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16 States: FL-NM-GA-OH-FL -34 Flight Hours

GLPalinkas

Well Known Member
Short story. 16 States - FL-NM-GA-OH-FL - 34 Flight Hours.

Long story below. Continue at your own risk?. ;)

PART 1

I didn't plan it this way but this is how it happened. (Or, How about that weather!!)

Late July 2012 - Ok, so we had our grand-daughter and 2 of our grand-sons in Venice over the summer school vacation (great fun) but now we had to get them home for school near Albuquerque, NM .

What to do? Well, I say to my lovely wife "Why don't you take the kids home via commercial air and I'll fly the RV-6 out to get you". She bought it and left 2 Aug. with the kids. We planned on being gone 12-14 days. Yeah, right.

The culprits ?. Kayla, Charlie, Sean and JJ

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I left Venice, FL the next morning, Friday, 3 Aug at approx. 0720. Flight following out of Tampa cleared me thru the Class B over Clearwater and North I went until I hit Georgia. From there I went West to Newton, MS just West of Meridian for some cheap fuel (Cheapest of the trip at $4.60/gal). Short break and then West to KCWC Kickapoo Airport in Wichita Falls, TX. It was 108F on the ground when I got there late afternoon. I took another long break and went the final 2.5 hours to Moriarty, NM near where my daughters/grand-kids live. (They are moving to San Antonio which makes it ONLY a two tank trip from Venice :))

Map of Routes

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Leaving Venice

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Overtop and The Mighty Mississippi River

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I landed Moriarty Airport at approx. 1900 hrs between rainstorms. The wind was blowing 25mph right down the runway, which locals say is very unusual. Weather enroute was great and no diversions were required.

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Total flight time first day 9.7 hours, which is exactly why every RV builder/now flyer says "These things are MAGIC CARPETS".

Note: somewhere over Texas an approach controller following me says "198RV say type". I say "RV-6" and he replies "I thought something was wrong, you are indicating 165kts and they have you down as a Cessna 172". Then he says "I want to build an RV-8. I'm flying a Cessna now". I say "Come join the party".

Near Amarillo, TX - Palo Duro Canyon (Visited there on a ground trip to New Mexico)

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16 States:part 2

PART 2


So, I landed at 0E0 Moriarty (world famous for sailplanes, by the way). Parked, tied down and was picked up by my daughter and wife. The next morning I come out to the airport to check on getting a hangar since I'm going to be there for several weeks. Lo and behold, I had parked my -6 in front of a hangar who's owner has a -6 in it that he finished in 1998. He says "Hey, nice RV-6, why don't you leave it here in my hangar." Turns out his name is Tom Bender, is a retired US Air Force fighter pilot (F-111 and others) and was "location undisclosed" in SouthEast Asia when I was in Vietnam 1968-1969 with Marines VMFA-334. We hit it off and Tom and I went flying a little while I was there. He showed me what is rumored to be the Victoria Secret's mansion. It is out in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.

Victoria Secret Mansion ??

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Rick Kohler -Owner/Operator of Sundance Aviation and the sailplane flight school was kind enough to give me the airport car for a week. Great people everywhere I went.

Tom Bender, USAF retired

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While I was in NM I did a little flying over the local area so I thought "Why not contact some NM VAF people". Jon Finley (VAF YellerDaisy RV-3B) gives me a call and says "Let's do breakfast".We agree to meet at Estancia Airport just South of Moriarty. Estancia has a gravel strip and Tom Bender decides that he likes his wood prop too much to chance it . Turns out a wise choice. I dinged my HS even though I accelerated VERY slowly when departing. Looks like my left tire kicked it up at just the right angle. Anyhow, great breakfast and stories. A friend, Mike Marker in a RV-4 who flew F-4's in Vietnam comes with Jon. Thanks for breakfast Jon, I owe you. p.s. Mike "Magic" Marker was an F-4 driver and in addition to the RV-4, he has also built/flown an RV-12, Rans S-18, Glasair 3, Murphy Rebel, Vari-EZ, Long-Eze, Solitaire, and Kolb Firestar.

Jon Finley and crew … ;)

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Here is Jon's RV-3B that he uses to shoot all of that great New Mexico video that he posts on VAF.

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Commemorative Air Force, Lobo Wing - Moriarty, NM is restoring a Beech 18 and hosts burger/chicken lunch every Saturday at noon. Lunch is FREE but you can make a small donation to the restoration cause. Did you hear that VLAD. Lunch is FREE.

Beech 18

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16 States: Part 3

PART 3


I spent the next several weeks appreciating my kids/grandkids until school started. We then started the journey home. On the return trip we decided to stop 3 nights in Lawton, OK near Ft Sill where our son was TAD from Virginia for ECM training.

