Ned Gravel

23 April. Mostly non-eventful flying from Grand Strand to Kissimmee. ki-SIMM-ee, not KISS-im-ee (so I have been corrected more than once). The weather from overnight had departed over the Atlantic and we were looking at 1500' overcast for our departure but tops around 4000'. Benign clouds and clear flying above. So nice!! We planned for Jacksonville Executive (Craig). A little over two hours and into the soup for the last 30 minutes or so while manoeuvring for the turn to final on 32. Landed in the middle of a "Wings and Wheels" show on the ramp. On departure for the last hour of flying to get to Kissimmee, they had trouble both reading my transponder and getting my radio signal. Still in the soup, I finally switched back over to the Tower frequency and he gave me another Approach frequency. All of a sudden we were fivers. OK. Up out of the soup for 20 minutes before being sent back in for the approach into Kissimmee (Orlando Class B keeps folks down like Chicago does if you are not one of the lucky ones to actually land there). As you can see from the plot below, they modified my flight plan more than once in flight. OMN VOR was out of service so I only had the CRG and ORL VORs to keep me legal. But I was really operating under vectors anyway. Finally turned over to Orlando South Approach and one of the absolutely sexiest voices on a female controller I have ever heard. Different than her colleagues, she spoke slowly and enunciated every word clearly. It was so bad that Ute started stroking my shoulder as we descended out of the soup into the convective bump and grind of a Florida spring day. The joke was that the last letter in our callsign is "Romeo" so that must mean something right? Sheesh. Completed the visual to 33 at Kissimmee at 14:30 local. Making for approximately 10.5 hours of flying between Ottawa and Orlando. I know it is not as fast as Clarence's 400 or even Mikes 201 with long range tanks, but I don't care. This is me enjoying it. Now we have a week of Epcot Center, Disneyworld, Universal Studios and for today - Cape Canaveral.

22 April. Woke to overcast skies and an iffy prediction for being able to go South at all. Early morning departure called for and First Flight was not going to be one of our stops today. So we planned for getting to within two hours or so of Kissimmee. Something like Augusta or further south. We initially picked Augusta because it offered hotel accommodation (like Hampton Inn or equivalent) for less than $100, instead of the $200 being advertised for Charleston or Savannah. But the squall lines building from the Low over Detroit were not going to allow us to get there. So we settled on a shorter flight to avoid all the weather. And we ended up on Myrtle Beach North (Grand Strand). Difference between two hotel chains. Hampton Inn is owned by Hilton. Marriott is not. When we departed Edenton, we called the Hampton Inn to cancel our reservation. "Thunderstorms," we said. "If we try to fly to you, we will die," we said. "Don't care," said the hotel management. "Cancellation policy is ........." So we left it and flew. "Prefered pilot rate is $97," said Marriott in Grand Strand. So we stayed there. After further discussion (from our room at the Marriott) the customer service agency for Hampton Inn will refund us the money, even if the hotel does not.

Sorry about being late to report. From the beginning. Getting out of Ottawa was severe clear. The strategic weather plan looked good. Getting into Philly (because I was looking for a permanent CBP installation) got me into a little bit of trouble. (see previous post). With two hours gone from one tank, I took no chances and switched over to the one that had one hour (at least) still in it before I started doing the merry-go-round with Philly approach. Good thing too. The anticipated 30 minute evolution turned into 62 minutes of fun and games. CPB was the least of my worries and they were very understanding. From the time I was abreast the numbers on 35 until I initiated the go-round, 12 aircraft landed on either 27L, 27R, or 35. CRJ, Embraer, Boeing, Airbus, King Airs, all seemingly unperturbed by the turbulence at 3000' and below. The go-round was initiated by the radio call (not willing to speculate where it came from because the folks in Philly tower are doing that now). As I looked right while crossing over the threshold to 35, I saw either a 737 or a A320/21 touch down on 27R. My instantaneous reaction was to land long and not touch down before the intersection. That option disappeared with the words in my headset that said "Mooney Go Round!" After touchdown and customs clearance (very nice CPB officer who was only worried about having the correct form for us to complete) I was able to start thinking about some lunch for Ute and going to Edenton, Mimi's home drome. Gas was expensive, as already mentioned, and we finally lifted off closer to 3:00 pm than I wanted. Smooth flight over a lower broken layer to stay east of the SFRA. We crossed the mouth of the Chesapeake about an hour later and we were descended to the bump and grind below 3000' again for our last bit into Edenton. Amelia (Mimi) has a beautiful home and we prepared our Pimms recipe for her and Rob (and two other guests) overlooking Albermarle Sound from their back yard. During the evening Mimi and I discussed options for being able to go to First Flight before continuing south. It did not look good. In the end, we decided to see what would develop after we woke up. But the vacation had now started.

Carusoam: Thanks for this. We did travel V1, but between Kinston and Grand Strand (Myrtle Beach North) SC. Which is where we are now. We spent last night in Edenton, NC with Mimi (great hosts / fantastic home) following a tour of Philly at the behest of Philly Approach and Philly Tower. Shoulda listened to PaulM. See http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CFSWR/history/20160421/1400Z/CYRO/KPHL. What does one do (without thinking) when over the threshold and your headset rings with the words "Mooney - Go Round"?? See the second loop in the tour. When I finally got down, I was asked to call Tracon. They re-checked the tapes and today they confirmed those words on the tape. More Pics and Story tomorrow. Today we are one night in a hotel before 4 hours flying tomorrow. Is this really the best time for a Foreflight download?

