B

Bill Stratton

Member
Flight 5572, A travel story.

Long write up but it was a long trip.

FLIGHT 5572
Let the Adventure Begin

Its 08:55 June 16th 2009 and I have just pushed the throttle full open on My Genie, my RV-8. I am departing runway 18 at Cannon Creek Airpark in Lake City, Florida headed West. Four to five seconds after the throttle is advanced the tail comes up and a few seconds later I am airborne. When I first started flying the RV-8 I was so far behind the airplane it jumped off the ground before I was ready. Now when I advance the throttle I think, is the tail ever going to come up, is this thing ever going to get off the ground. I fly 13 nm West to Flying Little River Airpark and rendezvous with Jerry Cornwell (RV-8), Captain Ron Maier (RV-8), and Jim Driscoll (RV-6A). Jerry and Jim live at Little River and Captain Ron is from Portland Maine. He flew down to Florida a couple of days ago to meet up with us for our trip. We join up in a loose gaggle and head West. First fuel stop is M11, Copiah County airport in Crystal Springs, Mississippi. We are cruising West at 8,500 feet. Its hazy but no clouds. One hour eleven minutes after takeoff we are in Alabama and at 2 hours and 4 minutes we are in Mississippi. Two hours and 48 minutes after takeoff we are on the ground at M11. We refuel the planes, have lunch and then head West. It is very hot and leaving M11 Jim?s electronic goodies in his panel have soaked up the heat and nothing works except his back up steam gages. Jerry and I have kept our panel?s simple with Van?s cheap steam gages and everything is working fine. After we get up to some cool temperatures Jim?s panel comes back to life. We are headed for XA85 Cougar Landing. It is a beautiful grass strip 5 miles NW of Waco, Texas. It is owned by Mike and Bonnie Anderson and they have graciously invited us to spend the night. After 5 hours and 32 minutes flying time for day 1 we are on the ground at XA85. We got Mike?s contact information off of the RV hotel list. Mike and Bonnie are wonderful people and I can not say enough about the hospitality they provided. Thanks Mike and Bonnie.

Day Two. We say goodbye to Mike and Bonnie and climb to 4,500 feet. We are on top of broken clouds 31 minutes from our first fuel stop MKN, Comanche County-City at Comanche, Texas. Texas is still pretty and green in this part and being in an RV-8 that you built yourself sure is a fantastic way to see America the beautiful. We land at MKN with the wind really blowing but it is right down the runway so no problem. After a quick refueling we are once again headed West. The sky is clear, 2490 RPM, 156 Knots groundspeed and the landscape is starting to turn brown. About 50 nm East of the Guadalupe pass we hit our first weather. It is no problem though, just some light rain showers. Still good visibility but a pretty bumpy ride and we are down to 146 knots now. The rain showers only last 10 or 15 minutes and we have clear sailing through the pass and on to DMN, Deming, New Mexico our fuel and lunch stop. After refueling and some local Mexican food we head Northwest to PAN, Payson, Arizona. They have a beautiful campground on the airport with rest rooms, hot showers and there is a restaurant on the field. We plan to spend 2 nights here. We arrive at the 5,157 foot altitude runway with a 90 degree crosswind blowing 15 gusting to 21. I looked at the wind sock and it was standing straight out directly across the runway. I did not like the looks of that so I did not look at it again. The landing was not pretty to say the least but we got them down OK. With the airport restaurant named ?The Crosswinds Grille? that would tell a smart man something but I will let you come to your own conclusion about that. Five hours 37 minutes flying time today, 11 hours 9 minutes flying time for two days. After cocktail hour, dinner, a hot shower and a good nights sleep we are ready for day 3.

Day Three. We are headed North to fly through Monument Valley. Captain Ron has been here before so he is our leader for the day. After approximately 1 hour we are flying around the monuments taking pictures. Words can not describe how beautiful it is. It is the highlight of the trip so far. After the flight through the valley we land at UT25, Monument Valley, Utah for lunch. It is a private strip and we have called ahead for permission to land. We have a quartering tailwind and it is another not so pretty landing but safe. This is a one way strip with no go around. The strip is now paved for the entire length. We have lunch in a nice restaurant (a bus met us and took us up the hill to the restaurant) buy some souvenirs and depart to the West. We fly over Lake Powell then turn South to over fly the Grand Canyon. I purchased the Grand Canyon VFR chart and studied it before this flight. You have to fly specified routes at the correct altitudes (with the altimeter setting from the correct location) and monitor the correct frequency for where you are located. We make sure we are exactly on course and maintain altitude. Don?t want to goof this one up. Thank goodness for GPS. It is beautiful, the first time I have seen it. Cross another one off of the bucket list. We arrive back at home sweet home in Payson and are greeted with another crosswind but not as bad as yesterday. I even manage to make a good landing. Three hours 22 minutes flight time today. Total time for three days 14 hours 31 minutes. On to California tomorrow.

