We had planned a weekend getaway but work and other things got in the way so I was around. One of the pilots on the internet Beechcraft group had posted a while back that he was buying lunch for anyone that showed up at New Smyrna (KEVB) airport by noon. There is a nice place just outside the airport gate.
The prospect of free food can draw a pilot from far far away. The guy across from me flew all the way from New Jersey. Another guy came from Iowa. To be fair the New Jersey guy's parents lived down the street and the other guy had a party 30 miles away.
The journey for me was only 82 miles. The weather was a bit of a question in the morning so I had filed IFR for the short trip. A few days ago another Beech pilot from my airport had touched base and we determined we were both going. We kept in touch and ended up leaving at about the same time.
We had joked about racing down there. We both have the same airplane but his has a turbo charger which makes his plane faster. As you climb, a plane become more efficient in the thinner air. You can go faster on less fuel but as the air gets thinner the engine has less power. As a practical matter, my normally aspirated engine does best from 7,000-12,000 feet.
The turbo charger lets his plane move quite a bit faster and burns more gas. I can make around 205 mph going all out and typically save some gas and run around 200. He can move 210 around 7000 feet and up high in the teens, 230+. So head to head he is just plane faster. Down low though we are pretty close.
While we had coordinated, it was a loose thing so when we ended up at the end of the runway together it was not totally planned. He took off first and was given runway heading which put him 30 degrees off direct to destination. I had to then hold for proper separation and when the tower released me, I was given my climb with a 40 degree turn away from destination. This put us on a diverging course which made ATC happy but further dimmed my prospects of blowing by him.
Now I could see his position the entire flight as the ADSB system provides traffic information. We had both filed for 6000 but you can't have 2 planes at the same height too close to each other. Since he left first, he was cleared to 6000 and I to 4000. Once he got above 4000 I was cleared on course and leveling off I slowed down hoping to build spacing so ATC would let me climb. Why did I want to go up? Less gas and less headwind. The winds were around 25 down low and 20 at 6000.
After a bit I asked ATC and she informed me that 4000 would be my final. Not the best news but on such a short trip, not a big deal. I was making 165 knots which was a ground speed in the 140s I saw that with his superior speed he was making 160 over the ground. We both followed the coast and then were pushed a bit East by ATC.
The trip went quickly watching for traffic and keeping tabs on the competition. I soon had the field in sight and was cleared for the visual to runway 20. I knew I was behind but kept my speed up until 2 miles out where I dropped the gear and configured for landing. I noticed that he had landed long. The runway had a turnoff at about 1000 feet which was closer to the ramp.
I realized I still had a hope. Cleared to land, I did my final checks, nailed my airspeed to book values and placed the plane right on the numbers. A touch of brakes and I easily made the first turn off. Switching to ground, I saw him taxiing by and was instructed to follow him. We taxied in together and parked on the line next to each other. Yes he was 1 plane length ahead in the end but he started with a minute lead so I took this as a great moral victory.
I am sticking with the victory story as his plane will easily take mine in any true test of speed. After this fun we headed off to lunch with 25 other airplane buffs and enjoyed the hospitality of our host. After lunch I headed out a bit early to get back home to do some work. The flight home was nicely uneventful with a smooth ride through some puffy clouds.
No comments:
Post a Comment