RV Flying Fatigue - 4,800NM and 25 States

Yesterday at about 2PM local time 727JW squeaked back onto the runway at Bremerton National Airport, and my big trip of 2009 came to an end. This combination of business and personal travel began May 10th (Mother's Day), when my long-suffering wife Laurie urged me to leave that afternoon (rather than wait until Monday's scheduled departure) because of the usual sloppy weather heading for the Seattle area from the Pacific. So, here is how the itinerary worked out:
May 10: flew from Bremerton to Mountain Home, ID.
May 11: Mountain Home to Rawlins, WY for fuel, then to Wichita, KS.
May 12: business meetings in Wichita
May 13: Wichita to Dauphin Island, AL, with fuel stop at Raymond, MS
May 14-15: Relax at Dauphin with my cousins Jean and Sue at Sue's waterfront condo, and - by happenstance - my sister Jane is there visiting as well. Client meeting in Atlanta was set for May 15, but client canceled due to schedule conflicts. Oh well - it was not a critical meeting, and it still served as a good excuse for having the office pay for most of the trip.
May 16: Dauphin Island to Warrenton/Fauquier County, VA, with fuel stops at Eufala, AL and Roxboro/Person County, NC.
May 17: visit with my sister Margo at her place in Fairfax, VA, and tour some of the capitol.
May 18: Warrenton, VA to Farmington, MO with fuel stop at Georgetown, KY. Tour the Farmington area and Pilot Knob, MO, where my grandfather Henry was born.
May 19: Farmington, MO to Laurel, MT with fuel stops at Columbus, MO and Spearfish, SD.
May 20: Laurel, MT to Dillon, MT (change in plans due to weather in the Butte-Hamilton area being worse than advertised); after topping the tanks and planning a new route, on to Salmon VOR and Lewiston, ID and thence direct to Bremerton at 10,500 MSL, coasting over the Seattle Class B with flight following (the only time ATC has called out a B-757 crossing below me - I bet a few of the pilots on frequency had a good laugh over that one) and then pulling the plug for a very steep and fast descent into Bremerton.

So, here are the numbers:

Total trip length: 4,801 NM
Fuel used: 295.4 gallons 100LL
States flown over: WA, OR, ID, UT, WY, CO, NE, KS, OK, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, SC, NC, VA, WV, KY, IN, IL, MO, IA, SD, MT

Observations and lessons learned (in brief):

1. The FAA has LOTS of people there to help - weather briefers, FlightWatch, ATC, etc., and I made use of a whole bunch of them. All were courteous, helpful, and tried to do what they could to make the flights easier and safer.
2. Our great little planes are only useful if there are airports and FBOs to provide the infrastructure to make RV travel practical. The density of airports in the midwwest and southern and eastern staes is pretty amazing, whereas out home in the west things can be fewer and further between.
3. Weather is always a factor. I did not have to make any major changes in plans due to weather, but it WAS an issue. The flight from Alabama to Virginia was mostly low level MVFR stuff through murky skies, with lots of help from ATC - especially warning about towers ahead!!
4. Supplemental O2 is something I need to really consider. Getting on top of the mountains and clouds here in the west often requires flying at 9,500MSL or better, for hours at a time, and that is really tiring without O2.
5. Flying long trips, day after day, is tiring and does NOT leave the pilot in the mood to open the laptop and get business/work done in the evening. Future trips will not mix work and pleasure like this.
6. We live in a big, big country with an enormous amount of natural beauty in many variations. Looking down on it from 5-10,000MSL for days on end makes you want to take better care of it.
7. The RV is an amazing machine, considering what it can do. I added 1 qt oil in Alabama, and that was it for maintenance issues on the trip.
8. Long XC travel like this would be really taxing without GPS. My Garmin 296 was worth its weight in gold. Even though I kept charts and AFDs in hand, the situational awareness the 296 provided, terrain warnings (those towers again!), frequencies and nearby weather, etc., really enhanced the overall safety of the flight and made it workable for a typical GA pilot like me.
9. I purchased a SPOT messenger before the trip, and the frequent OK messages (I sent them every ~30 minutes and at arrival) to family were appreciated. Coverage and transmit times were fine everywhere I went. While not a substitute for a 406ELT or PLB, it was a handy and useful addition to the trip.

