25 hrs, 5 days, Honoring a Vet in an RV9

Monday August 10th started with a text stating "Weather is moving in, we may leave earlier than planned"

As quickly as possible, the wife and I finished gathering our belongings and were off to the airport to meet up with the usual suspects. Instead of a local practice formation flight, this would be a cross country up north in order to honor a WW2 Vet.

Departing around noon, we flew a 3 ship north staying low due to clouds. It was my wife and I in our RV9a, Dave Schmitz "Kicks" in his RV8, and Kurt in his RV8. I have spent a lot of time flying locally with both of these guys and they have become great friends.

Start point: KLOU; destination: "staging area" KBUU. I learned a couple things on this trip. First, while the RV9a is great, a few extra knots of speed equals a lot more fuel burn down low. Second, the RV8's slowed things down a bit for me and they got to see half the fuel burn I did with their 7 vs our 12-13.

I have 200 hours of pilot time over the last 8 years, of which 125 hours is on my 11 month old RV9a; needless to say, I still have a lot to learn. With Burlington weather calling for an 11 knot crosswind, this landing would prove to be a learning moment. Upon arriving at Burlington, we quickly learned that winds of 11 kt was not accurate; it was probably closer to 20 knot gusty direct crosswind. Long story short, after 2 go arounds and the calm encouragement of my wife (who with only 20 hours under her belt was ready to grab the stick if need be), the 3rd landing was good. I may have used up 1 change of clothes, however, I added to my experience bag. As they say, "Wind Happens". I had a few moments of self doubt but in the end came through unscathed. Plus, Dave and Kurt who are both very high time pilots commented on how tricky that one was; so, I didn't feel as bad.

The mission for the next day was a missing man in honor of a WW2 vet who passed away earlier this year; the official funeral was delayed due to Covid.

https://www.gazettextra.com/obituaries/oscar-wedel/article_be589c54-39bd-532a-b088-d0a14adb9aff.html

After landing all 3 of us topped off with fuel, surveyed the FBO and got back in the air for a practice run and short flight over to Racine for the night. Dave being from WI had the red carpet ready for us and after parking the 3 birds inside we found ourselves driving away in a borrowed minivan with most of the doors working.

Just as we checked into the hotel, a large storm came in dumping what seemed like 2 feet of water in 5 minutes. Lucky for the guys we were in the hotel lobby talking, the bad news for my wife is she agreed to run out for some beverages just as the sky's poured water. She looked like someone tossed her in the lake, fully clothed; the next morning, there was still a puddle on the floor where she came in the door.

Tuesday AM, Danish Kringle was brought to us before we dropped off the stylish minivan, and flew back to KBUU for an 11:25 flyover. Everything was going well until we got to KBUU and the wife's phone which I unknowingly knocked off the plane ended up in the grass back at Racine. Ooops.

As the morning progressed, 4 more RV owners/pilots arrived. Jesse (RV8) from the local area, 2B and Bull (RV8s) from KC Flight Team, and Finn (RV6) from northern Indiana. Our 3 ship now became a 7 ship.

Being the least experienced of all, I am still trying to soak in everything and improve. One thing I have noticed is how important it is to learn formation with the proper people and following FFI standards. This is not only for safety but so that a group such as this can come together at an important event and with a standard brief pull off a safe flight. I think we even looked decent and got to honor someone.


Short clip of the missing man flight.
https://youtu.be/bTKD19PH0_Y

Clip of the return to Burlington Airport for debrief and lunch.
https://youtu.be/A_IRES9eRDk

Video of funeral
https://www.facebook.com/723835350/videos/10158574562215351/

With the missing man mission accomplished all 7 pilots were ready to depart around 1:15 pm Local time. KC flight heading back to KC, Jesse just a short hop home, Dave and Kurt back to Louisville, and me and the wife heading West.

The initial plan was to fly to Mt Rushmore the first night, 2nd night to Denver, 3rd quick hop over the pass to surprise my mother in law, then back east. I then realized Sturgis motorcycle rally was in progress and finding a hotel anywhere near the mountain would probably not be fun so we decided to change path and head more direct toward Alamosa Colorado. 2hr 45 min flight later we found ourselves at Tekamah Nebraska KTQE. Small airport, decent FBO, super nice employee who was quick to ask if we needed anything and remind us they had a car. The only downside is the runway must have testing grounds for speedbumps. Landing was good as I was letting it slow down it got bumpy, and the plane started to fly again. Power back in, go around thinking I surely must have forgot how to land after the crosswind issue the previous day.

