kicktireslightfires
Pre-takeoff checklist
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- Jun 11, 2020
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kicktireslightfires
Started near Miami, FL and ended my trip in Seattle, WA in a Cessna 162 Skycatcher with no autopilot. Left on Friday and landed in Seattle the following Friday. Certainly could have done it faster, but I didn't want to rush. I feel it was the perfect speed.
2,923 miles flown (2,542nm).
30.6 hours flying the airplane.
Got to talk/listen to 8 of the 21 Centers in the USA.
Longest nonstop leg was from Wichita to Cheyenne. 4 hours 14 minutes. The POH says the C162's max endurance is 4 hours 20 minutes; it's a lie. I landed with at least 1 hour of fuel remaining. The C162 is definitely a 5 hour airplane, not 4. That said, I fit an extra 1.5 to 2 gallons in the tanks as I filled slightly beyond the max line. I averaged 4.5gph including T/O.
Highest density altitude I saw was 14,500' when cruising at 12.5. Used a Wellue O2Ring to keep track of my blood oxygen.
I primarily cruised at 8.5 or 10.5 and weather was beautiful. Nice cool and mostly calm air.
Density altitude was 9,000' on T/O at Cheyenne. No problems whatsoever with T/O or climbing. The Cessna 162 is a better performer than people realize.
Overnighted in Meridian, MS and by random chance the hotel I picked was two blocks away from the oldest restaurant in Mississippi so I opted to eat there! Weidmann's first opened in 1870! Terrific food. Highly recommend stopping in Meridian (KMEI). The folks there at Meridian Aviation are great and let me keep the crew car (with government plates!) overnight. The Threefoot Hotel in Meridian is a treat -- it's a 100 year old building that's been restored and just opened last year as a hotel. It has original floors, original elevator doors, but the rooms are all new and top notch. It also has a wonderful rooftop bar and a terrific gym! The town of Meridian looks pretty run down and as I approached the hotel I was concerned the hotel was going to be crap (since buildings are in disrepair only blocks away), but I was pleasantly surprised and had a great experience.
When I landed in Bentonville, Arkansas, I noticed some oil on my prop. Whoops. Failing crank seal! I called Yingling in Wichita since that was my next stop only two hours away and explained the problem. "3 weeks." That's the soonest they could get to it, even after understanding my situation. Ha-ha! Summit Aviation on the field at Bentonville said they could perform the repair immediately since I was a transient, but they didn't have the part. It was a Sunday and nothing that could be done then, so I went into town and checked out the very cool Walmart Museum at Sam Walton's very first location. Did you know Sam Walton bought his first airplane, an Ercoupe, in 1954? Pretty cool! But before that, I grabbed a bite to eat at Louise, the lovely restaurant right on the field at Bentonville. And since I wasn't doing any more flying that day, I ordered a sangria and it was the best sangria I've ever had!
The next morning at 8am, I phoned Aviation Specialists in Tulsa, paid for the $36 part with a card over the phone, and had it in an Uber 10 minutes later on its way to Bentonville. 2 hours later the Uber driver arrived with the new crank seal and Summit Aviation had it installed 3 hours after that. (Those guys rock!) After a full throttle static run-up to confirm no leaks, I was back in the air and flew to Wichita. Stopped in at Stearman Field for a lovely dinner at the bar & grill right on the field.
After Cheyenne, I flew through Alpine, WY and it was absolutely gorgeous! Stopped just before there in Afton, WY, which has an airpark connected to the runway and you come to a big gate that opens with 3 clicks on the radio, taxied down to the end, parked, hopped the fence to go over to the burger joint across the street to eat and got there to learn all the food was FREE. It was the one day a year they give out free food! Enjoyed a tasty burger and fries w/drink and ice cream and then hopped back in for the quick hop up to Alpine.
From Alpine, cruised low over the lake (best views of the trip) disabled TAWS which kept telling me "TERRAIN TERRAIN, PULL UP PULL UP." Then off to Boise. Encountered some thunderstorms coming into Boise and my ForeFlight weather and SiriusXM weather was providing conflicting data and was too hazy to really see far visually so I asked Center and a nearby jet landing Hailey, ID gave me a helpful PIREP which made it clear it was just light rain up ahead.
From Boise to Portland, I followed the Columbia River and got incredible views of Mt Hood to my left and Mt Rainer to my right.
Encountered some carb icing between Portland and Seattle, but no biggie. Flew most of that leg with partial carb heat to keep the carb temp out of the yellow. Even with partial carb heat, the Skycatcher still climbed like a champ. Got stuck over an endless overcast layer, but right as I was about to give up on one my stops and continue on (I knew it was clear 40nm ahead), I spotted a hole and pulled a Mike Goulian to shoot the hole while riding the barber pole. I don't know what my descent rate was because my VSI maxes out at 2000' fpm and it was well maxed out. I said "yee-haw" and down we went in a descending turn through the hole. Once through, I leveled out and there was the airfield I wanted to land at 2 miles in front of me -- it was quite incredible timing -- the skies literally parted for me.
