Flight Report

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Messages
15,454
Location
Wichita, KS
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Display name:
Tony
Well I better get this written before I start forgetting stuff. I have been planning on this last weekend since at least Memorial Day. The only reason I decided to get checked out in the club Citabria was to make this trip. I decided that a grass strip just had to be attended in a taildragger. Initially my checkout was with heavy instructors and lots of gas on board. That coupled with their style of takeoff technique got me a little worried. we were chewing up nearly 1300 feet just getting off the ground! After reading the manual and talking with Tom and Diana I realized that I was lifting the tail way too far off the ground. By just barely lifting the tail off I was able to get the takeoffs much shorter which made me feel a lot better about going into 6Y9.

When the time finally came the weather was perfect. Leah skipped class on Friday afternoon and drove over to meet me at Green Castle. I took the day off work and spent the morning cleaning the airplane, loading everything up, filling with gas, and making sure everything was in order. Leah arrived and we departed. Takeoff was good with a nice climb rate that I was very happy with. While doing the planning for the flight I noted that the Citabria manual says essentially zip about cruise power settings. I did have a manual for the engine which puts you through quite the chart gymnastics to arrive at an RPM setting for a certain % Power. Long discussion on the Citabria forum gave me a good idea for what power settings and fuel burns to expect from the 115 hp Lycoming. I set up initially for 2400 RPMs at 3500 feet and leaned it out. Everything went fine from there with indicated airspeed of 95 mph and GPS groundspeeds of 80-85 knots as planned.

Once into Northeast Iowa we heard Chris Jones call up on 122.75. Rachel and him had just departed Ames in the RV. We had a nice chat as they blew past us to land nearly an hour ahead of us! The trip over Wisconsin was nice. Leah did most of the flying and managed to keep us pretty much on course. In fact of the 4 hour flight up there she flew nearly 3.5! The further north we went the more trees we saw. As we got up by Rhinelander and the U.P. border it was solid trees with the occasionally road cut through. Ive never seen anything like it. The trip was going as scheduled and we landed right at 4 hours from takeoff. Pete landed just ahead of us in his Archer but we beat him back to the tiedown!

When we got there Ed, Grant, Leslie, Pete, and us were pretty much it. Another guy had come in in a Silver Luscombe (not the one from Oshkosh). Later on Kent and Kate landed in 271G and that was the gang for Friday. We all went to the next town down the road and had supper and drinks. Ed drove us back on some winding ATV trail. We all thought he was trying to get us lost in the woods.

Saturday we woke up and went for breakfast at Mom's. Dang thats some good food! Arrivals started arriving for the fly in. Barb came in her Tri Pacer, as well as someone else in a Tri Pacer. a Kolb gave a ton of rides and a Zenith homebuilt was there too. Scott and Karen Migaldi came in later in his Warrior and Susie (Suzy?) in her 1946 Taylorcraft. Jesse came in later with Tristan in the DA-20. An RV-8 also made an appearance. The whole town came out to look at airplanes. All were very interested in all the airplanes and we spent a lot of time answering questions. Fun was had by all and Brad and gang cooked some great lunch and supper. After that many of us headed down to the Trails End Bar for drinks, food, and fun. Rachel sang a good song and I decided I should've gone first :) I did dedicate my song to Scott Migaldi.

Sunday we woke up to the sound of a Luscombe flying over our tents. Shortly followed by a Taylorcraft. The POA gang went to Mom's for breakfast again and took over the restaurant. The grill there is small and we were the only ones that got served for about an hour. Excellent food and excellent service still! Returning to the airport it was time to start thinking about home. Leslie gave me the Garmin 496 Weather Briefing and I knew that the headwinds I had worried about were going to be true. I did mental guestimation that it would take us at least 5 hrs in the air to get home. Kent suggested Adams County in central wisconsin for cheap self serve fuel. It was within 2 miles of exactly halfway. We departed at 1:30 central time and waved goodbye to our friends with a pass down the runway. Heading out on course I flew the first leg and we climbed to 4500 feet. Groundspeeds averaged about 60 knots but occasionally crept up to 65 or maybe 70 if i was accidentally descending. We flew through some light rain that we could see through but visibility and clouds were excellent for the whole trip. I landed the Citabria on the "grass" runway at Adams count with winds gusting up around 17 knots. A short break to top off fuel and oil, get some water and use the bathroom and we were back in the air. once again we had about a 65 knot average making for another 2 hour 45 minute leg to get back to Green Castle. We landed about 7:30 and were completely exhausted, tired and excited. A big supper and we went home and crashed into bed.

We had a wonderful weekend. I really hate leaving these fly ins. Nearly get emotional when its time to go. Great people and great fun. Can't wait to see you next time.
 