Our son Richard (Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan)

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Ok here is where it gets "weather" interesting. We launch early from KLAW Lawton and make our way 3 hours East to Meridian, MS. for a fuel stop and to check the weather that I saw building across the big bend area of Florida. Turns out that there is a front draped across the entire top of Florida. OK I thought, we spend the night in Meridian and it will be gone tomorrow. I mean how long can one front produce those types of storms, right. The front was there early the next morning as we fly 3 more hours East to get a better look at it. It was definitely still there so we landed Dawson, GA.


Fogged in - Dawson, GA (actually fog in Meridian, MS, Dawson, GA and Albany, GA kept us grounded a lot)

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Checked the route on weather again. No Go. We had to spend the night again North of the front. The next morning it looked like I might be able to sneak through some softer, light green only areas but the fog had us grounded until 10am. By then the storms had built again. My wife decided that she would like to take another visual look up close at the weather even though I assured her we were not flying through those storms. We launched, went South for 20 minutes when she says "I'm right". Turned around and went back to KABY Albany, GA. where the same events played out the next day. 4 NIGHTS AND DAYS in a place we didn't want to be, spending our gas money on hotels we didn't want to be at. Almost any place else in the country I could have made an end run around the storms but we were stuck waiting on mother nature.Too much RED and Yellow for me. By now, mother nature sent us another surprise, TS/Hurricane Isaac was originally destined to be heading to our neck of the woods in Florida. I said, "Enough already, we are going North to Ohio where we have friends and family"

Weather Maps

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Our weather hold in Meridian was interesting as there are a lot of RVers there.

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Eugene Blanks RV-4, Phillip Maples RV-7 and others

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Some of America's Best were also grounded in Meridian.

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16 States: Part 4

PART 4

North we head from KABY and West around the Atlanta airspace and West of the Smoky mountains to try and get my bride a smooth ride. We fly near BRANTEL's (Hi Brian) airport but keep on going to London, KY. Had lunch and made the final 1 1/2 hr trip to KCDI Cambridge, OH where I was able to put my airplane in the main hangar for a week. Our friend owns a large farm there so we stayed a few days with him and then headed up to Cleveland to visit my relatives.

BRANTEL's neck of the woods, Chattanoga Airport…

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Ohio River

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KCDI Cambridge, OH

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Here is the weather radar of Florida after we landed in Cambridge. Figures. Almost severe clear but with Isaac still looking like it was landing Venice.

Weather Map CLEAR

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Visiting friends and family was awesome. I was able to squeeze in a day with mom and another playing with our grandson Carstan.

Friend's farm in Cambridge, OH

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Visiting mom, daughter Ashley and my Grandson Carstan

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16 States: Part 5

PART 5


After a week, TS/Hurricane Isaac had decided to visit other parts of country so our route back home was clear. We launched for Florida but decided that we couldn't fly over Augusta, GA without stopping to see my wife's parents.

Over West Virginia (5 hour drive thru WV, 30 minute flight :))

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Co-pilot pics

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and when working my way around the weather my in-flight service helped. No, the pilot did not partake.

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Stopped at KEHO Shelby, NC and had lunch at a great little BBQ joint called The Flying Pig via the airport car. Nice FBO, very friendly. We caught a small shower and had to wait to depart KEHO about an hour.

Shelby/Flying Pig

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Making good time??

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We stayed the night with my in-laws and the next morning made the 2 hour uneventful flight back home to Venice.


With the help of my on-board navigation system (navigator duties required her to abstain from liquid refreshment? :))

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16 States: Part 6

PART 6


KVNC - Home Again

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Overall, a great trip. The airplane performed flawlessly, hauling us and our gear around at near my set gross of 1700. Cruising at an average of 160kts/185mph. 34 hours. 5400 statute miles. This trip is the very reason almost all of us have built or are building these airplanes. The fact that an average guy like me can build an airplane in his/her garage and then wing their way around this great country on a long trip is still amazing to me. Builders, keep pounding them rivets. Dreamers, I say again, "Come Join The Party".

YeeHaw, I own an RV-6

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Great story! Great pics! I don't know how you do it without the Koger sunshade though. :D
 
Great story! Great pics! I don't know how you do it without the Koger sunshade though. :D

Koger shades are for wimps. I'm from Florida. However, I don'' fly below 65F....:)



(OK actually I am planning on a Koger shade before the next trip)
 
Great trip and photos

Love reading stuff like this and seeing the great places we can get in our planes. Nice job.
 
Great write up!

Gary,

Hope you'll contact us and come up to ZPH or meet us somewhere for a visit. Still a 9 to 5'er so the only opportunity I have to make Sebring in the AM is the Wed before Thanksgiving and the odd Wed I have off.

