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West to East Flight Planning

senof28

Member
Will be bringing a RV back from the Northwest to the Southeast. Please give me your suggestions on the safest/smartest way to head home. The aircraft does not have supplemental air. 160hp 9A.
Your thoughts please.
 
I like the northern route. Spokane, WA straight east to Missoula, Montana (Polson, MT is a really cool place to stop.) to get over the big rocks quickly, then taper SE, but avoid Wyoming mountains (nothing against WY). Beg, borrow, or steal a 396, 496 with XM weather, winds aloft, and terrain.

I see you are in Atlanta area, what city in the NE?

http://www.airnav.com/airports/

AirNav is a great resource for fuel planning. Click on AV FUEL and check out the flight planning tool. You can customize the fuel stop to only include CC readers, and look for places with MOGAS. AND current prices. This will save you a ton.

I'm in Lincoln, NE (KLNK, KCEK) if you need help along the way.
 
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Where are you starting from? If the Portland area come down the Columbia river gourge to Pendleton then to Boise, ID. From there right down I-84 to Twin Falls (my home base) to Montpelier, Bear Lake, Kemmerer, Rock Springs then down I-80 to Laramie and cut the corner to Denver. From there it's all flat. With that route you won't have to fly over 8500 feet all the way. It is best done in the morning as the wind in Wyoming can be fierce at times but it is always from the west so good tailwinds. I also agree Poulson is a good stop for the northern route. Flathead lake is awesome and there is a cool museum just south of town. If you happen to overnight in Twin I have a hanger for you and the FBO has cars and can get you great rates at the hotels in town. Don
 
Look at the USA Today weather page and fly from one big H to another big H until you get to where you are going.

Not trying to be a smart a%$. My point is don't press the weather. Big picture, good weather is more important than shortest distance or fuel prices. XM WX is great but if you NEED it to dodge weather you are pressing the weather.
 
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Southern route

You could always fly straight down I-5 to Bakersfield, turn left towards Phoenix, then fly due east along I-10/I-20 to Atlanta. I've done the reverse of that in an Arrow I picked up in Atlanta. It's easy flying all the way.
 
West to east routes

Boy are you going to have fun flying this route in March!! Check all the weather services you can find, like wx channel, wx undergound, aopa wx, etc. and pick a route with the best chances.

Consider the following routes:

Northern route - Seattle over Cascade passes east to Missoula, Billings, Rapid City, then direct southeast to your destination. This was beautiful last August but I would not expect this one to work well in March.

Middle route - Columbia river gourge down to Boise area, Logan, Cheyenne, then direct southeast to your destination. We travel this route often in summer and is really doable in a GA airplane without needing oxygen.

South route - south along Cascades crossing where weather permits, then to Winnemucca, St. George Utah, then Farmington, Alburquerque, then direct southeast to your destination.

My assumption is that once you clear the Rocky Mountains you can pick the best route for weather and make it SE.

Check Airnav for fuel prices and good luck. Let us know how it goes.
 
If you do the North route. 8U8 has the cheapest fuel in Montana at $3.94. KHLN just north of us has it at $3.95. Courtesy cars, food and lodging at both.
 
What a great group of aviators

Will take the ideas and put them into our planning. Will not make the trec untill late April or early May. We will post again a couple of days out from lift off.
It's a great country!
 
The previous posts have good advice. Watch the prog charts and fly in the high pressure. I just flew from Yakima, WA to Colorado Springs and back last month. I was chalk one of a flight of two Hueys. We use all steam gauges except for an old IFR GPS. Each leg is between 100 and 150nm due to our 2.5 hour fuel supply and 80kt formation flight.

Day 1 - FCT - BKE - BOI - TWF - LGU
Pick your route though the low ground between TWF and LGU.

Day 2 - LGU - RKS - RWL - CYS
Again, use your sectional and plot your route following the interstate/low ground.

Day 3 - CYS - FCS
Stay below Denver's airspace.

On our way back we modified our plan so we could get the t-shirt and certificate at Leadville, KLXV. It was easy to stay below 9,000 feet on our way East, however, we did see 10,000 a couple of times on our way to LXV. Bring your camera.
 
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None of those routes will be a sure thing this time of year. I would pick the route based on the forecasts 2-3 days out and be willing to change the plan.

We have had good stays at BFF, AIA and CYS on our trips from ADS to BZN and back.

Another tip: Put together a list of places where you have commercial service in case you need to pick a place to set down and wait for WX. Handy in case you're stuck for a few days and need to get somewhere in the interim.

TODR
 
KLXV

On our way back we modified our plan so we could get the t-shirt and certificate at Leadville, KLXV. It was easy to stay below 9,000 feet on our way East, however, we did see 10,000 a couple of times on our way to LXV. Bring your camera.

I hope you "saw" 10,000 a couple of times, that would be 73 feet AGL in the valley :D KLXV (Leadville, CO) airport elevation is 9927ft.

John Clark
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA (13ft MSL) :)
 
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