Hazy Day to DTO

The City of Wichita Falls. 

    Haze covered Texas this morning. From 3,500 feet MyMrMallory and I glided smoothly above the thermals toward Denton airport. On our way, MyMrMallory took control of the Scissortail to make turns on a point -- the point being, specifically, his son's new home -- while I took pictures of the acreage upon which it stands, all green now, after the construction of the house. 

    After a few shots, I flew along Highway 380 toward the airport. Denton tower was open and busy, talking to students and other aircraft enjoying the experience of flying during the 4th of July. The tower controller nimbly handled a stream of aircraft approaching, landing, taking off, doing touch 'n goes, and departing. 

    We followed control tower's instructions to continue over H380 and then make a 90-degree turn to final for runway 18. I flew my approach almost perfectly, with the right speed and settings. My landing spooked MyMrMallory, but then, they usually do. I followed instructions from ground control to stop and shut down at Business Air, a nice FBO at Denton airport. We feel especially fond of Business Air in Denton for the kindness they showed us last year. We flew to the radio shop on the field, and while they worked on the radio for a couple of hours, we walked around the buildings, stumbling upon Business Air, whose gentle receptionist offered a crew car for us to look for a place to have lunch. 

    Fueled up (all of seven gallons for the Scissortail), and licking our lips after a tasty homemade ice cream cone, we started up and flew toward the Wichita Falls VOR. Ten miles from the VOR, MyMrMallory took control of the aircraft and began his practice. I peered over the nose at Wichita Valley airport. 

   "Where is everyone? It's a holiday and I thought they'd be flying around all over the place."

   "It's hot and it's lunchtime," said MyMrMallory. His eyebrows frowned as he fell deeply into focus on flying the plane. 

    Neither was the Municipal airport occupied with aircraft. We had the runways all to ourselves as I approached on a right base to runway 15R. The runway, having 13,100 feet in length, and the airport, located at the very end of that runway, make for a long, long taxi; so I maintained 500 feet AGL, glided along over the concrete until I had about 1,000 feet of it left at the end. Then I descended and gently landed, then exited at the end and headed to the airport. Whether MyMrMallory felt spooked or not, I may not ever know, but I did hear a sigh of relief coming from my right before I opened my window and a gush of cooling air blew inside the cockpit.