Go West My Boy

I have always wanted to visit out West.  This year we decided to head to Sedona to see the famed Red Rocks.

Sedona is pretty far, 1552 miles direct so it is about 9 hours without headwinds and weather.  Our first day goal was to get to Amarillo Texas, this put 1000 miles behind us and made the next days much easier.  I could do this in 2 hops but we decided to make it easier by doing 3.

Leaving home we had clear blue skies but we would be flying along a front with multiple lows.  This meant we would experience all sorts of weather along the way.  We had good VFR weather to begin but it was rather hazy so it was rather a dull flight without much to see along the way.  When we left, our final destination was below minimums and depending on which forecast you believed, it would not clear before sunset.  You can't worry about everything, so off we went.

Weather was clear from home  to Clarke County Mississippi (23M) our first stop.  We were about 80 miles out when we got a significant reroute.  Since we had clear skies I decided to cancel IFR and continue direct.  Our next controller informed us the Military Operation area was in use ahead of us with several F18s maneuvering.   I wasn't gonna play Top Gun so we turned to stay just outside the area, as we approached the jets finished up. 

I had a hunch this would happen, they don't have that much gas.  Once the jets were clear we were able to head directly to the airport.  Then came the tricky part,  the runway hides behind tall trees,  I was literally right at the airport before I saw it.  The airport was quite interesting for several reasons.   No self serve, Kim pumps for you, challenging runway and to get the best price you needed to pay cash or debit.  Gas was $3.65 which is a darn good price for Avgas so I was ready for the challenges.

One more surprise, after Kim came out to fuel us she took our picture.  They have walls of planes and pilots.  We were also made famous on their Facebook page.  A final bonus was the sign in the men's room.

Our next stop was Sherman Texas (KSWI).  It was also chosen for the low gas price of $3.65.  Leaving home we had clear skies but the direct line to Sherman took us through significant storms over Monroe and Jackson.  I had found a fix just South of Monroe that would clear the weather and the Meridian controller was quite accommodating, getting our route updated.

I did one additional thing, rather than filing to the airport I filed to the initial fix on the instrument approach.  It was not clear heading out whether we would have good weather upon arrival.

The slight detour worked well, we had storms off to our right but other than a few drops in the windshield we avoided the rain.  We were soon tracking inbound on the GPS34 approach and talking to local traffic at Sherman.  After 23M I was going to use all the available tools to find the next runway. 

Arriving there was a chopper in the pattern who was a potential conflict. He asked our speed and when I told him 130 knots he replied, wow you all are really haulin A--, welcome to Texas.  We got the spacing sorted out and were soon on the ground.  The cheap fuel had attracted others and we had to wait in line for gas but soon we were topped off, refreshed and ready to go.

All day the weather at Amarillo (KTDW) had been 200 overcast with poor visibility but after fueling, I checked the latest update and it had begun to clear, as I said no need to start worrying early.    With clearing skies the last leg was pretty uneventful.

We had been enjoying some tailwinds from the lows but they went away and our friendly headwind returned.  Also, the ground started rising. 

The local controllers worked us in nicely and we were soon cleaning the bugs off the plane.  Then a quick Uber to the Courtyard Marriott in downtown and we had a room for the night,  We found a trendy dinner spot and had our first real meal of the day.  After that it was back to the room to plan the next day.

About 9:30 the thunder and rain came.  Oddly this was a happy event as I had payed a bit extra to have the plane hangared for the night just in case.  I slept well knowing the plane was safe.

Run Away!!!

Saturday when we were leaving town, it looked like we might have a significant impact from Dorian.  We also figured that by Monday morning we would have more clarity on the storm's path.  Well Dorian decided to hang out in the Bahamas for an extended visit.  On Sunday night after the wedding we had no idea where Dorian would go but we couldn't rule out a visit.

Not wanting to bring the plane home and have it get clobbered by the storm, we decided to go with our backup plan and run away.  The question was where to go?  I quickly settled on Tifton, GA.  Our friends at the wedding were asking me our destination and when I answered Tifton, I was met with universal scorn.  That said there was method to my madness.   I wanted to be West of any storm impact, this meant >100 miles from the coast.  I also wanted to avoid having the storm between us and home for an extended period.  This meant looking West of home.

