Circumnavigate the USA

[MooneyDreamer]

Hey everyone!

So my wife and I are planning a trip around the country in about a month and a half in our J model and are hoping for some advice from either those that have done something similar, or at least those that are well traveled in other parts of the country. We're in Charlotte NC and will be allocating roughly 2 weeks to the trip. We know we're heading to MD first, then to the eastern shore, up to the Hudson River corridor, then to Niagara before heading west (all the way to the west coast before eventually making it back east). What are some things you would consider when planning this trip? Logistics, places to stop, maintenance concerns, etc.

The plane is going into annual in about 2-3 weeks, so hopefully any maintenance issues will be caught during that time. As for lodging, we are taking a tent and camping gear and plan to either camp near the plane or stay in FBO sleeping areas; probably grab a hotel or airbnb every 3 or 4 nights to "recharge."

Primarily, I want to make sure we're not overlooking any important planning considerations and/or any places we should really stop to see.

 

Thanks in advance and can't wait to see what amazing experiences the Mooney can afford us!

Brandon

[carusoam]

Brandon,

You should hang out around here more often... 
 

There is a thread around here that discusses measuring trips by the area that they cover...   more betterer than just going out and back...
 

When you find that thread.... there is a wealth of knowledge that goes with it....

 

If you want a video preview of what one MSer’s trip looks like... a father son team took videos the whole way.... find @Rmag’s video...

 

Then there are the specific really cool pics that people interlaced all around here... national parks out west are super cool from the sky... arches, Grand Canyon, Some giant colored eye spot On the ground...

 

As for planning... that was done recently as well... I think @rbridges is probably on that flight now... He hitched a ride in something so unreliable it came with a parachute built in it already... 
 

The most important collection of individual pics is in a few threads initiated by @bonalnamed today’s flight 20xx 

Come by the Jersey shore... hit the beach... play at the casinos... stay in a nice hotel... catch a show...  (Covid dependent, check what is open....)

Always have a good face mask with a styling Mooney emblem clearly on it...

Go Mooney!

Best regards,

-a-

[Hank]

Heading west, stop at KRAP and drive to nearby Mt. Rushmore. For a challenge, keep driving and try to find Crazy Horse. You will get there via Crazy Woman VOR. Stop at Yellowstone a couple hours further.

[ArtVandelay]

Better call FBOs beforehand, many lock up and there won’t be bathrooms available outside of business hours.

[MooneyMitch]

Circle directly over Glacier National Park..... unbelievably spectacular!!!

Fly to Yellowstone...... stunning views from the air there!!

Fly adjacent to the Grand Tetons..... majestic and magnificent!! 

Fly over Bryce Canyon...... wow!!! 

Fly into and hike Sedona, AZ........gorgeous!!! 

Of course, if you can stop and visit all the above, that’s the best!!

Enjoy and please keep us in the loop during your great dream adventure!! 

[Niko182]

5 hours ago, MooneyDreamer said:

Hey everyone!

So my wife and I are planning a trip around the country in about a month and a half in our J model and are hoping for some advice from either those that have done something similar, or at least those that are well traveled in other parts of the country. We're in Charlotte NC and will be allocating roughly 2 weeks to the trip. We know we're heading to MD first, then to the eastern shore, up to the Hudson River corridor, then to Niagara before heading west (all the way to the west coast before eventually making it back east). What are some things you would consider when planning this trip? Logistics, places to stop, maintenance concerns, etc.

The plane is going into annual in about 2-3 weeks, so hopefully any maintenance issues will be caught during that time. As for lodging, we are taking a tent and camping gear and plan to either camp near the plane or stay in FBO sleeping areas; probably grab a hotel or airbnb every 3 or 4 nights to "recharge."

Primarily, I want to make sure we're not overlooking any important planning considerations and/or any places we should really stop to see.

 

Thanks in advance and can't wait to see what amazing experiences the Mooney can afford us!

Brandon

Places id recommend are toketee and bend in oregon and johnson creek in idaho. El mirage lakebed is a really cool one to camp on too. Tahoe and truckee are gorgeous. Id recommend getting a portable oxygen system and flying high around 13 to 17 thousand feet. Take advantage of practically the same cruise speed on less fuel. You wont feel as fatigued when youre done flying with o2 also.

