1400 Miles To Go

I woke up before the alarm Saturday.  Something about embarking on a long flight makes me ready to get going.  We would have a bit more than 1400 miles to cover.  Heading East is made harder with the time change against you. Then there is that mythical super tail wind you are supposed to get.  We were wheels up at 7:15 but that was already 9:15 at home, so did we get an early or late start? 

Arriving at the plane it was drenched.  While the rain had mostly missed Durango earlier in the week, Friday night it had gotten a good soaking.  Luckily the plane does not leak and there was no water in the tanks.  We would be leaving at a mid weight with 111 out of 166 gallons on board for a take off weight of 4960.  The temperature was 15c which meant that we would have marginal one engine performance of 138 fpm climb and a decent engine out ceiling of 8900 feet. There was plenty of room to avoid the surrounding terrain.

The nice thing about Durango is that you have 9000 feet of runway. Taxiing to the end there was a regional jet blocking the taxiway so I asked his intentions and he was holding waiting for his IFR release. We go most places IFR but not in the mountains if we can avoid it. We would be VFR till Texas so when I was ready, I coordinated with the Jet to make sure I would not get in his way and then I took an intersection and back taxied. I had considered giving up the 1000 feet but nothing is as useless as the runway behind you...

Density altitude was 7,800' so acceleration was not brisk.  I had set 2000' as my expected 65 knot call out and we easily made that.  Take of roll was 25 seconds and another 8 to reach blue line.  At home we take 14 and 5.  Calculated Take off roll was 2380' and the computer data showed we took 2428'.  Close enough for me.  We reached blue line in 4170', one of the reasons I liked Durango was the fact that I had good margins just in case.  Thankfully everything kept spinning and all the calculations and contingency plans were not needed.

The weather model had predicted light headwinds becoming tail winds after Santa Fe and then a cross wind around Alabama.  Well that would have been nice, we actually started with 15-20 on the nose but we were early and on our way.  I had also hoped for clear skies to get some good mountain pictures but our clear skies were the same place as our tail wind.  Visibility was about 20 miles which was fine VFR, just not good picture weather.

Our first stop was HRX, Hereford Texas.  I had debated whether to make 2 or 3 fuel stops.  The way out was 2 but we had another 100 miles and we departed light on gas so 480 miles on the first leg would have been right at my comfort for landing.  Normally I would have been fine with less fuel on landing but we had taken partial gas at CYS and DRO so while I did in fact know to the gallon what fuel I had, I still am not confident in the calibrations so I am adding extra margin.

From Hereford we could have done 2, 3 hour hops but in the end we elected the extra stop to stretch our legs.  Hereford is a great stop, we had been before and it smells like cows, that's a bonus.  Inbound to an airport I am watching the runway and the other airplanes.  I miss some of the surrounding ground detail.  CC though was looking and noticed the massive feed lot with thousands of cows just West of the airport.  The mystery of the smell solved.

Leaving Texas we finally got our tailwind.  It was a hot day so we went to 11,000 where the plane sips gas at 12.2/side while cranking along at 189 knots.  Add in the tailwind and we were making 195-200, life was cool, smooth and good.

Our next stop was Durant Oklahoma.  It was a fast easy in and out stop with modern self serve.  The terminal was huge, cool and very nice but we did not linger and were soon back up in the tail wind.  We had been watching Mississippi all morning.  Lots of pop up rain and convective activity.  Our initial plan was Meridian.  We had been before, they have great service, some good food and it was on our route.  

We have also had to divert from Meridian due to storms.  Sure enough, Meridian had convection all around it.  We updated our destination to Greenville, Alabama.  It also had a small storm nearby but it was moving South and we were not arriving for another hour.  Everyone was deviating a lot and I thought we would have to as well.  Looking at the ADSB and active radar, I started to see a path.  I requested NOSRY intersection, then direct.

This took us 10 North of Meridian.  Unlike the way out, at 11,000 we were in the clear and we could easily see the convection towering up, otherwise we were above most of the clouds.  Our path took us by some rain but nothing big and passing meridian, the large storm had moved South but we could see it was still raining over the field.

Our arrival into Greenville was easy, there were some light showers that were easily avoided and we were soon on the ground enjoying the heat and humidity.  Again the equipment was good.  The FBO was deserted but the door had a code lock which happily accepted the CTAF frequency.  It was cool and clean inside which CC enjoyed while I fueled.

Our last leg home was a short 278 miles and we were in no hurry as we were early.  I dialed in 11.8/side which yielded 180 knots and we touched down around 6:15.  About 9 hours elapsed. There is an airline connection that does it in 5.5 but you need to leave at 6:15 AM and you have a tight connection and based on current reports are likely to get very delayed.  The more realistic one takes 7 hours.  In the end we did 1400 miles in 7.9 flight hours for an average speed of 177 knots.

The Bonanza was a great travelling machine but the Baron brings a level of capability and redundancy that makes travelling a good bit easier.  We are still not an airliner and there is a lot of weather that is beyond our capability but the added speed, range, radar and ice protection make a meaningful difference.