Day Four. We departed Payson at 08:30 headed for Furnace Creek Airport in Death Valley. We fly by Las Vegas South of their airspace and can see the casinos in the distance. After 2 hours and 2 minutes we land at minus 211 feet at L06.This place is sure named correctly, its 110 degrees. I tell the guys that if the mountains spring a leak we are all in trouble. We use the facilities, take pictures and depart for BIH, Bishop, California. Its at an elevation of 4,124 feet so we have a long hot climb. We refuel and have lunch at Bishop (on field restaurant has Tai food). The snow capped mountains around here are beautiful. We depart Bishop and climb to 14,500 feet to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains. There are some scattered clouds so I climb on up to 16,500 to clear them. As I am climbing through 16,400 I hear a loud bang from the back. I tell myself that it was probably a sprite bottle exploding and think it will be a sticky mess to clean up. I have never had the 8 this high before. After all we are flat landers from Florida. It is a million dollar view looking down at the rugged terrain. I think, this engine came to me as a bunch of parts in cardboard boxes and I put it together myself. We clear the last ridge and start a descent for O22, Columbia airport at Columbia, California. Its in the foothills at an elevation of 2,118 feet. It has a great campground right on the airport with hot showers. It?s a short walk to an old gold mining town for food. You pass an ice cream place on the way that has a good root beer float. They are having their annual Fathers Day Fly in so we spend three nights. A lot of planes and campers here. I unload the plane and can not find any thing that exploded. Then I find the crack in the canopy. Looking back I wish I had turned on the cabin heat. It might have made enough difference to prevent the crack but that is a mute point now. Thank goodness its at the rear of the canopy. I borrow a drill and bit from an RV camper (the motor home type) and stop drill the crack and put some 200 mile per hour duck tape on it.
Three hours 42 minutes flying time for day 4. Total flying time now is 18 hours 13 minutes.
 
Flight 5572, Part two.
We are eventually headed for Johnson Creek, Idaho. I have read stories about it and watched the web cam for over a year and landing and camping there is very high on my bucket list. We met Dick and Jane, they are camping under the wing of their plane. Dick said Spot was in the plane. You younger guys may not understand that. They are headed for Johnson Creek to stay for 4 weeks. This is their 19th year so they give us some pointers on how to land there.
Flying Day 5. We are doing end of runway checks at O22 and Jim’s alternator dies. We taxi back in and remove the alternator. One of the local guys gives Jim a ride to a local auto parts store (Did I tell you that home builts are great) and after a couple of hours delay we are ready to depart for 3S7, Nehalem Bay State park in Manzanita, Oregon. They have a 2,350 foot paved runway with under the wing camping. Enroute we pass just West of Mount Shasta. It is 14,162 feet high, snow covered and it is breath taking. After 3:05 flight time we land at MMV, McMinnville Municipal at Mc Minnville, Oregon to refuel. The fuel is reasonably priced and Robbie Strum at Cirrus Aviation is fantastic to deal with. I highly recommend stopping here if you are nearby.
We climb over the mountains and descend into a valley a few miles South of Nehalem Bay. I fly the plane I built out over the Pacific ocean (cross another one off of the bucket list) fly up the coast and land at Nehalem Bay. Did I tell you how beautiful this country is and how lucky we are to live here. Three hours 30 minutes flying time today. Total so far for 5 days of flying 21 hours 43 minutes. Total distance so far is 2,989 nm.

