Dave Siciliano
Final Approach
The flight from Dallas to San Diego Gillespie went great yesterday.
Got out of D/FW with a flight directly over D/FW at 4,000 feet which is still a kick for me. Watched airliners to the right of me, airliners to the left of me approaching and departing!!
Climbed up to FL180 and pointed the plane to El Paso direct. When I got to altitude the winds were pretty light and the decision became do I go straight through or stop for fuel. At FL 180 I was burning 13.5 gph (per engine) and truing out at 196 knots accordin to Mr. Garmin. Looked as if I could make San Diego with about 30 minutes of fuel left according to the JPI and confirmed with the analog indicators; so, it would be close.
As I approached El Paso, I amended the flight plan to continue to San Diego (initially filed to El Paso) on J-2. Center actually came back with better routing direct San Samon; Gila Bend, Imperial, KSEE. Fuel calculations looked good, but winds change.
Continued on and all looked great until between San Samon and Gila Bend where I got over a 20 knot headwind. Tried lower, but lost any advantage in TAS and still was only tracking 175 on the ground; so, fuel would be close.
I keep back up plans and planned on stopping at Yuma or Imperial if in question. About 30 miles from Yuma, just called center and went in there. Got great service and Center actually kept my flight plan open so I could continue on when the tanks were full again. Gauges showed 25 or 26 gallons when I landed and the fuel truck gauges confirmed that's almost exactly what remained in the tanks. Still would have been very close, so, I'm glad I stopped.
At Gillespie, had to make a go around as a Cherokee in front of me didn't get off the runway. Tower apologized, didn't really matter to me. Nice VFR day and I got to circle in right traffic to see the area.
All in all, great trip. Still seeing what the best cruise settings are in this plane and where it runs smoothly.
Best,
Dave
Got out of D/FW with a flight directly over D/FW at 4,000 feet which is still a kick for me. Watched airliners to the right of me, airliners to the left of me approaching and departing!!
Climbed up to FL180 and pointed the plane to El Paso direct. When I got to altitude the winds were pretty light and the decision became do I go straight through or stop for fuel. At FL 180 I was burning 13.5 gph (per engine) and truing out at 196 knots accordin to Mr. Garmin. Looked as if I could make San Diego with about 30 minutes of fuel left according to the JPI and confirmed with the analog indicators; so, it would be close.
As I approached El Paso, I amended the flight plan to continue to San Diego (initially filed to El Paso) on J-2. Center actually came back with better routing direct San Samon; Gila Bend, Imperial, KSEE. Fuel calculations looked good, but winds change.
Continued on and all looked great until between San Samon and Gila Bend where I got over a 20 knot headwind. Tried lower, but lost any advantage in TAS and still was only tracking 175 on the ground; so, fuel would be close.
I keep back up plans and planned on stopping at Yuma or Imperial if in question. About 30 miles from Yuma, just called center and went in there. Got great service and Center actually kept my flight plan open so I could continue on when the tanks were full again. Gauges showed 25 or 26 gallons when I landed and the fuel truck gauges confirmed that's almost exactly what remained in the tanks. Still would have been very close, so, I'm glad I stopped.
At Gillespie, had to make a go around as a Cherokee in front of me didn't get off the runway. Tower apologized, didn't really matter to me. Nice VFR day and I got to circle in right traffic to see the area.
All in all, great trip. Still seeing what the best cruise settings are in this plane and where it runs smoothly.
Best,
Dave