When I hit some mod-severe turb, I just tightened down my seatbelt, pulled the throttle back a little bit, and smiled as I looked at the incredible views out the window. Thankfully I never hit extreme turb and the mod-severe was minimal. Though I did have sustained mod turb for quite a while between Wichita and Cheyenne. On that 4h 14m leg, I reaalllly had to pee, but it was too turbulent the whole flight to use a Travel John. Haha! So I held it.
Speaking of, I didn't know if it was going to be possible to use a Travel John given how small the cockpit of the 162 is, but I managed to figure it out. I only used it twice during the whole trip, but I think I was more comfortable the whole trip just knowing it was an option. It allowed me to make longer legs. And I found I loved the longer 3-4 hour legs because you climb up to 10.5, lean it out, and just cruise there for hours and hours with the cold air and wonderful views.
Mostly had glorious tailwinds the whole way. Occasional headwinds, but nothing too terrible. The worst was a 37 knot crosswind, so you can imagine how crabbed I was! Never had an issue on the ground with crosswinds. Winds were pretty calm for the most part. I think the worst crosswind I had to contend with on landing was just 8 knots.
All in all, it was a spectacular trip and faultless in every way; the entire trip felt like gliding. Even the crank seal repair I didn't feel was a setback as it was just part of the adventure and only delayed me by one day.
I didn't even have a single day delay for weather.
Before this, I had never flown in the mountains, nor even left Florida at the controls of a plane, nor ever landed or took off from an airport more than 1,000' in elevation, nor even landed at a Charlie before! (Overnighted at 3 different Charlies this trip.) (I read the book Say Again to figure out Charlie ops.) I'm a low-time pilot with only a couple hundred hours, but everything went perfectly fine! There wasn't even a single second during the trip that I felt worried or unsafe. I think more pilots should go on an adventure like this. With the right precautions and study of mountain flying and high-altitude airport operation, it's quite safe and whole heck of a lot of fun! I've done some very cool things in my life and, to me, this trip was one of the coolest! Just me, a little Cessna Skycatcher, and the open sky!
P.S. For anyone who hasn't been to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, GO! It's literally the coolest museum I've ever seen. I got there at 4pm not realizing they close (stupidly) at 5pm, so I had to do 5 hours worth of touring in 1 hour. Next time I'm in Seattle, I'm going to spend half a day there. I've seen a lot of museums and usually aren't very impressed, but the Museum of Flight is hands-down the best, most well put together, coolest museum I've ever seen in the world!
2,923 miles flown (2,542nm).
30.6 hours flying the airplane.
Got to talk/listen to 8 of the 21 Centers in the USA.
Longest nonstop leg was from Wichita to Cheyenne. 4 hours 14 minutes. The POH says the C162's max endurance is 4 hours 20 minutes; it's a lie. I landed with at least 1 hour of fuel remaining. The C162 is definitely a 5 hour airplane, not 4. That said, I fit an extra 1.5 to 2 gallons in the tanks as I filled slightly beyond the max line. I averaged 4.5gph including T/O.
Highest density altitude I saw was 14,500' when cruising at 12.5. Used a Wellue O2Ring to keep track of my blood oxygen.
I primarily cruised at 8.5 or 10.5 and weather was beautiful. Nice cool and mostly calm air.
Density altitude was 9,000' on T/O at Cheyenne. No problems whatsoever with T/O or climbing. The Cessna 162 is a better performer than people realize.
Overnighted in Meridian, MS and by random chance the hotel I picked was two blocks away from the oldest restaurant in Mississippi so I opted to eat there! Weidmann's first opened in 1870! Terrific food. Highly recommend stopping in Meridian (KMEI). The folks there at Meridian Aviation are great and let me keep the crew car (with government plates!) overnight. The Threefoot Hotel in Meridian is a treat -- it's a 100 year old building that's been restored and just opened last year as a hotel. It has original floors, original elevator doors, but the rooms are all new and top notch. It also has a wonderful rooftop bar and a terrific gym! The town of Meridian looks pretty run down and as I approached the hotel I was concerned the hotel was going to be crap (since buildings are in disrepair only blocks away), but I was pleasantly surprised and had a great experience.
When I landed in Bentonville, Arkansas, I noticed some oil on my prop. Whoops. Failing crank seal! I called Yingling in Wichita since that was my next stop only two hours away and explained the problem. "3 weeks." That's the soonest they could get to it, even after understanding my situation. Ha-ha! Summit Aviation on the field at Bentonville said they could perform the repair immediately since I was a transient, but they didn't have the part. It was a Sunday and nothing that could be done then, so I went into town and checked out the very cool Walmart Museum at Sam Walton's very first location. Did you know Sam Walton bought his first airplane, an Ercoupe, in 1954? Pretty cool! But before that, I grabbed a bite to eat at Louise, the lovely restaurant right on the field at Bentonville. And since I wasn't doing any more flying that day, I ordered a sangria and it was the best sangria I've ever had!
