Not Airventure / Oshkosh......

[GraemeSmith]

.....but the week before. To the Cessna 150/152 Fly In at KCWI - Clinton, IA. I owed them a talk from the 2020 fly in which was cancelled due to the pandemic.

You will find fully captioned picture sets on the Sonex Group on FB. But if you are not there....

CLICK ON THESE EMBEDDED PICTURES TO SEE FULL SIZE AND IN CORRECT FORMAT

July 18-19

Newport, RI to Clinton, Iowa - Cessna 150/2 Fly In

In the Air for 10.9 hours (No wind - Predicted - 9.5). Elapsed 35 hours.
Flew 879 Nm (Great Circle - 852)
Burned 49.9 Gall (Predicted - 44.)

Trip Out

KUUU - Newport, RI
N27 - Bradford County, PA
KUCP - New Castle, OH
4G4 - Youngstown Elser, OH (10 min reposition to here to get a hangar for the night)
KAXV - Neil Armstrong, OH
KRCR - Fulton County, IN
KCWI - Clinton, IA
All were fuel stops except 4G4 - I'd burned 10 mins of fuel since KUCP
Fuel prices were all over the place. Low - $6.75. High - $8.03

The aim was to get to the west of the mountains of PA on Monday and then hunker down while the weather rolled over me Mon night/Tuesday morning and get flying again Tuesday afternoon. Those who got caught in the mountains of PA on Mon had a long wait as the weather slowed down and held them on the ground longer.

Ran into the weather at KUCP - but it was a singularly AWFUL airport to overnight at and a quick call and 10 min in marginal VFR got me to 4G4 for a hangar for the night.

Weather ahead - time to stop

Small tail winds or winds on the beam. Only the last leg from Fulton County to Clinton had a small headwind component for the latter half.

Fright of the Flight - Landing 4G4 in dull, flat light and rain and landing flat to deal with the downhill runway. On the road across the approach end of the runway - at the last minute I spotted poles either side of me. I reared the plane at full power hoping to claw over the wire. Ended up landing long and aquaplaning in the rain as a result. Turned out that it was the one section of the road where the wire was buried.

Deal of the Flight - 4G4. A night in a hangar and the use of a Cadillac DeVille as a courtesy car for 24 hours. - $20

Beauty of the Flight - Last leg - the hot air balloon I met in IN as the sun was going down, the high cumulus still edge illuminated by the sun and the slanting light on the shadow rippled green cornfields below. You just can't photograph it - though I tried.

Worst kept airport of the flight - KUCP - New Castle

Best kept airport - KAXV - Neil Armstrong

Wed July 20
Dawn Patrol to catch the sunrise over the cornfields in Iowa and Illinois. Mississippi River between. Acro over the corn with a grid of fields for lines. Then down for bacon, eggs and coffee on the stove.

Bacon and Egg on the stove

Thu July 21
Out and about in Iowa and Illinois. On a Poker Run. You buy in and are "dealt" blind cards at each airport you land at. At the "show" on the last night you are dealt your last card. Person with the best hand wins the pot. As I bugged out a day early - I gave my cards to someone else. He never sent me any money!!

Field Corn and Soy as far as the eye can see

Fri 22nd July
A predicted heat index in New England/RI on Saturday that would exceed anything that the Sonex might safely handle plus a work issue meant I bugged out of KCWI on Fri morning to get home before I could not do so safely. As it was - DA's had me at 3,000-3,300ft for take offs all day from airports at 800-1,600msl.

Dawn departure for home. Iowa on left and Illinois on right as I cross the Mississippi

Easily my best ever run home.

In the Air for 8.9 hours. Elapsed 11 hours.
Flew 860.7 Nm (Great Circle - 852)
Burned 40.6 Gall
KCWI - Clinton
KGWB - De Walt
KDUJ - Dubois Regional
KPOU - Hudson Valley / Dutchess County (divert from KMGJ - Orange County)
KUUU - Newport, RI
All were fuel stops.

Tail Winds varied between 10 and 25 knots. With the 25 being at 5,500 just south of Lake Eire. Unfortunately, the Lake was spewing a line of sauna like moisture in my path and though I could have stayed on top till the other side of it - discretion had me drop under it in case there was not a hole at the other side! A 5,500ft to 2,700ft dive that was observed by a friend following on Flight Aware and which lead to a text asking what that was about!

The leg into DuBois in the edge of the mountains of PA - I had enough fuel to make it - meant I avoided a fuel call at Clarion County down on the plain which would have meant hauling another 600ft up again on departing to get into the mountains. Valleys in PA on a hot moist summer afternoon delivered their share of pop ups and I had to weave a bit between them. Making my 10 mile call for Orange County with another nearby aircraft we were trying to get in before a shower turned it IFR. At the 5 mile call - it was looking tight - especially as we both wanted to get in together. I called it off and diverted around the shower to KPOU - Hudson Valley - only towered airport of the trip.

I would have landed at Orange with my personal minimum 1 hour reserve. So now I was going to use 15 mins of the reserve to make KPOU. Add a possible go around and that could have used 30mins of my reserve. There is a reason I have a bigger reserve/personal minimum than the FAA's 30 mins. Still out of an abundance of caution I advised tower I was "NOT fuel emergency but AM minimum fuel". Got me some smart handling and on the ground quick. On trying to depart - the shower that had overwhelmed Orange County a few minutes before got dumped on me for 10 mins and had to sit waiting for it to clear through.

With temps on the ground at 33C - it was a long flat climb out the Hudson Valley with everything at the top of the yellow on the gauges. Honestly glad I am not trying this on Saturday. Added 2 mins to the trip to fly over the house and waggle the wings before turning final and landing at KUUU.

Return Trip

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The AeroVee wasn't flawless - but it did well enough for 22.9 hours without more than a wipe down. I was having some problems with high EGT's in the high and HOT DA. So was running a bit richer than normal to stay in limits. I burned about .5gph more than normal as a result. CHT's - by keeping climbs flat and at 80KIAS or better and only accepting long and obstacle free runways - I kept CHT's below 380F at all times. At the end I was getting a rough mag check on primary ignition - one lead and plug are weak spark. Trying a different plug didn't fix it. I'll be switching out a magnetron this weekend.

The airframe did fine and given I spent a lot of the outward trip under a layer it was pretty smooth and comfortable. I could just about get trimmed to almost hands off with a slight tweak on the rudder tab after the first leg, my cross cockpit bungee adjusted for roll trim and a slight finger pressure on the stick to keep her in pitch. Trimming a touch nose down every 30 mins or so as the fuel burned off kept things easy to fly.

Healthwise - hydration was the name of the game. Tuesday flying westward - I drank 8 US PINTS of water while flying. Never peed till I landed the last time. Essentially the same flying back. And while the cockpit on bench cushions was comfortable enough to just sit in - the lack of movement and being part folded around your lower gut all day means that by the end of the trip I was flirting with a Urinary Tract Infection. Not the first time I've run into this while flying small planes on long cross-country trips. You have to force down fluids to keep yourself both hydrated AND peeing. A day at home at the end of the trip on acidic lemonade and limeade flushed everything out and I didn't go down with anything bad. But it was certainly a little touch and go - and I don't mean flying!!