The Vampire Run!
If only the FBO staff had one more vampire joke.... But it's for a good cause!
Saturday was a fun day flying the Blood Run! With fewer commercial flights available to transport donated blood, Angel Flight South Central has expanded its mission and teamed up with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center to get samples of GCRBC's donated blood to Houston for testing on a short fuse.
It’s an hour flight to/from Corpus. It was a stormy day inland today on the gulf coast, but as long-time local pilots know, on these sea breeze-generated storm days, if you hug the shoreline you could fly from Brownsville to Pascagoula and not feel a bump, while the convection kicks up boomers 10 miles off your wing all day. So I made a beeline from Houston Southwest to the coast and followed the shoreline to Corpus.
The Corpus to Houston Southwest route along the shoreline.
On the way into Corpus International, I overflew the USS Lexington (CV-16), now decommissioned in Corpus Christi Bay as an excellent museum.
The USS Lexington
The carrier is docked at North Beach, Corpus Christi Bay, a handful of miles from Corpus Christi Naval Air Station (KNGP) and the Navy’s nearby naval outlying landing fields, Waldron NOLF (KNWL) and Cabaniss NOLF (KNGW).
Over the carrier I asked the tower if I could stay south to avoid a dark gray rain shaft. “Sure, just don’t land at Cabaniss,” she said. “Yes, ma’am!” I landed VFR in gusty winds and some moderate rain that started on final approach, but by the time I shut down the sun was shining again. The folks at Atlantic Aviation could not have been nicer, and, after grabbing the blood, I was soon dodging storms on my way back to Houston. An hour’s flight back to Houston along the shoreline, and the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center’s volunteer was waiting for me when I landed in Houston. We made the handoff, and: mission accomplished.