That's all for now - time to rest, and think about the major washing the plane needs this weekend to get all the bugs, etc, off.

[Bob Brown]

Great post John. These planes are amazing travelers!

[Jamie]

Wow, John. That's quite the hike! Thanks for sharing. I live in Atlanta and I dream of taking a trip out west in my RV.

Let us know the next time you're around here...we can almost always find hangar space for RVers overnighting in Atlanta.

[kentb]

I am a little surprised the the miles per gallon is only 16.25. Am I figuring something wrong?

Kent

Kent, you are right to notice that number, as it seems low. Here is what I can say for sure:

1. I typically ran at ~23 inches (give or take) at 2400-2440 RPM for cruise, although at higher altitudes I was not getting that much MP, of course. Fuel burns were usually anywhere from 8.2 to 9.2 GPH depending on how much power I was making and how aggressively I leaned.

2. Fuel flows at high power settings, used for those long climbs to 8,500 or 11,500 MSL, are anywhere from 12 to 13.5 GPH, and that tended to add up.

3. I had OK tailwinds eastbound, and winds up the eastern seaboard were not too much of a factor. But I had pretty strong headwinds most of the way from Farmington back to Bremerton, 20+ knots quartering for much of yesterday's flight, and 25+ knots just off the nose most of the day before. For example, on the outbound leg from Rawlins to Wichita I flew 3.1 hours and 529NM on 27.3 gallons. Yesterday, the run from Dillon to Bremerton was also 3.1 hours and 27 gallons, but only 467 NM covered over the ground.

4. True and indicated airspeeds were where I would have expected them to be, generally speaking, at various power/pressure/OAT conditions. A typical average for my -6 at cruise is about 8.5 GPH and 170-175 KTAS, which gives the 20NMPG average that I usually assume for my plane. But that is only the cruise value, not the climb or descent

So, I think that winds and leaning technique, coupled with high fuel flows on those long climbs, added up to make the difference. Somehow you don't seem to save the fuel on the descent from up high that you spent getting up there..

I have to say that having an accurate fuel totalizer and fuel flow data is really great for planning, in-flight evaluation of progress and options, and helping to lean properly and keep an eye on general engine health and performance. I would hate to have to go back to flying a plane without that instrumentation

[JDRhodes]

[quote=Rutus;327724]Somehow you don't seem to save the fuel on the descent from up high that you spent getting up there..[quote]

Darn drag and gravity! Always holds us back!

[breister]

I'm surmising you do not run Lean of Peak. I see about 7.2gph at 24"/2400, which would have yielded you a tad over 20mpg based on those figures. That would make a marked difference.

Mags or Electronic?

No, I tend to run ROP, or at or near peak if <75% power; my O-360-A1A is magged and carbed, and my limited experiments at LOP have not produced acceptably smooth operation so far.

[kentb]

I now have over 130 hours on my plane and am just starting to get the hang of it. I hope to get even better. I haven't made any long trips yet to get real world measurements, but it sure is nice to see the numbers from my engine monitor / FF to guide my attempts to lean properly.

Kent

[Mark Burns]

John,
Thanks for the write-up. That was quite a trip!

I want to visit Dauphin Island sometime soon and have a few questions.
I'm in Northern Louisiana so it's less than two hours for me to get there.
I'm thinking of making it just a day trip.

Questions:
How's the condition of the runway?
Plenty of tie-downs?
Do you know how close the public beach is to the airport?
I assume you left your 6 tied up there for a few days, so security is ok?

Thanks,
Mark