Great write-up TC! Maybe next year I'll be a captain and I can divert a flight to come out there. Or I suppose I could always try to get time off...

Sounds like a great time!
 
oh yea by this time next year 6Y9 will be the closest airport to the northeast without endless delays. see you then!
 
you put the :cheers: in the link scott and it doesnt work
 
ha not quite Scott. I think I would've been shot if I would've sang that
 
Great report, Tony. I'll go ahead and do ours while it's still relatively fresh.

We departed 1C5 a little later than we'd planned. Our original plan was to be wheels up no later than 10:30 so that we could meet up with Kate at Iola. Well, as usual, we got a much later start than we intended.

First, we had to make the decision to leave the telescope behind. At 70 pounds, it's not a lightweight, and we were both worried about the weight and about damaging it. We had it up in Wisconsin the previous weekend, and found that it fogged up pretty quickly, so there was a very limited period during which it would work. On top of that, there was a bright half moon that, while it would have worked, would have been sub-optimal. Anyways, the scope stayed behind, though we did bring the binoculars.

After we checked out the plane and talked with the mechanic about the notation that the next maintenance was due in less than four hours, we fired up the engine. Oops, the pilot mic didn't work! We swapped headsets, but to no avail. We really didn't want to abandon the plane and drive, but we were (reluctantly) ready to do that. I know it's certainly possible to fly without an intercom and use the handheld mic, but I really idn't feel like doing that. Luckily, it was Friday, so maintenance was still open. I walked over and got the mechanic to have a look at it. Yup, all it needed was a socket wrench to tighten up the connections. (I still don't understand what's gained by having the covers on the headset connectors, though!)

Anyway, by the time we got all that sorted out, it was about 11:30, too late to get lunch at Iola. So we went to the alternate plan and headed northeast to the new restaurant at Sheboygan. Before leaving, I called Kent and told him we wouldn't be able to meet up with Kate at Iola. He reminded me about the ConUS Challenge, and told me that New Holstein was still available. On departure, Leslie was busy putting VORs into the GPS and planning out the route, but I wanted to just go pretty much direct via pilotage, actually looking out the window and matching our position to the chart. We talked to DuPage getting out of the Chicago area, then headed up to north of Milwaukee, following the coast up. We were around 2500 - 3500 for the entire trip. Milwaukee approach was actually willing to talk to us and allowed us to cross their space, though they did ask us to climb to 3500, presumably to go above Timmerman's airspace.

We landed at Sheboygan, working our way in the arrival to work with a Cirrus that was landing and a Citation that was departing on opposite runways. We extended our downwind to allow the Citation to depart and got a "thanks" from them. We stopped at what seemed to be the main FBO and shut down. They were very friendly, but told us that the restaurant was at the other FBO. They offered a ride over, but we declined, since it was such a nice day for a walk. We got there and had a very nice lunch. I got to meet Ron Burrows, the owner, and found that his only turf experience was at New Holstein, where Tecumseh used to have people use their engines to mow the runway.

When we left Sheboygan we went to New Holstein, which was only 15NM away. From there, we headed up to Prickett Grooms, still navigating by pilotage, though I admit to using the GPS to cross-check our position at times. When we got there, I followed the railroad tracks into town and, once I saw the runway, came in over the town for a downwind leg. I should have overflown the runway first, because I wound up with a bit of a tailwind landing on 28. Combined with being a little fast on final, I stopped beyond where I would have liked. Ed, however, liked my calls of "Grant is turning downwind" (after he made a radio call welcoming me to the field by name :))


I was the first one in the camping section, so we parked and started unloading the plane. Diz has some pictures of all the stuff we took out of the plane!

--- continued in the next post ---
 
Friday had us all relaxing and talking, after setting up our tents. Of course, on our first camping excursion, the tent broke. Luckily, Leslie could have been a scout, and had a repair kit that got us going again. We waited for Kent & Kate, the last to arrive on Friday, and went into a neighboring town, where we had a "Sloppy Hoppy" and a few drinks. The bar we went to for dinner was nice and had donated the water and hot dogs(?), so we wanted to patronize them. (The other option in that town was "U.P. Chucks" :))

It did get rather cold that night, with a low in the lower forties. I have to admit that I didn't sleep too well. Leslie got up early, only to find that they were already putting up signs for the get-together. And there were a couple of really avid young aviators who were still there from the day before! We called them "Bob," which is coincidentally what we called the crippled fly the next night that Tristan was nursing.

Tony's already described the fly-in itself, so I won't try to top it. I will say, though, that Mom's really does a good breakfast. We went there both days, though it was Sunday that we really put them to the test, with about 20 of us! On Saturday, we walked through the street fair, looking at the crafts. We bought a couple of scented soy candles, and would have bought a nice inlaid table, if there were a way to fit it in the plane. There was also a couple who did some nice woodworking that we liked, and we may still order from them. It's heartwarming how welcome everyone made us feel!

