Home Again, Home Again, Jig-a-dee-jig

My Mom always says that when we’re going home. I love it…reminds me of the good ol’ days.

During my overnight stay in Van Nuys, I was tickled to see that Jersey Mikes Subs had not gone out of business in my week-long absence. I really love this place. It very well could be one of the best sandwich shops that I’ve ever tried. Ever.

Please go to their website. Please check to see if they have a location near you. Please go if they do. They slice the meat for your own sandwich!!

On this particularly heavenly evening, I got their club sandwich with ham and turkey and bacon. Because we all know that bacon makes everything better.

The bread is freshly baked and crusty on the outside while staying soft and chewy on the inside. Shredded lettuce, tomato, oil and vinegar (I was surprised at how awesome it was), and their spice mix. Add a little provolone cheese, also sliced fresh for my sandwich, and I’d say that we are good.

Well, now that we are officially all hungry, let’s head to the airport for our quick flight home today. Of course, we lost the awesome tailwind from yesterday…it dropped to just twenty knots today. But that’s OK, as it means more flying!

We got some fuel and prepped Gladys for the return trip. We were scheduled to leave around eleven o’clock again this morning with the same five passengers from yesterday’s flight.

There is something even more majestic about Gladys when she is parked in front of palm trees. Right now, I would actually prefer it to be a Christmas tree, but that’s just me!

Speaking of, we put up Christmas inside yesterday. I hope that we can do the outside lights when Hubby gets home from work today. He has been breaking his back working on the front yard…at least he is getting to the point where he is filling in the holes for the new sprinkler system now!

Jet Suite has a maintenance base here at Pentastar Aviation in Van Nuys. These nice mechanics were actually nice enough to fill our tires last time we visited. I am going to make them cookies to thank them.

That’s normal, right?

More big guys on the ramp…many of them the same from our last visit. Since this ramp is so small, I am always amazed at how they can stack so many flying giants and still leave room for us to squeeze by when it’s time to depart.

Sometimes it is just that…barely squeezing by!

Gladys is so smart. She even knows when doors aren’t closed. Since my passengers aren’t here yet, of course the main passenger and baggage doors are open and waiting for them. But I love that Gladys lets me know…in case I was asleep when putting luggage in and forgot to shut the baggage door.

I always have nightmares that I’ll forget something like that. Terrible dreams, they are.

Away we go! Home again, home again, jig-a-dee-jig!

The song goes on to talk about pigs, but I can never remember it. What a shame…that is probably the best part!

The winds dictated that Runway 34L was still in use, so we had a nice, long taxi to the other end of the airport for takeoff. We passed lots of locally-based airplanes on our way.

Cessnas, Mooneyes, Pipers. Yes, please!

Hi, Van Nuys Tower! Looks like you’ve got some construction going on. That’s nice. Well, see you later! (Big Gulps, huh?)

We quickly climbed in between arriving traffic to Burbank. Just like in New York, the reliever corporate airport gets the shaft when moving around airliners at other nearby airports. That’s OK, though. Crashes aren’t all that cool, so we can wait.

There are lots of people who live in California. Did you know that?

And it was fun to take off in a different direction than we normally do. I got a better view of some pretty landscapes, and we were high enough to make our turn early over the mountains. How fun!

Yes, even these mountains!

We just left Van Nuys, but here is a picture that will help you know where it is. I have also pinpointed some very important landmarks, like Disneyland. You’re welcome.

I love this picture with the detailed mountains in the foreground, tapering off to misty mountains in the background. Misty mountains never fail to remind me of The Lord of the Rings.

Man, I need to get out more.

Here we are getting closer to home. We fly the ARLIN3 arrival until just past the checkpoint PAYNT, then we are directed by Albuquerque Center towards the north to avoid the city traffic.

It is a shortcut to get to our own airport, and you know that I love shortcuts.

I should probably mention that Jeppesen has recently made many upgrades to their Flight Deck app. It is much better, though I still think a few things need to be changed. This is the new interface, which is so much easier to navigate. Instead of having to search for approach plates, they automatically load the ones that are most used. How thoughtful!

It’s about time!

We passed Deer Valley Airport today on our way home. The TCAS (Traffic Collision and Avoidance System) on Gladys is very astute…and it always shows about forty million airplanes using Deer Valley Airport. I think that she is totally right…that place is a madhouse!

Here is the pretty girl at home! She has a whole night to enjoy it, too, because we head back to Van Nuys tomorrow to pick up some more people. Sometimes it feels like we are a city bus…and I love it!

I took the cabin blankets home to wash so that they were warm and soft and fuzzy for the flight tomorrow. I can’t wait to fly again so soon!