Usually a flock of us there on Sat and Sun - especially during the winter months
 
Thanksgiving at Sebring

Gary,

Hope you'll contact us and come up to ZPH or meet us somewhere for a visit. Still a 9 to 5'er so the only opportunity I have to make Sebring in the AM is the Wed before Thanksgiving and the odd Wed I have off.

Usually a flock of us there on Sat and Sun - especially during the winter months


Sorry Carl, I'll be fishing up North around Thanksgiving this year. I made it last year for the annual Weds. before Thanksgiving RV fun run. I will be back for Weds Sebring breakfasts as soon as everyone returns from their northern sabbaticals.:D

I wil try to get up to ZPH sometime. Lots of good airplane stuff going on there.

Thanks to everyone else for the comments. Glad I could provide a little inspiration.
 
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34 hours. 5400 statute miles.

It would be interesting to see how much fuel you used. I think it would be even or better MPG than a car. Care to give us the figures?

Rick
 
Some numbers

Rick, since you asked, here is what I have. I only kept score on the trip out to New Mexico just to get a handle on it myself.

Normal cruise for me is 160kts/185mph at 2500 rpm, 8,500'

I tried to keep that 160kts figure as a ground speed and varied my airspeed to do just that. Sometimes reducing power with a tailwind (not much) and a little more power with a head wind.

So, with that in mind:

1405 nm/1617 sm from Venice, Fl to Moriarty, NM
(Actual route is as follows for those who want it all: KVNC KCLW KCGC KCTY 16J 11A KMEI M23 KSPH KCWC T55 0E0.

9.7 hrs flight time (does not include startup/taxi time)

equals

166.6 mph average speed, which accounts for climb/descent profiles. At times, I climbed to 12,500 as I went from Texas to New Mexico. (Moriarty is 6199' field elevation)

Burned 83 gallons 100LL ranging in price from $4.60 to $5.65/gal. (approx. $350 for the one way trip)

If you run all of those numbers you get 8.55 average gallons per hour and using automobile figures, approx. 19.5 miles per gallon. About what I get on my V-6 Nissan Truck. However, I drove my truck out once and it took 5 days. (3 days thru Texas as I recall....LOL) I did all in 9.7 hours in one long day (11 hours with breaks)

For more information, I used flight following the entire trip and they were very helpful routing me around hot MOA's and Restricted areas so there may be a few more miles added based on that fact.

Hope this helps.
 
Weather Apps

Some VAF members have asked about the weather apps I used. Here is what my reply was.

The radar app is called RadarScope and is a $10 app (iTunes) that is very useful for weather nuts like me (maybe you too, lol) It is very detailed but you can get a quick, general idea of what the thunder bumpers are doing in any part of the country. I subscribe to Weathermeister and used it most of the time on my trip and of course, Doug's VAF weather page is the first place I go to get a handle on the day's flight.
 
Gary,

thank you for figuring out the mpg. I met with an RV-er last month who got 25 mpg from Oregon to So Cal then got 20 on the trip back. As aviators we sometimes get wrapped up on the fuel flow and forget to compare it to car travel. As you pointed out 1617 miles in 9.5 hours vs 3 days by car. Figuring in the cost of snacks and food if you drove straight through or hotels if you stopped over night then the costs are much better by RV. Then to the fun factors is much higher in an RV.

Thanks,
Rick
 
Gary,

thank you for figuring out the mpg. I met with an RV-er last month who got 25 mpg from Oregon to So Cal then got 20 on the trip back. As aviators we sometimes get wrapped up on the fuel flow and forget to compare it to car travel. As you pointed out 1617 miles in 9.5 hours vs 3 days by car. Figuring in the cost of snacks and food if you drove straight through or hotels if you stopped over night then the costs are much better by RV. Then to the fun factors is much higher in an RV.

Thanks,
Rick

Rick, during my test phase, I measured speed and fuel burn using percentage of engine power at 55/65/75 % as close as I could determine. At 55% (around 2350 rpm) I get about 148kts/170mph and 7gph fuel flow. That works out to over 24mpg in car speak.

However, it always depends on how fast you want to get there. That's 15mph slower than my personally chosen cruise speed so obviously my trip would have been longer than 9.7 flight hours. I could have chosen to cruise at 175kts/200mph running 2650-2700rpm at 75% burning 9.75gph which would have gotten me there faster. It's just that my engine/airframe likes 2500rpm. It seems to be the sweet/smooth spot. Maybe I need to have my prop balanced for 2650rpm.

However, with that said, several VAF members quote "I didn't build a fast airplane to go slow". :D

So pick your poison.

and ps, that was a 4/5 day drive for me and my wife. I am getting old and I don't like driving 12/14 hrs a day anymore. :)
 
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