The Great Aeronca Adventure
I had sold my Aeronca to a buyer in Algona Iowa, and part of the agreement was to deliver the plane to him as he did not have a current physical due to some recent surgery.
Day One-- Sat. Feb 14-04
Departed Deer Valley at08:50 AM for St. Johns. Smooth flight with
slight tailwinds. Climbed to 9500 to avoid the turbulence of
crossing the rim and to get over the mountains west of St. Johns.
Started getting chilly at that altitude and could feel a slight
breeze on my face so started plugging holes with some duct tape I
brought along. Now it was just cold but no wind. The first days
flight was DVT-SJN-AEG-LVS. All was about the same, fairly
smooth, sometimes headwinds, sometimes tailwinds. Its surprising
what a change of a few hundred feet can do to ground speed.
Navigation was by WAC charts, GPS, and looking out the window.
Most of the time I was 1000/1500 feet above the ground. Nice to
see trucks on the highways. At t his altitude tall towers were a
factor. Normally in the RV6, I cruise at 6/8000 so towers are not
a problem. At that altitude they are pretty hard to see-even when
you are trying to look for them. At 1500 you can bump into
them--so you really start looking out for them. About that time
you start checking the date on the chart you are using and say
*@#^*!!!!, I've really got to get a chart that is a little newer
than June 2000 ! ! Something I used quite a bit between DVT and
SJN was a sight
level (from Sportys). Looking through it lets you know if
something in front of you is above or below your flight path.
Nice to know when you have min. climb performance in your plane.
Deer Valley-St.Johns-Double Eagle- Las Vegas NM. Trip length 417
mi.
Departing Deer Valley "Eastbound and down at 80
mph!"
Day Two--Sun. Feb 15-04
The day started out severe clear and cold at Las Vegas NM. and
stayed that way all day. When I would listen to ATIS or AWOS, I
would try to ignore the temp. so I wouldn't know that it was
really 25 or 29 degrees out. The champ had no heater so staying
warm and functional was paramount! Leather boots, insulated
coveralls, hooded jacket, cap and gloves were standard flying
equipment. By now most of the draft holes were covered but I
could never find the one blowing on my left foot, and it got
*%#&*@-ing cold. Next trick was to put the extra pair of Army
surplus wool trousers over that foot. Flying in the morning there
was a little sun coming in through the windshield and it was
fairly comfy in the cabin. By three to four PM the sun was be
hind me and I could see my breath and knew it was time to give it
up for the day. I did notice one temp , that was at Guymon OK ,
temp was minus one deg. Celsius, density alt. was 1800\rquote ,
the field elev. there was 3218\rquote .One of the fuel stops was
closed on Sunday so I had to back track once for fuel so didn't
get as far today as I had planned. Overnight at Dodge City KS.
Didn't get to see Marshall Dillon or Miss Kitty. They had left
for Phoenix for the winter. Las Vegas-Dalhart-Mead Ks-Liberal
Ks-Dodge city. Trip length 407 mi.
Las Vegas, New Mexico
Dodge City, Kansas
Day Three Feb-16-04 Can't get out of Dodge! ! Fog, visibility
1/4 to 1/2 mile, ceiling 300 . Not expected to clear till 11 AM.
-POO ! A local pilot took me to a heated hanger where one guy was
working on (almost comple ted) a F1 Rocket and another guy was
working on a RV6A project he had just bought . He was very proud
of the engine mount that he had just power coated. Finally got
going around 10:30. Still hazy but vis. was 4 1/2 to 5 miles.
Good to go! Now the navigation was changing. Instead of just map
and GPS, section lines were starting to appear much more
regularly. Haven't used section lines since flying in the late
50\rquote saround the Chicago area. The ground isn't green or the
towns yellow as depicted on the map, but the section lines (1
mile apart and 90 degrees to each other) made another nav.
reference. At 80 mph , you got lots of time to do something, so
I'd check GPS to ASI to section lines and see which one gave the
best results for airspeed/groundspeed vs. time. Once in a while
I'd parallel a highway and could tell which trucks were braking
the speed limit. Oh what fun working D=R x T in your head ! !
Dodge City- Hays Ks--Hastings Neb -Sioux City Iowa. Trip length
376 mi.
Limited visibility leaving Dodge
Section lines in Nebraska
Snow at Sioux City, Iowa-Tuesday morning
Day Four Feb 17 04
Started out BAD and only teased me into thinking it would get
better. Vis. @ Sioux City 1/4 mi, ceiling 300' , no improvement
till 11AM. 11 o:clock things had improved to the point that I
could depart special VFR. About 20 miles east of Sioux City,
started hitting a cloud layer below me and when the holes started
to disappear so did I, 180 back to SUX and wait till tomorrow.
SUX to SUX 60 mi.
Buttercup gets her first taste of snow
Wind turbines north of Storm Lake, Iowa"
Day Five Feb 18-04 Severe Clear W/ light winds from the west. Only got 5mph but that's ok, a tailwind is a tailwind ! ! and only 117 miles to go. The last leg was smooth and uneventful as all the rest of the flight. Considering that the previous two weeks there had been a lot of snow and lousy weather through this area, I hit the window of opportunity just right. The f light ended at Algona Iowa on 2-18-04 @1:35. The next two days, Thu. & Fri. were cold, rain, & snow. I was sure glad to be returning commercial. The man that bought my Champ is a toy collector and seller. The champ was the 95th plane he had owned. He is serious about his planes and restores or refinishes them to show quality. This is attested to by the wall of awards that adorn the wall of his home office. Knowing that the plane is in good hands is nice to know.
Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa
Memorial at the Surf Ballroom
Friday AM Clear Lake, Iowa "These people have got to love
snow!"
"Going home the hard way"
Trip Statistics
Total flying time-- 17.3hrs
Trip time(w/out back tracks) -- 15.8 hrs
Total fuel----74.6 gal
Fuel consumption --- 4.3 GPH
Total trip miles ---1378
Avg. ground speed ---79.7 mph
Airport Leg length
DVT 0 \ SJN 165 AEG 153 LVS 99.7 Total day
one---------------------418 mi
LVS 0 DHT 149 MEJ 149 LBL 37 DDC 73 Total day two---------------407
mi
DDC 0 HYS 83 HSI 130 SUX 0 SUX 163 AXA 117 Total day three----376
mi
Return to SUX ---60 Total day
four----------------------------------------60 mi
Total day five----117 SUX 0 Total
trip----------------------------------1378 mi