It was time to head home. We wanted to get an early start and I had set my alarm for 5:45 AM. I still woke up before it went off and after the morning routine we were on our way. Top off the rental car, don’t forget to leave the keys, load the plane, preflight and yell CLEAR.
We lucked out on the weather. That potential Hurricane had become the deadly Hurricane Helene which slammed into the Florida Big Bend late Thursday. Flying towards a CAT 4 hurricane is usually not advisable but in this case Helene was really moving and by the time we left at 7AM mountain time, She had pushed through. Not only would our path be clear but we had the potential for tailwinds on the backside.
The departure from Canyonlands was another high altitude takeoff. The field is 4,579’ and even with the cool morning temperatures the Density Altitude was around 5,300’. This was not the worst we faced but we were a bit heavier than Truckie. Also the land around the airport has a gentle slope up in all directions so you need to climb a bit in an emergency. The book said we had 250 fpm at 100 knots. The book can be a bit aspirational so I figured in less. I had an emergency plan and briefed the departure, thankfully, I did not have to use it.
The ramp was still sorta dark when we arrived and used my flashlight for preflight. By the time we fired up it was about 20 minutes til sunrise and takeoff was about 12 minutes before sunrise. I had waited for the light as I wanted to be able to see the terrain. Acceleration down the runway was sluggish as expected but everything worked and we were soon climbing strongly to 9,500’.
The Eastern sky was bright and then like magic the sun started peaking over the horizon. It is really amazing how fast it rises and we went from enjoying the colors to moving the visors to block the light. It is always fastest to go direct but there are 14,000’ mountains in the way so we headed down to the Durango, CO area. We had previously flown home from Durango. Today’s flight would be about 140 miles longer clocking in at 1,555 miles.
Once passing Durango, we continued over Santa Fe and then once clear of the mountains, direct Hereford Texas. We have stopped here before, cheap gas, good runway and good facilities. It also smells like cow as it is surrounded by feedlots. We touched down after 2.5 hours and 464 miles. Usually they help you fuel but today the place was deserted. They also usually have candy but again nothing today. The gas was still cheap and the bathrooms clean so no complaint.
We had gone VFR with flight following in the mountains but leaving Hereford we picked up our IFR clearance and settled in at 9000. Our next leg would take us to Minden, LA. Unlike the last flight that required lots of study for terrain and fuel planning to minimize weight, this was relatively straightforward. Hereford is only 3,800’ but with the higher temperatures the Density altitude was a bit higher than Canyonlands. The big difference was that this part of Texas is pretty flat. In an emergency, we also could just fly straight ahead and had several places to land including a long runway at Amarillo.
We checked in with Amarillo departure, were immediately cleared as filed and leveled at 9,000’ for the next 471 mile hop. Minden was a bit of an odd choice as it was too short for us to easily make it a 3 hop flight and too far to break it into 4 equal hops. Odd or not we had a reason, we had landed in 47 of the 48 states and we still needed to pick up Louisiana. Yes we sightseed most of the stops but we had been to Louisiana many times and felt we had seen the state. For the reasons above it never seems to be a fuel stop so somehow it had been left till last.
The first flight we had a combination of light head/tail winds. This flight we had a bit more head than tail. We were still not in the zone being influenced by the hurricane but that would come soon. We arrived at Minden after 2.6 hours and were shocked that no crowds had gathered to celebrate the completion of the 48 state quest. There was a guy in the very nice FBO at the desk but he did not seem aware of the momentous occasion that had just occurred.
Regardless, I grabbed a selfie, topped off with cheap gas and then we hopped back in for a quick flight to Meridian, MS. Another uneventful departure and we were again at 9,000’ with less than an hour till we stopped for a snack. Leaving Minden we started to feel the effects of Helene. The counterclockwise circulation started to give us a boost. The push started small but soon we were cruising at 215 knots or more.
We had started full of gas so fuel was not an issue and as we approached top of descent, the computers were saying we would be home in 2.2 hours. We had a quick discussion and decided to skip the stop. ATC updated our destination and cleared us home via direct. The winds kept getting better and at one point we hit 230 knots ground speed. It did not last all the way home but we were above 210 most of the way.
Planning the flight weeks ago, I had figured closer to 3.7 hours but with the tailwind we cruised home in 3.1, pretty respectable for 620 miles. This was a 207 knot average which is dragged down by the climb and our departure/arrival maneuvering.
We were soon talking to Jacksonville approach and set up for the visual to 23. Winds were strong and gusty but I focused and had a nice touchdown. After shutting down, we unloaded our junk, pushed the very dirty plane into the hangar and grabbed a celebratory soda from the fridge. It was mostly cold as there had been a power outage from the storm. The fridge had a puddle from the defrost but the celebratory soda tasted great even if it wasn’t ice cold.
It had been a long day and I was a bit sore and tired from sitting so long but also happy to have successfully completed another adventure and to have finished our quest to land a Beechcraft in all of the lower 48 states.
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