June 23rd 2009. Flying Day 6. We are at Nehalem Bay State Park in Manzanita, Oregon, Elevation 22 feet right on the Pacific Ocean. When I landed here yesterday there was a deer right beside the runway and I was afraid he would jump out in front of me so I landed long. As I passed over his head he ran back into the woods. We depart 3S7 and fly 17nm South along the coast to TMK, Tillamook airport for Breakfast. They have a Blimp museum and it is the biggest hangar I have ever seen. They only serve lunch so we have an egg salad sandwich and a side order of bacon. It is as close to breakfast as we can get and it is good. We are headed to Van’s aircraft to tour the factory. We have a few hours to kill before the factory tour so we decide to go into town and do our laundry. Mike, His grandfather owns the aircraft collection stored in the museum and he has the job of flying the P-51, T-6 and the other war birds (it’s a tough job but someone has to do it), takes us downtown to the local Laundromat. He gives us his phone number and tells us to call when we are done. You meet a lot of wonderful people in aviation. With clean clothes we depart Tillamook for the short 37nm flight to UAO Aurora State. We tour the factory and then depart for MMV, McMinnville Municipal to tour the Spruce Goose museum. It is just across the highway from the airport and a van picks us up and gives us the short ride to the museum.
This is a beautiful museum and the spruce goose is huge. After a couple of hours in the museum and lunch in the museum café we return to the airport, refuel and depart headed back to Nehalem Bay for one more night. We meet a nice English couple in a Cessna 172 ( He is in the States working on his A&P/IA) and meet Corey, his wife and 2 year old son, in a Cessna. They are all camping by their planes. Corey and his family are also headed for Johnson Creek, Idaho. He is a member of the Idaho Back Country Pilots association. Total flight time today is 1 hour 9 minutes. Total for 6 flying days 22 hours 52 minutes.


Flying day 7. After a gourmet breakfast of boiled eggs we depart 3S7 at 08:08 headed East to MYL, McCall, Idaho. We cross just South of snow capped Mount Hood, Oregon 11,239 feet. We can see the Columbia river off of our left wing. Washington state is on the North side of the river and Oregon on the South side. We fly 2 hours and 8 minutes across beautiful country and land at McCall. Captain Ron leaves us here and heads for Maine. We have lunch and wait for the wind to die down. Dick has told us the most important rule for flying the back country. Be on the ground by 12:00 noon or wait until after 7:00 pm. Most of the accidents he has seen at back country strips happen in the afternoon when the wind is blowing through the canyons. Joe Colonna, our friend and neighbor calls while we are waiting and wants to know were we are. He has flown his Super Cub to Pennsylvania for the Cub fly in and then West to 3U2, Johnson Creek to meet us. He is on the ground and is proud (and rightly so) that he beat the RV’s to Johnson Creek. We depart MYL at 7:00 pm and head to 3U2. The GPS says I am there but I can not see the airport. Joe is on the radio and says to look down. We are at 9,500 feet due to 9,000 foot mountains around us and the grass strip is at an elevation of 4,933 feet, down in a valley. This is a totally different perspective from looking at it on the internet. From this altitude the strip looks like it is one inch long with these big mountains all around it and I think, me land there, you have got to be kidding me. What has my big mouth got me into now? The local and experienced guys fly a normal pattern here but Dick told us the first few times we land to go 3 miles North to the town of Yellow Pine, circle down and fly South through the canyon at no more than 800 feet above the ground. When you come around the last turn be at landing speed and you are on final for runway 17. What ever you do, Don’t be high and hot. I fly North and find Yellow Pine, it’s a little spot at the bottom of the canyon. I slow down to 85 mph, partial flaps and start circling down. I’m thinking, there is not enough room between the mountains for this, but there really is plenty of room. At 6,500 feet I am headed South for the right canyon so off I go. I make a left turn around the first mountain, then a right turn around the next mountain. I have descended to 5,500 feet and slowed down to 80 mph. When I come around the last turn the strip is right in front of me. I slow down to 75, add full flaps and come across the last trees with about 40 feet of clearance and at 70 mph. I land and use maybe 1/3 of the strip. Joe congratulates me on the fine job I did and I tell him, even a blind dog finds a bone now and then. I am on the ground at Johnson Creek, Idaho. It is absolutely gorgeous and I am so proud of myself for landing here. Cross another one off of the bucket list. Thanks for the instructions Dick. We pitch our tent right beside Dick and Jane‘s campsite. We plan on spending three nights here. Flying time today 2 hours 25 minutes. Total for 7 days is 25 hours 17 minutes.

June 25th 2009. We take a day off from flying and enjoy watching airplanes takeoff and land. Dick and Jane give us a ride to Yellow Pine and we have lunch at the Silver Dollar Grille and visit the General store. Yellow Pine has dirt streets. It was the last town in the US to get phone service. The local golf course/ country club has 18 holes with dirt tees and is full of trees. You play the course with a putter and one other club. Yellow Pine’s claim to fame is the annual Harmonica festival in August when thousands of people arrive to enjoy the music. Tomorrow we are going to follow Dick and Jane to Smiley Creek for Breakfast.

Part Three At: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=45245
 
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Final Approach Johnson Creek

Bill, This is the best story, I love your approach into Johnson Creek, I hope someday to take the RV9a there, bucket list. It's great to have all that information, prior to short final. I'm sure I will be reading this story over again. Was the runway fairly smooth? Thanks for the story.:eek:

Jim
RV9a building
 
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