Return from Alabama

It's Halloween, so not much time to fly, but I did manage to sneak off a few times and (using the pause button between sessions) managed to fly back from Madison Alabama. Before takeoff though, I had to help carve pumpkins. My five-year-old insisted on carving a Darth Vader pumpkin, but then decided that the smell and feel of pumpkin guts was too much for his delicate stomach to handle, so Mom and Dad had to do all the work. Mom handled the messy work of disemboweling the pumpkin, and then Dad got to work with the knife. The results were better than I would have expected:

My wife carved the traditional jack-o-latern while my teenage daughter gummed up my power tools drilling out the polka-dot pumpkin on the top step. She cleaned the drill and drill bits afterwards though, so no harm done.

Anyway, back to flying. I did just barely manage to clear the trees coming out of Palmer Field. (need picture) I climbed out and turned east to head home. I climbed to a higher altitude and starting experimenting with trimming the airplane. I had tried this a little on earlier flights but I'm still not very good at it. The idea is to get the plane at the desired altitude and speed, or the desired climb or descent rate and then set the trim tab so the plane stays in that attitude without constant control inputs from the pilot. The result is a smoother flight and less fatigue.

Having put my landing gear up earlier in the flight, it didn't take nearly as long to get back to Dalton as it originally took to get to Huntsville. I flew back over the Tennessee river and the nuke plant, and then spotted Chattanooga to the north. This flight was made at dusk, not during the day, so the night scenery, with city lights turned on, actually makes it a little easier to navigate.

After passing Chattanooga I turned SSW and started looking for the Dalton airport. I started my descent and flew straight to the airport, skipping the landing pattern and just going for a direct approach. My landing was better than the one in Alabama. At least I stayed on the runway.