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Hi Everyone!  It’s been a little bit since a post has come from iFLYblog.com but have no fear!  Stay tuned because iFLYblog.com is EXPANDING with NEW CONTRIBUTORS!  Joining us today is Mark Pollard, Charter Pilot in the Citation XLS. You can read his about page by clicking his name in the ABOUT menu on the iFLYblog.com homepage!

Now without further rambling – a man who needs no introduction – Contributor: Mark Pollard

Where is Mark Today?

So this is my first contribution to the iFlyBlog and I am very excited!  The life of a charter pilot provides countless stories and experiences – the people, the places!  Along with providing other fun things to read, I thought I might write several of these along with other aviation pieces, so stay tuned!  Maybe we can call it Charter Chronicles, or Life at the Speed of the Hotel Shuttle Van., but that remains TBD.

Tonight I am joining you from San Antonio Texas!

If you are a professional pilot or an aspiring professional pilot, chances are that traveling is/will become a big part of your life. It is fantastic, getting paid to travel cool places. You get to see the country, and even the world, and meet interesting people.

Our first leg was to Las Vegas to pick up our passenger.  He was a very nice man –  a tech CEO/angel investor who was also a private pilot. He has one of the most awesome mustaches I have ever seen!

The flight was planned for about 2.5 hours from Las Vegas LAS to San Antonio SAT. The weather was gorgeous this time of year, and even a slower plane like the XLS (.75 Mach MMO) we made good time due to some nice tailwinds. This time of year I don’t mind traveling to the Midwest because the weather is pretty flat. Nothing is worse than having to put your coffee down to wrestle the plane through storms just to go to some crispy middle-of-nowhere airport.  Traffic was pretty light coming in so we stayed on the arrival as planned.

San Antonio is probably my second favorite city in Texas, with Austin being an easy first choice.  San Antonio offers a bunch of stuff to do which makes it a fantastic layover.  This is probably my 6^th time here so I have done all of the main touristy stuff like visiting the Alamo (a must see!) but perhaps the biggest draw for me is the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk is rich with history, which is discovered by taking a ride on one of the river boat tours that run daily. Surrounding the Riverwalk are several pubs, bars, and restaurants to suit any fancy. Being San Antonio, TexMex is probably their biggest restaurant category, and there is nothing wrong with that because they are delicious! The temperature tonight was fantastic to sit outside and enjoy some cocktails with dinner.

Another honorable mention has to be the Texas BBQ. For lunch the we went to a local recommended spot and it did not disappoint. Although Austin is my favorite place for BBQ (Salt Lick and Franklins are the best in the world), San Antonio might be my second favorite for BBQ as well. If you cannot tell already, I am a foodie so expect food and wine to be involved in the body of these blog posts.

That’s all for now, I will check in again soon for another exciting edition of Where’s Mark Today!

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