What a great day! Martina and I took just 30 minutes to climb to FL190…imagine this was my first time in a jet airway. Up at this level, regardless of the weather, you must fly IFR.

Of course we had to use oxygen on this flight and the capacity of the oxygen tank I bought was highly misrepresented. It was touted to be good for 18 hours at 18,000…NOT! It was only filled to 2000 lbs pressure, so it was 2/3 full, but Martina and I lost oxygen on our return at 16,000 feet which was less than 3 hours total time in the air. For the two of us that made 6 hours…giving the tank its 3000 lb capacity we would have attained 9 hours.

Jeff wearing oxygen mask on the way to Scottsdale, Arizona

This is why we are testing all of my new gear.

Miss Behavin’ handled nicely, we climbed on average up to FL190 at 566 feet per minute…the last 1000′ was rather slow.

Just outside of Phoenix we descended through the cloud layer and picked up some unwanted rime ice, so we increased our decent to 2000 feet per minute and in 3.5 minutes we were clear of it. Fun ride.

Landmark Aviation fueled Miss Behavin’ and gave us a crew car to go eat. I might add I was impressed with Landmark’s facility and people.  First we looked at the new Cirrus Jet (which was a mock up plane), then I climbed into their SR22 and it was impressive. The SR22 or the Cessna 400 Corvallis might be my next aircraft when I get back from the North Atlantic. It appears a plane made for flying into known icing conditions would be good for me.

We then drove to PF Chang’s and had a delicious meal as we watched the rain clouds finally pass off to the east. That left us a lovely ride home.

We made good time home with no surprises on our night flight.

So on this flight I flew the highest I’ve ever flown, oh, and I tested my Iridium satellite phone for the first time too. The phone worked amazingly well, it will be nice to have it along for the ride across the pond. I had it connected into my headset through a $56 connector I bought from Sporty’s. The downside is $1.49 per minute with a $1600 phone. All in all, well worth it to have this communication along that works anywhere in the world.

Don’s comment on the satellite phone was, “Well if we ditch you can call your wife from the raft and tell her you might be late for dinner”. I have no wife, so I’ll have to find someone else to call.