David-aviator
Well Known Member
This is a wrap of the recently completed trip to Sportsman Air Park in Oregon from Toy Air Park Missouri. A few pictures were taken along the way and follow.
Greetings Fellow Aviators -
A SWA flight touched down at Lambert Field in St. Louis last evening at 6:10 pm and I was back in Missouri after a very interesting week of flying to Oregon via California. The purpose of the trip was to deliver the sold RV-7A to its new owner who lives just south of Portland.
It all started last Monday morning (11-27-2011) with a departure at 7 am under a 2000' ceiling and the temperature right at freezing but the visibility was very good. I thought the cloud deck would end half way to Kansas but it did not until crossing the boarder north of Joplin. By then I was quite cold as the primary heat source of any RV is the sun. There was a bit of ice on the canopy but it soon evaporated. Ground speed was good, running about 160 knots even at 2500' so the trip was on schedule.
(I had a time schedule for the day - if I was ahead by Sedona, it was on to California)
The first planned fuel stop was Riverside at Wichita. AirGuide gave it a good write up with full service and it was an easy in and out just north of ICT and below the controlled airspace. But I did not call ahead to confirm the situation - that was the first major miscue of the trip.
The place was all but abandoned. The office was closed and an old fuel truck looked like a rusted hulk of an a beached ship. There were birds everywhere, lots of them probably migrating south, a few tied down airplanes, but no people. That was irritating and would screw up my time schedule as I had to have fuel. I took a quick look at the sectional and decided to head west to Kingman, KA as they appeared to be alive and well and was more or less on the way to the next planned stop in Tucumcari. Kingman had self service fuel and a couple old geezers hanging out - just like Missouri.
I was in and out of there in about 15 minutes.
The rest of the day (Monday) went well. Tucumcari had live people and I used flight following at 10,500' across ABQ flying direct to SEZ (Sedona).
The tail wind Gods were with me, by Sedona I was 45 minutes ahead of schedule and felt pretty good although a bit punchy as I had been airborne well over 7 hours.
The trip to L18 (Fallbrook CA) was planned slightly south over Prescott and Drake VORS and south of Palm Springs to avoid some big time military areas and Palm Springs control space. It too went well as overall it was a perfect day to fly across high ground, there was little or no turbulence.
Quite by coincidence, I went almost directly over the 12,000 year old meteor crater west of Prescott, that was neat seeing it just 2000' feet below.
The plan was to rest up on Tuesday with my kids in the Fallbrook area but a look at the forecast for rest of the week made me change the plan. It appeared if I did not get out of California on Tuesday, I would be there the rest of the week and that turned out to be correct. As you may be aware, the Santa Ana winds kicked in big time on Wednesday and were quite violent at about 100 mph in some areas.
Son Michael dropped me off at L18 at 8am on Tuesday morning and I was out of there flying around the Camp Pendleton area and north across John Wayne airport headed directly to the LAX VFR corridor at 4500'.
The airspace is in the LA basin very well organized, you can fly that route over everything at 4500' and not have to talk to anyone. Once again, the weather was perfect and it all worked out well exiting the corridor at Santa Monica and flying mostly west toward Oxnard climbing to 6500' after clearing the LA class B area. It was the only way to go as the interior valley was socked in with fog.
Fuel stop was at Salinas, a beautiful place. Then it was just east and below SFO class B airspace at 6500' across Livermore with fog on both sides at SFO and SAC but clear straight ahead.
Next stop was Redding just before crossing into Oregon. Very busy place with flight training.
The beginning of the next leg was beautiful flying by 14,162' Mt Shasta. Again, it was clear and calm and from 8500' the surrounding country appeared surreal. But about 45 miles farther north I could see more fog in Oregon.
I was about 12 miles south of Medford and had to land at Ashland. It was about 3 pm and with sunset at 4:30 decided to stay over night and called Jerry Cochran in Sherwood to let him know what was going on. He suggested I consider detouring northeast to Bend, it would be an easy flight up and over the top in the morning whereas the Medford area would be fogged in for sure. So, I took a quick look at the route to Bend and blasted off one more time, it was an easy 45 minute flight. It took me directly over Crater Lake. What a neat sight that was, although all snowed in and closed for the winter.
I spent the night at the Phoenix Inn in down town Bend driving an old Mercedes complements of the FBO at Bend. The lady at the airport said to be sure to check out this micro brewery called Deschutes and I did. The place as an easy walk from the hotel and jammed with people while the rest of the area appeared very quiet. I sat at the bar, had a pork shoulder (like the guy next to me) and downed a couple Black Butte Ale's. It was a great lay over.
The next morning I blasted off at 11 am as the weather was breaking up in the Portland area. I had been in telephone contact with Jerry who lives about 30 miles south of PDX. The flight was at 8500' over a scattered deck in bright sunshine just south of Mt Jefferson and looking north at Mt Hood as it glimmered in the sunshine. I finally touched down at the destination airport 2S6 (Sportsman Airpark) just before noon. The trip was completed!
I stayed with Jerry and his wife Susan Wednesday and Thursday nights and had a great time talking airplanes, enjoying Oregon beer, some of it more Black Butte. We took a short 8 mile flight to Aurora (before the beer) and visited Vans factory and had the tour. That was great. We also went to McMinnville and toured the airplane museum.
All in all it was an interesting and fun trip. But I am glad to be home. I slept well last night, the first good sleep in about 10 days.
I haven't decided what to do next with regard to another airplane. For now it probably is best to let things settle down. At the moment I like the RV3 and RV8 with centerline seating as with the first airplanes I flew many years ago.
Sedona fuel stop.
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LAX from 4500' "in the corridor".
