N4822C great adventure Thursday

scard · #1 06-18-2008, 11:06 AM

This week, Tanya's father passed away. A very sad time around our parts indeed. He had a giant personality and touched everyone around him.
The RV9A and builder jumped into immediate action to provide "time machine" services to deliver Tanya directly to her family in the Dallas area. She was very glad to not have to suffer the long boring drive while in shock the day of his death.
The funeral is this Saturday in Winsted, Minnesota, about 50mi. W of Minneapolis. We decided to make the trip in the -9A. We see it as adding a big fun adventure to the sad set of circumstances for a good mix of things to remember for a long time. We've just barely been across state lines in the year that we've been flying so this is going to be a great big step for us.

The current plan: We are planning on departing the Austin area (GTU) around 8:30am on Thursday 6/19 for an easterly route around forecast weather over Kansas with a planned route
http://runwayfinder.com/?loc=kgtu;khro;kirk;kfcm (Thanks Dave, great tools) The route will probably be adjusted a couple more times before tomorrow morning.
We are planning an "extra" fuel stop so that I have hours of fuel to fly around possible weather or whatever else may come up since this is our first time to set out for truly long distance. We have built in lots of extra time just in case. Given that this is truly a "gotta' be there" trip, I figure that worst case is we put down somewhere and get a car and start driving. Also, Tanya is perfectly prepared to use a commercial ticket on Friday from just about anyplace if the weather totally shuts us down.

Our APRS tracker will probably be moving all day on Thursday if you care to peek in on our progress, the newbie adventurers of necessity.

Ironflight · #2 06-18-2008, 11:35 AM

Very sorry to hear about your loss Tanya. You two have a safe trip - I have flown Texas to Minnesota more times than I can count in the past 30 years, and the extra fuel, willingness to deviate, and the abort plans are just what you need.

I've said it many times - the best thing to have in your flight planning kit if you "have to be there" is a refundable airline ticket....or a credit card to buy one!

Fly safe,

Paul

RickWoodall · #3 06-18-2008, 11:44 AM

As someone who often uses your build log for referrence...sorry to hear of your wifes loss. Enjoy the trip, hope the weather co-ops....and the fun travel brings some positives to a tough time.
Cheers
Rick and Tanya (not the same one) :-)

scard · #4 06-19-2008, 08:25 PM

Wow, we made it! I don't think I really realized what we had with the RV9A until today. Simply amazing to navigate from south to north around all the thunder storms, without getting a drop of rain on the airframe. The APRS track worked perfectly the whole way, even in some pretty remote places. The flight track changed many times along the way for weather avoidance. I can't say enough about having XM weather radar. I'm not sure they charge enough for that service

. Also, it is priceless to have two full time crew members. Most of the way, Tanya flew the airplane, and I worked the weather and navigation plan and options. It was kind of bouncy and things were changing pretty rapidly around us. We felt like it really did take both of us to do this comfortably.

This machine we put together in the garage is a WAY better mode of transportation than the airlines. The adventure has been had with complete safety all the way. In another day or so I'll start thinking about how we're going to get home, but for now, it doesn't matter, the high of success prevails.

DeltaRomeo · #5 06-20-2008, 05:55 AM

Thanks for the update, Scott. Susie and I send our regards to both you and Tanya. Glad you got there safe.

You're right about that XM WX, it changes the safety factor by a factor!

b,
d

Ironflight · #6 06-20-2008, 06:23 AM

Glad the trip worked out for you two Scott. Now that you've learned the secrets about RV's and long cross-countrys, I bet you're goign to find it's hard to stay within the borders of Texas....

Paul

AltonD · #7 06-20-2008, 06:24 AM

Looks like he made a detour to see the swollen Mississippi.

Sam Buchanan · #8 06-20-2008, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AltonD

Looks like he made a detour to see the swollen Mississippi.

I suspect this is the reason for the detour:

David_Nelson · #9 06-20-2008, 08:18 AM

Hi Scott,

Glad to see that you both made it. I had one Firefox tab opened to NOAA's NexRad and another on your ARPS track. There were a couple of times I wondered what your strategy was.

It's one thing to know about XM and its capabilities, it's another thing to really see (via aprs) XM and its capabilities. Quite impressive. I hope you've got some really cool pics of the storms in the distance - some of those sure looked impressive on NexRad.

Say, do you turn aprs off right before landing or is it just the signal not being received?

Take care and safe trip back,

/\/elson

N722SH · #10 06-20-2008, 08:30 AM

Scott,

I watched as well with one screen open to your flight track and one screen displaying the radar along your route. I could just imagine what it was like as you left northern AR and headed across MO & IA and wondered what I would be doing if in the same place.

That extra crew member made a big difference I'll bet!

Gald you made it safely! I'm sure you'll remember this trip for a while!

Now if the Google APRS tracking map just had a Nexrad overlay like the "Wunder Map" on the Weather Underground - That would make for some interesting track watching.

Scott H