What’s the first thing a young lady wants to do when she gets a new outfit? Well go out and show it off, of course! It seems that this even applies to young female warriors who would just as soon beat you in a fair fight as get you to buy her dinner….so Tsam convinced us that even though she was only two days out of the paint shop, it was her turn to head off across the country. I needed to take care of some family business up in the North Country, Louise had a stack of work to take care of in Texas….the single-seater seemed to be the way to go. With just 68.0 hours on the clock, I had to set some rules for the brave new Ikran – no cross-country after dark, no IFR, and she needs to spend her nights tucked safely in a hangar. “Not a problem” she seemed to say, "grab your gear and hang on!”
The weather was predicted to be fairly benign across the route, with the previous day’s thunderstorms petering out and an “off day” predicted for significant convective activity. There were, however, low clouds and fog forecast for the middle of the route until 10:00, so I decided against an early morning departure and encouraged Louise to go out and warm Tsam up before I stole her away. That set me up fine for a departure about 0900, and by that time, the route had gone VFR. I was able to easily load my usual few days of clothes and backpack with laptop in the baggage area, but had to choose the space under my left knee (ahead of the spar) for my lunch and water bottle. The -3 will prove to be capable of cross-countries for us, as we are used to backpacking trips with little weight and volume allowed.
The first stop was just across Galveston Bay for fuel. Anahuac is consistently low-priced, and from there I can avoid the Houston Class B without any deviation. The clouds were beginning to build as I punched out of T00 at 2500 fpm, but I was on top of the scattered/broken layer by 4,000’ and leveled at 7,500 in short order. It was a hot day, and CHT’s touched 400 in the climb, but the oil stayed rock solid at 180 degrees. After setting up for cruise at 72% power, the temps all fell (350 CHT, 175 Oil T) and stayed there very nicely. 72% (full throttle, 2450 rpm) gave me about 167 – 171 KTAS with a fuel burn of about 7.2 gph. The Valkyrie would have given me about the same, but would have burned 8.2 gph to get there. The freshly-balanced prop was smooth as glass at that RPM, and the airplane simply hummed…..
This was my first long-term trip with the G3X, and I found it a great chance to get to know it better – especially the integration with the GXPilot. By the time we were done with the day, altitude maneuvers through the EFIS were pretty much second nature, as was selecting Nav or HDG modes to handle airspace and weather. The ability to use either the 430W or G3X internal flight plans was very powerful, and the Flight Plan page on the G3X quickly became my friend for fuel calculations. I had planned for Fort Scott, Kansas if I could make it with an hours fuel remaining, and Neosho would be a short backup. With tailwinds predominating (sometimes as high as 25 knots), I was able to see that I always had a predicted 9 gallons (or more) at KFSK, and that turned out to be extremely accurate.
There is little to say about that first leg except that it was smooth and routine – and “Classic Vinyl” is still my favorite XM channel for long trips. I kept scrolling ahead to observe an area of thundershowers that had passed over Kansas City first thing in the morning and was still moving east. Beyond that, Iowa seemed to be having some shower activity (mostly green) from reported high clouds – nothing ominous appeared to be happening – it was all associated with an occluded front – and METARS remained good. If I had been flying this without onboard weather, as in days of old, I’d have been looking into the soup and planning for numerous retreat options. As it was, no ground stations were reporting anything but VFR, so I launched again from KFSK and pressed on. Sure enough, the clouds were high and I could see some shower activity underneath- but the visibility between showers was at least fifty miles, and the XM showed nothing thicker ahead. I stayed down around 5,500, giving up some tailwind, but staying under the overcast. I skirted the east side of Kansas City, and then headed straight for Des Moines. The shower activity over Des Moines was moving east, and was out of my way by the time I got there. This happened most of the way, and I only saw a few drops of water – not enough to melt away the few bugs I picked up along the way. Speeds remained excellent, even in the thicker lower air, and I was crossing the border into Minnesota before I knew it.
It’s strange how RV’s shrink the world – when I was a young pilot in Minnesota, the borders of the state defined my cross-country plans. Now here I was over the southern border with barely a half hour to go until the Cities – yes, speed is fun! Out around the east, then back into the northern suburbs…”Anoka tower, RV 13 Papa Lima over White Bear Lake, Inbound, landing with Alpha”. It was just 2:45 from Houston to Fort Scott and another 2:50 for the second leg – 9 gallons in the tanks at both places. Yes…I love this airplane! With or without paint, the RV-3 is a great personal vehicle. Cruising along above a broke deck as I crossed the Red River , I looked out and realized I could practically touch my wingtips. Are you the kind of person who likes to throw their leg over a motorcycle and get off several states away? Then the Rv-3 is definitely something to consider….
Paul
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