Aruba Flying Club

[SanNic44]

This afternoon I had the pleasure of an introduction to the Aruba Flying Club. A local friend of mine is a member and a student pilot. We've been talking about airplanes and flying for several years now and we finally made time to go to the airport. There I was introduced to the fellow who re-started the club after it had been inactive as well as to their number one instructor, who had just been up with a student.

You may not notice it when landing in Aruba aboard a jetliner, but those winds make it very challenging to land in a small plane like the Cessna 172 owned by the club. This is the same type of plane that I fly in the states. However, I don't have much experience in 30 knot winds. I spoke at length with the instructor, a guy who holds most every certificate there is including helicopters.

I was also impressed at the amount of general aviation activity at the airport. There are turboprop planes carrying between 6-10 passengers back and forth to Venezuela all day long. There are also a number of planes owned by islanders and others parked on the ramp. The new GA terminal features security and immigration facilities, a small lounge, and a snack bar.

This is one more reason why I like Aruba, a great flying club. I look forward to flying with them when I turn in my next novel.

For a direct link to the photo of us see: http://bentpage.wordpress.com/2009/0...lying-friends/.

Bon dia from la isla. 44

[Chadd]

30 knots isn't bad as long as it's right on the nose, get that a few degrees off to the side and it gets interesting pretty quickly. One or the guys at work was trying to get in contact with them while he was down on his honeymoon. I haven't flown with him since then so I don't know if he did it or not.

[SanNic44]

Chadd,

You are correct regarding the wind. There's more to it than that, though. The gusts come and go and on final, about 100 feet up, the disappearance of that gust will have you coming down fast. But that's the joy of flying.

44