Paul:. That has been my normal approach. Right up until CBP started differentiating between the permanent CBP posts and those "on demand." Used to use Syracuse, but it is now an on-demand station. Closest permanent facility at an airport is Rochester - but it adds nearly 80 miles to the trip. So Philly it is. Did not know Allentown had a CBP post onsite. Why is it not also an on demand station?

Tomorrow we start heading south. eAPIS is filed. 6,6, and 6 in the log book to be legal for IFR. We anticipate KPHL by 12:30 to clear customs and Edenton between 3:15 and 4:00 pm tomorrow, depending on the delays in Philadelphia of course. (Is 100LL really $6.80 a gallon at Atlantic Aviation there?) Ute and I are looking forward to spend an evening with Mimi and Robert.

Ah yes... the days of the IBM 1130. Tape was the "fast" way.

Clarence, Clarence, Clarence Less weight!!! Not twice as much weight on my nose gear. And look how much time yours spends in the shop BTW: You now back from SnF?

Done.

Go-rounds in a manual gear Mooney are non-events for me. My approach is down to 85 mph or so after the turn to final or over the FAF. Once the go-round decision is made, (Throttle - because Mixture and Prop are already set for both landing and go-round) I just make sure the nose is pointed up (straight down the runway) an the climb is established at 85 mph. TOGA's for me involve only two pumps of flaps so the trim for landing is same as the trim for the go-round. (If I have 4 pumps of flaps and I decide to go around I have to go through the evolution of three rotations of trim forward and then releasing three steamboats worth of flaps to get back to the "two pumps of flaps" scenario.) Once all that is done and things are OK and climbing at 85 mph, then it is time to pull the gear lock out of the socket and smoothly move the gear lever to the floor lock - no sudden moves because that tends to drop my right wing (at least according to my wife). This really needs to be done when the speeds are less than 95 mph because faster than that sometimes makes it difficult to pull the wheels out of the airstream with the bar. Once the go-round altitude is reached - raise the flap switch. The reason I do not climb at 120 mph until I am up to 1000' (or the go-round altitude) is because of the flap limit speed (Vfe) of 100 mph. That's it. I miss anything?

I own an E and I would love to be able to trick it out as a "J" killer. Less weight, with the correction of the things that induce too much drag on the '65 airframe. I remember taking off from Coleman Young (Detroit municipal) headed East when ATC tells me to watch for another Mooney at 9:00 (1 mile) and climbing at about 50 knots faster than me. Wow!! I was climbing at 120 mph. So he was already doing close to 160 knots in the climb. Some Mooney's are more equal than others.

Because its missing 20 ponies?

+1 on these choices and for these very same reasons. I would attempt number 1 if the crosswind was 25 knots or less. I have done that. But over 30 knots may be beyond the capabilities of my rudder.

Thanks Hank and Seth. That day (22 April) starts at Mimi's and we spend more than a couple of hours walking the ground at First Flight. After two more hours of flying, I am not sure we will be looking to tour another museum just yet. We may stop in to KSAV on the way to Kissimmee on the 23rd though, because stopping further south on the 22nd day puts us an hour closer to Orlando when we wake up on the 23rd.

Bob: Thanks for this. Amelia and I talked last Caravan and we discovered we were both also sailors. Might be reason to spend that night overlooking Albermarle Sound. I will send her an e-mail.

Ok so I am still in Laos getting ready to come home in a week and get the aircraft ready to take my girl to Orlando. We plan on clearing customs in Philadelphia and spend that night near First Flight. Which is the preferred overnight stop? Dare Regional? Or Elizabeth City? After half a day at First Flight, we are heading south as fa as Charleston, SC. Suggestions on overnighting there? The next morning we fly to Kissimmee.

Ya!!! Great video.

I love that runway. The first time I saw it, we were on approach and I was sitting in the cargo door of a Sea King with my legs hanging out over the water. I was surprised when I noted that it had lines painted on all four sides. That was 1988. Spent two great days in Charlotte Amalie and surroundings.

I have avoided getting into this discussion because no matter what anyone says, we all do it to meet our own very personal tastes. This is my setup, using the RAM system with the connectors passing under the control yolk. I used to use the AVPAD kneeboard, but when Foreflight started geo referencing their approach plates, I wanted it to be more front and center. Before Foreflight made that change, I used a Bendix King AV8OR as my situational awareness GPS and the iPad was only for planning. Now the iPad does both and the onboard Trimble is the one connected to the autopilot.

Are you going to be able to make it to Magen's Beach? One of the 10 best in the world, apparently. I was there in 1988.

I've had landings like that, when I forgot to cut the pack loose before my landing. Just once though.

You were parked in the million dollar corner!!!! Been there. Done that. Good job on the work.

For my E model I ran a similar test about 7 years ago and got this result. The "prop stopped" data came from another source. Best Glide Prop Windmilling, (12.7:1 glide ratio), 875 fpm descent rate, 105 mph IAS, 91 kts IAS Best Glide Prop Stopped, (10.3:1 glide ratio), 670 fpm descent rate, 100 mph IAS, 87 kts IAS.

Bottom of the page listing is not functioning on http://www.mooneycaravan.com/registration.

Someone has run out of useful things to do. But the songs are nostalgic.