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Looking west from Mt Shasta
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Mt Shasta 14,162' viewed from 8500'
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Greetings Fellow Aviators -
A SWA flight touched down at Lambert Field in St. Louis last evening at 6:10 pm and I was back in Missouri after a very interesting week of flying to Oregon via California. The purpose of the trip was to deliver the sold RV-7A to its new owner who lives just south of Portland.
It all started last Monday morning (11-27-2011) with a departure at 7 am under a 2000' ceiling and the temperature right at freezing but the visibility was very good. I thought the cloud deck would end half way to Kansas but it did not until crossing the boarder north of Joplin. By then I was quite cold as the primary heat source of any RV is the sun. There was a bit of ice on the canopy but it soon evaporated. Ground speed was good, running about 160 knots even at 2500' so the trip was on schedule.
(I had a time schedule for the day - if I was ahead by Sedona, it was on to California)
The first planned fuel stop was Riverside at Wichita. AirGuide gave it a good write up with full service and it was an easy in and out just north of ICT and below the controlled airspace. But I did not call ahead to confirm the situation - that was the first major miscue of the trip.
The place was all but abandoned. The office was closed and an old fuel truck looked like a rusted hulk of an a beached ship. There were birds everywhere, lots of them probably migrating south, a few tied down airplanes, but no people. That was irritating and would screw up my time schedule as I had to have fuel. I took a quick look at the sectional and decided to head west to Kingman, KA as they appeared to be alive and well and was more or less on the way to the next planned stop in Tucumcari. Kingman had self service fuel and a couple old geezers hanging out - just like Missouri.
I was in and out of there in about 15 minutes.The rest of the day (Monday) went well. Tucumcari had live people and I used flight following at 10,500' across ABQ flying direct to SEZ (Sedona).
The tail wind Gods were with me, by Sedona I was 45 minutes ahead of schedule and felt pretty good although a bit punchy as I had been airborne well over 7 hours.
The trip to L18 (Fallbrook CA) was planned slightly south over Prescott and Drake VORS and south of Palm Springs to avoid some big time military areas and Palm Springs control space. It too went well as overall it was a perfect day to fly across high ground, there was little or no turbulence.
Quite by coincidence, I went almost directly over the 12,000 year old meteor crater west of Prescott, that was neat seeing it just 2000' feet below.
The plan was to rest up on Tuesday with my kids in the Fallbrook area but a look at the forecast for rest of the week made me change the plan. It appeared if I did not get out of California on Tuesday, I would be there the rest of the week and that turned out to be correct. As you may be aware, the Santa Ana winds kicked in big time on Wednesday and were quite violent at about 100 mph in some areas.
Son Michael dropped me off at L18 at 8am on Tuesday morning and I was out of there flying around the Camp Pendleton area and north across John Wayne airport headed directly to the LAX VFR corridor at 4500'.
The airspace is in the LA basin very well organized, you can fly that route over everything at 4500' and not have to talk to anyone. Once again, the weather was perfect and it all worked out well exiting the corridor at Santa Monica and flying mostly west toward Oxnard climbing to 6500' after clearing the LA class B area. It was the only way to go as the interior valley was socked in with fog.
Fuel stop was at Salinas, a beautiful place. Then it was just east and below SFO class B airspace at 6500' across Livermore with fog on both sides at SFO and SAC but clear straight ahead.
Next stop was Redding just before crossing into Oregon. Very busy place with flight training.
The beginning of the next leg was beautiful flying by 14,162' Mt Shasta. Again, it was clear and calm and from 8500' the surrounding country appeared surreal. But about 45 miles farther north I could see more fog in Oregon.
I was about 12 miles south of Medford and had to land at Ashland. It was about 3 pm and with sunset at 4:30 decided to stay over night and called Jerry Cochran in Sherwood to let him know what was going on. He suggested I consider detouring northeast to Bend, it would be an easy flight up and over the top in the morning whereas the Medford area would be fogged in for sure. So, I took a quick look at the route to Bend and blasted off one more time, it was an easy 45 minute flight. It took me directly over Crater Lake. What a neat sight that was, although all snowed in and closed for the winter.
I spent the night at the Phoenix Inn in down town Bend driving an old Mercedes complements of the FBO at Bend. The lady at the airport said to be sure to check out this micro brewery called Deschutes and I did. The place as an easy walk from the hotel and jammed with people while the rest of the area appeared very quiet. I sat at the bar, had a pork shoulder (like the guy next to me) and downed a couple Black Butte Ale's. It was a great lay over.
The next morning I blasted off at 11 am as the weather was breaking up in the Portland area. I had been in telephone contact with Jerry who lives about 30 miles south of PDX. The flight was at 8500' over a scattered deck in bright sunshine just south of Mt Jefferson and looking north at Mt Hood as it glimmered in the sunshine. I finally touched down at the destination airport 2S6 (Sportsman Airpark) just before noon. The trip was completed!
I stayed with Jerry and his wife Susan Wednesday and Thursday nights and had a great time talking airplanes, enjoying Oregon beer, some of it more Black Butte. We took a short 8 mile flight to Aurora (before the beer) and visited Vans factory and had the tour. That was great. We also went to McMinnville and toured the airplane museum.
All in all it was an interesting and fun trip. But I am glad to be home. I slept well last night, the first good sleep in about 10 days.
I haven't decided what to do next with regard to another airplane. For now it probably is best to let things settle down. At the moment I like the RV3 and RV8 with centerline seating as with the first airplanes I flew many years ago.
Sedona fuel stop.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
LAX from 4500' "in the corridor".
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Looking west from Mt Shasta
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Mt Shasta 14,162' viewed from 8500'
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
