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Oshkosh 2007 Award Winner: Outstanding Workmanship
FIREWALL FORWARD
O-360 180 HP, Marvel Carb, Vetterman SS exhaust, Slick mags (both
impulse), 72" Hartzell C2YK-1BF/F7666A-4, Reiff preheat system,
cylinders & sump, PC680 Odyssey battery.
PANEL
Dynon D10A EFIS, Garmin 396, AFS Sport Angle of Attack, SL-30 Nav/Comm,
SL-70 Transponder, MD-200-306 CDI, TruTrak DigiFlight 200VS, Monroy
ATD-200 Traffic Warning, Back-up ALT, ASI, T & B, Nat Intercom, EIS
Engine Monitor with Fuel Flow, EI Fuel Guage, Pointer ELT.
MORE
Infinity Grip (front seat only), Deluxe Throttle Quadrant, Andair Fuel
Valve, Heated Leather Seats, Wig-wag Light System, Tail Camera System
with Audio Capture, Music input jack, Darker canopy (2514), Jantzi
Tailspring, SEGA Tailwheel Fork, PPG Concepts Paint, No damage history.
Home Base: North Carolina (8A7)
$101,000
Slightly dated panel photo. GPS is now a 396.
Photo Radomir Zaric
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Monday morning, the official opening day of the air show, I made had a quick flight from West Bend to Oshkosh. It was nice to be arriving after a good night's sleep and in the cool morning air. The FISK arrival went smooth. I was listening to the wrong frequency for the first half of the approach, but I corrected that just as they told me to turn inbound. Whew! So I'm inbound behind a Citabria or something at the standard 90 knots. Everything is going well until the Citabria is on crosswind for 18R and he slows to about 60 knots. I was able to hang with him, but we were so close the tower asked if we were a flight of two. "Negative!" Anyway, it worked out fine as you'll see on the video.
I spend two nights camping at the show and had a great time, though I had no particular agenda. I checked out the planes, the vendors, etc. All the standard stuff. Camping was great as the humidity was low and by morning it was cool enough for a light blanket. I caught up with a lot of familiar RVer's and a couple new ones. It was good to see them all.
Wednesday morning I packed up the tent and headed north to see more family. ATIS said departures were using runway 27, which fit my plan nicely. However, the volunteers directed me to 36. This was disappointing because it was a much longer taxi, longer line, and departure procedures have you turn to the SE until clear of the OSH airspace. Not a big deal, just weird.
So I cleared Oshkosh's airspace and started to head north for Iron Mountain, MI. It was still relatively early, so I had to contend with the typical morning fog and low clouds. While it was fine departing OSH, the weather got a little lower the further north I went. I ended up stopping at Piso Airport in Suring, WI for a weather break. This is a little grass strip where, apparently, they breed the world's population of horse flies because there was a bunch of them. I walked to the gas station next door and had some coffee while the weather lifted. A short while later I flew to Iron Mountain and was greeted at the airport by several relatives who marveled at the airplane. No takers on free rides though...
Thursday I headed back to North Carolina. There was a lot of weather to contend with. I had to go south and west to clear it all. I went up to 11,500 on the last leg to stay above the haze. Doing so allowed me to keep an eye on the afternoon storms. Of course the XM weather on the 396 was a big help too. The sun was setting as I flew over the house to see Pam and the dogs in the yard. Eight hours earlier I was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, on the other side of a lot of weather. Quite the day...
Then, to add to an already good trip, after I returned home I learned that I won an award for outstanding workmanship. What a great surprise!!
Here was my route for the whole trip.
And the video:
Fantastic hospitality, friends, food, airplanes & inner-tubes. What a great way to spend a day!
Day One - The weather was perfect leaving the Carolina's. We divided into groups of three and found a smooth ride at 8,500 and 10,500. Our first stop for gas and to meet the Virginia RVer's, Stormy & Miriam, was Lawrenceville, IL. The winds were starting to blow and would only get stronger as we went toward the plains. Winds were gusting into the lower twenty's, but they were right down one of the three runways. Planning pays off.
After a short break and fuel we are off to Ottumwa, IA. By the time we got there the afternoon storms were starting to pop and the winds were gusting to 40 knots, but again, down the runway. The last group of three made it in just before the thunderstorm to the west. We all gassed up, wiped down, and pushed into a huge hanger -- all ten of us.
The thunderstorm was a real gully-washer, but the planes were tucked away and we were shuttled to a hotel in town. A couple drinks, a meal and it was time to hit the sack so we could do it all over again tomorrow. I shared a suite with two others. The junior guy got the sofa bed which was torturous, so I took its mattress, put it on the floor, and slept like a baby.
Day Two - Some more winds and bumps at altitude, but not as bad as the first day. Lots of farm land in every direction. Our fuel stop was at Valentine, NE. The intersecting runways helped with the wind. We met our RVer from Maine here, Capitan Ron. After a quick turn there, it was off to the Badlands & Mt Rushmore. Definitely getting into the higher terrain now. The Badlands looked interesting, but I wouldn't want to land there!
It was cool to see Mt Rushmore from the air, but we had to maintain a 2000 ft vertical and horizontal separation. Between that, the turbulence, and the nearby granite, I did not get a picture. After that we went over the hill another five miles and landed at Custer, SD for the night. Custer was the highest elevation airport we used during the trip at 5,602'. This was new territory for a couple of us, but we studied up by using AOPA's online mountain flying course and several other resources. The RV's performed fine at the higher density altitudes, but even so, it's important to have a heightened awareness of the challenges of flying in the mountains.
