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Flight Reports. 4-19-08
Trip Report Florida to Arkansas.
Saturday Oct 22 the wife and I planned a week trip from
Tampa Bay FL to Hot Springs Arkansas. The weather looked good for the trip
there. I filed my flight plan using the Duats Golden Eagle software on a PC. I
like this software because it lets you enter your pilot info and aircraft
performance numbers. The program then uses this info to calculate your time in
route based on the forecast winds and aircraft performance. Then you can click
to file your flight plan and most of the stuff is already there. Wow, flying
cross country is so easy these days. I like to use
www.duats.com for a quick weather check. Without even signing in a map pops
up with the Radar info, cloud cover, and MVFR/IFR coverage. Info that used to
take 30 minutes to drag out of the FSS Briefer you now get in 30 seconds. I
particularly like duats.com when used with a smart phone because you can enlarge
the map easily.
We loaded 3 roll bags in the back luggage and one heavy
roll bag in front of the passenger feet by the firewall. I like not having
passenger rudder pedals for several reasons. I can store one more roll bag and
I can help out my CG because I always put the heavy bag in front of the
passenger feet. This way I can carry in the back 1-tool rescue bag + 4 roll
bags and in the front, one heavy roll bag. Years ago I closed in the control
tube in the back so I can just throw bags back there with no fear of them
jamming a control or falling into the tailcone. I attach a SPOT locator/EPIRB
to a bracket at the top of the canopy. This allows my friends to keep track of
my progress with 10 minute reports. Somehow I need to get the SPOT website
stored with my other pilot info at the FSS station. The web site is too long to
enter on the flight plan.
So with 24.5Gal of fuel, 5.5Qt oil and lots of luggage we
taxied for takeoff from KPIE at about 9:30am. The wind forecast was pretty
strong at altitude so I was planning to stay around 3000 feet with a 20K
headwind planned (hate that). I was also planning on running the engine pretty
hard to beat that headwind. We picked 79J, Andalousa Alabama for a fuel stop
and that was only 2.8 hours. With 4 hours of fuel on board that leaves me
plenty of gas. 79J has Self Service gas and is the cheapest around at $4.88 per
gal. Due to the headwind it took me 2.8 hours instead of what should have been
2.5 hours to get there. A couple of people always come out to see the weird
plane so we say hi and try to answer their questions. They are always amazed
when we tell them that the plane is 26 years old. It still looks very modern
especially with my all flat panel electronics/EFIS.
I used my smart phone to call FSS and close my flight plan,
then prior to take off filed a new VFR flight plan and told them I was 5 minutes
from take off. I got up to 3000’ and called FSS to open my flight plan. Took a
bunch of tries and finally got a super weak FSS. All I really got out of the
transmission was Activated…
About 2.7 hours later we were over Hot Springs. The vis
was about 8 miles which is not bad for them so we decided to buzz the local
overlook tower and fly around the colorful hills. The leaves are just starting
to turn color there. For us Florida boys these 2000’ hills are real mountains!
We then flew over the city and into the non-towered KHOT. Not much activity
there. I wanted some self service gas but didn’t see the pump so called the
Unicom for directions. The pump is quite a way from the tie downs up a hill.
So we taxi there. Closed my flight plan on the phone and started pumping gas.
Over comes an AP saying he’s never seen a Quickie. He must have read about them
because he seemed familiar with it. We then pushed the plane down the hill to
the tie down area (don’t try that with your Cessna). The lineman came out and
directed me into a tie down next to a KingAir. He then carries my bags to the
ground transport area, wow.
Click a picture for full size. Then back button to return.
In Hot Springs we visited my parents, took a ride on an
antique train thru the hills, and poked around the National Park with the old
bath houses.
