Emory's First Flight / River Route

First time out to the airport in about a month and and a half ... Wind and Weather was looking pretty good ... Wind from the South East at 8 kts ... We will be using runway 13 for tonight's flight ... This will be Emory's first flight is a Private Aircraft ... My first passenger as a Private Pilot ... 

KSGJ 262158Z 10008KT 10SM CLR 25/13 A3020 RMK AO2 SLP227 T02500133

The plan was to travel West to the St John's ... Then North to Jacksonville ... East to the Atlantic ... South back to St Augustine ... 80 Miles total distance ... 

Pre-Flight went well ... We will be flying N5165B ... We caught the fuel truck on the ramp ... They were kind enough to top off the tanks and check the oil in N5165B ... 

I did my flight training with Florida Aviation ... Great people ... Very easy to rent aircraft during flight training ... Just as easy as a private pilot ...

On the way to the airport, Emory and I went over some of the safety items ... We also talked about some of the things we would see on the flight ... I explained to Emory that I could use her help looking for other airplanes and birds ... Pretty quiet night in St Augustine ... No Planes, No Birds ... Emory got a nice photo of the Inter Coastal Water Way and the Atlantic Ocean ...

Once we got up to Cruise Altitude ... 3000' ... We got this self photo ... Not so bad, a little cheesy on my part ... 

Emory was able to identify her school middle school ... "Looks allot different from up here" ... 6 school days left this year ... 

Emory was enamored with the homes on the St John's River ... And the long docks the reach out into the river ...

We headed North along the St John's River towards Jacksonville ... Great to have Emory along ... Working with her photography skills ... Here is a picture of downtown Jacksonville ... Usually I am flying the plane, talking on the radio, watching for traffic, and navigating ... Great to have a photographer along ... Less workload for the pilot ...

As we approached Jacksonville from the South West, in the distance you can see the Hart and Matthews bridges ...

Hart Bridge

As we flew over downtown, Emory got a great shot of the Main Street Bridge ...

Here is one of the buildings in the downtown section of Jacksonville ... 

Emory quickly spotted Everbank Field, Home of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Gator Bowl ... The Matthews bridge is in the background ... 

I think Emory was picking out seats for the the upcoming season ... Nice One Emory ...

As we departed the downtown area we passed by the Dames Point Bridge and Blount Island, the Port in Jacksonville on the St John's River ... You can see a Car Carrier exiting to the right and heading out to the mouth of the St John's River and the Atlantic Ocean ...

On the way back down the coast we passed right by TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra, FL ... Home of the Players Tournament ... Emory caught a quick photo as we passes over the 17th hole ... The Island Green ...

Quick flight from Ponte Vedra, Fl back to St Augustine ... We did 2 touch and go's and then a full stop landing ... Taxied back to Florida Aviation and secured the plane ... All in all a good flight ... Emory was a perfect first passenger ... She had a good time ... When I asked her which part she liked best, she said "The landings at the end ... I really felt like I was flying when we were going up and then back down again ... "