Returning home from Gaston's thread.

ScottM

ScottM

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iBazinga!
Those of you coming to the upper middlewest be careful it is ugly outside. If you need a place to stop and stay target 3CK, KDPA, or even KPWK. Give me a call 847.877.1785 and I can come pick you up.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

We departed Gastons at 12:30 pm headed for Lincoln. Right now we're sitting in St Joseph Missouri waiting for a line of storms to blow by. We're not in a hurry and there is no reason to try to push our way through it.

radar_gastons08.jpg
 
I just landed at the farm and Tom just landed at Lamar. It was a bumpy take-off from Gaston's...the roughest air we'd been in all weekend.

Our wind sock at the farm is whipping around and doing aerobatics. Closest METAR is:

KJLN 081953Z 20020G25KT 10SM SCT041 OVC060 29/21 A2986 RMK AO2 PK WND 20034/1921

I think the peak wind gusts are higher than that at the farm.

Kim just called to say that she and Phil made it back to Kansas City. Y'all be safe out there and please let us know when you make it home so we won't worry. :yes:
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Home safe and sound. Very slight headwind component, but at 11,000' it was reasonably cool and smooth.
GREAT WEEKEND!!!
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

The birddog flew much faster going home....ground speed range for the trip there and back was 36 knots to 114 knots....:rolleyes: We had a quick (2 hour) but BUMPY ride home....and the wind gods treated me right at our home airport. :cheerswine:

Phil and I had a great time....what a great outing. What fun people. And that Spike....have you ever known a more "welcoming" fellow? Bless his little cotton socks. ;)
 
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Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Just made it home to Fargo. Almost 6 hours in the air. Planned to go toward Lincoln but diverted around the convective weather west to Tulsa, then on to KSUX and then on into Fargo. Got about 2.6 IMC and one easy approach. The winds were howling at Tulsa - gusting to over 35k but down the runway.

Susan and I really enjoyed ourselves, thanks to the new and old friends we met. We look forward to visiting with you all in the future. Many thanks to all, and especially to Diana.

Josh and Susan
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

I'm home!!! and it's HOT!!!!

Finally got my tailwinds.....5 hrs flight time and mostly smooth and pleasant at 9000. But DC is HOT!!!

Got a call from Tony. Apparently, he misbehaved and Greg kicked him out of the airplane. I just don't understand it.....he was so well behaved in my airplane. :dunno: :D :D :D

So Tony is hoofing the last 100 miles to Ames. He'll report in when he makes it.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Home, a good 2.5 hr flight from BPK at 9000, nice and cool.

I'm glad Spike ferried Brent and Tommie over to BPK for me, that was one heck of a wild ride departing Gastons today. Holy cow!
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

It looks like y'all had decent winds from the south for most of MO and IL, some in IA and NE. But, I see that line continuing on across toward IA. Scott's gonna see it sometime.

Josh, that was quite a diversion. I've gone as far before but for ice; none of that convective, fun up and down stuff.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

jwynne said:
Just made it home to Fargo. Almost 6 hours in the air. Planned to go toward Lincoln but diverted around the convective weather west to Tulsa, then on to KSUX and then on into Fargo. Got about 2.6 IMC and one easy approach. The winds were howling at Tulsa - gusting to over 35k but down the runway.

Susan and I really enjoyed ourselves, thanks to the new and old friends we met. We look forward to visiting with you all in the future. Many thanks to all, and especially to Diana.

Josh and Susan
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Glad you and Susan made it home with no problems....that was a pretty impressive string of storms moving across the upper midwest. I was wondering about you two.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Home safe after 2.5hrs, smooth at 9000'. However, our dog (who was sick this morning) did throw up on my wife right at rotation! I guess she didn't approve of my soft-field takeoff...
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Debbie, Danielle and I made it back to middle TN in about 2.4. As others have stated, leaving Gaston's was, shall we say, interesting. The ride at 7.5 was above the clouds, glass smooth with temps in the mid 60's (what a change that was!).

Debbie has left to take Danielle to the airport and I diverted to pick up the kids (dogs).

Thanks to Tom for flying to BPK with me this morning.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Cathy and I just got home.
Thanks for another great year, will be uploading pics to the flyin website shortly.

Mark B
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

At home. 2.5 hrs, 7500 altitude, nice and cool there... timed it to arrive between two waves of storms - sunny and warm at home airport. Thanks to Felix for giving me a ride to BPK - nice Bonanza ya got there..... Grant reports that leaving from Gaston's was "interesting", actually glad I wasn't in the plane :)

As always, we forgot a few items in the kitchen - Pete, if you're still there, feel free to take the ice gel packs, Lambert's peach cobbler, and anything else I failed to scoop up off the kitchen table

Kent and Kate - let us know when you get back, and/or PM us if you get stuck - saw the second line of storms around Madison, looking none too pretty.....


Thanks to all for your hospitality and rides! Great to see everyone in person again!

