Flight from Winter Haven, FL to Huntingburg, IN

Lambada at sunrise.

Loaded up for the flight to IN. There isn't much spare room in a Lambada and the area behind the seats was filled with a few parts flying with the plane to its new home. Jeff took my sleeping bag with him to VA so I was able to fit the rest of my stuff in the passenger seat. I've got to work on this minimalist thing...

Departing Winter Haven I make one climbing circle for a view of the airfield and surrounding area that was my home for a few nights.

Flying north over central Florida there are long stretches of little more than forest and swamp. There were fields within the Lambada's gliding range however it would still be a long, long walk out. It was a balance between moderate headwinds higher and enough altitude to safely cross these remote areas.

Cruising on course. Low clouds in the distance had me checking AWOS further along the route and hoping that the forecast clearing would occur as expected. Northern FL and southern GA was still IFR with low clouds and visibility.

Cruising on top. Beautiful, but looks worse than it really is. In the distance there were openings to let back down through and I knew daytime heating would shortly break up this low layer. The tanks were mostly full giving me many hours if needed. Approaching Gainesville, FL I diverted over to Keystone, FL (42J) for a quick stop. Eating a breakfast bar on the ramp I could see the sky had changed. The air had warmed, and once back in the air these clouds were gone.

I topped off the tanks at Waycross, GA (AYS). For the duration of Sun-n-Fun the airport offers free barbecue sandwiches or hot dogs, chips and a drink to transitioning aircraft.

Navigating with the Garmin 496 makes cross-country flight so easy. It provides airspace and airport information along the route and almost eliminates the need for paper maps. It is always a good idea to follow along with a map too. Here, my course passes over power lines that can be seen running NW-SE in the background of this image.

Above or below? Down low there was less headwind, but it was warm, hazy and a little bumpy. Above, smooth and cool but a 10 kt headwind. I chose above for most of the flight. This kept me over airspace and traffic and the smooth clear air made the fight much more comfortable.

Originally, I had planned on leaving Florida on Saturday. An extra day at Sun-n-Fun was nice and there was a low pressure system, the back edge of which is seen here, had showers and thunderstorms all along the route. Sunday, much better!

A couple times the cumulus cloud tops were higher than my 8,500 foot cruise and 10,500 might not have been enough either so I dipped below. The same up and down that is an annoyance to power pilots is what gives life to sailplanes enabling them to stay up all afternoon and cover hundreds of miles. I circled as this ASK-21 was towed aloft behind a Pawnee out of Monroe Ga (D73)

Watching the scenery pass is something that I will never grow tired of. Lake Sidney Lanier NE of Atlanta with its blue waters and fractal shoreline busy with boaters on a Sunday afternoon.

Just before a brief stop at Mark Anton (2A0), Chickamauga Lake near Chattanooga, TN reflects the afternoon sun.

An hour later I cross the Ohio River just 20 miles south of my destination. Several barges are visible moving up and down the river.

Descending towards Huntingburg, IN the late afternoon sun, clouds and haze create one of those memorable moments at the end of my flight.

Huntingburg, IN (HNB)

Mission accomplished! Joe Kulbeth the Lambada dealer for the US ready to put 871LP into the hanger. From here this plane will head to the west coast to be sold.

Thank you Jeff for suggesting that I could ferry this plane, Larry Stahl for the flight down to FL, Both Joe Kulbeth and Laren Pitcairn (the owner) for trusting me with this beautiful bird, and Bob Bennett for time off from work with zero notice. (Actually it was more like -3 hours notice. "Anyone seen George tonight?")
Laren, good luck with your new Stemme!

Sun-n-Fun 2012

It's Friday morning and I'm in Lakeland FL attending the annual EAA Sun-n-Fun convention. This was totally unexpected as just 48 hours I had no plans on being here! We had arrived Thursday afternoon after a flight from Petersburg WV in a Cessna 172 XP. Originally the plan was to get a ride over to Sun-n-Fun for camping on the air show grounds but it was getting late and the sun was already close the the horizon. Jeff and I set up camp at Winter Haven along with 3 other tents. There were bathroom and shower facilities for campers as well as picnic tables and a fire pit. By Friday morning we decided that simply staying at Winter Haven and riding the $5 shuttle back and forth was the best plan. First stop was in the Ultralight area. The powered parachutes had already landed after their early morning calm air flights and the heavier ultralight and LSA aircraft were in the air. I believe this is an Eagle, designed in the mid 70's.

