Posted for BILL HANNAHAN <wfhannahan@yahoo.com>:

Building is slowing down over the holidays, here is a trip report I wrote
for my EAA chapter newsletter. Also attached as a word document for easier
reading.

The title and opening refer to a previous trip report in which the pilots
had a series of weather and mechanical problems over several days.

Have a Merry Christmas.


The Agony and the Ecstasy

In 467 BC Confucius said ?Time to spare go by air?. Dan Carl and Dean
verified that pearl of wisdom with their adventure to Sun & Fun, but
Confucius also said ?Sometimes even the blind squirrel finds a nut?.

Lakeland is far away, and there are usually one or more fronts between
here (30 mi. NW of Denver International Airport) and there. I never plan
on going to Sun N Fun, but if nature provides the opportunity I go.

Thursday night April 4 I stumbled onto a rare nut when the weather channel
predicted the next day would be good, so I put some beer and pop in the
freezer and packed my bags. Friday morning the partially frozen beverages went into a cooler that fits
behind the seat of the Lancair 360. Wrapped in a spare sleeping bag, it
stays cold for three days. Food cloths and camping gear were loaded and I
headed over to Platt Valley (10 mi. N of DIA) to tank up on their premium
unleaded mo gas at $1.68. I left Platt Valley about 10:15 AM, opened the
flight plan to Little Rock, ducked under the Class B, and climbed to
cruising altitude. 13,500? is a great altitude, those with pressurization
or O2 are above, those without are below, rarely you will see somebody
going up or down but that?s it, and it is usually smooth and cool. Since it was a late start and you loose two hours of daylight going to
Florida I set fast economy cruise power setting, 1990 rpm and full
throttle, good for about 210 mph TAS on 6 GPH. Ground speed was soon over
230 mph and within an hour over 250 mph. The ride was smooth, visibility
100 miles and no clouds other than some high cirrus. Over Little Rock I
closed the flight plan and opened a previously filed flight plan from
Little Rock to Lakeland. I file two plans so that if I go down they will
start looking three hours earlier and have half the route to search.

On an average day you get tailwinds half way down, cross winds for ¼ and
headwinds 1/4, but on this day the great weather and strong tailwinds
continued through the Deep South all the way to Tallahassee Fl, what a
great way to see the country.

The great circle route takes you over the Gulf but my single engine
hydrophobia requires a dog-leg through the FL panhandle to Perry Folly FL.
 From there on the southern heat and humidity began to manifest themselves.
Low level haze thickened up to a thin layer of scattered clouds, with
substantial buildups ahead in the distance, it was time to pull the plug.
Down at cloud top level the holes were getting smaller so I picked the
last big one and took it down into the murk. After a day of unlimited
visibility the abrupt transition to five miles combined with the knowledge
you are converging on a point with dozens of other planes is a bit
uncomfortable.

Oshkosh and Lakeland have a low arrival pattern and a high pattern for the
faster planes. I like the high pattern because it is less crowded and
people keep their speed up. My little white airplane blends in with the
overcast and is quiet at the arrival power setting; it often gets by
without being spotted. The Oshkosh controllers are usually good about
leaving some dead air for people to call in, but the southern controllers
like to talk. Last year I went around three times in 30 minutes before the
tower controller saw me on downwind, so this year I decided to try the low
pattern.

The procedure is to maintain radio silence, converge on a power plant NE
of the airport and line up following instructions from a controller at the
power plant. A twin called in 10 miles out like it was a normal day, and
then lots of people started calling in. Five miles out I took a look at
the instruments than went in wings rocking and eyes wide open.

Approaching the power plant the controller started talking to two high
wings flying side by side in front of me, one pilot would talk, the other
was silent. Controller ?High wing, you?ve got another high wing off your
left side do you have him in sight?, Pilot ?No?. That conversation was
repeated several times in about 30 seconds, then the controller finished
with ?Good luck Guys?. My guess is he was talking to the pilot on the
left. Gentle S turns kept me behind the high wings until we turned downwind
where they slowed down to their customary speed, the S turns became
sportier. On base the tower kindly switched me to a parallel runway for an
uneventful landing, 6.8hrs, 38.5gal of 56 gal available. That same day two
friends drove to DIA, flew United to Orlando, rented a car and drove to
Lakeland, 8 hrs.

