f1rocket
Well Known Member
After completing my build, I decided to have John Stahr paint my airplane. Unfortunately, I live in Indiana and John's shop is several thousand miles away. So I decided to turn it into an adventure.
I figured the entire trip would take me a month so some careful packing was in order. The baggage area is a little limiting at 50 lbs so I stowed the passenger cushion and used the space for my oil change/tools and my flight bag/computer.
An early departure was planned to avoid the heat of the day. The plan was to get as close to Albuquerque NM as I could.
Unfortunately that plan was shot to heck when I had to declare an emergency flying south of Kansas City when the electric fuel pump quit and the engine began to stumble. I spent about 7 hours replacing it so I spent the night in Olathe KS.
Next day I made it as far as Santa Rosa NM when turbulence and rain showers forced me down. Exercising patience, I called the local hotel and they picked me up and took me back out in the morning. Nice people there.
Pretty soon the "big rocks" started showing up. These still amaze a flatlander like me. They are very intimidating.
These are some of the fascinating scenery you can only see from a small airplane. This plateau was out in the Arizona desert somewhere with few, if any, roads around.
I finally made it into the Camarillo CA airport to visit with my sister for a few days. John was finishing up another job so I had three days to kill. I had to take a picture of the Pacific Ocean off the Ventura pier just to prove I had actually made it. More to come.
I figured the entire trip would take me a month so some careful packing was in order. The baggage area is a little limiting at 50 lbs so I stowed the passenger cushion and used the space for my oil change/tools and my flight bag/computer.
An early departure was planned to avoid the heat of the day. The plan was to get as close to Albuquerque NM as I could.
Unfortunately that plan was shot to heck when I had to declare an emergency flying south of Kansas City when the electric fuel pump quit and the engine began to stumble. I spent about 7 hours replacing it so I spent the night in Olathe KS.
Next day I made it as far as Santa Rosa NM when turbulence and rain showers forced me down. Exercising patience, I called the local hotel and they picked me up and took me back out in the morning. Nice people there.
Pretty soon the "big rocks" started showing up. These still amaze a flatlander like me. They are very intimidating.
These are some of the fascinating scenery you can only see from a small airplane. This plateau was out in the Arizona desert somewhere with few, if any, roads around.
I finally made it into the Camarillo CA airport to visit with my sister for a few days. John was finishing up another job so I had three days to kill. I had to take a picture of the Pacific Ocean off the Ventura pier just to prove I had actually made it. More to come.