Just Aircraft - Highlander. 110 mph cruise, 300 ft ground roll takeoff and landing with 100 hp Rotax 912S

Airplanes, CAP and Mennonite(?)

Shades are a must when watching air shows...

Rotax 912iS Fuel injected 100HP. A digital control unit manages fuel flow from start to finish resulting in a 21% decrease in fuel usage.

Display for 912iS.

Savannah S - Rotax 912S. Cruise 111 mph, stall 30 mph, 1200 fpm climb.

Jeff trying on for size...

Space and weight limitations limited me to carrying my general use Sigma 17-70. For air shows a little more reach is desirable.

Maybe all my dog of a 150 needs is a few more propeller blades...

Harrier

Transitioning from hover to forward flight.

Vought F4U Corsair

L39 and Mig 15 in formation.

On friday night when returning from dinner we were greeted by a campfire, Smores and flying talk

The winds had already picked up on Saturday as we left in the shuttle from Winter Haven for Lakeland. Turning out of the airport I caught a momentary view of the tent in the distance and noticed it didn't look quite right. Returning, we found one of fiberglass poles had snapped allowing the tent to collapse in the wind. It's good we went back to check because a line of showers passed through later in the afternoon bringing 40+ mph winds and a brief shower. Our stuff would have been soaked.

Again on Saturday the Thunderbirds flew. Loud and fast. I'm always amazed as how quickly fighter jets go from takeoff to blasting across the sky at unreal speeds.

Thank you to our shuttle driver Tracy for the lift back and forth to the show and also with the help when the tent collapsed!

Soaring yesterday in the Valley of Virginia......

(From Jeff in VA)

Soaring yesterday in the Valley of Virginia......

I departed SHD around 2:00pm under an interesting sky and climbed under power southeast toward the Blue Ridge. The winds were very mild, and the sky was mostly blue, except that the length of the Blue Ridge and Massanutten were both marked by cu’s as far as I could see.

In a few minutes, and firmly established in lift over the Blue Ridge near Grottos, I shut down the Rotax and feathered the prop. Silence, finally. My plan was to soar to Signal Knob, at the north end of the Massanutten, and back to Shenandoah Regional airport.

I started north along the Blue Ridge. Exploring the width of the Blue Ridge and several miles north, I was not able to reach higher than 5500’. And it was very difficult to make progress below around 4000’. Conditions on the Massanutten looked considerably better, and there were a couple of haze domes and small puffy cu’s in the valley by then, so I decided to try to transit the valley south of Elkton. I tanked up and at 5300’ I started out across the valley at best L/D. I reached Massanutten Resort a bit low at 3000’, but immediately and luckily connected with a 6kt thermal that took me to over 6000’. So far, no bad decisions! I turned and headed north to my goal.

Conditions along the Massanutten were indeed very good. I was able to fly along without much circling, slowing down or circling only when the lift was extraordinary.

The Cu’s in the last few miles leading to Signal Knob were very sparse, so I loitered for a bit, trying to tank up for the run north. I arrived at Signal knob just over 3000’, turned and pointed at SHD.

Heading south, I had a difficult time reconnecting with the good lift. I found myself over Woodstock at 2100’, in survival mode. I found what I was looking for (ANYthing!) and climbed in 3-5kts to near 5000’. Back over the ridge,  conditions were significantly better. I connected with a boomer abeam Luray, which took me to 7240’, my high point for the day.

As I approached Massanutten Resort, conditions were sagging, I was stuck at below 4000 again, and I imagined that I might not make enough altitude to get home. I found a last thermal at the Resort, tanked up to 5400’ and took my 11 mile final glide, reaching home at pattern altitude. 3 ½ hour flight, averaging 56kph. Not a scorcher, but tons of fun!

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1066209327

Jefferson Shingleton

http://www.svsoar.org

Flight to Oshkosh for AirVenture 2011

Departing Skaneateles (NK71) under partly cloudy skies Jeff and I climbed into smooth air and headed west. We had a flexible plan that would carry us southwest over PA and OH then west-northwest across IN before turning north and passing just offshore of Chicago to avoid the Class B above and inland. The plan was to stop at Timmerman (KMWC) airport just north of Milwaukee to meet up with Warren and David Lee flying a Piper Warrior II before making the last leg into Oshkosh Whitman Field (KOSH). Knowing of some shower activity along the route and particularly in the Chicago area we kept one eye on the Garmin 496 displaying the weather ahead.