On Sunday, I decided to go up and do some flying after the Luscombe and Susie took off. Pete helped me pull the 182 out of its space while Leslie was showering, and we went up to do a few photo passes. Unfortunately, the air was a little rough and I ran out of power on the video camera, so I'm not sure how much usable material we got. We had a good time, though!

Sunday is also when we went ATVing. THAT was fun! It's amazing what those machines can do! We were going over 6" logs and zooming along at 45mph. When we got back from the trip we pulled up to the gas station (where they only have one grade of "gas") and saw Tony finishing fueling the Citabria. Kind of bummed not seeing the entire operation!

We all decided, after looking at the weather on the 496, that we'd head out Sunday rather than hanging around for Monday. We had stuff we needed to take care of at home, so it worked well for us. Sorry, Lance!

Leslie flew the trip back. She had a certain amount of trepidation taking off, but Ed made a comment that we might have set a record for the quickest takeoff. I don't believe that, since he didn't see Chris take off in the RV6, but Leslie definitely wants to see what the take-off looked like from the ground.

We did one airport on the way back for the Challenge, then headed to Appleton for about 15 gallons of fuel. That was good, since we had 6.5 hours on the tach when we got back. We like a good fuel reserve, especially at night.

Well, that's more than enough. We can't wait until next year!
 
yea it looked like that to us too scott :eek:
 
tonycondon said:
yea it looked like that to us too scott :eek:
Click to expand...
Really or are you pulling my leg? It did feel better than last year. That was then it felt like I was not climbing at all. I kept pulling back on the stick and when I looked at the airspedd I had already slowed to 50 knots. This time I was climbing at 57knots and held it there.
 
well we were definitely watching. we all agreed that the angle made it look worse than it probably was.
 
After seeing Scott take off in the warrior I was sure glad to have those extra 20 horses in the Archer. Did Diz get any video of that?

Pete
 
vontresc said:
After seeing Scott take off in the warrior I was sure glad to have those extra 20 horses in the Archer. Did Diz get any video of that?

Pete
Click to expand...
I think she got most of the T/O and landings. I need to find my video camera so I can download what I did manage to tape.
 
gprellwitz said:
We did one airport on the way back for the Challenge, then headed to Appleton for about 15 gallons of fuel.
Click to expand...

Didja submit the claim yet? I've been watching, and it still shows as Available.

Great report!

Not too much to add for me, but here goes anyway: I managed to get home on Friday early enough to get things ready and get up to 6Y9 that night. I took off around 5:30 and headed to CLI to pick Kate up, then we continued north.

Notice how everyone talks about the trees? They ain't kiddin'. Once you're past Antigo or so, it's solid trees the rest of the way up. But, I'd seen that on both trips to 6Y9 last year (Yup, this was my third time in the plane, plus one in the truck! What do I win? ;)) The difference this year was that at one point, I saw where there was a break in them this year, and noticed it was oriented on about a 235 to 055 heading. "Holy ****! The tornado!" There had been a massive tornado that cut a streak probably 100 miles or more long into the trees a few months ago (It's visible on satellite pictures, the weather channel had before and after satellite views in their coverage). We'd both wanted to fly up and check it out, but we both completely forgot until I saw it. Wow.

The sun set about 15 minutes before we arrived at 6Y9. With that plus the fact that Kate was aboard, I eschewed my usual deer-clearing approach and flew a pattern to a landing on 28, where I managed to touch all three bumps on the east end of the runway in a smooth-for-6Y9 landing. Then, the fun began.

Others have described the fun in detail, but I must describe the enjoyment of this event as being like Gaston's only with less emphasis on aviation. Is that a good thing? Yeah, I guess so! Sure, we fly plenty but there aren't as many planes there and there's a lot of other things to do. (No, I don't fish at Gaston's :rolleyes:) Gaston's plus four-wheeling through the woods plus karaoke plus the entire town turning out and having fun and generally making us feel very welcome. In this little part of the world, it's still VERY cool to be a pilot. :)
 
Oh yeah, there's more to this story... The fun flying part.

Saturday, I was gettin' the itch and Tony volunteered to come do some flying. We flew around randomly to the south for a bit, and then came back and tested a new short-field takeoff technique rumored to have come through the grapevine from Sparky Imeson. Performance wasn't hugely improved, but it damn sure felt better.

