Spring trip to the Southwestern US

[Ned Gravel]

Tom:

 

Sorry.  Not a gambler.  The only chips we saw were the ones in all the little corner shops. You know the ones - with $100,000 written on each one.  Box of 25 costs about $8.95?  Do you think the folks at Mooney would have accepted seven or eight of those?

[Guest]

Clarence:

 

Thank you for the kind words.  I have not really considered getting a new one, although this trip has convinced me of the utility of a turbo normalizer.  If you, and any others, feel I should now have one, I will be willing to commence accepting donations to purchase one.  It should take about 15 years or so of fundraising to get the amount needed.  

 

What do you think?

Ned,

If you and Ute bring home a new one, Acclaim or Ovation, I'll do the first annual for free! But it has to be red

Clarence

[Ned Gravel]

Update 12:

 

The Alamo.

 

This has been a bucket list visit of mine for some time.  I am an old soldier and I came to look at ground and hear about the actions that fired the creation of a nation - now known as the Lone Star State.  

 

I am apolitical and I will not offer any judgement or comment beyond the fact that significant sacrifice was made here.  And now we move on.

 

Few pics today.

 

Tomorrow we fly to Killeen, Texas and visit the 1st Cav Museum.  I am going to buy a hat.

[Ned Gravel]

Ned,

If you and Ute bring home a new one, Acclaim or Ovation, I'll do the first annual for free! But it has to be red

Clarence

 

What part about "I cannot afford it" is so difficult to understand here???          

 

Although I would love to watch that happen......      

[Guest]

Back to Vegas to make a small investment!

Clarence

[Cruiser]

New pictures secretly obtained by sources officially denied to exist but sometimes leaked when the message is all in fun.

 

Ned, what did you say your useful load was on your plane?

[Ned Gravel]

New pictures secretly obtained by sources officially denied to exist but sometimes leaked when the message is all in fun.

 

Ned, what did you say your useful load was on your plane?

 

 

Ahhhh...   Would that it were so.....    

[Ned Gravel]

Update 13:

 

Still in San Antonio.

I do not normally fly in this. Clouds OK. Rain OK. Lightning strikes and thunderstorms headed to where I am going - not OK.

Tomorrow we will try again. If it gets complicated, we may just lift off and head east for 60 or 70 miles and put down out of all this c__p. Then we can pick our way through widely spaced systems to come home.

Two pics that tell the tale. In San Antonio, yesterday, we were remembering the Alamo.

Today, we are remembering Scott Crossfield. 

[ArtVandelay]

Texas is known for large hail, might want to spend extra $ to have your plane hangered

[Ned Gravel]

Update 14:

 

Made it to Killeen.  Nice and easy flight of one hour.  Few pics of what the beginning of a layer looks like.  

 

Tomorrow, we head home.  It will take two days.  We will be behind the front headed east as we travel north.

 

 

[yvesg]

Bon retour Ned!

Yves

[Ned Gravel]

No pics today.  We are on our way home.  Out of Killeen to Memphis. Quick stop for lunch and then on our way to Fort Wayne.  Halfway to Fort Wayne, had to divert to Evansville and we spent 45 minutes on the ground there.  Landing in Fort Wayne was through an icing SIGMET (or is it AIRMET) on 23 with winds at 250@20G32.  Yeehaw!!

 

Tomorrow the high pressure system parked overhead will make for cloudless skies for the hour flight to Windsor (for customs clearance) and then the 2.5 hours to Rockcliffe.

 

This has been a great adventure.  Good people.  Wondrous places.  Breathtaking landscapes.  Energizing flying.  And my girl is happy too!!

[bonal]

Looks like you were scooting right along in that last pic. Hope the remainder of your journey is safe and successful

[Ned Gravel]

Final Entry:

 

We made it home just fine and we learned quite a bit about how we would like to travel in our "travelling machine."

 

First, here are the stats (right out of Flightaware).

 

28 Mar 2015 Ottawa/Rockcliffe (Rockcliffe) (CYRO) to Carl R Keller Field (KPCW) 2.53 hrs.

28 Mar 2015 Carl R Keller Field (KPCW) to James M Cox Dayton Intl (KDAY) 0.97 hrs

30 Mar 2015 James M Cox Dayton Intl (KDAY) to St Louis Downtown (KCPS) 2.18 hrs

30 Mar 2015 St Louis Downtown (KCPS) to Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower National (KICT) 2.98 hrs

