Yooper Rocketman

I have no interest in flying VFR on that long of a cross country, irrespective of the cost. I want the safety of positive control airspace. I’ll continue doing what I’ve done the last two years, accept the ground stoppage and wait it out. The purpose of this thread was to see if this was a typical “day after Christmas” issue, a “any day between Christmas and New Years” issue, or just a couple unique weather/traffic issues the day after Christmas the last two years. Tom

Jeez Erik, I just turn the hangar heat up from 50 to 68. No where near as much work for this Yooper. We even heat our outhouses now. Might even look at indoor plumbing next year. Tom

Early morning flight from Iron Mountain, MI (U.P.) to Milwaukee. Landed before the sun came up. Looking east at Sheboygan, WI and Lake Michigan. Tom

Kris, Griffin GA.....really. That's where my first Mooney, N929PG went after I sold it. I think it was Jim Gore, a doctor? His dad was a Mooney owner too. I actually delivered the plane to him. Tom

Yesterday was a bittersweet one. I spent the last couple days knocking out my final squawks on the plane for delivery, scheduled for Saturday. We actually came back early from Florida to allow time to prep and deliver the plane, which had been paid for back on the 27th. I flew down to Milwaukee to pick up Steve, the new owner. I arrived at 7 AM, let him fly it back to KIMT, teaching him the differences in my Rocket from his current "partnership Rocket". He did well. After loading all the stuff that went with the plane and taking him to lunch, I sent him off at about 2:30 PM. It was a more sad moment than I was expecting. Tom

Very nice Don! Brings back memories. Tom

I said I would snap some pictures but got a bit distracted and wasn't sure I would even make it home from Florida yesterday. Spent the first 3 hours in the morning with my lower stomach saying you're not going anywhere farther than 50' from a toilet. Finally cleared up my system and we departed around 10:15. I had been looking at a non-stop from Spruce Creek to Iron Mountain several days in advance, but a combination of increasing head winds and the need to file an alternate put me 7 gallons short of legal IFR reserves, which with the prop-jet is tight anyway. So.......I picked the best TAF across the route, Fort Wayne IN, which was looking like 2500-4500 ceilings. I should have known someone blew that forecast, as every other TAF in the area was reporting what I ended up with there, 700'-800' ceilings. I picked Smith Field, opposed to KFWA, as the fuel pricing was $2 a gallon cheaper. The runways were a little short, 2900' and 3100' for my Lancair, but I've done 2800' once with no problem (beta and reverse helps a lot!). I ended up doing the LNAV non-precision approach, with missed just below 600' and a 700' ceiling. The A/P flew it perfectly. I made the first turn-off. FWA Approach asked me to cancel when I broke out, to which I questioned how could I do that, the field was IFR being under 1,000 ceiling? Apparently they would just prefer we "don't talk about" what the actual ceiling is. When I called Flight Service, like 4 times, after landing, the phone lines were down. In a panic, I ran into the FBO and got KFWA Tower's phone number and called to cancel, and used the same number to get my clearance going out a few minutes later. All in, it took under 4.5 flight hours to fly home with headwinds the whole way and never saw the ground the whole trip. Tom https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N994PT/history/20190102/1415Z/7FL6/KSMD https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N994PT/history/20190102/1730Z/KSMD/KIMT

Just flight planned my trip from Spruce Creek (south of Daytona Beach) to Iron Mountain ( in the U.P.) for tomorrow morning and it looks like winds will allow my first non-stop trip home, 1200+ NM’s, in about 3:40 hours. I guess we’ll see if winds tomorrow match what was forecast this evening. I will try to post some pictures. Maybe a departure picture of weather in the 70’s and landing less than 4 hours later in the teens with snow and snow banks will put the trip in perspective. Tom

How did you get that direct of routing flying into the eastern corridor? I get freakin STARS flying into small airports all over the country!!! Tom

Thank you!!! For creating this thread every year. It’s been my favorite thread on this forum!!! Keep it going! Tom

Brian, I’ve never said anything but your last two events I seriously considered flying in and surprising you and the group. Don’t be surprised one of these times a noisy blue and white kerosene burner comes taxiing up if the weather between you and the U.P. cooperates! Tom

Yes I do. I don’t know why the price was there. My FBO just sends them out and passes on the cost. I think it was done in the MSP area.

My explanation LAST YEAR, which eliminates the shut down theory, was too many planes flying into Florida between Christmas and New Years. Low IFR in the morning also didn’t help. I called Flight Service to clarify AND MSP Center said the same when I finally was released last year. When I pulled weather Wednesday morning JAX was at or below minimums. I thought last year was an anomaly, and picking my son and his girlfriend up in Appleton, WI meant I wasn’t aware of the ground hold until arriving in ATW. That same delay is a nonissue at my home airport. Last year I saw several planes try getting at least into JAX with their IFR and they were denied. They even asked if they could amend their cruising altitude to 10-12k upon arriving to the Florida line. Those requests were denied as well. My only option would have been to re-file into an airport in southern Georgia and cancel once out of the flight levels. I don’t have enough reserve fuel to fly the last part of the flight below 18k. That means a fuel stop too, and a fuel stop adds $100 in added fuel burn. Combine that with the higher fuel burn at 17.5 I’m likely approaching $200 additional cost to the flight AND no ATC Services. They were not doing any VFR Flight Following, that I could hear, until getting into the Daytona Beach Class C. I was just wondering how many others have seen this and if it’s just during the Christmas break. Tom

I have no such limitation for Class B and have never heard of any Lancair having any Class B limitations. We have a bunch of owners on our builders forum based and operating out of Class B airports. Tom

Well, for the second year in a row, I was given a ground stoppage for my IFR clearance going from the Midwest into Florida the day after Xmas. Last year I was at the runway , burning 18 gallons an hour in the Lancair Prop jet, while trying to pull my clearance into Spruce Creek (just south of Daytona Beach) when Minneapolis Center gave me a 1 1/2 hour delay on my clearance. Long story short, after several phone calls, and after taxing back to my hangar and shutting down, it was determined there was no options other than VFR, which in a Jet-A burner is not really an option. Had to top off fuel again and ended up with no issues picking the IFR up at the delayed time Even got an apology from MSP Center for the delay, which was out of their control. A corporate jet, trying to pull an airborne clearance out of northern Kentucky, found out the hard way they weren’t “playing ball” with anyone trying to trump the system either. So, on 12/26/18 I flew to Appleton, WI to pick up my son and his girlfriend for our Florida trip and during my ground taxi to the FBO at 7:30 AM local, I was given a 4 hour 10 minutes delay advisory for my IFR clearance into Florida. Again, no issues with the delayed clearance, just lost 4+ hours of Florida weather for my son coming down for just 3 1/2 days. Anyone else seeing anything like this in a GA plane?? Just an added comment, this trip was with 4 seats full and minimal luggage, in a single engine home built airplane everyone claims is a Two passenger plane, within gross!!!! Tom https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N994PT