While in Custer some of us visited the Crazy Horse and Mt Rushmore monuments. Others toured Deadwood, SD. Afterwards we all met for a nice dinner. I had the Elk steak and a micro-brew called Sweaty Betty. I was going to have another called Moose Drool, but Betty kicked my butt.
Day Three - Today's first destination is Devil's Tower. Impressive, but we had to maintain a three mile radius around it. Each group did one lap and then continued northwest.
Fifty or sixty miles out we started to see some high clouds on the horizon. Turns out these were actually the snow-covered tops of the Big Horn mountains. Impressive beauty.
Over Fort Smith, MT we turned into the Big Horn Canyon at 8,800. Everyone got real quiet for a moment because their mouths were hanging open...it was an awesome sight. Pictures and words don't do it justice. Someone broke the silence by suggesting we call the trip "Cappy's most excellent adventure", as it was Cappy who did all of the planning and investigation for the trip. Seems appropriate. :)
We really lucked out with the weather and winds. It was a smooth ride through the canyon into Cody. Shortly we had 11 east coast RV's on the ramp at Cody. Amazing.
Two hours later Pam's flight arrived. Everyone's here. We finished day three checking out downtown Cody and having a nice meal.
Day Four - We split up into groups of four or five. Each group shared a car to do touristy things, like Yellowstone, which was 350 miles worth of driving. All done by Ben in our car. He had been to Yellowstone before, so he was a great tour guide. Lots of amazing scenery. We got back to town after dark and had a late dinner.
Day Five - We walked though town and checked out the shops, etc. Everyone was very friendly and curious about where we were from and so on. In the last shop the owner was very interested in our journey and insisted that we contact the local newspaper for an interview! Why not?! The next thing we know a local reporter meets us at the hotel to get our story. Her last name is Cloudwalker -- seems appropriate!! So we spend an hour talking with her and later met the photographer at the airport for pictures of the planes. It was fun!
Day Six - Several people had additional plans after Cody. One plane was going to the Grand Canyon, a couple others to Denver, etc. The rest, including myself, were headed back east. There was some concern about the weather in the plain states. MVFR, showers and storms were forecast. We dropped off Pam at the terminal for her flight, returned the cars, packed the planes, and were wheels up before 8:00 AM. Within 150 miles we were already getting some lower weather. We dodged a couple showers enroute to our first fuel stop at Valentine, NE. We pressed on from there as a gaggle of four to O'Neill, NE which was suppose to be 1700 and 5. By the time we got there is seemed to be lower than that so Bill and I stopped while the others forged ahead. After a short break we continued on to Ottumwa, IA and caught up with Ben & Katie. Tad & Terry had turned for St. Louis after clearing the eastern edge of the weather. It was only mid afternoon and the weather was good ahead so we pressed on to Taylorville, IL. 965 NM behind us for the day, we hangered the planes, borrowed the car, and got three rooms at the very nice Market Street Inn. After a nice meal downtown I slept like a baby.
Day Seven - Down to the home stretch, only 3.3 hours from home. We were back in the air as a gaggle of three by 9:30. We leveled at 5,500 at first, but eventually had to go up to 9,500 as the cumulus started to build near the mountains. As we crossed the mountains the storms were really starting to pop. I climbed as high as 12,500 trying to top the last build-up, but in the end I had to dive down to 5,500 and go around. (Ironically, I had to go higher to clear the Appalachian Mountains than I did the mountains out west!) This is one of many examples of the value of having terrain and XM weather in the cockpit. It earned it's keep on this trip!
Once clear of the mountains and the storms we split up for the final sprint for home-base. As fun as traveling is, it's always great to arrive back home.
Day 8+ The adventure is continuing a little longer than expected for at least three of our group. At press time James and Cappy were waiting out the weather in Nebraska and Captain Ron had some weather delays in New York. Hopefully it will clear soon.
In Summary -
+ 21.1 flight hours
+ 3022 NM
+ 165 gallons fuel
+ 2.5 quarts oil
+ 11 great airplanes
+ 16 great friends
+ 1 wonderful wife
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1 Fantastic Experience
Extra thanks to Cappy who spent many hours planning the details of this trip.
By the time we got down there, the Lakeland airspace was closed for the airshow, so we had to go to Plant City. Not a big deal. Tad gave us a ride in the big truck to Lakeland to pick up the rental car. Then we enjoyed the show for a while before going into town for dinner and then the hotel on the east side of Tampa.
The show itself was pretty good, though the crowds seemed a little thin compared to previous years. My primary goal was to look at the latest EFIS stuff. The AF 3500 is still my favorite; and they were showing off the latest improvements like a moving map and XM weather. The map was very basic, but I'm sure it will be improved quickly.
The air show was good too. TeamRV was in good form, but camera malfunctions prevented me from getting any decent pictures. Aeroshell looked good as always. The night airshow was impressive. The B2 was a surprise -- as was the decent picture I got of it.
We prepared to head home on Sunday. It was a little complicated because the plane was at Plant City and the car had to be returned to Lakeland. So I had to fly the Lake Parker arrival into Lakeland to pick up David at the FBO after he returned the car. There was not really any traffic inbound to LAL and no holding over the lake, so it was pretty straight forward. Ten minutes later we were in line for departure and off to HOE again.
It was smooth sailing again except for the last couple miles into HOE -- lots of smoke from the forest fires. The line at the fuel pump was several deep, including Reno and Rad, but it moved quickly. Soon we were off again as a gaggle of two. By this time the smoke had drifted to the north of the airport, so we stayed south until we were above it at 7,500 and then turned north for home. We had a nice smooth ride until we descended to stay under Charlotte's airspace. 7.4 hours on the hobbs total for the trip. Another great one!
