CJones
Final Approach
Well.. I was *almost* able to complete the round-trip from KAMW (Ames, Iowa) to KMGM (Montgomery, Alabama) this weekend:
Friday - depart KAMW 4pm straight into a 310@17G35 wind. Climb out 100KIAS/1200fpm. Up to about 3000' MSL while on a 'downwind' to intersecting runway. WOOHOO!! Turn downwind and watch the GS climb up, FAST. Get hooked up with DSM Approach while climbing to 9500'. Level off just south of DSM and watch the GS creep up a bit more. Set power at (full throttle) 21.5"/2300 @ 8.8GPH and 159KTAS with a 202kt GS. Requested flight following with DSM for the trip but they drop me as soon as I'm out of their area. Call up Chicago Approach and they work out the hand-offs for me and along we go. Super smooth and severe clear @ 9500' still getting right at 200kt GS. KC Ctr asks twice - "What type of aircraft did you say you are?" I love hearing that question.
Boot, scoot, and boogie on down to KTKX (Kennet, Missouri) for some $2.97 100LL. KAMW - KTVK: 384nm, 2.1 hrs.
Depart KTKX enroute to KBHM (Birmingham, Alabama) to pick up my bro-in-law who is flying in commercial from Vegas. Climb up to 9500' again and the GS moves on up to 224 kts this time. YEEEHAAW! I took a pic of the GPS screen as proof, but alas I left the camera in the plane, which does not allow easy access at this moment (more on that later). Another smooth flight with a gorgeous sunset over the tail. Fly right past my old hometown (Florence, Alabama). It's the first time I've flown PAST "home" on the way to somewhere else. *sigh* Vectors for Rwy 6 brings me directly over downtown Birmingham - cool! Land and taxi on over to Mecury Air Center. Request a ride to the terminal to pick up my b.i.l. and they instead toss me to the keys to a new Cadillac crew car and say "Two hours". Cool again! Told them to "go ahead and top me off with fuel" in return for the car. Problem is - they probably burned more fuel in the fuel truck than they pumped into the plane. ha! B.i.L's flight is early due to a 100kt tailwind enroute from DFW. Head back around to the G.A. section and depart for KMGM (Montgomery, Alabama). Uneventful quick flight at 5500' down to KMGM. Request vectors b/c I can't find the darn place. Get lined up for a silky smooth landing on Rwy 28. Taxi over to Montgomery Aviation, put the cover on the plane and wait for b.i.l.'s buddies to arrive to take us back to the hotel. KTKX - KBHM: 227nm, 1.2 hrs. KBHM - KMGM: 78nm, 0.5 hr.
**** Insert stories of tailgating for AU - Fla game. Tailgating began at 9am and ended somewhere around 12am. AWESOME GAME! ****
Checked weather off-and-on on Saturday and nothing seemed to be much of a problem. Probably won't be able to cruise up high like on the way down, but still looking like 6000'+ ceilings. Check weather again when getting ready to depart KMGM Sunday morn. Still nothing to worry about. Partly/mostly cloudy, but no vis or ceiling problems.
Depart KMGM Sunday morn and head back toward KTKX to top off with cheap fuel. Climb up to 8500' this time and the winds are a non-factor. Maybe a 5 kt headwind, but I'm only burning about 9gph and we're still clicking along at ~160kts GS. Land at KTKX, top off with fuel, and talk my b.i.l. into stopping at KSIK (Sikeston, Missouri) for lunch. Watching the 396, I realize there is a line of rain b/t us and 'home', so stopping for lunch in KSIK should give it time to clear out from our area or at least give us a path that we can deviate west to get around it. Go eat at Lamberts in Sikeston -- A MUST STOP FOR PILOTS PASSING THROUGH THE AREA!! Just make sure you figure your W&B before departing, because I am POSITIVE that it will shift a bit after eating at Lamberts. KMGM - KTKX - KSIK: 342nm, 2.3hrs.
