pilotkms
Well Known Member
Just flew my 7A back from CA (KCCB) home to GA (KPXE). Over 1800 miles. Departed Saturday morning at 6:30 with hi cirrus clouds. The SoCal mountains are still snow capped.
Relatively smooth at 7500?. Light Turbulence started just east of Lake Havasu. It increased to moderate turbulence over Prescott. Slowed down & Tightend up the safety belt. First stop for gas at St Johns AZ (KSJN). BIG windshear @ 100? agl, confirmed by a 210 pilot that arrived just before me. Landed ok. St Johns is a nice stop but in the middle of nowhere. Gas & go.
Back into turbulence which had become heavy moderate. Rocked & rolled all the way past NM and landed at Hereford TX (KHRX).
Note the windsock. Nice crosswind of 260 @ 25, gust to 35. Landed on 20. Not pretty at all. Experienced large side forces on the mains. Glad the tires didn?t separate from the wheels. Spent the night at the local Best Western as the turbulence to get there was very tiring. Tornado line had developed west of Hereford and thunderstorms were east that afternoon & evening.
Morning skies were clear and winds were calm at daybreak.
With storms lined up out of LA & up thru Miss, I decided to divert to Austin TX (KEDC). Flew an hour & half south and Austin was clouded over. Landed at Lampasas TX (KLZZ). And hung out for 2 hours.
Austin opened up and I continued on and did a long straight in to 13 with calm winds. A welcome relief from the winds at the prior airports.
My sister lives in Austin and she was there to see me land and take these pix.
.
Note the GIANT planeport where they unload you protected from the rains that occur here frequently. They use a tug to move the plane to transient parking. The lineman are very helpful and assist with anything u need. They helped me put my cover on.
Austin is BBQ territory so took my sister to one of our favorites, Coopers Downtown. Beat the crowd. This pix taken when we left - 20 people in line with 20 more outside the door.
Definitely worth any wait. Yumm.
Monday morning was very overcast and big winds were forecasted to start at 1:00, the same time when the clouds were supposed to clear. That didn?t happen. Big holes did stream over at 1:30 so I departed at 2:00. Escaped up to 7,500 and found the ride amazingly smooth. Had a 45kt quartering tailwind that pushed me forward an additional 27 kts.
Flew east at 150 TAS (2420 rpm & 20? at 7.1 gph). Next fuel stop was Vicksburg Miss (KVKS). The flooding of the Miss River was evident as I flew over. Topped off with 18 gal and 27 minutes wheels down to wheels up. Last leg to get home. 90 degrees at liftoff so I went up to 9,500? where the temp was 57.
With night approaching I decided to get Flite Following for added safety. ATC later advised that the Restricted areas east of Columbus GA had been released and I could maintain course staying above 8,500?. Took a couple of pix of the sunset to the rear.
Near home port, I Clicked the CTAF and got the lights on. Touched down at 8:30, coincident with the official sunset. Dead calm and made a perfect squeaker landing. Good to know I can still do them. Another awesome trip (7th cross country in 2 years) in my RV, BUILT IN MY GARAGE!!
The satisfaction & Grin just keeps happening.
Summary:
1,846 miles per ForeFlight
99.0 gallons of gas. 18.6 kt/ per gallon. $459.39 @ 5 stops. Avg $4.64 per gallon.
3 days flying. 14.2 Hobbs, 12.6 Tach. Avg speed based on Hobbs 130 kts per hour.
1 Qt of oil.
1 hotel nite.
1 nite with Family
1 dinner.
10.0 on RV FUN meter
Thanx Butch
Relatively smooth at 7500?. Light Turbulence started just east of Lake Havasu. It increased to moderate turbulence over Prescott. Slowed down & Tightend up the safety belt. First stop for gas at St Johns AZ (KSJN). BIG windshear @ 100? agl, confirmed by a 210 pilot that arrived just before me. Landed ok. St Johns is a nice stop but in the middle of nowhere. Gas & go.
Back into turbulence which had become heavy moderate. Rocked & rolled all the way past NM and landed at Hereford TX (KHRX).
Morning skies were clear and winds were calm at daybreak.
With storms lined up out of LA & up thru Miss, I decided to divert to Austin TX (KEDC). Flew an hour & half south and Austin was clouded over. Landed at Lampasas TX (KLZZ). And hung out for 2 hours.
Austin opened up and I continued on and did a long straight in to 13 with calm winds. A welcome relief from the winds at the prior airports.
My sister lives in Austin and she was there to see me land and take these pix.
Austin is BBQ territory so took my sister to one of our favorites, Coopers Downtown. Beat the crowd. This pix taken when we left - 20 people in line with 20 more outside the door.
Monday morning was very overcast and big winds were forecasted to start at 1:00, the same time when the clouds were supposed to clear. That didn?t happen. Big holes did stream over at 1:30 so I departed at 2:00. Escaped up to 7,500 and found the ride amazingly smooth. Had a 45kt quartering tailwind that pushed me forward an additional 27 kts.
Flew east at 150 TAS (2420 rpm & 20? at 7.1 gph). Next fuel stop was Vicksburg Miss (KVKS). The flooding of the Miss River was evident as I flew over. Topped off with 18 gal and 27 minutes wheels down to wheels up. Last leg to get home. 90 degrees at liftoff so I went up to 9,500? where the temp was 57.
With night approaching I decided to get Flite Following for added safety. ATC later advised that the Restricted areas east of Columbus GA had been released and I could maintain course staying above 8,500?. Took a couple of pix of the sunset to the rear.
Near home port, I Clicked the CTAF and got the lights on. Touched down at 8:30, coincident with the official sunset. Dead calm and made a perfect squeaker landing. Good to know I can still do them. Another awesome trip (7th cross country in 2 years) in my RV, BUILT IN MY GARAGE!!
The satisfaction & Grin just keeps happening.
Summary:
1,846 miles per ForeFlight
99.0 gallons of gas. 18.6 kt/ per gallon. $459.39 @ 5 stops. Avg $4.64 per gallon.
3 days flying. 14.2 Hobbs, 12.6 Tach. Avg speed based on Hobbs 130 kts per hour.
1 Qt of oil.
1 hotel nite.
1 nite with Family
1 dinner.
10.0 on RV FUN meter
Thanx Butch