Come Thursday we had planned to leave but it was pretty
solid IFR. To leave KHOT you got a small group of hills to get over and it
takes some time for the fog to clear the valley. By noon I figured we weren’t
leaving, by 2 pm there was 1000’ clearance to the ceiling over the hills and
Mississippi had improved to MVFR! I don’t normally fly in MVFR but escaping is
important. They can be IFR for weeks. I paid the $3 per day tie down (that’s
crazy low but don’t tell em I said that). So I quickly check the weather and
file a flight plan. This time I tell the briefer to open it in 15 minutes,
which works well. Now I don’t have to try and reach them by radio. We file for
Tallahassee FL, a 3.5 hour ride. Wow the Eastern Ark and Miss weather was
crappy. I spent much of Ark at 1000’ and then saw some blue holes above so
popped up to 3000’. VFR on top with another cloud layer above. The APIC
Approach moving map software makes the terrain display go from green to red if
you get to close to something like a mountain. The audio warns of “terrain
avoidance” by voice if your heading toward a tower or the ground. Pretty high
tech. I wouldn’t have done this trip without the Dynon EFIS and the excellent
moving map. Back when I had steam gauges I used to cancel the trip instead.
Then we crossed the Miss/Alabama border and as expected the
weather turned pretty good. As we’re buzzing along I’m calculating my gas
reserves if I go for KTLH. It’s going to be close. My personal minimum is 1
hour reserve and it’s looking like I’ll be cutting into that reserve. Well
heck, 79J is right on the path and has cheap gas. We’re stopping. No wind
there and a nice squeaker landing. Forget how much gas I put in but I don’t
think I got it completely filled in KHOT. My wife is warning that we’re nearing
sunset, I figure it’s no issue. Check the weather with the smart phone, file a
flight plan and we’re off again. The GPS settles into 45 min to KTLH after we
get to altitude and cruise speed. It is getting kinda golden colored as the sun
gets real low. This is slightly significant as I have no lights. We dial up
the approach freq, first time I’ve had to talk to a controller on this trip. He
tells us where to go, what to do, so we do it and soon we’re landing on RWY36.
We taxi to Millionaire FBO. Oh oh, sounds expensive. Real friendly lineman
comes out and helps tie down the little plane among the biz jets. He tells me
to use the words “Top Off” to save the $20 facility fee and he carries our bags
to the FBO and hops us a ride to the main terminal for a rental car. Wow, great
service again.
Landing in KTLH
Dollar rental car rips me off to the tune of $79 for a
car. They say the cars are all gone and this is the best they can do. Oh well,
no reservation you pay what you got to. We’re thinking of staying until about
2pm in Tallahassee and then finishing the 1.5 hours to KPIE but in the morning I
check the weather and there is a huge blob associated with a tropical storm
heading toward the Tampa area. I figure we got to get while the getting is
good. So we return the rental car and get a ride to the FBO. I think the
Millionaire bill was only $30 which covered the 4.9Gal of fuel. Kinda
embarrassing to Top off with 4.9 gal but hey, it’s their rule! I don’t think
they charged me the $10 tie down either?
On the way to Tampa we were over Crystal River FL and I
decided to try the smart phone weather radar. Wow, it worked. I now know the
weather is only on Sarasota and Tampa is clear. This technology really helps
eliminate the guess work from flying. Note: the 3G smart phone data only seems
to work over cities and at lower altitudes. Highly unreliable but cool when it
works.
Pulled into the home airport pattern and landed on 36.
Home safely. Two squawks, after the Carb rebuild I can’t lean it like before.
It seems to go from rich to dead engine with just a couple of clicks on the
mixture control. I’m going to install 4 EGT senders and do some testing to see
what’s going on. I suspect terrible fuel distribution with my current MA3 carb.
Second squawk, the bottom of the plane is covered in oil after 6 hours. I’m
getting about 5 hours per quart but I think that the engine is leaking it not
burning it. Will look first at the old push rod tubes, maybe bite the bullet
and replace them with those new fangled ones with o-ring seals.
Fly Safe,
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