Return to the airport and check weather --- What the !?! This rain and cloud stuff has stalled! The ceilings are coming down a bit lower than forecast and the rain is still in there, but it's falling apart. OK.. We decide to head towards K.C. which will put us on a line just south of the rain, then once we find the 'gap' by observing radar and checking AWOS in the direction we want to go, we will cut through and high-tail it home.
Out of SIK, we climb up to 4500' and the ceilings are well defined and visibility is good. Continue on. Finally the rain line is falling apart so we turn north toward Ames. About over Kirksville, Missouri, vis goes down and ceilings become undefined. Do 180 and head back to Mexico Missouri to evaluate the situation. Office is locked at Mexico. I know Mark Bell is in KJEF (Jefferson City, MO) so we head that direction so at least we know someone in the area if we need some help. Land and check weather there -- doesn't look good for the home team. It's about as good as it's gonna get for at least a day. Ceilings are low but Vis is 10 the entire way back to Ames. Decide to go low and make sure to pick airports out along the way as 'outs'. Depart KJEF and begin zig-zagging across northern Missouri picking out airports with agreeable AWOS reports. After what seemed like a zillion "Direct to" changes, we end up near Pella, Iowa. Checking AWOS from there to Ames, Newton is getting bad and Ames just went into the crapper. Finally give up the hope of making it home that night and head back to Pella. Tie the plane down, put the cover on and call for a ride. Sis-in-law comes and picks us up and we drive home -- man am I glad we stopped in Pella!! So..... KSIK - KMYJ - KJEF - KPEA with about a ZILLION flights "Direct to" other airports: ???? nm, 4.0 hrs (I got fuel in JEF, which would allow this much flight time ).
All-in-all a great trip. On the way down was solo XC the whole way with unbelievable groundspeeds. Reason for going - AU-Fla game was definitely worth the trip! Return trip, while disappointing due to not making it all the way home was still a success b/c I was able to evaluate the info, make a sound decision, and execute it without any problems. One good thing that did result from the return trip -- it has rekindled my fire to get that darn IR done!! PIREPS were reporting tops at 4500'!!! That's just ~4 min climb for me! ARGH!!!!
-Chris
(Pics will come later -- as soon as I can get the plane back to Ames from Pella)
Friday - depart KAMW 4pm straight into a 310@17G35 wind. Climb out 100KIAS/1200fpm. Up to about 3000' MSL while on a 'downwind' to intersecting runway. WOOHOO!! Turn downwind and watch the GS climb up, FAST. Get hooked up with DSM Approach while climbing to 9500'. Level off just south of DSM and watch the GS creep up a bit more. Set power at (full throttle) 21.5"/2300 @ 8.8GPH and 159KTAS with a 202kt GS. Requested flight following with DSM for the trip but they drop me as soon as I'm out of their area. Call up Chicago Approach and they work out the hand-offs for me and along we go. Super smooth and severe clear @ 9500' still getting right at 200kt GS. KC Ctr asks twice - "What type of aircraft did you say you are?" I love hearing that question.
Boot, scoot, and boogie on down to KTKX (Kennet, Missouri) for some $2.97 100LL. KAMW - KTVK: 384nm, 2.1 hrs.Depart KTKX enroute to KBHM (Birmingham, Alabama) to pick up my bro-in-law who is flying in commercial from Vegas. Climb up to 9500' again and the GS moves on up to 224 kts this time. YEEEHAAW! I took a pic of the GPS screen as proof, but alas I left the camera in the plane, which does not allow easy access at this moment (more on that later). Another smooth flight with a gorgeous sunset over the tail. Fly right past my old hometown (Florence, Alabama). It's the first time I've flown PAST "home" on the way to somewhere else. *sigh* Vectors for Rwy 6 brings me directly over downtown Birmingham - cool! Land and taxi on over to Mecury Air Center. Request a ride to the terminal to pick up my b.i.l. and they instead toss me to the keys to a new Cadillac crew car and say "Two hours". Cool again! Told them to "go ahead and top me off with fuel" in return for the car. Problem is - they probably burned more fuel in the fuel truck than they pumped into the plane. ha! B.i.L's flight is early due to a 100kt tailwind enroute from DFW. Head back around to the G.A. section and depart for KMGM (Montgomery, Alabama). Uneventful quick flight at 5500' down to KMGM. Request vectors b/c I can't find the darn place. Get lined up for a silky smooth landing on Rwy 28. Taxi over to Montgomery Aviation, put the cover on the plane and wait for b.i.l.'s buddies to arrive to take us back to the hotel. KTKX - KBHM: 227nm, 1.2 hrs. KBHM - KMGM: 78nm, 0.5 hr.