Grant & Leslie
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

I'm glad I departed when I did. There was a line of TRW across Iowa but I managed to find a small gap east of Waterloo and snuck through. It looks like that line hasn't moved very far and has gotten a bit worse as well. The trip home was only 2:50 despite the dogleg to the east.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

I see Lance (Fisher) got through that storm front this afternoon in his Baron.

Had a great time, but as Chip had warned me, the P-Baron is pretty heavy to be flying out of there. Noticed a new ding in on prop and got a bunch of mud slinged up on the plane. It was along time period between rotation and blue line out there. Probably will lean toward Mountain Home next year for the plane and offer any rides from there.

It was great seeing everyone as always! Glad a lot of you met Larry and Carol Olson: very nice folks. The Midwest Bonanza Society is going to meet at Gaston's this September; Larry and Carol were helping set things up.

Dr. Bruce and I discussed myriad issues from docs not doing the right things on medicals to political stuff into the wee hours last night. Seems like we addressed all the major world issues and had a good handle on them when we finally turned in. Unfortunately, or maybe for the better, I couldn't remember many of the details this morning....but it sure seemed important in the wee houirs <g> The bartender there made an excellent Bourbon and Seven. Didn't feel any pain after the second one!

It's just wonderful to visit with so many interesting folks whose only weakness seems to be turning money into noise flying a plane <g>

Oh, our trip home was a yawner; no weather, just some headwinds up in the flight levels.

Best,

Dave
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Sharon and I arrived home about 5:30 local time. We ended up leaving Tony in Centerville, IA. There was a line of weather between us and Ames. We could make Dubuque from there, but Ames was questionable at best. After mulling over several options, Tony decided to stay in Centerville and have his glider buddy, Matt, come and get him. I guess he will be home around 10 PM or so. Sorry I couldn't complete the mission, Tony.

BTW, I echo everything said about the departure today. I was glad I had my passengers go to Mountain Home. And the $3.85 fuel at Houston, MO was definitely worth stopping for.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Felix and Will left a few minutes ago, so I guess I'll be the last one to get home, as I am still at Gaston's. Long story short my voltage regulator crapped out during the poker run. Les at Ozark Airorks at BPK told me he should have it fixed tomorrow. Unfortunately Dave's spare regulator wasn't the right type. I hope to leave early afternoon tomorrow, and I'll post when I finally make it.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Well, I got a text message from Kent. He and Kate "landed out" at KJVL, a short hop, skip and a jump from their home base of KMSN.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Started raining pretty hard here in DBQ awhile ago. I think we made the right decision.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

4763e said:
Glad you and Susan made it home with no problems....that was a pretty impressive string of storms moving across the upper midwest. I was wondering about you two.
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The Garmin 496 is worth its weight in gold! We were able to avoid all the bad stuff; the worst we got was light rain and chop. Brief moderate at worst.

But we now have a thunderstorm in progress here in Fargo; glad we got an early start and got home when we did. Sorry to miss the brunch, but we made the right (safe) choice!

Josh
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Glad you guys are getting home safe.

I sure wish I could have gone. But given the WX I am glad I stayed.

What was going on Gastons that made departures so 'eventful'??
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Jesse Jason & Tristan, if you landed at St. Joe, did you get to see "Yellow Thunder", ie. the Tomahawk? :D

It should be in the hangar with this kind of weather I assume...
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

smigaldi said:
Glad you guys are getting home safe.

I sure wish I could have gone. But given the WX I am glad I stayed.

What was going on Gastons that made departures so 'eventful'??
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Always better to play it safe with weather.


At Gaston's: Hot, gusty downwind takeoffs today- gotta love em :no:, 'leave light' was the motto.....
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

I was gonna say what does interesting mean. EVERY one is saying the departure was interesting:dunno:
 
vontresc said:
Felix and Will left a few minutes ago, so I guess I'll be the last one to get home, as I am still at Gaston's. Long story short my voltage regulator crapped out during the poker run. Les at Ozark Airorks at BPK told me he should have it fixed tomorrow. Unfortunately Dave's spare regulator wasn't the right type. I hope to leave early afternoon tomorrow, and I'll post when I finally make it.
Click to expand...

Wow Pete, I'm sorry you couldn't make the trip home. I hope it works out for you tomorrow. At least you were able to take off from Gaston's and get to a mechanic.

Where is Brook? :dunno: Didn't she leave with Felix? :dunno: Did Felix take the young lady from the restaurant flying? :dunno:

jwynne said:
The Garmin 496 is worth its weight in gold! We were able to avoid all the bad stuff; the worst we got was light rain and chop. Brief moderate at worst.

But we now have a thunderstorm in progress here in Fargo; glad we got an early start and got home when we did. Sorry to miss the brunch, but we made the right (safe) choice!

