stay active.


Navtech’s EFISce application is another Windows CE compatible aviation GPS software package. To install on the Mio C320, use the Pocket PC 2003 version (the 2nd one down) on the
As per the 172SP checklist, before attempting to start a cold engine, you are supposed to run the auxiliary fuel pump until the fuel flow meter starts to move. It’s only supposed to take under 10 seconds to get that needle to move. I turned on the pump and let 5 seconds tick by, then 10, 15, 18… and no movement. I decided to stop the pump then (I didn’t want to flood the engine) and try cranking. Nothing. I tried the pump a little more, still no movement. Cranked again and nothing. Kept cranking, and I hear the battery starting to get taxed and run down. I opened the door and looked outside and saw fuel under the exhaust…I definitely flooded the engine (crap). I follow the flooded engine procedure in the operating handbook: to basically crank with the throttle open (to use up the fuel in the flooded engine). I hear it starting to use up the fuel, but nothing firing well, the battery is definitely getting dangerously low. I decide to plug the plane in and let it warm up for 5 minutes (and hopefully recharge the battery a bit). After 5 minutes, I try the flooded engine procedure again without success (crap again). I decide I’m going wait another 5 minutes and try one final time. Luckily, that’s what the plane needed. After 6 minutes (one minute extra for good luck), the battery had just enough juice and the flooded engine procedure worked! The plane started and I let it warm for quite a while before starting on our journey.
Obviously do continue and everything will install fine and work fine (clearly it is compatible). Once installed, the program will load and ask for your registration info. If you are just trying the software for 30 days, you can leave it empty (which is what I did).