Well, this is kind of the opposite of a welcome. As some of you may know, I've been toting with the idea of getting my medical back after a bout with prostate cancer about 1.5years ago. That diagnosis at age 50 kind of kicked my tail. I'm sitting here at the Peoria, Illinois airport after leaving my flight surgeon, Dr. Bruce Chien, who guided me through the process. I am now the proud owner of a Class III medical with SI (Special Issuance)!!! I just need the SI for 3 more years and then go back into the general pilot population pool.
Actually, preparing for it wasn't that bad. Just ran 5 miles every other day, dieted religiously and got all of my medical records lined up. The cancer appears to be gone and I'm moving on with my life. My flying needs have changed since my kids/families are moving out of state. Therefore, I've purchased an '07 Cessna 182 turbo with 219hrs which will help me get in and out of Colorado mountains where one of my kiddos is moving for grad school purposes. I researched the new Cirrus turbo and Corvalis 400 heavily, but just kept going back to my old standby. It's not a rocket ship, but will do 175 kts up at altitude and 165kts, realistically. On a 2 hr X-C trip, there's not that much difference in time. I'm going to miss the 5gph on auto gas, but I'm usually carrying 3 passengers, making the CTLS difficult to use.
I'm not leaving the forum completely, but will be visiting less frequently with my dumb questions. The CTLS of mine will probably be sold through the dealer, Van Bortel, out of Arlington, TX and they already have a prospective buyer. I've "kid-gloved" my plane as much as humanly possible, so we'll see what happens... Will take a pic of the new plane soon and post. It has the Garmin GFC700 AP, SVT and I'm installing the BRS soon. Maybe my mission will change back to the CTLS-type plane again. If the "C" dirty word ever came back, flying will be the least of my worries anyway.
Take care,
John S. Johnson
Sent from iPad