**** Insert stories of tailgating for AU - Fla game. Tailgating began at 9am and ended somewhere around 12am. AWESOME GAME! ****
Checked weather off-and-on on Saturday and nothing seemed to be much of a problem. Probably won't be able to cruise up high like on the way down, but still looking like 6000'+ ceilings. Check weather again when getting ready to depart KMGM Sunday morn. Still nothing to worry about. Partly/mostly cloudy, but no vis or ceiling problems.
Depart KMGM Sunday morn and head back toward KTKX to top off with cheap fuel. Climb up to 8500' this time and the winds are a non-factor. Maybe a 5 kt headwind, but I'm only burning about 9gph and we're still clicking along at ~160kts GS. Land at KTKX, top off with fuel, and talk my b.i.l. into stopping at KSIK (Sikeston, Missouri) for lunch. Watching the 396, I realize there is a line of rain b/t us and 'home', so stopping for lunch in KSIK should give it time to clear out from our area or at least give us a path that we can deviate west to get around it. Go eat at Lamberts in Sikeston -- A MUST STOP FOR PILOTS PASSING THROUGH THE AREA!! Just make sure you figure your W&B before departing, because I am POSITIVE that it will shift a bit after eating at Lamberts. KMGM - KTKX - KSIK: 342nm, 2.3hrs.
Return to the airport and check weather --- What the !?! This rain and cloud stuff has stalled! The ceilings are coming down a bit lower than forecast and the rain is still in there, but it's falling apart. OK.. We decide to head towards K.C. which will put us on a line just south of the rain, then once we find the 'gap' by observing radar and checking AWOS in the direction we want to go, we will cut through and high-tail it home.
Out of SIK, we climb up to 4500' and the ceilings are well defined and visibility is good. Continue on. Finally the rain line is falling apart so we turn north toward Ames. About over Kirksville, Missouri, vis goes down and ceilings become undefined. Do 180 and head back to Mexico Missouri to evaluate the situation. Office is locked at Mexico. I know Mark Bell is in KJEF (Jefferson City, MO) so we head that direction so at least we know someone in the area if we need some help. Land and check weather there -- doesn't look good for the home team. It's about as good as it's gonna get for at least a day. Ceilings are low but Vis is 10 the entire way back to Ames. Decide to go low and make sure to pick airports out along the way as 'outs'. Depart KJEF and begin zig-zagging across northern Missouri picking out airports with agreeable AWOS reports. After what seemed like a zillion "Direct to" changes, we end up near Pella, Iowa. Checking AWOS from there to Ames, Newton is getting bad and Ames just went into the crapper. Finally give up the hope of making it home that night and head back to Pella. Tie the plane down, put the cover on and call for a ride. Sis-in-law comes and picks us up and we drive home -- man am I glad we stopped in Pella!! So..... KSIK - KMYJ - KJEF - KPEA with about a ZILLION flights "Direct to" other airports: ???? nm, 4.0 hrs (I got fuel in JEF, which would allow this much flight time
).All-in-all a great trip. On the way down was solo XC the whole way with unbelievable groundspeeds. Reason for going - AU-Fla game was definitely worth the trip! Return trip, while disappointing due to not making it all the way home was still a success b/c I was able to evaluate the info, make a sound decision, and execute it without any problems. One good thing that did result from the return trip -- it has rekindled my fire to get that darn IR done!! PIREPS were reporting tops at 4500'!!! That's just ~4 min climb for me! ARGH!!!!
-Chris
(Pics will come later -- as soon as I can get the plane back to Ames from Pella)