Landing #2 was ok, but again I noticed the bumps and wondered what was wrong with me or my plane.

After fueling up and a few minutes in the lounge a phone call let us know we had a local hotel and car to use for the evening we both decided to just stay there for the evening and get an early start. The airport recommended "Taco Tuesday" at a bar just south of Tekamah. Checking into our sleeping arrangements for the night he also said that would be a good place to visit so off we went in the typical airport retired police car.

$2.50 cent tacos, couple root beers later and we were ready for some rest and an early flight. The room we rented was actually a 1 bedroom apartment and very well done and clean. The bad news is the bed was a bit too hard for both me and the wife and great sleep was not had by either of us but we did make it back to the airport around 7:30 AM.

Plane pre-flighted, our belonging back loaded up we were ready to go. Bad news is there was a cloud deck just above us with the weather heading west looking great though. During takeoff I noticed once again how bumpy the runway was, which helped me settle in that I wasn't that bad of a pilot. Few minutes later we found ourselves eventually climbing up to 8500 feet. Few hours later we landed at La Junta Colorado KLHX. Topping off with fuel, getting the oxygen bottle ready we strapped back in for what would be a short flight over La Veta pass. Having never done any high altitude flying prior I had done a fair amount of research, been watching the winds at the pass for the week leading up and decided with peaks in the area around 10,500 if I climbed up to 13,500 the crossing shouldn't be a big deal. Time across the pass is around 10 minutes and you can see the other side before you even start. The anticipation for the time leading up to this was much worse than actually flying it. Being before noon still the wind was fairly calm and it was a non event.

Landing in Alamosa the wife had arranged with her aunt to grab "Mom" and made an excuse to drive to the airport for the surprise. That would have worked out well, except the wife due to lack of cell coverage and time had not talked to mom for a few days so mom got a bit worried and remembered we showed her how to track our airplane via flightaware. That morning she did and noticed where we were, so the surprise didn't totally work out. She was still glad we came.

Thursday was spent in Alamosa, giving an early plane ride to both my wife's Aunt and Mom. With field elevation at 7,500 feet I started to feel like my plane was the typical training aircraft again and consumed a lot more runway that I remember. Good thing the runway is much longer. You also start to learn that full rich isn't an option either, and 60% power is the most I could get out of it for climb out.

Thursday night we called my wife's son stationed in Shreveport Louisiana and thought of flying his direction for a quick visit. That did not work out due to weather so due east was decided instead.

We had some weather to dodge but as it turned out there was a big lane of clear air above the clouds with plenty of holes if needed.

Once again early morning start of around 7am. Winds light on the pass, visibility no problem at all with very few clouds in the sky. Off we went west across the pass, landing just on the other side to survey weather and come up with any plan revisions.

https://youtu.be/8LpfxvJKXhI

Looking at the radar, we headed a bit north then east, making a stop in Goodland KS (KGLD), then Iola Kansas. Landing at Iola we were meet right at the plane asking if we needed anything. Of course fuel was on the list @ $3.15 gallon, but I also was about to have my life cut short life if I didn't feed my wife rather soon and I knew they had a car so I asked about it. Sure enough he went and started it for us so it would be cool once we got out.

Walking into the FBO he greeted us with a map of all the places to eat in Iola, along with 2 suggestions. One the wife liked so that one it was. Walking to the parking lot I only knew he said it was running. The only running vehicle in the lot was a fairly nice ford truck so I jumped in hoping it was the one he planned. I guess it was as nobody was alarmed. It still amazes me, especially during these weird social times that as pilots we are often given keys to a car without even knowing our name most of the time. Something I think speaks very highly of the pilot community.

An hour and a half later we were back in the plane, belly's full, fuel tanks full and in the air heading east. Somehow we had a very nice lane of clear air above scattered clouds the rest of the trip. 3 hours 30 minutes later we landed back home at Bowman Field KLOU the sun still up for another hour.

With my plane now 11 month old, the hobbs meter is showing 150 hours. On this trip the only thing I had to add was fuel. In 25 hours of flying the the oil level dropped maybe a 1/2 quart. To wake up in Colorado and be home 6.5 hours later in a vehicle I built is something rather cool and unique.

Total trip around 2500 miles, 25 hours.

My dream of building my own plane started around 1998 when I worked briefly at Boeing. It took 20 years to achieve that dream so don't give up. If you want something bad enough you will find a way.

What a great morning read! Man there is a good writer in you Jeffski. I think soon you might join my "Go Around Club" as a VP

We enjoyed seeing you at KBUU. This is also the home of Wisconsin Eagle's Nest Projects.

Jim