Near not far

While the plane is an excellent travelling machine, it is also lots of fun to just go out and fly with no exotic destination.  This morning the weather was nice and I decided to take the plane out for a spin.

The routine is the same.  Before flying I go over the plane checking everything.  Once satisfied that all is in order, I pull the plane out of the hangar and load up.  Today my thought was to practice some air work and enjoy the sights.

I departed behind a Cessna and quickly overtook it.  I was flying under visual flight rules.  This means I am responsible for maintaining flight conditions to allow me to see and avoid other traffic.  In this case the plane had departed just before me and I had contact before starting my takeoff.  Due to incoming traffic, the tower provided instructions as to which was I should pass the traffic.

Once clear of the airport I decided to let the plane accelerate to fast cruise  before settling on a more economical speed.  Generally the plane is faster the higher it goes up to about 7000 feet.  Today I clocked in at 176 knots (202 mph).  This is achieved using about 20 gallons per hour.  Typically I go 145 knots around town on 10.5 gallons per hour.

On longer trips we climb higher and can achieve 170 knots on 13 gallons per hour.  This is the sweet spot.  I went ahead and practiced steep turns for a bit and they worked out nicely.  I then decided to sight see and overflew the oldest city, St. Augustine.

Then I headed North and crossed Jacksonville Naval Air Station, went by downtown and eventually by my favorite local bridge,  This aligned me with the active runway and I was soon cleared to land.  Just under an hour start to finish.

Jekyll Island Georgia, #48

Picking up the plane from California highlighted to me that I had done a lot of flying but that there were many states I had failed to visit.  I have been thinking about this and decided to start filling in the gaps.  Hopefully I can eventually land in all of the lower 48 states.  I have been looking at each of state and trying to find a place that will provide a unique experience for that state.   Georgia has actually been a hard one because we have visited many times already.  The question was where to visit for Georgia.

My first thought was KSSI, Saint Simons Island for some of the excellent BBQ.  This is a 20 minute flight and we do it reasonably often.  While this was a good choice, I felt it was not really new to us.  Yesterday I was told about changes at 09J, Jekyll Island.  It used to be a sleepy airport with no services and no facilities.  Years ago we did a fly out picnic when our daughter was around 1.  We had driven up there over a decade ago but had not landed there for quite some time.

Today we headed up with the intention of taking a stroll on the beach.  Landing at Jekyll can be challenging when there is a strong cross wind as the trees on the East side create some good low level turbulence while the runway is relatively narrow.  Our approach was stable right on the glidepath and as predicted the last 200 feet I had to work a bit but it all ended in a nice smooth touchdown.

Taxiing in we found ample parking.  All the spaces had tie down ropes which is nice.  We bring our own chocks but today the wind was 12-20 knots so having the plane tied down is comforting.  The airport has been upgraded.  They now have a shop, restrooms and a buggy rental place.  Red Bug Motors rents 2, 4 and 6 place electric buggys (www.redbugmotors.com).  They are 25 mph vehicles and loads of fun.  As a fly in pilot they provided a courtesy buggy free of charge.  Not sure who funds these courtesy buggys but it is really nice and makes you feel good about contributing to the local economy.

The island has some nicer dining options but our objective was the beach.  We took the buggy to town, literally and stopped by the DQ to pick up a lunch for the beach.  From there we headed off for a nice picnic.  The public beach is very nice but there was a big car show today so we headed for the pavilion a bit North of the main beach and found a nice picnic table.

Today was sunny and upper 60's but the 20 knot North East wind across the 57 degree water brought a chilly wind.  We had brought jackets but it was still a bit chilly.  After lunch we tried a walk on the beach but the wind was too much and gave up after 15 minutes.  We then went buggy riding around the island.

We stopped on the West side which was sheltered and walked a bit then moved on the historic area with the Jekyll Club hotel.  There were men outside dressed in all white very seriously practicing croquet.  I had thought the game was for 3 year olds but they seemed quite serious about it.