Within a short time wisps of clouds were forming below. As these thickened we discussed whether above or below this low layer would be the best option. Seeing some shower activity ahead on the Garmin I thought at first that below might be the best choice. However cloud base below was too low for comfortable cruising and we could see for quite a distance ahead with no sign of cloud tops that would give us trouble crossing. To the north towards Lake Ontario the clouds ended and this gave us an escape route if needed. Jeff felt that we should continue above and I agreed.

Flying on top turned out to be the correct decision as we later learned from David and Warren. We had left ahead of them while they were at the fuel pumps. David's Warrior II cruises about 20 kts faster and would have little trouble catching us in the air. However, from the time that we departed until David was rolling, the low cloud layer had spread east to Skaneateles. Once in the air they couldn't find a sufficient break in the ceiling to climb above. Forced to stay below what became a lowering ceiling they found themselves only able to get as far as Batavia. Luckily, the delay there was short and conditions improved enough for them to take-off and climb on top.

Crossing into Indiana skies cleared and the farmland and towns came into view. This didn't last for long...

At first in the distance, then looming overhead, cirrus clouds. Spawned by storms to the southwest of Chicago the cirrus thickened and darkened the sky. XM radar on the Garmin showed showers, some quite heavy, close to our turn-point near Gary, IN. We switched the radio to 121.7, a frequency reserved for air-to-air communications and we heard constant talk between pilots trying to work their way around both the showers and the Class B airspace of Chicago.

As more clouds began to form below and the view to the west was ominous, we decided to fly NNW across Michigan. This would put us east of Lake Michigan and north of this weather for a crossing of the lake from near Muskegon, MI

Cloud tops to the west of our track.

We landed at Grand Haven Memorial just south of the busier Muskegon. It was a quiet little airfield and gave us a chance for a short break before crossing the lake. Jeff also wanted to check on a small oil leak. Climbing out of the plane and walking around to the front we spotted oil streaks on the belly. Removing the upper and lower sections of the cowling showed the greatest concentration of oil in the area of the recently replaced oil sensor. Whether it is blowing past the threads of the sensor or through a crack in the oil pump we couldn't tell. Fortunately it is a very slow leak with about 1/10 quart of oil lost.

Being cautious, Jeff climbed using reduced power and made use of a thermal close to the airport to gain altitude. Once sufficient height was attained, we started across the lake.

At any point well beyond the first part of the crossing we were within gliding distance of Grand Haven. We had climbed to 12,500 over the lake. With a 28:1 glide ratio, 2.5 miles of altitude translates into about 70 miles of gliding range. These calculations were very reassuring however I imagine the hour it would take to glide this distance would seem to last forever!

At least we had some company out in the middle...

After staring out into the haze and across the blue waters eventually the western shoreline came into view.

We stopped at Timmerman and within a short time David and Warren arrived. They were able to fly the Chicago route without much trouble. With a review of the Oshkosh NOTAM we took off and headed out on the final leg of our journey to AirVenture. David was close behind and we both joined the stream of airplanes along the approach to Oshkosh. Everyone is lined up single file over the railroad tracks flying at 1800 feet and 90 kts. Here we are over Ripon which is the entry point for this approach to Oshkosh. Ahead of us is a Cessna with other planes visible beyond that.

Through the whole approach procedure incoming aircraft are required only to listen. First to ATIS before 15 miles from Ripon, then to Approach for commands from controllers along the approach path. We rock wings to acknowledge that first contact then simply follow instructions beyond that. We were assigned runway 36R probably because of the slower speed of the motor-glider. Most aircraft were landing runway 09. 36R is the taxiway, 36L is the main runway. It is painted with large colored dots wich are touchdown points that can be assigned enabling controllers to land 2 aircraft at a time. (first plane lands long, second plane short) There is lots of room as the runway is 9,000 feet long. The EAA expected close to 15,000 aircraft!

Once on the ground there are flagmen at every intersection to keep us headed in the right direction. With a "GAC sign held up to the windscreen they knew to direct us to General Aviation Camping. Arriving late afternoon on the day before the show we did a lot of taxiing, all the way to the absolute furthest point on the airfield just off the approach end of Runway 09.
Here is our campsite the following morning. We were on the NW end of the airport along the perimeter road. In the distance one of the buses is visible making its outbound run from the show to the "Northwest 40". These buses passed every 10-15 minutes or so and made the mile trip to the show much easier with the heat and humidity during our stay.

With 2 tents and 4 people sitting around Jeff's Lambada, I had a couple people ask me if we all came in that plane. I answered "Yes. Why?" (David"s Warrior was parked even further out and close to a busy road. It was quieter a hundred yards in by Jeff's plane so we all camped together here.)