Gents,
Last week I took my wife on our first real cross country to Las Vegas. It was the longest flight in my RV-7A to date for myself and my wife. From Tucson to Las Vegas is a little over a two hour flight. This may not seem like long flight for those experienced flyers but it was a milestone for me in a few ways. I only have about 75 hours in my RV-7A and only been flying it for a year.
First you need to understand that my wife is fearful of flying. When we went to Las Vegas 16 years ago on a commercial flight she had tears in her eyes the whole way. Not tears of joy, tears of fear. So once the RV was finished there was some doubt that she would fly with me at all. We have flown three flight before and all were under 45 minutes. The first two flights went well and she enjoyed them the best she could. Any turbulence bothered her a lot. The third flight (breakfast flight with other RVers) didn?t go as well due to very minor turbulence and landing at small airport in a tiny valley. If fact she said that if our first flight was like the third flight she wouldn?t have gone up again.
My wife wants us to fly to Orlando so she can go to Harry Potter World. She is 48 years old but loves the Harry Potter stories (so do my 20+ year old daughters). In order to make it in the RV we need to see if she can handle longer flights. Additionally I also need to see what my flight time limits are. As I have been getting older my bladder isn?t what it used to be.
We initially planned to fly to Vegas the week before we did. However a serious cold front came in and with it rain. Rain in the desert, go figure. We waited day by day and it appeared the weather was getting better but the winds on the return flight might cause some turbulence. It was getting closer to Christmas and the stress of wrapping presents and the flight to Vegas was too much for my wife so we postponed the trip until the day after Christmas. The weather was going to be warming up substantially which would make the flight and our time in Vegas more enjoyable.
So on Monday 12/26 we left for Vegas. I expected about 38 degrees at altitude but it was in the mid 50?s. There must have been a temperature inversion all along our flight so it was very comfortable with no turbulence at all. We flew up the Colorado river over Lake Havasu, Bulhead city and then into Henderson. My wife enjoyed the view and in general enjoyed the flight. On the way back we had a 26 knot tailwind so we dashed home.
My wife was proud of herself and bragged to everyone we met in Vegas that we flew up in our plane. She still isn?t that comfortable in the plane yet but she is excited about traveling to new and exciting places. The kids are out of the house and we need our own adventures.
Things I learned on the trip.
1. Make sure you know your bladder range and bring whatever is needed to extend it.
2. Autopilot-Don?t leave home without it. It really made the flight enjoyable.
3. It costs about $50 to take a cab from the strip to Henderson. There is only a free shuttle from Henderson to the strip.
4. Don?t be afraid of Class B airspace- Vegas approach was very helpful and allowed me into their space if I needed.
5. Henderson Executive is a very nice airport and great people.
Last week I took my wife on our first real cross country to Las Vegas. It was the longest flight in my RV-7A to date for myself and my wife. From Tucson to Las Vegas is a little over a two hour flight. This may not seem like long flight for those experienced flyers but it was a milestone for me in a few ways. I only have about 75 hours in my RV-7A and only been flying it for a year.
First you need to understand that my wife is fearful of flying. When we went to Las Vegas 16 years ago on a commercial flight she had tears in her eyes the whole way. Not tears of joy, tears of fear. So once the RV was finished there was some doubt that she would fly with me at all. We have flown three flight before and all were under 45 minutes. The first two flights went well and she enjoyed them the best she could. Any turbulence bothered her a lot. The third flight (breakfast flight with other RVers) didn?t go as well due to very minor turbulence and landing at small airport in a tiny valley. If fact she said that if our first flight was like the third flight she wouldn?t have gone up again.
My wife wants us to fly to Orlando so she can go to Harry Potter World. She is 48 years old but loves the Harry Potter stories (so do my 20+ year old daughters). In order to make it in the RV we need to see if she can handle longer flights. Additionally I also need to see what my flight time limits are. As I have been getting older my bladder isn?t what it used to be.
We initially planned to fly to Vegas the week before we did. However a serious cold front came in and with it rain. Rain in the desert, go figure. We waited day by day and it appeared the weather was getting better but the winds on the return flight might cause some turbulence. It was getting closer to Christmas and the stress of wrapping presents and the flight to Vegas was too much for my wife so we postponed the trip until the day after Christmas. The weather was going to be warming up substantially which would make the flight and our time in Vegas more enjoyable.
So on Monday 12/26 we left for Vegas. I expected about 38 degrees at altitude but it was in the mid 50?s. There must have been a temperature inversion all along our flight so it was very comfortable with no turbulence at all. We flew up the Colorado river over Lake Havasu, Bulhead city and then into Henderson. My wife enjoyed the view and in general enjoyed the flight. On the way back we had a 26 knot tailwind so we dashed home.
My wife was proud of herself and bragged to everyone we met in Vegas that we flew up in our plane. She still isn?t that comfortable in the plane yet but she is excited about traveling to new and exciting places. The kids are out of the house and we need our own adventures.
Things I learned on the trip.
1. Make sure you know your bladder range and bring whatever is needed to extend it.
2. Autopilot-Don?t leave home without it. It really made the flight enjoyable.
3. It costs about $50 to take a cab from the strip to Henderson. There is only a free shuttle from Henderson to the strip.
4. Don?t be afraid of Class B airspace- Vegas approach was very helpful and allowed me into their space if I needed.
5. Henderson Executive is a very nice airport and great people.
