I?ve flown commercially once for the Thanksgiving weekend (back in the easier days of commercial flying) and hope to never to it again. Then, there was the commercial flight over Veterans Day weekend when my trip home (through Chicago) took longer than my RV trips the previous month. So, it seemed a no-brainer to plan to fly my RV-6 down to Houston for the Thanksgiving weekend. I know?.and embrace?the adage, ?With time to spare, go by air? but there was no tragedy if I arrived late or not at all.
I couldn?t leave until Thanksgiving day and an extensive front of rain and strong winds discouraged my flight on that day. But, Friday?s weather looked marvelous and I launched from Fredericksburg, VA, at the first hint of light. The lighting and the last gasp of fall colors made for a beautiful morning.
Heading southwest from Shannon airport (VA)
Eastern foothills of the Shenandoahs (VA)
Dan?s Weathermeister correctly predicted that I would find favorable winds at 4500? and strong headwinds much higher up. But, the direct route took me over the southern Appalachians and clouds hung between about 6000? and 8000?. A brief excursion up to 8500 cost me 35+ kts and I decided a slight deviation to the southeast was worth it to remain comfortably at 4500? msl.
Once past Asheville (NC), I left the mountains and 4500? became more comfortable. The slight deviation resulted in a path about 10 miles southeast of my previous trips and that allowed new sights. I spent much of the flight rocking the wings to see this or that. I don?t know about you, but one of the great frustrations of commercial flights for me is the inability to see what I want to see. I easily frustrate when the pilot announces some special sight off the right side and I?m sitting on the left!
I?m guessing it?s a peak power hydroelectric facility?
As I passed over Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana, I saw apparent evidence of the region?s drought. Dry stream beds seemed plucked out of the Southwest or Middle East.
Flying at 4500? and south of the direct course put me over the Old River Control Structure and I took some more, lower elevation photos that I?ve added to my previous post on the area (
http://picasaweb.google.com/DrKarst/...ey=MC1bmfCEuvw).
My new route and low elevation made negotiating the Lake Charles and Beaumont airspace more challenging. Wind still favored low flights, so I snuck under the wedding cakes and dodged the antenna farms. As happens on almost every long cross-country, I congratulated myself once again on adding a Garmin 396 with XM-Weather in my cockpit. It was finding some antennas sooner than I spotted them.
Just passed Beaumont, I landed for lower priced fuel and a rendezvous with Paul who had been out playing over the Bay and listening for my radio calls. We two-shipped it into Paul?s home airport at Pearland, TX. The flight time was 6 hours and 12 minutes. Not bad!
For this trip, the advantages over a commercial flight included:
1. Less travel time than recent flights;
2. No crowded waiting rooms or hectic environments;
3. Carrying a bottle of wine, other bottles of liquids larger than 3 ounces, and a knife;
4. The opportunities to linger over special sights, circle for photos, and even divert to check out interesting places;
5. No screaming children;
6. No sniffling and coughing adults nearby, spreading their germs;
7. The joy of flying ones own airplane!
Okay, to be fair/balanced, the disadvantages included:
1. Probably more expensive than a commercial ticket bought months in advance;
2. I didn?t get to spend the official Thanksgiving day with Paul;
3. The cockpit was colder for most of the trip than a Southwest fuselage.
RVs ARE for Traveling
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