The next morning at 8am, I phoned Aviation Specialists in Tulsa, paid for the $36 part with a card over the phone, and had it in an Uber 10 minutes later on its way to Bentonville. 2 hours later the Uber driver arrived with the new crank seal and Summit Aviation had it installed 3 hours after that. (Those guys rock!) After a full throttle static run-up to confirm no leaks, I was back in the air and flew to Wichita. Stopped in at Stearman Field for a lovely dinner at the bar & grill right on the field.
After Cheyenne, I flew through Alpine, WY and it was absolutely gorgeous! Stopped just before there in Afton, WY, which has an airpark connected to the runway and you come to a big gate that opens with 3 clicks on the radio, taxied down to the end, parked, hopped the fence to go over to the burger joint across the street to eat and got there to learn all the food was FREE. It was the one day a year they give out free food! Enjoyed a tasty burger and fries w/drink and ice cream and then hopped back in for the quick hop up to Alpine.
From Alpine, cruised low over the lake (best views of the trip) disabled TAWS which kept telling me "TERRAIN TERRAIN, PULL UP PULL UP." Then off to Boise. Encountered some thunderstorms coming into Boise and my ForeFlight weather and SiriusXM weather was providing conflicting data and was too hazy to really see far visually so I asked Center and a nearby jet landing Hailey, ID gave me a helpful PIREP which made it clear it was just light rain up ahead.
From Boise to Portland, I followed the Columbia River and got incredible views of Mt Hood to my left and Mt Rainer to my right.
Encountered some carb icing between Portland and Seattle, but no biggie. Flew most of that leg with partial carb heat to keep the carb temp out of the yellow. Even with partial carb heat, the Skycatcher still climbed like a champ. Got stuck over an endless overcast layer, but right as I was about to give up on one my stops and continue on (I knew it was clear 40nm ahead), I spotted a hole and pulled a Mike Goulian to shoot the hole while riding the barber pole. I don't know what my descent rate was because my VSI maxes out at 2000' fpm and it was well maxed out. I said "yee-haw" and down we went in a descending turn through the hole. Once through, I leveled out and there was the airfield I wanted to land at 2 miles in front of me -- it was quite incredible timing -- the skies literally parted for me.
When I hit some mod-severe turb, I just tightened down my seatbelt, pulled the throttle back a little bit, and smiled as I looked at the incredible views out the window. Thankfully I never hit extreme turb and the mod-severe was minimal. Though I did have sustained mod turb for quite a while between Wichita and Cheyenne. On that 4h 14m leg, I reaalllly had to pee, but it was too turbulent the whole flight to use a Travel John. Haha! So I held it.
Speaking of, I didn't know if it was going to be possible to use a Travel John given how small the cockpit of the 162 is, but I managed to figure it out. I only used it twice during the whole trip, but I think I was more comfortable the whole trip just knowing it was an option. It allowed me to make longer legs. And I found I loved the longer 3-4 hour legs because you climb up to 10.5, lean it out, and just cruise there for hours and hours with the cold air and wonderful views.
Mostly had glorious tailwinds the whole way. Occasional headwinds, but nothing too terrible. The worst was a 37 knot crosswind, so you can imagine how crabbed I was! Never had an issue on the ground with crosswinds. Winds were pretty calm for the most part. I think the worst crosswind I had to contend with on landing was just 8 knots.
All in all, it was a spectacular trip and faultless in every way; the entire trip felt like gliding. Even the crank seal repair I didn't feel was a setback as it was just part of the adventure and only delayed me by one day.
I didn't even have a single day delay for weather.
Before this, I had never flown in the mountains, nor even left Florida at the controls of a plane, nor ever landed or took off from an airport more than 1,000' in elevation, nor even landed at a Charlie before! (Overnighted at 3 different Charlies this trip.) (I read the book Say Again to figure out Charlie ops.) I'm a low-time pilot with only a couple hundred hours, but everything went perfectly fine! There wasn't even a single second during the trip that I felt worried or unsafe. I think more pilots should go on an adventure like this. With the right precautions and study of mountain flying and high-altitude airport operation, it's quite safe and whole heck of a lot of fun! I've done some very cool things in my life and, to me, this trip was one of the coolest! Just me, a little Cessna Skycatcher, and the open sky!
P.S. For anyone who hasn't been to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, GO! It's literally the coolest museum I've ever seen. I got there at 4pm not realizing they close (stupidly) at 5pm, so I had to do 5 hours worth of touring in 1 hour. Next time I'm in Seattle, I'm going to spend half a day there. I've seen a lot of museums and usually aren't very impressed, but the Museum of Flight is hands-down the best, most well put together, coolest museum I've ever seen in the world!
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