Location wise, I needed an airport with good facilities, good approaches, nearby hotels and food.  When you look Southwest, you don't have a good selection of hotels, unless you go to Tampa but that was really out of the way.  Atlanta area was possible but it also kept us farther from home.  Tifton, actually had it all.  Good approaches, well priced gas, local maintenance, lots of hotels and food.  As a bonus, I knew it as I have stopped there many times driving 75.  It is also only an hour from Columbia and 45 minutes from home so it only added 30 minutes of travel.

So Monday after the last brunch festivities we headed off to Tifton.  Even if we had wanted to leave early to get home, there was some low weather so our mid day departure was pretty set.  Travelling to Tifton we could see the weather building at home.  Both the radar and my eyes confirmed that avoiding Florida for a bit was a good plan.

We arrived in Tifton to find an airport without a lot of action.  We soon secured the plane and went inside to see a notice that they were un-attended for the Holiday.  They had left building access though.  It is a very nice facility.  In addition they have 2 airport cars that you can sign out for short trips.  We signed one out, and in the process met one of the airport employees who had come in to help with some of the storm response.  He gave us some pointers and sent us on our way.

Though the airport was not hopping, it was being used as a staging area for power repair trucks.  We saw rows of them on our arrival and even more when we were leaving.

The car allowed us to move our luggage to the hotel a few minutes down the road, grab some snacks from the local Publix and get ready to shelter in place.  Returning the car after an hour we talked to the employee again and since things were slow, he said we could keep the car overnight.  Yes I picked well.

This facilitated us getting a nice dinner.  After dinner the storm updates looked like our hangar would be safe so I went to sleep with the idea to re-evaluate in the morning.  Waking up to the 5AM update I was confident that we could go home and that the plane and our persons would be safe.

I completed some work meetings and then headed back to the airport.  Since they were on holiday Monday I had them fuel me while we loaded and prepped the plane.  There were still some broken low clouds above the field but the en-route weather was mostly marginal VFR or better.  I grabbed my clearance by cellphone and was pleasantly surprised when I got my clearance and release all at once.

We were quickly climbing to 7000 for the 45 minute ride home.  We did have 20 knots of wind on the nose heading into the storm and there were some light rain showers hanging around Jacksonville.

It was pretty cool to zoom out our data link radar and see the Hurricane far far out.  Approaching home we started to see some buildups but they were not very tall.  The controllers were on their A game and worked with us to avoid anything that looked ominous.  We ended up taking the GPS 14 approach starting over Jacksonville International.

We slid through the clouds for a few minutes and broke out around 1800 with the Dames point Bridge in sight.  The airport soon appeared as we descended on the LPV approach.  The winds were 20+ knots from the North-East so we circled to 5.  The tower had closed for the storm so this was the first time I had come in with the field uncontrolled during the day.  With the good weather below the clouds, I cancelled with Jacksonville and soon we were rolling out after a smooth touch down.

Door to door it was about 2 hours to make the return.  Did we have to run away? No but it was the cautious move.  It was sort of fun to just take a somewhat random trip for a day but glad to be home and now hunkering down for a rainy, windy, Wednesday.

Pre Evacuation

I am sure many of you have been watching Dorian for quite some time. I remember when it was just a X on the NHC map and look how grown up it is now. Well Hurricane or not we had plans.

We had a wedding to attend in Columbia, SC on Sunday night. All week I watched the storm, wondering if we needed to evacuate the South Florida family members and whether we would be safe.

By Friday night it looked like Miami was going to survive and that we had some time to wait for the storm. As a precaution we packed an extra bag with several days of clothe in case we could not return as planned.

On Saturday we headed North into building storms. Initially it looked wile we would need to head far West to avoid the rain but a sizable hole opened and after a small detour around Brunswick, we headed up to Columbia.

Weather in SC was warm in the afternoons but nice in the morning.  Saturday we spent time wandering downtown and visiting USC.   There was also a street fair which was a weekly event with lots of food and fun.

I like the school bus converted to a BBQ.  Why didn't I ride this bus?

Saturday night we had a Rehearsal dinner and spent time hanging out with people.  We were very well fed, great food at every turn.  I personally parked in front of the candy bowls.