After a bit more walking we returned the buggy and fired up.  The departure was like the arrival.  Lots of low level gusty winds and turbulence.  Given the cool temperatures and light load the plane easily accelerated and quickly climbed above the turbulence induced by the geography.  On the way up we fought 20+ knot headwinds but on the way back the winds aloft had shifted and we only had about 10 knots of tailwind helping us.

This will likely be one of our shorter trips.  44 nautical miles each way.  Regardless, it was a fun flight and a nice Sunday adventure.

Getting the plane

So my current plane is a 1994 F33A Bonanza.  Though the plane rolled off the assembly line in 1994 it does not have all of its original parts.  The main structure is the same but it has had most wear items replaced along the way, the interior re-done and technology has changed quite a bit so the instruments and radios are new.

I found the plane online in the usual spot in a non direct manner.  I was watching the ads on www.controller.com and saw another plane.  I called about it and it was not a match but the dealer had just begun the listing process on this one.

I watched this one for quite some time before making the final decision.  Once I decided it was the right plane I made an offer and it was accepted.  The next step was to get a full inspection of the plane.  Luckily there was a very good shop near by and the inspection results showed only a few minor issues.

The owner, followed through and had the shop correct the discrepancies.  It was  then off to California to close the deal and bring the plane home.  The direct line trip is 2042 nautical miles.  This route takes you over some really tall mountains and some very inhospitable terrain.  I chose a more conservative route heading South to the LA area and then across the high desert which was 2241 miles or about 1:20 minutes longer.  I also added a stop in the Dallas metro area for 2 reasons.  The route as flown is shown below.

Now not only did I take the safer route, I also took along an instructor for the first day.  Legally I was qualified and the insurance company was fine with me doing this solo as I had plenty of time in the airplane.  I was a bit more cautious as I had not been flying as much over the last few years due to work.  Thus I hired Ron, an experienced instructor with mountain flying knowledge to watch over me.  The plan was to have him evaluate performance from Livermore to Grand Prairie near Dallas.

If I was capable, he would hop a Southwest flight home and I would continue to Florida.  If not he would go the distance.  I am happy to say that by the time we got to Texas, I was comfortable with the plane and the electronics and sent him on his way.  It was good having him working around mountains which we don't find in Florida.

The other reason to stop near Dallas was to pick up a passenger.  My Dad who is also a pilot wanted to help me bring the plane home.  Ron hopped out and he hopped in for the last third of the journey.

Leaving Texas we soon crossed the mighty Mississippi river and made a quick fuel stop in Meridian, MS.  Then it was off on the final leg.  The trip departed Livermore, CA at 1:00 PM East coast time and touched down just before 4:00 PM the next day.  Overall about 15 hours in the air with the remaining time used for gas and a nights rest in Odessa Texas.  A side note, I like Fairfield Inns in general but skip the Odessa one, you will thank me.

I had planned some extra days in case the weather was bad but was able to do the trip with no delays.  Leaving Prescott AZ, I had intended to go East over Albuquerque but there were big storms so we head South and around them.  Likewise, leaving Dallas there were storms along the gulf coast but by staying 100 miles inland we avoided them.

I feel the need, the need for speed

This morning I noticed the winds aloft were really screaming.  I took advantage of this to set a new personal ground speed record for my plane.  I climbed to 13,500 feet just West of Jacksonville and then began a gentle descent heading downwind.

The indicated airspeed was 154 knots, the True Airspeed was 191 knots and the Ground speed was 264 knots.  This is 303.6 mph.

Beech Tales

Beech Tales is a new blogging project.  I intend to document my flying and aspects of traveling by light aircraft.  I am no stranger to blogging.  I recently completed another travel blogging project that spanned 2 years.  In that blog I posted almost daily but I have no such ambitions with this blog.  My intention is to let it grow at its own pace.  It will likely be a mixture of flight reports, fun pictures, comments on destinations visited and general information about my plane and me.

Welcome to Beech Tales.