Later on, I wanted to fly again and this time my victim was Chris. We flew northeast nearly to the bay and did some maneuvering. I did some lazy eights and then some not-so-lazy eights (something resembling wingovers) and then a chandelle before heading back. This time, I did the good ol' deer-clearing approach and felt much better when we landed. :D

Sunday, after more of the aforementioned fun, I followed Jesse down to KLNL where he picked up fuel, and Tris hopped in the 182 with me so we could get those pics of Jesse flying the DA20. The last thing we did was to film Jesse peeling off to the east and then making the full 180 down to the south with a descent in the process... I did a massively uncoordinated turn to keep him in the frame as long as possible, and it turned out pretty well.

On the way back, I let Tris fly the 182. She's a helluva pilot - Never flown a 182 before and the first thing she did is a nearly-perfect steep turn. I wish I could do that in a new type, and from the "wrong" seat too! :yes:

Finally, I returned to pick up Kate and our stuff. We were going to try to claim an airport on the way, but it was a grass field and the sun went down before we got there so instead we headed to GRB to fuel (CLI is getting a new fuel farm and they don't have fuel right now) and finally to CLI for the night.

Monday, we hopped back in the plane and made a little tour of northeast Wisconsin airports, claiming not only 7P5 which we'd missed the day before, but also 3D1, OCQ, and 92C. 3D1 wins the best-idea-that-every-airport-should-do award: There's not much in the way of facilities there, but in the tiny (smaller than 6Y9's by a good margin) pilot shack, they have a brochure with a list of local businesses that will pick you up from the airport and their phone numbers. Restaurants, hotels, resorts, whitewater rafting, they'll come and get you. Very cool.

Finally, I dropped Kate back off at CLI, flew to 63C and pumped 63.2 gallons of $3.80 100LL into the plane, and back to MSN. What an excellent weekend! :yes:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Saturday, I was gettin' the itch and Tony volunteered to come do some flying. We flew around randomly to the south for a bit, and then came back and tested a new short-field takeoff technique rumored to have come through the grapevine from Sparky Imeson. Performance wasn't hugely improved, but it damn sure felt better.
Click to expand...

yea it was fun. dont forget that minimum sink stuff either on the 182. the method i described to you did come straight from Imeson at a mountain flying course that Dave Kalwishky (from studentpilot.com) attended in his 182.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Didja submit the claim yet? I've been watching, and it still shows as Available.

Great report!

Not too much to add for me, but here goes anyway: I managed to get home on Friday early enough to get things ready and get up to 6Y9 that night. I took off around 5:30 and headed to CLI to pick Kate up, then we continued north.

Notice how everyone talks about the trees? They ain't kiddin'. Once you're past Antigo or so, it's solid trees the rest of the way up. But, I'd seen that on both trips to 6Y9 last year (Yup, this was my third time in the plane, plus one in the truck! What do I win? ;)) The difference this year was that at one point, I saw where there was a break in them this year, and noticed it was oriented on about a 235 to 055 heading. "Holy ****! The tornado!" There had been a massive tornado that cut a streak probably 100 miles or more long into the trees a few months ago (It's visible on satellite pictures, the weather channel had before and after satellite views in their coverage). We'd both wanted to fly up and check it out, but we both completely forgot until I saw it. Wow.

The sun set about 15 minutes before we arrived at 6Y9. With that plus the fact that Kate was aboard, I eschewed my usual deer-clearing approach and flew a pattern to a landing on 28, where I managed to touch all three bumps on the east end of the runway in a smooth-for-6Y9 landing. Then, the fun began.

Others have described the fun in detail, but I must describe the enjoyment of this event as being like Gaston's only with less emphasis on aviation. Is that a good thing? Yeah, I guess so! Sure, we fly plenty but there aren't as many planes there and there's a lot of other things to do. (No, I don't fish at Gaston's :rolleyes:) Gaston's plus four-wheeling through the woods plus karaoke plus the entire town turning out and having fun and generally making us feel very welcome. In this little part of the world, it's still VERY cool to be a pilot. :)
Click to expand...

I submitted my claim and it's been approved, but Leslie hasn't submitted Crandon yet, since the photo's on my laptop. She'll do that later today!

I've started putting together a GoFlyAmerica flight heading west from 1C5 along I-80, hitting a total of ten unclaimed airports on the way out to Iowa and back. The only one I feel uncomfortable about is Erie Airpark, because the full name is Erie Ultralight airpark, and their idea of a "large" plane seems to be a Sports Plane, a la Challenger.It's 2000' long, so I feel comfortable in being able to make the landing, but I don't feel too comfortable about my welcome there. Yeah, I'm sure they'd put up with me, but...
 
Thanks for the write-ups. I knew I missed some real fun.:(
 
Kaye said:
Thanks for the write-ups. I knew I missed some real fun.:(
Click to expand...
And we missed you! (I think Ed really missed you! He wasn't satisfied with the 80% increase in attendance from the grand opening!)
 
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