[gsxrpilot]

Land at KRAP so you can grab a rental car and go see the sights. And/or land at Custer State Park 3V0. There's a great little airport right in the park.
Camping is excellent at KWYS. It's free and inside the airport fence. A very nice campground.
Fly by the Tetons.
Take some time in the Seattle area. KBFI is a great airport and right in the city. Cool to be on approach to land with other airplanes directly overhead on approach to KSEA. While in that area be sure to get to KFHR, KORS (camp in the grass next to your airplane), and 74S. Flying around the Puget Sound area is not to be missed.
Further south stop at KHAF at least for a great breakfast on the field. Fly across Monterey Bay with a possible stop at KWVI or KMRY.
Get in a landing on the famous 16R at KVNY.
Heading back east I'd stop at KFLG, fly by Shiprock on your way to KDRO. And while in the area get it a landing at KTEX and KLXV.
If you stop at KBJC, I'll buy you a beer...

[MooneyDreamer]

Thank you all for the excellent advice and pointers towards other similar threads. The campground locations, airport recommendations, tips about calling beforehand for entrance/exit procedures are invaluable. We had thought about O2 previously as a bring along in case of needing to be above 12,500 for terrain, but it looks like it's a necessity after reading y'alls comments. We have a tank in our hangar that looks like it came with the plane originally (1978 model, and this is a club plane so it's a guess it came with it), but I'm not sure how old it is or last time it was filled. I called a local shop on the field and they said they can check it for inspection dates and fill it, but they can't do hydrostatic testing on it and would have to send it out. Said $300-500 including shipping and it needs to be done every 5 years. Is that right? I'm seeing SkyOx systems all-in that are $500 with regulator, canulas, and a mask. I've also seen recommendations to buy an old tank on craigslist and purchase the regular and hosing myself. With such extreme ends of the spectrum, I'm a little confused which way to go and what I should expect to spend on the setup.

[gsxrpilot]

I'll get some flack for this, but I'd consider O2 a nice to have on this trip rather than a requirement. You can go everywhere out here in the west at 12,500 or below with only short stints (<30 min) above that but no higher than 14,000. And that is still only for some specific locations here in Colorado. 

I fly out of Denver and regularly fly in the mountains. I have a turbo 252 with an O2 tank in the tail and plumbed to every seat. The tank is always full, but I only use it for long flights when climbing above 14,000 for winds or weather. None of the A to B flights require O2.

Just my $0.02

[0TreeLemur]

Flying the published corridor over the Grand Canyon is pretty cool.   I also highly recommend overflying Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona.  Spectacular way to see it.

[gsxrpilot]

Just now, 0TreeLemur said:

Flying the published corridor over the Grand Canyon is pretty cool.   I also highly recommend overflying Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona.  Spectacular way to see it.

Yes! I forgot this one. I've flown it four or five times and it never disappoints. Just be sure to observe the directional altitudes. 

Another important location to overfly is the Grand Prismatic in Yellowstone. You can spend an hour or two sitting in traffic waiting to get close enough to park and view it. Or make some tight turns about a point over it, no waiting, and an even better view than from the ground.

[Rmag]

Here is the link to my videos

We did not bring O2. Did the whole trip below 12,500. Brought luggage, and survival gear, personal ELT just in case we went down in a remote spot.

Tried to pick long runways for any high density alt locations.

This was our round trip route:  KMQS KJST KFWA KDVN KPRO KONL KSUO KRAP GCC 6S0 KLVM KBZN KHLN 46.52114N/112.802W KMSO 47.23685N/114.73863W S34 KTHM 47.9934N/115.7668W 41MT 48.17542N/116.30298W KCOE LARDY YKM KAST WHYTE 4S6 TITON KYKM KHRI KBKE KBOI KTWF BYI MLD U10 42.13083N/111.57327W 1U7 GEGME MBW KCYS KCOU ELDON VLA MEEKR AIRBO KRZT GRV ROBRT SUDOY KWWD DQO KMQS

[carusoam]

Funny...