The wedding was beautiful and successful in that they are now married.  We then headed off for a party.  More food and friends.  Lots of fun, and we even dressed up.

Optimistically on Sunday afternoon I had filed our return for Monday. Forecast was for morning fog in The Carolinas and afternoon storms at home. The best shot looked to be for a mid day trip.  The news started to sound grim and after the wedding it looked pretty bad.

It was announced that I-26 would become 1 way away from Charleston starting noon Monday.  A decision had to be made, go home or hunker down.  We were pretty sure it would not be a big event in Jacksonville but then I had that nagging voice, did we really want to sit through another hurricane when a safe spot was an hour away...

We had to make a decision and and decide, we did.  Jacksonville would wait, Monday would be a new adventure.

Taking it to the MAX

I was going into withdrawal.  It had been 20 days since I last flew.  Luckily the prop came back and the shop bolted it on.  The Primary flight display showed up as well and it had been taken to the MAX.  I had an Aspen PFD 1000.  It was designed over a decade ago.  The screen was 16 color, the computer was a decade old.  It was awesome but then they announced the Aspen MAX.  The MAX took your current unit, threw out most of it and, replaced the electronics gave you a bunch of new features.

You kept the frame and knobs but all the electronics and screen were upgraded.  It now has 16 million colors.  That is 15,999,984 more.  Not sure I can see all those shades though.  It also runs about 5 times as fast.  New features include voice call out, improved vertical navigation and additional backup, the unit will function even if your pitot or static system fails.

Well Thursday they put it in but upon testing the autopilot interface failed.  They checked the install document and a footnote told them my config needed a software upgrade.  That was done this morning.  So the weather looked terrible today but I kept the faith.  After work it was out to the airport and by 6 PM it had mostly cleared. 

Off I went, the colors are nice and everything is a bit faster.  I still need them to tweak the setup.  I think it is about 1.5 degrees off perfect and the altitude call outs could be a touch louder.  This is not unusual.  I will do some more testing this weekend so I can tell them how to dial it in.  There are user menus but this is in the installer menu.  Once I have the correction should only take a minute to fix.

Upgrades and Repairs

Won't be doing any flying this weekend.  Two reasons, first the propeller is in a different city and my PFD (Primary flight display) is in another state.  A few months back the PFD company announced a new version of the display.  Current owners could upgrade at a good price and extend the warranty 2 years.  I signed up and then patiently waited for my turn. 

My number came up so off it went.  You can see the hole above.  The nice thing about the newer avionics is that they pop in and out easily.  The unit has a ground wire, two pitot Static quick disconnects and big D connector.  This means that it comes out or back in in about 5 minutes.

Now technically I can fly with it broken.  I would have to placard it and I am then limited to day VFR.  I could fly with it out by making a logbook entry, updating the weight and balance and again limiting to day VFR but you would need to carefully secure all the loose lines.  When I say you, I mean a mechanic, this is not a do it yourself thing.

Even so I won't be doing any flying.  Right about the time my number came up, I saw some grease on a prop blade.  Investigating, I found one blade was seeping grease from the root seal.  This is not uncommon as props age but since mine was serviced recently I was less happy.  As a precaution, I took this opportunity to send the prop in for a reseal.  They will take it all apart, check all the parts, repaint the blades and re-assemble it with new seals. 

So for now I am grounded as there is no way around having the prop off.  If all goes well, both parts will come back about the same time and I will be back in business.

Quick Trip

It started because I looked at my Marriott account and saw I had a free night expiring.  I decided we would do a quick trip South to see Dad and Rachel.  Only problem is that its summer in Florida.  That means lots of Thunderstorms.

We had been doing pretty well, I met up with an old Friend down South for Dinner a week ago in the evening but most days have gone from sunny to stormy.

The forecast going into the weekend was not good with rain early both days, especially today.  We launched Friday AM and had a nice run until the Southern end of lake Okeechobee.  There was a pretty good storm parked there.  The controllers were good and gave me a good deviation around it.  It looked particularly dark and angry and as we came around the back we saw a pretty large fire.  Not sure if it was coincidence or the rising air from the fire got the storm going.

The rest of the flight went smoothly but there was a good bit of rain to dodge.  The controller also sequenced us behind much slower traffic.  We were moving about 140 knots and they were doing 60-80.  This means we were catching up a mile a minute or better.    When you are only 2 miles in trail, this gets your attention.

