Cleared direct Seminole....

...was our clearance after passing over Ocala VOR last night. We were on an IFR flight plan from Ft Pierce to Tallahassee. We took off from FPR around 7 and enjoyed a nice sunset from 6000 ft on a heading of about 322. I found it interesting that the VOR nearest to Tallahassee(home of FSU) was named Seminole.......Maybe they can get a VOR named Hokie down in the Blacksburg area. I think there is a Gps waypoint on the approach into Blacksburg named Hokie, but it sure would be nice to get something bigger.
Anyways, we landed at TLH after flying the NDB rwy 36 approach. I dont have alot of experience with ADF navigation, and flying NDB approaches so I am using the time I have left here to get more familiar with them. The planes back home dont have ADF's in them so I never had to do an approach for my checkride.
The NDB is a non-directional beacon that will allow you to track a needle inbound or outbound to the beacon. The ADF is the equipment in the airplane that consists of a compass card and a needle that will always point to the station. The level of precision is alot less than that of a VOR or a GPS so the approaches can be a challenge, especially when executing the approach in actual instrument conditions(clouds).
My time down here has been extremely well spent. I passed my CFII(instrument instructor) checkride yesterday. So now my resume reads CFI, CFII, MEI. I am taking the instrument ground instructor written on Monday so that when I get my ten checkrides with an 80% pass rate I can get my golden seal on my instructors certificate. Ive learned a tremendous amount down here from the people Ive flown with, the airspace, the weather, and the twin engine airplanes we have been flying.
Today we are climbing back into the Duchess for another 6 hours. Probably do Key West and maybe Peter Oknight in Tampa. Weather again is clear skies and its already up to 86 degrees.
Im hopping on an airtran flight to DCA tomorrow for a wedding this weekend. Then its back down here to take that written and finish the flying. My three weeks have flown by, but what Ive learned here and what Ive experienced will stay with my for the rest of my life.
The wonderful thing about aviation is that for the most part everyone has the same goal, and everyone wants to see you succeed. There is the occasional bad seed you run across, but as a whole the aviation community is one big family. Thats they way I like it.