Rmag’s trip was memorable for me... and I didn’t even go.   
 

Thanks for the link R...

Best regards,

-a-

[ArtVandelay]

I only found 2 airports with on field camping, or at least proudly advertised it. But this site supposedly shows many, but a spot check of a few I think they just include camp grounds in the area.

http://aaca.pilotgetaways.com/amair/map-search.php

[Danb]

8 hours ago, gsxrpilot said:

I'll get some flack for this, but I'd consider O2 a nice to have on this trip rather than a requirement. You can go everywhere out here in the west at 12,500 or below with only short stints (<30 min) above that but no higher than 14,000. And that is still only for some specific locations here in Colorado. 

I fly out of Denver and regularly fly in the mountains. I have a turbo 252 with an O2 tank in the tail and plumbed to every seat. The tank is always full, but I only use it for long flights when climbing above 14,000 for winds or weather. None of the A to B flights require O2.

Just my $0.02

The problem with that Paul is every one’s system is different ie., I generally need O2 above 8,000 while my wife is good at 13,000 quite ironic she’s the one who has had heart attacks. At 9,000 my saturation drops below 90 hers stays above 90 until 12,500. Blanket statements should be accompanied with the inclusion of two pulse oximeters available above 8000 feet, just my opinion.

[gsxrpilot]

3 hours ago, Danb said:

The problem with that Paul is every one’s system is different ie., I generally need O2 above 8,000 while my wife is good at 13,000 quite ironic she’s the one who has had heart attacks. At 9,000 my saturation drops below 90 hers stays above 90 until 12,500. Blanket statements should be accompanied with the inclusion of two pulse oximeters available above 8000 feet, just my opinion.

Agree 100%

My statement was with regards to the regulations. It is completely possible to do this trip without O2 and stay well within the regulations.

[Matt Ward]

Without respect to the route, I posted a thread on here a while back about pragmatic considerations for a long flight in a Mooney - might be valuable if you've not done one before.  My longest trip involved two kids in the backseat, so, YMMV.  But I think a lot applies re: headsets, water, snacks, duration, etc.

While it's not been explicitly stated, don't get set on a schedule.  Especially out west you're going to run into weather, fires, closures, and other unforeseen elements.  Keep yourself a Plan B and Plan C.  Especially as it involves crossing the big rocks, re-routes will be a big part of your day.

 

[Rmag]

30 minutes ago, Matt Ward said:

While it's not been explicitly stated, don't get set on a schedule

This is very true. When I did my trip with Dad, I had no scheduled return time. This trip was going to take whatever it was. The routes flown and when they were flown were dictated by weather.  We had several planned routes to choose from, and the route you fly may be none of them. 

[Seth]

On 8/12/2020 at 9:52 PM, gsxrpilot said:

I'll get some flack for this, but I'd consider O2 a nice to have on this trip rather than a requirement. You can go everywhere out here in the west at 12,500 or below with only short stints (<30 min) above that but no higher than 14,000. And that is still only for some specific locations here in Colorado. 

I fly out of Denver and regularly fly in the mountains. I have a turbo 252 with an O2 tank in the tail and plumbed to every seat. The tank is always full, but I only use it for long flights when climbing above 14,000 for winds or weather. None of the A to B flights require O2.

Just my $0.02

Agreed - I’ve done this flight twice from my base in Maryland but went clockwise not counter clockwise. In 2010 I was mildly hypoxic crossing the Rockies at 12,400. In 2013 I had portable O2 and climbed up to 16,000 heading west to get above the bumps in the Southwest and caught an amazing tailwind over Wyoming at 17,000 heading East. Having the O2 gave me flexibility and much less fatigue after long flights. I used it any time over 8,000 on that trip. 
 

The RAP suggestion is fun. If you love aviation, stop in Seattle. Land at Boeing Field. Go to the museum or flight (if it’s open!) and the Boeing factory if yours are currently occurring. Also, Paul Allen has a heck of a collection of aircraft - that’s a neat stop too. All around Seattle.