Luckily we can slow too and once the gear and flaps are out can easily fly 80 knots.  We did and we were soon parked and tied down.

We started our Miami adventure getting Cuban food at Havana Harry's, then I finally got to see Rachel's pad, the girls shopped, we strolled Coconut Grove, had dinner on the bay at Montey's and finally grabbed Ice Cream at Chill-N Nitrogen Ice Cream.  They use liquid N2 to freeze your specified cream and mix ins on demand.  The picture above is the Grove Playhouse.  I used to see Rocky Horror here at midnight.  It is a landmark now but seems much less exciting than xx years ago (xx is not a typo, redaction)

This morning we awoke to showers moving in from the Atlantic.   Also the forecast was for Florida to have storms across the state by early afternoon.  It did not disappoint by the way.  Rachel was our Uber back to the airport so we called her a bit early and were on our way.  The early storms had blown out and there was a clear spot to depart but still rain to dodge.

Leaving Miami they always send you West to climb above the Fort Lauderdale arrivals before sending you North.  Usually I grumble about this as it is out of the way.  Today I was happy as it kept us West of the action.

Once 50 miles North we were in clear skies and cruising towards home.  The radar started to paint a line of storms North of town but we were faster and arrived in plenty of time.  As we continued North, the middle of the state started to show some action behind us.

As I write this St. Augustine to Melbourne is pretty much impassible.  So our planning worked out well.

Stealth Fighter

I was heading out Saturday for some IFR practice.  I had a trusty safety pilot and we were soon on final for Cecil runway 36R.  The ILS needles were centered and I heard approach tell me that I would have 2 fighters pass 1000 feet overhead for the landing break.

Fighters typically fly over the field and the commence a turning descent to slow and align for landing.  It also lets them move from close formation to a staggered landing formation by having the second plane turn later than the first.

This was not terribly unusual being in a military town but today we had 2 F35 stealth fighters.  The planes zipped over and commenced their turns.  They were assigned the parallel runway which is only 700 feet offset from my runway.

The first plane was ahead of us but the second ended up aligned with us.  My safety pilot was slow to grab a picture but at one point I had the F35 directly next to me and only 700 feet away.  Since I was not intending to land and he was slowing to land our relative speed was quite low and he only passed me doing 50 knots or so more.  It was quite cool.

Arachnids and Beechtalk BBQ

Early readers may remember (unlikely) that we went to a BBQ fly in located in Tennessee.  While the Tennessee fly in is the big Beechtalk Fly in, somebody on the group called for BBQ today at Saint Simons.  Never one to turn down BBQ, we headed North to get some food.

Weather was good but not VFR.  The field was overcast 1600 feet (picture above is after lunch when it cleared).  Also we had lots of planes arriving about the same time so timing was critical.  The controller initially wanted to space me out by sending me out over the ocean.  I was not down with this plan.  I told here I would like to stay within gliding distance of land.  She obliged by sending me to the initial fix with instructions to hold. 

As number 3, I was watching the guy on final and the guy on deck guy in the hold on the ADSB traffic.  By the time we were arriving over the hold fix, number 1 was clear and number 2 was on final.  I confirmed the plan with the controller, slow down and build some space and I might avoid staying in the hold.  It all worked out, I turned outbound, and just as I was about to turn inbound the guy ahead cleared, I was cleared in and completed my turn, joined final and slid through the clouds.  We broke out at 1600 feet with good visibility but had to wait until we descended 500 feet before cancelling IFR to be legal VFR.

This cleared the way for the next guy to start.  I heard from later guys that they were eventually stacked 4 deep but everyone arrived safely.  Once on the ground we took a group picture and then headed over to Southern Soul for BBQ.  We occupied the 3 big tables out front.  I think we had close to 30 people.  After lunch we chatted for a bit and then headed home to avoid the approaching weather.

We had one of the shorter distances to get to this BBQ.  That does not mean it was any less difficult.  Arriving at the hangar this morning A colossal spider tried to challenge me for ownership of the airplane.  After some negotiation, using a broom, he was in the grass and I was back under the plane checking things out.  Hope he learned his lesson. No really, he is big...