01 Apr 2015 Wichita Dwight D Eisenhower National (KICT) to Tucumcari Muni (KTCC) 2.72 hrs

01 Apr 2015 Tucumcari Muni (KTCC) to Albuquerque Intl Sunport (KABQ) 1.22 hrs

02 Apr 2015 Albuquerque Intl Sunport (KABQ) to Sedona (KSEZ) 2.55 hrs

02 Apr 2015 Sedona (KSEZ) to Henderson Executive (KHND) 1.43 hrs

05 Apr 2015 Henderson Executive (KHND) to Ryan Field (KRYN) 2.60 hrs

05 Apr 2015 Ryan Field (KRYN) to Dona Ana County At Santa Teresa (5T6) 1.62 hrs

06 Apr 2015 Dona Ana County At Santa Teresa (5T6) to Kerrville Muni (KERV) 3.00 hrs

06 Apr 2015 Kerrville Muni (KERV) to Stinson Muni (KSSF) 0.52 hrs

09 Apr 2015 Stinson Muni (KSSF) to Skylark Field (KILE) 1.15 hrs

10 Apr 2015 Skylark Field (KILE) to Memphis Intl (KMEM) 3.37 hrs

10 Apr 2015 Memphis Intl (KMEM) to Evansville Rgnl (KEVV) 1.62 hrs

10 Apr 2015 Evansville Rgnl (KEVV) to Fort Wayne Intl (KFWA) 1.48 hrs

11 Apr 2015 Fort Wayne Intl (KFWA) to Windsor (CYQG) 1.03 hrs

11 Apr 2015 Windsor (CYQG) to Ottawa/Rockcliffe (Rockcliffe) (CYRO) 2.78 hrs        

 

Total   35.75 hrs (about the same as my entire 2014 flight time)

 

Made some good time on some legs and not so good on others.  We have decided that 18 flights in 14 days is pretty much our limit and we are not really keen on repeating that.  If it was just me alone, not so bad, but not with the two of us.  

 

Second, we have decided that making good use of the legs of our travelling machine means travelling up to 6 hours in one day and then stay put for a while.  Distances such as Killeen to Fort Wayne above are about it.  About 900 miles.  Those are the travelling days and the days in between are the days given to us by the advantage of flying there.  Alternatively, two four-hour flying days are OK.  That puts us on the ground for good stretches and rest between flying days.  Allows up to 1200 miles over the two days.  For example, that would put us into Tampa from Ottawa with a night in Virginia along the way.  Next year, I plan to take Ute to Orlando, hopefully around the same time of year.

 

Third, we flew IFR for all legs.  I only got about 4 hours actual IMC during the 35 or so hours flying, and two real IMC approaches, one into Kerrville and one into Killeen.  Both broke me out about 500 feet or so above the minima for each of those two approaches (and well above my personal minima) - so it was good.  Note that both were VOR approaches - I do not yet have a 430 or equivalent.

 

Fourth, our plan for "rain days" was spot on.  We gave ourselves four extra days for the trip and we used all of them - two before we departed Ottawa because of icing, one in Wichita to install a new fuel pump and one in San Antonio because of CBs.  

 

Fifth, Foreflight is a lifesaver.  It allowed me to make reasonable flight planning decisions and then to amend them as necessary in the cockpit. Combined with my Stratus 2 (apparently immune to the glitch cause by Apple's most recent IOS updates) I was able to steer away from bad things during the planning phases for each leg.  No scooting between cells for me.

 

Sixth, we only had one mechanical problem and that was the fuel pump failure noted during startup in Wichita.  To me, that means that the aircraft is in pretty good shape mechanically.  

 

Seventh, it does not matter how well you prepare for putting down on the USS Sedona, you will always have a tendency to stay shy and high until you are certain you are not going to smack into the fantail (cliff face).  The result is being high, which when a correction is attempted, one gets "hot" onto the actual strip.  Bounced twice.  Not large bounces but embarrassing nonetheless (prostrating self in painful acknowledgement of this mistake made).   Wind was 20 degrees off the runway at 15 gusting 25 on the day so it was already a bit tricky.  But nonetheless, I should have known better.

 

Three days later Ute and I met the owner of the J model that actually bounced off the other end in 2013 in similar conditions. See the report on youtube at https://youtu.be/nruN4F9WGB0.  He had rented it to a school and it was being used for training by the school when it happened.  He is just now in search of a replacement.  I promoted the Caravan to him, but I do not think he will take the time this year.

 

Finally, we found the use of O2 in the cockpit to be a non-issue with one exception.  Mountain High equipment was chosen because of their reputation and some comparisons made earlier this year with other portable O2 systems - but the promised 13 hours of use per person (with Oxymizers and MH-4 regulators) did not happen.  We set the flow rate based on our Pulse Oximiter readings to make sure our (well mine anyway) was above 90%.  We got a max of about 6 hours per person on our way to Las Vegas from Wichita and less than 4 hours per person on our way back to Texas from Vegas.  I may have to order the MH-3s (with more precise resolution for Oxymizer flow) and use those for the Oxymizers.  If we ever have to use masks (doubtful) then we are back to the MH-4s, which are the only ones allowed with their masks.

 

I think I can now start practicing with Yves for formation flying in preparation for the Caravan and I now have enough hours to actually register for the Caravan.  

 

Thank you all for your help and generosity.  Tom in Port Clinton, Pat in Dayton, Dave and Phil in Wichita, Lacee and Billie in El Paso and all the others we did not meet, but provided very useful advice to us during the planning and execution of this complex evolution (navy talk for "activity").

 

One pic - why I like my Foreflight/Stratus 2 combo.  Getting out of Killeen with the junk behind me.

[carusoam]

Nice summation, Ned!

Go Mooney,

-a-

[bonal]

Thanks for taking us with you.  These are my favorite kind of posts.

[RocketAviator]

Hey Ned & Ute.  Thanks for stopping by!  Looking forward to seeing you both soon in Madison for the Mooney to Oshkosh Caravan!!