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/
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/
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