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I strongly second Scott's comments and congratulate him on his record
keeping.
16 months flying my 360 with 211TT, as the ad says it is truly a magic
carpet. I have made two trips to Tampa from northern Virginia, usually
getting there in about 4 hours. I have made numerous day trips to Dayton,
Oh from Manassas, Va and they are typically well under two hours with my
best being one hour and 30 minutes. It is a good 9 hour drive to the west
side of Dayton.
A couple of weeks ago I flew my wife out to Independence, KS ("Main
Street", neowallah and Cessna). Severe clear going out most of the way with
the usual morning fog and low clouds over West Virginia. Total flight time
was 4:45 going out. The conventional way is a very hard and long two day
drive. My son flew out commercially a week later and while his total time
with a transfer in Houston (he got to go through that boarding experience
twice) was about the same...the airline delivered him to Tulsa, which is now
down to an hour and a half drive from Independence.
My return flight was more interesting. Summer thunderstorms were
developing to the east and south of Independence with some other weather to
the west. After talking to flight service, I headed north, and rather than
fly the /R great circle route I had flown out I ended up flying back
over....Dayton. So after about three hours flight time I dropped in on my
82 year old mother for lunch. Try to get an airline to do that when they
have to divert. Another hour and 45 minutes later, and after lunch with my
mom, and I was pushing the plane back into the hanger in Virginia.
What I did learn from the return was that it was time to put the
Strikefinder in. I had installed the wiring harness with the panel. Before
leaving the airport I called Dave Buckwalter of Avionics Systems and left a
voice mail that I wanted to order one and if possible get it in before my
return flight to Kansas. Within a week it was installed with Dave's typical
professionalism and humor (I have no idea where THAT wire goes!). Perhaps
more importantly Dave has some excellent contacts with the manufacturers and
mentioned that Garmin is coming out with a new product bringing NEXRAD to
the cockpit (430-530-etc) and have set a price, product number, etc.
Several days later it was announced later at Oshkosh (GDL 49 I believe) but
it is still not on their web site. Cheaper than a Strikefinder it will be
of great benefit for cross country trips in the future.
The following weekend I flew back out to KS to retrieve the wife. The
southern plains were riddled with lows and troughs and numerous
thunderstorms that would come and go. You know there is a lot happening
when the controllers tell you there are too numerous HIWAS announcements
concerning SIGMETS for them to be repeated, check with Flight Watch. But
there was a pattern and with the Strikefinder I felt I had a pretty good
chance of making it out and back (but set aside three days to do it). Most
of the weather was to the south and in and around south-eastern Kansas
(where Independence is located). I filed IFR to Terre Haute Hulman Field,
Indiana for the first 2 hour and ten minute leg which would give me a chance
to check the weather on the ground. I was usually in VMC enroute, mostly
overcasts but VFR below. I shot an ILS approach into HUF breaking out well
above minimums with the Strikefinder showing stuff way out to the west when
I landed.
The FBO must be run by the university because the real nice college girl
who parked me that time and the one I met on the return weren't your typical
ramp people. Of course she had never seen anything so "cute" as a Lancair
before and asked all sorts of questions. I got fuel and some additional
charts and approach plates (see later) to cover my potentially having to go
waaaay around to get to IDP. The most helpful information was of course the
visual weather map. It looked like I could head west for about 30 miles to
get past some stuff to the south, then turn directly south to the Arkansas
border and west into southern Kansas, getting past the north south line of
weather in eastern Kansas and Missouri. That is the route I filed and upon
leaving was asked by departure about the rather strange routing. I told him
it was because of the weather to which he responded that that was what he
was afraid I was going to say. (Some of you might ask...doesn't he have
weather information? Ans: Not much.)
Shortly after departure I am asked by departure control if I can accept
an earlier turn to the south as it will be a shorter routing (what they were
asking is will that take me too close to the weather....because they don't
have a clue!). I looked at the Strikefinder which showed at least a 50 mile
margin from what little had been detected and took the turn. (A thing to
remember about the Strikefinder is that stuff which looks like it is
directly in front of you, miles ahead can be off your course by some
distance when you "reach it".) About half way down to Arkansas I went off
frequency to check with Flight Watch. No luck. The frequency was busy
however, which tells you something is happening. I check back on and ask
center if they are picking up anything. I get what I expected..."my radar
shows nothing but that doesn't mean anything." I reach the Arkansas border
and while I am at 10,000 I can't see any build ups ahead due to lots of
smaller clouds all around. I get handed off to another center and go off
frequency again to try Flight Watch. I get through that time and learn that
several storms have developed right over Independence and they extend north
and south. My southern end run was cut off but still looks like the best
way to get in. A very helpful Flight Service suggests putting down in
Fayetteville, Arkansas for a while to see what develops. 15 minutes later I
am on the ground. It is about noon and after taking a look at the weather
map I am invited to lunch by a couple of Citation pilots. They have already
signed out the courtesy car and during lunch, which they insist on buying,
they want to know all about the Lancair. I of course oblige and insist upon
getting the tip. I note that the Citation must be a real fun plane to fly
to which they say yes but it cost $1200 per hour and belongs to someone
else. They can't just go out and jump in it and go somewhere. They admired
my ability to go places as efficiently and in what they also thought was a
stylish airplane. They also wanted a tour.
We get back to the airport and I check the weather again. What has
developed over Independence is the southern end of a line of thunderstorms
extending northeast into Missouri. There is some movement in all of it but
the anchor end located right over Independence. It ain't mov'in at all.
Another hour and it seems to be starting to blow itself out. But just south
of Independence in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in the matter of 20 minutes what
will turn in to a level 4 thunderstorm develops rather quickly. At about
this time in walks a local! He asks where I am going and takes a look at
the radar map, talks to flight service and suggests that with a Strikefinder
I go north to Joplin and if the stuff over Independence has dissipated I can
then turn west. He noted he has weather radar and a Strikefinder in his
Baron and could easily do it, Joplin looked like a safe bet and a good
decision point. He suggested staying low and VFR rather than filing IFR.
He noted that these types of storms develop fast, don't move much and rain
themselves out after a few hours. That was what was happening over
Independence. I waited for the next radar update and it looked even better.
30 minutes later...after going a little further north than recommended I
landed at Independence approaching it from the north. The Bartlesville
level 4 was starting to loom that far north. I called the wife, refueled,
checked flight service (even though they assemble Cessna aircraft there they
have no weather radar feeds at the terminal!), and loaded the plane. About
that time a Cessna 172 landed with an older couple headed for Tulsa, the
other side of Bartlesville (they would be there for four or five hours and
had no chance of circumnavigating anything in that plane).
Hearing rumbling to the south but with 2500 foot ceilings and more than 3
visibility we scooted off to the north. The Strikefinder's southern
hemisphere was almost a solid area of discharge dots a minute after
clearing. We were VFR back to Terre Haute.
Scott's point about penetrating fronts and weather management is a good
one. To get the full measure of the Lancair you really need to acquire and
maintain IFR skills. Also, while the Strikefinder is great (we missed it
when we moved from an Arrow with it to a Bonanza without it but with weather
radar), getting NEXRAD in the cockpit is a priority for me. I would like to
hear from anyone flying with any version of uplinked or downlinked weather
maps/text in the cockpit. Details of the operation and your experiences
would be very appreciated.
Hollis Helms
Oak Hill, VA
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Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.
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