Take a day or two in wine country north of San Francisco.

Land at SMO - Santa Monica while it still exists.

You are going to really enjoy this trip!

Make sure you do the online special training if you are going to stop in Maryland and fly anywhere in or near the SFRA. 
 

Where in MD will you be stopping?

-Seth

 

[Jerry 5TJ]

On 8/12/2020 at 7:53 PM, MooneyDreamer said:

called a local shop on the field and they said they can check it for inspection dates and fill it, but they can't do hydrostatic testing on it and would have to send it out. Said $300-500 including shipping and it needs to be done every 5 years. Is that right?

Steel tanks are tested every 5 years.  A local welding shop can get your tank recertification done.  I had a portable tank done this year for $30.  

[MooneyDreamer]

21 hours ago, Seth said:

Agreed - I’ve done this flight twice from my base in Maryland but went clockwise not counter clockwise. In 2010 I was mildly hypoxic crossing the Rockies at 12,400. In 2013 I had portable O2 and climbed up to 16,000 heading west to get above the bumps in the Southwest and caught an amazing tailwind over Wyoming at 17,000 heading East. Having the O2 gave me flexibility and much less fatigue after long flights. I used it any time over 8,000 on that trip. 
 

The RAP suggestion is fun. If you love aviation, stop in Seattle. Land at Boeing Field. Go to the museum or flight (if it’s open!) and the Boeing factory if yours are currently occurring. Also, Paul Allen has a heck of a collection of aircraft - that’s a neat stop too. All around Seattle.

Take a day or two in wine country north of San Francisco.

Land at SMO - Santa Monica while it still exists.

You are going to really enjoy this trip!

Make sure you do the online special training if you are going to stop in Maryland and fly anywhere in or near the SFRA. 
 

Where in MD will you be stopping?

-Seth

 

Thanks for all the recs about Seattle. We'll jotting down all the places everyone on this thread has given us to see what we can fit in based on how much will be fly-over versus actual stops. I hadn't even thought of SMO! I'd like to land at Van Nuys since I lived a few miles from it for 5 years, but hadn't thought of many other bucket list airports while there.

We'll be on an IFR flight plan in the MD/DC area, but we'll still brush up on the course, just in case. We were going to stop near the Montgomery Mall to redeem a flight sim gift certificate at Dream Aero that my wife won and then stay with family. Looks like they're closed due to COVID, so we may just see family near the Bay Bridge or on the Eastern Shore in DE instead.

13 hours ago, Jerry 5TJ said:

Steel tanks are tested every 5 years.  A local welding shop can get your tank recertification done.  I had a portable tank done this year for $30.  

What?! We just dropped off the tank we have today so the parts guy at the A&P on our field could get an accurate quote. After the initial quote of $300-500 to send out, test, and get back, I doubt it'll come down that much just because it's a small tank. Here's to hoping...

[carusoam]

Aviation tanks vs. welding tanks...

Pure O2 vs. Pure O2...

One costs more than the other...

Which would you rather pay for?

PP thoughts only, not an O2 supplier...

Best regards,

-a-

[larryb]

There is no way a simple hydro test on a tank should cost $300 to $500. Most scuba shops can handle this for a lot less.

[neilpilot]

57 minutes ago, larryb said:

There is no way a simple hydro test on a tank should cost $300 to $500. Most scuba shops can handle this for a lot less.

At that price you’re likely saving money by purchasing a new tank. I paid around $30 to the local fire extinguisher service last time I had a portable tank hydro done.

[MooneyDreamer]

Just now, neilpilot said:

At that price you’re likely saving money by purchasing a new tank. I paid around $30 to the local fire extinguisher service last time I had a portable tank hydro done.

That's what I thought too! I've seen full SkyOx systems with tank, regulator, 4 canulas, and a mask for about the same price as they were quoting (and they were brand new).

 

On a totally unrelated note, but relative to this trip, what does everyone feel about The Claw Aircraft Tie-Down System? I have one in my shopping cart at mypilotstore.com for $100 and it seems like a good deal and backup plan in case we get to an airport with no tiedown ropes or spaces. Thoughts?