Trip From N. E. Georgia to the San Francisco Area.
 

My wife and I recently returned from a "nearly" Coast to Coast trip in our RV-8. We began our trip at our home airport KAJR, Habersham County Airport near Cornelia, GA. making four intermediate stops. The first was Montecello, AR. then on to Brownwood, TX. where we spent the night due to a delayed start.

The next morning we continued on from Brownwood to Santa Theresa, NM. for fuel then to Blythe, CA. then on to KLVK, Livermore, CA. by detouring around the West side of Edwards, AFB, CA.

I was using Flight Following from Blythe to Livermore (Our Destination) cruising along at 10,500ft when Bakersfield Approach asked my altitude. They were showing me at 3500 and asked me to reset my transponder. That didn't help, so I had to turn off Mode C to avoid confusing them.

Long story short, we ended up safely at Livermore.

If you haven't read the story in Sport Aviation by Lauren Paine about the EAA (and RV) guys at KLVK, please dig it up and read it. It will give you some background on the guys!

They are truely some of the greatest people that I have met in aviation. A couple of the guys mentioned in the article steered me to "JR" at Precision Static Testing to see what had happened to my transponder.

I talked to Carolina in the office and found out it was a busy week for JR, but we finally met up at the airplane about 6:30 on a Fri. afternoon. He got out his test set and determined that the transponder was toast.

He had a nearly new spare KT-76A at his hangar. He installed it and it worked great and using his equipment, determined that the encoder was working perfectly.

As I was trying to figure out what to do, JR said "why don't you fly back to Georgia with this one and UPS it back to me when you get home?"

When I recovered from my speechless state, I said that I probably could fly back without a transponder by staying out of busy airspace. He insisted that I take it and ship it back when I got home.

When he finished the checkout, I tried to pay him for coming out and for all the work he did, but he wouldn't take any money. His story was; "I used to ferry aircraft for a living. I've been stuck on the road many times and it's no fun. Just ship it back to me when you get home."

Folks, you don't meet many people like JR. If you ever need Static Testing in the Bay Area, call Carolina or JR at Precision Static Testing. He will travel within reason to your airport to do the work. Phone 925-449-5904.

The visit with my son was good. The only remarkable thing on the return trip was flying over the Sierras from Livermore to Kingman, AZ. at 17,500ft:D and visiting my daughters in Austin, (Lockhart) TX.

ps. Wish I was computer literate enough to attatch photos.

HERE YOU GO...........
http://www.vansairforce.net/articles...ums/images.htm

Just get in there and you will figure it out.......... It is worth it.

Nice to Know
 

With all of the doom and gloom in the media, it's refreshing to come here and hear that folks are still folks. Pictures or not, thanks for the story!

Michael

Pix
 

Thanks Gasman!

Guess I'll have to give it a try. We passed almost over the highest point in the Continental US, Mount Whitney, and the Lowest at Death Valley within minutes.

The Sierras viewed from 17,500ft in the area of Mount Whitney look like they're just below your wheels. With those jagged peaks, there is absolutely no place to go in the event of an engine failure. It is definately not for the faint of heart.

If it's on your "Bucket List" of things to do----You savor the excitement!:eek: "*** the Torpedos, full speed ahead"!!!!:D

Sounds like a great trip!
 

Mannan:

Great story. We were at Livermore about 18 months ago and met some really great RV guys. Was the guy with the Dragon painted RV still there? It was an awesome paint job. We also visited Bryan Wood on the other side of the bay on that trip. There are a lot of neat RV stops in the bay area. Glad you guys had a good time.

Livermore
 

Robbie: I didn't see it if it was there. All I can say is that there is a great group of experimental aircraft guys there. One was building a 2/3 or 3/4 scale replica of the S.C. Johnson Wax Co. seaplane that was used to look for Carnuba wax in South America in the 30's. He was using the Rotec radial engines.

Again: Read Lauran Paine Jr.'s article in this months Sport Aviation for a lot more background on these guys!:D

Thanks again JR!!!!!!!!!!

Yep JR is great - he always does my xpndr checks. If you want to get a little closer to SF on your next trip, come visit KSQL - a very mellow airport right next to SFO.

Precision Static Testing
 

Precision Static Testing is a great company. JR and Carolina are excellent people to deal with and I use them for all of my testing needs.

Highly recommend them for anybody in Northern California. They also travel to your airport for testing, by car and airplane.

Glad to hear they took good care of you. Isn't nice that there are still some old school companies and people around!!

Ted

Precision Static Testing
 

JR and Carolina are the best. JR does my annual transponder check if I am anywhere in Northern Cal and I highly recommend him. I recently met JR at his hangar on a Saturday to get an intermittent problem checked out. He fixed it and then refused to give me a bill. I convinced Carolina to charge me for an hour of his time and I flew away a happy boy.

And he really wants an RV7.

Roger moved to Henderson, NV about a year ago.