Josh
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Josh, I'm glad you guys made it home. I know you were concerned about it. I'm sorry that Susan and I couldn't do aerobatics this year, but we'll plan on it year year. :yes:

smigaldi said:
What was going on Gastons that made departures so 'eventful'??
Click to expand...
A one-way strip in the heat with a tailwind with a big hill in the path was a challenge. Some of us took off into the wind. After I took off into the wind I had a LOT of turbulence. Tom called back to talk with me on the radio and I couldn't let go of the stick to change frequencies...it was a handful and the most turbulence that I have experienced in quite some time. Taking off the other way was also kinda interesting this weekend. :yes:
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Dave Taylor just called to say that he landed safe and sound. :) I was wondering about him since we hadn't heard from him and there were storms near Marfa.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Dropped Kathleen off at 2:30pm & closed the hangar door at the home iarport at 4:00pm .

Cleared thru MEM Class B at 6500. Hot all the way, but heck, it's the South!
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

When I departed with the tail wind, the airspeed indicator seemed to stick on 60 knots for quite a few seconds (must have gotten a gust from the rear), I was contemplating aborting the departure, when it popped up pretty quickly to 80. Departing uphill, into the wind in the P-Baron would not have been a good plan. With higher winds out of the west, departing either way had issues. The wind would swirl over the hill on the west side and you'd get into that heading West as Diana did; the other way, a gust could make the departure take a bit longer than one desired. Larger plane like mine could handle the turbulence better, but had a longer takeoff run.

Best,

Dave
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

You Guys Rock!! (I had the time of my life) ........mo' later
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

jesse said:
We departed Gastons at 12:30 pm headed for Lincoln. Right now we're sitting in St Joseph Missouri waiting for a line of storms to blow by. We're not in a hurry and there is no reason to try to push our way through it.
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Looks like it's just about past you now.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

jwynne said:
The winds were howling at Tulsa - gusting to over 35k but down the runway.
Josh and Susan
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You should have given me a call. I went over to Springdale, AR for the morning and came back in the afternoon. I still needed some practice in the cub so took it out in the winds. Got the crap beat out of me.

Our ride home was fine Saturday. Pretty much half the speed of smell. We flew IFR over and back. Steve wanted some IMC time. Landed back at Steve Dill's Ranch and had some dinner and then went on to Tulsa. It was a bumpy ride over and back. Steve is hooked on the hospitality that everyone showed him. He wants to go back next year and rent one of the cabins.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Made it back home in the sardine can!
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

gprellwitz said:
Glad you're home safe, and great to finally meet you in person!:yes:
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It was great to meet you too! :) AND to be so lucky to get sloshed on your world famous margaritas!!!:yes:
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Greg Bockelman said:
BTW, I echo everything said about the departure today. I was glad I had my passengers go to Mountain Home. And the $3.85 fuel at Houston, MO was definitely worth stopping for.
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+1 to both... I managed to squeeze in 57.1 gallons at $3.85 which will mean a significant savings for the trip. :)

I probably had the least "interesting" departure - I sent Kate and the bags to BPK with Mike, so I departed with about 50 gallons of air in the fuel tanks and just me, and I started my roll with max power and brake release from the driveway. So, I got the mains airborne pretty close to where the tents were and got up, up, and away from the squirrelly winds on the departure end.

We bumped along at 3500 to M48, loaded up on cheap fuel, and went up to the cool, smooth air at 9500 until east of the quad cities where I air-filed and dropped to 9000. We ended up in and out of the tops for a while, some beautiful puffy white sights - We saw Cloudhenge and a cloud formation that looked just like the natural arch out in Utah. The best part, after having groundspeeds drop to 65 knots on the trip down, was seeing the groundspeed get up to 178 in level flight and 190 in the initial descent. :D

Eventually, I got 5,000 from RFD approach which had us bumping along in the humid air below the clouds. It was a valiant race, but the thunderstorms won. N271G is safely on the ground at JVL... Now to figure out a retrieval. :(

OBTW, the Janesville Jet Center is AWESOME. Some of the best service I've ever gotten, very nicely renovated facility (inside at least!)... And they just got a new load of fuel that they're selling for $4.70/gal which is about 80 cents cheaper than most full-service FBO's in the area. Well worth a stop! :yes:

jwynne said:
The Garmin 496 is worth its weight in gold! We were able to avoid all the bad stuff; the worst we got was light rain and chop. Brief moderate at worst.
Click to expand...

A-freakin'-men to that! I never would have made it without the 496. :no:

Well, the Van Galder bus is arriving in MSN, so I'm off!
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Just heard from Brook...they are in Texas somewhere and they are getting quite a light show. She said to check them out on FlightAware. Does anyone remember Felix's N number?
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Let'sgoflying! said:
You Guys Rock!! (I had the time of my life) ........mo' later
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Hey Dave, I hope you didn't mind that I borrowed your spot to cool the plane off. I had expected to be on my way and out of your's before you were done flying, but it took a bit longer to catch a ride with Felix than I planned, sorry! OTOH, I prevented any non-POA folks from grabbing your tiedowns:D.
 
Re: Returnign home from Gaston's thread.

Diana said:
Just heard from Brook...they are in Texas somewhere and they are getting quite a light show. She said to check them out on FlightAware. Does anyone remember Felix's N number?
Click to expand...

N7201N
 
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