In 2014 I signed up for a course on Mountain Flying taught in Colorado. Right after signing up we decided to move to Singapore which messed up my plans. The folks at the Colorado Pilots Association were quite nice and gave me a refund but it was something I wanted to do so once getting back I started planning to attend. Initially I was going to go alone but the more we discussed it, the more it seemed to make sense to make a vacation out of it. It just so happened that we had friends for CC to visit while I was in class in Boulder, CO.
Once deciding to go the planning started. It is 1290 Nautical Miles from Jacksonville to Rocky Mountain Metro airport. The simple way to go is to draw a straight line and then stop 2 or 3 times for gas. That was the initial plan. I looked carefully for airports that had good reviews, yes airports get reviews on pilot sights. I also looked for the better gas prices. Airplane gas is tightly controlled and consistent but varies greatly in price.
Everything was set, we planned to head out on Thursday and depending on weather either go all the way or overnight and finish on Friday. Class was scheduled for Saturday for the classroom part and Sunday was the flying part.
The weekend before I started watching the weather and the beginning of Tropical Storm Cindy was born. This put a wrench in the works as Cindy was going to come up through the middle of our route. Now I am instrument rated which allows me to fly through clouds but does not get you through big nasty storms. Monday I hatched the plan to leave Wednesday. I expected low clouds and visibility in the morning so we planned to leave later after it lifted and overnight in Tulsa. Why Tulsa? It was on the way and had lots of hotels around.
Wednesday morning we awoke to low ceilings and low visibility all over the South East and storms rolling in off the gulf. Now we can fly over the clouds but in a single engine plane if you have a significant issue you may become a glider. This is something we practice and all pilots should be able to glide to a survivable landing. You need to be able to see the ground to do this. For this reason, I avoid flights over very low weather to reduce risk.
Time for plan B, always have a plan B. I decided we would head up the coast where the weather was pretty good and basically go around the bad stuff. In a car this is not usually viable due to the increased time but at 200 mph, you have some flexibility. Thus Wednesday around 10 AM we launched for out West by heading North. We headed up over Savannah, Augusta and the Jasper GA North of Atlanta where we had our first fuel stop.
From here we headed to Memphis. We landed at General Dewitt Spain Municipal Airport. A real mouthful when making radio calls. The airport is right on the Mississippi so you cross over into Arkansas as you make your landing pattern. At our first stop we just used self serve fuel but when we pulled up to the pumps in Memphis, the staff came and pumped my gas, then they made sure we had cold waters and bags of candy for the road. While planning our next segment another staffer even cleaned our windshield. Now for me to do this I need a step stool, I am short and the plane is tall and most people need some height assistance.. The gentleman nicknamed Tiny, was able to do it without much trouble though.
Leaving Memphis we were on our way to Tulsa for the overnight. About 30 minutes into the flight I looked at the time and the weather and said, "you know we could go all the way today". After some quick discussion and calculation, we updated our destination to Great Bend Kansas. Now this decision had an element of danger, not the flying. I had not checked if rooms were available and our car was reserved for Friday. Throwing caution to the wind we landed at Great Bend.
Kansas is know for its wind and Great Bend did not disappoint. Kansas was having a heat wave so getting out of the plane we had a 30 knot 98 degree blast furnace. We quickly headed inside to plan the final segment, call our hotel and call the car people. The hotel was easy and we had a room, Avis was a nightmare and could not help me. Undaunted we headed out for Colorado.
Leaving Memphis I thought I left all the bad weather behind but we found more over Kansas. After a short detour we were on our way in to Colorado.We landed about 6:30 PM Mountain time. Total time en-route was 10.5 hours. We originally planned 1290 mile and flew a bit more than 1400. It was a long but satisfying day.
Also for those counting We added Kansas and Colorado to the list of States, mark of #45 and #44.
Once deciding to go the planning started. It is 1290 Nautical Miles from Jacksonville to Rocky Mountain Metro airport. The simple way to go is to draw a straight line and then stop 2 or 3 times for gas. That was the initial plan. I looked carefully for airports that had good reviews, yes airports get reviews on pilot sights. I also looked for the better gas prices. Airplane gas is tightly controlled and consistent but varies greatly in price.
Everything was set, we planned to head out on Thursday and depending on weather either go all the way or overnight and finish on Friday. Class was scheduled for Saturday for the classroom part and Sunday was the flying part.
The weekend before I started watching the weather and the beginning of Tropical Storm Cindy was born. This put a wrench in the works as Cindy was going to come up through the middle of our route. Now I am instrument rated which allows me to fly through clouds but does not get you through big nasty storms. Monday I hatched the plan to leave Wednesday. I expected low clouds and visibility in the morning so we planned to leave later after it lifted and overnight in Tulsa. Why Tulsa? It was on the way and had lots of hotels around.
Wednesday morning we awoke to low ceilings and low visibility all over the South East and storms rolling in off the gulf. Now we can fly over the clouds but in a single engine plane if you have a significant issue you may become a glider. This is something we practice and all pilots should be able to glide to a survivable landing. You need to be able to see the ground to do this. For this reason, I avoid flights over very low weather to reduce risk.
Time for plan B, always have a plan B. I decided we would head up the coast where the weather was pretty good and basically go around the bad stuff. In a car this is not usually viable due to the increased time but at 200 mph, you have some flexibility. Thus Wednesday around 10 AM we launched for out West by heading North. We headed up over Savannah, Augusta and the Jasper GA North of Atlanta where we had our first fuel stop.
From here we headed to Memphis. We landed at General Dewitt Spain Municipal Airport. A real mouthful when making radio calls. The airport is right on the Mississippi so you cross over into Arkansas as you make your landing pattern. At our first stop we just used self serve fuel but when we pulled up to the pumps in Memphis, the staff came and pumped my gas, then they made sure we had cold waters and bags of candy for the road. While planning our next segment another staffer even cleaned our windshield. Now for me to do this I need a step stool, I am short and the plane is tall and most people need some height assistance.. The gentleman nicknamed Tiny, was able to do it without much trouble though.
Leaving Memphis we were on our way to Tulsa for the overnight. About 30 minutes into the flight I looked at the time and the weather and said, "you know we could go all the way today". After some quick discussion and calculation, we updated our destination to Great Bend Kansas. Now this decision had an element of danger, not the flying. I had not checked if rooms were available and our car was reserved for Friday. Throwing caution to the wind we landed at Great Bend.
Kansas is know for its wind and Great Bend did not disappoint. Kansas was having a heat wave so getting out of the plane we had a 30 knot 98 degree blast furnace. We quickly headed inside to plan the final segment, call our hotel and call the car people. The hotel was easy and we had a room, Avis was a nightmare and could not help me. Undaunted we headed out for Colorado.
Leaving Memphis I thought I left all the bad weather behind but we found more over Kansas. After a short detour we were on our way in to Colorado.We landed about 6:30 PM Mountain time. Total time en-route was 10.5 hours. We originally planned 1290 mile and flew a bit more than 1400. It was a long but satisfying day.
Also for those counting We added Kansas and Colorado to the list of States, mark of #45 and #44.
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