...by Bill Stratton (RV-8)
It?s a beautiful Wednesday morning, October 11th, 2006. At 09:00 am N149TS, My Genie, (my RV-8) has her tail in the air rolling down runway 18 at Cannon Creek airpark in Lake City, FL headed for the Land of Enchantment RV fly-in at Santa Teresa, NM. I climb to 2,000 feet and head for Flying Little River airpark to rendezvous with Jerry Cornwell in his RV-8, Stinger. I can see Jerry at the end of runway 18 ready for takeoff. I make one 360 degree turn and fall in on Jerry?s left wing. We climb to 6,500 feet and level off. We have 1,249 nautical miles to travel, but right now we are headed for a fuel stop at M43, Prentiss- Jefferson airport in Mississippi, 385 nautical miles ahead.
It?s a beautiful Wednesday morning, October 11th, 2006. At 09:00 am N149TS, My Genie, (my RV-8) has her tail in the air rolling down runway 18 at Cannon Creek airpark in Lake City, FL headed for the Land of Enchantment RV fly-in at Santa Teresa, NM. I climb to 2,000 feet and head for Flying Little River airpark to rendezvous with Jerry Cornwell in his RV-8, Stinger. I can see Jerry at the end of runway 18 ready for takeoff. I make one 360 degree turn and fall in on Jerry?s left wing. We climb to 6,500 feet and level off. We have 1,249 nautical miles to travel, but right now we are headed for a fuel stop at M43, Prentiss- Jefferson airport in Mississippi, 385 nautical miles ahead.
Just East of Tallahassee, FL we start picking up clouds. We climb to 8,500 to clear the tops. Jerry is seeing isolated thunderstorm cells on his Garmin 496, but they are South of our route. This is wonderful information to have. West of Tallahassee we climb to 10,500 to clear some higher clouds. The clouds start clearing East of Evergreen, AL and we descend to 6,500 feet, then 4,500 feet. We are bucking a 25 knot headwind. It seems to be about the same at all altitudes. Prentiss is reporting 2,000 feet broken so we go down to 3,000 feet, then 2,000 feet for the last few miles into our fuel stop.
After 2:56 minutes we are on the ground at M43. When I did my flight planning I checked air nav for cheap fuel prices. The fuel is $3.50 per gallon. The airport is unattended but has self service fuel, just as the AOPA airport directory reported. It?s a beautiful airport with a runway that looks new. The FBO building has cold drinks, hotdogs, buns and snacks. I get two hotdogs from the fridge, heat them up in the microwave, add mustard and ketchup, grab a sprite and sit down to my gourmet lunch. It sure beats a pack of crackers and a drink (the normal pilot lunch when you are flying).
There is a disposable camera on the desk with an instruction sheet that says sign the log sheet and take a picture of your airplane by the fuel pump. Jerry and I comply and we depart as a flight of two.
We climb up through a hole and level out at 6,500 feet on top of a beautiful cloud deck. Jerry?s 496 reports that the clouds will start clearing up ahead and it will become CAVU (clear air, visibility unlimited). When we reach the Mississippi river the clouds are gone and we have a good view. As we enter Louisiana the 25 knot headwind is gone, its now 30 knots. We are going to land and spend the night at BWD, Brownwood Texas. After 3 hours and 30 minutes, 462 nautical miles we are on the ground at Brownwood. Sometimes I land and sometimes I arrive. There is a stiff crosswind and this is definitely one of my arrivals.
We top off the tanks for $3.24 a gallon, self service. The friendly personnel in the FBO point out open hangar spots for us to tie the RV-8s down in and provide us with a vehicle we can keep overnight for our 3 mile trip to the motel. This is a wonderful place to stop for fuel or an overnight visit. They go above and beyond to please you. The birds are fueled, tied down, and the daily collection of bugs cleaned off so we head for the Comfort Inn in Early, TX. This is a really nice motel with a heated indoor pool, a hot tub, computer room and an exercise room. Jerry and I have a mesquite grilled steak at Humphrey Pete?s along with a couple of nice cold beverages, hit the pool and hot tub and go to bed. Its been a beautiful day but the old bones are tired.
We awake Thursday morning to CAVU and depart Brownwood on our final leg to 5T6, Santa Teresa. We climb as a flight of two to 8,500 feet. After flying in the East with the haze and smog this visibility is unbelievable. I tell Jerry, I think I can see all the way to California. There are oil wells everywhere and I ask Jerry to buy me one but he refuses. East of El Paso we climb to 10,500 feet to cross the mountain range between El Paso and New Mexico. We could have cleared it at 8,500 but being the flat land flyers we are, we want a lot of clearance and climbing 2,000 feet in an RV is no problem. We clear the mountains and descend to the 5,110 foot pattern altitude for a landing on runway 10. I make a nice smooth landing and it really feels good after the arrivals at the previous two stops. After 2 hours and 51 minutes, 402 nautical miles we taxi in and shut down. There is one RV-6 on the field so we are number 2 and 3 to arrive. We are met by Frank from the War Eagles Air Museum (the host for the fly-in) with a cold bottle of water and a warm welcome. While we are tying down the birds an RV-4 and RV-6A taxi in. A beautiful trip across a beautiful country in an airplane that I build. It all seems like a dream, I don?t dare pinch myself, I might wake up.
Pic:
http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/9851/img0818kf0.jpgThe rental car is waiting at the airport so we load up and head for town to check in our motel. The airplanes are in New Mexico and we are staying in Texas. We have lunch and ride back out to the airport to watch the planes come in. At the end of the day there are 16 RV?s on the field but tomorrow is the big day for arrivals. Friday morning we have breakfast at the motel and head for the airport. We tour the museum, it is full of beautifully restored airplanes and old cars. We spend most of the day talking to all the new arrivals. We meet two guys from Maine (Ron and Ralph), over 1800 miles in an RV-8 that has just been completed, no paint yet. At 04:00 pm the Friday social hour starts. A local brewery has four different kinds of beer to try. Jerry and I try two kinds and decide that it has too strong a taste for us old guys. We spend all day Saturday making new friends. We meet three other guys from Florida. Saturday night at 6:00pm the banquet starts. This is the big event of the fly-in. We have a wonderful meal. The hangar doors are opened and there is a Western sunset that words can?t describe. At our table there are people from Florida, Maine and Washington state so we have three corners of the country covered. The aircraft judging is complete and the awards are passed out. Out of 110 RV?s on the field Jerry Cornwell and Stinger once again win Grand Champion. Congratulations Jerry. It's now time for the raffle. There are some really nice prizes that have been donated. All the proceeds are being donated to two local charities. Over $14,000 dollars has been raised. I have my tickets and I am ready to collect my new Garmin 496 but no such luck. Maybe next year.
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