Touching down at Sun N Fun is always a great feeling, mostly because you
don?t have to go through the arrival procedure again; also the tactile air
reminds you you?re in another part of the world, beginning a few days of
total immersion in sport aviation. That feeling was short lived as I
taxied up to a cluster of flashing red lights. A Piper Clipper hung from a
crane by its tail, missing the firewall forward installation. It didn?t
look too bad, then off to the side I noticed a crumpled wingless RV6
fuselage. Its pilot died later that night, the result of a mid-air over
the runway. I parked, pulled out a couple of cold ones and some beer nuts,
sat in the grass watching planes land till dark.

This was the fourth non stop to S&F, the first was just a stunt to razz my
RV buddies, but I arrived feeling less fatigued and prefer non stop if I
go alone. I think it?s from avoiding the bugs turbulence heat and humidity
of the south, and the reduced noise and vibration at the lower power
setting.

What about the call of nature you ask? A wonderful invention called super
absorbent diapers, no I?m not wearing them, yet, just put one in a plastic
grocery bag, drape it over the stick, commence gunnery practice. Tie a
knot in the bag and drop it in the trash at your destination. Tips, avoid
turbulence, trim the aircraft before starting, be sure the bag is air
tight, most important, don?t wait until you can?t wait. Ladies, you?re on
your own, bombardier practice perhaps?


While going to Sun N Fun is optional the return trip is mandatory.
Fortunately the FAA has a service station in the exhibit area so you can
stop in and get your daily dose of ?VFR not recommended? face to face.
They have a bulletin board with prog charts predicting weather several
days out so you can pick your return day well in advance. The only problem
is that the prog chart for your day changes with each passing day. The
most humane approach is to pick a day well in advance, then don?t go back
until it?s time to go.

Wednesday April 10 the only weather on the route to Colorado was a narrow
front from the gulf extending northeast through ?Tallahassee and on up the
coast. I flew 10 miles northeast to Winter Haven to fill up on their self
serve $1.89 100LL. The FBO is very friendly and comfortable with air
conditioning, overstuffed couches ice cold pop, the Weather Channel, DTN
and best of all, my first experience with porcelain in five days. The low
level ride up the coast to Perry Foley was beautiful. Closing in on the
front, visibility and ceiling gradually declined. The closer I got the
more I thought how nice it would be to have a moving map display with tall
towers, weather and the other traffic.

Looking ahead conditions continued to decline with no end in sight. It
reminded me of a return trip from Oshkosh, a narrow front a half hour west
blocked the way. Approaching the front, scattered showers developed that
gradually became larger and more numerous leaving less and less VFR
airspace. I worked it hard for twenty minutes, and then saw a curtain of
rain with a break showing soft orange light on the ground beyond the rain.
I shot through the gap into an area of smooth air with improving
conditions ahead. I checked the compass (pre GPS) to fine tune the heading
for Colorado, it showed 085 degrees, I was completely turned around
heading back to Oshkosh. So now you know the real reason for the long
range tanks, I don?t always know where I?m going but I have enough gas to
get there.

Time for plan B. Another pilot reported getting through thirty miles
northeast so I turned parallel to the front. Visibility improved, clouds
and showers became more sharply defined. I poked in a few of the larger
openings but they narrowed with no way through the front, time for plan C.

I turned southeast, away from the front looking for a sizeable hole in the
ceiling. The air on top was clear, but there was another layer four
thousand feet above.  Back at the front there were vertical columns of
cloud penetrating the layers. I selected the largest opening; it was like
flying through the front door of a giant cathedral. I wound my way in a
few miles but the cathedral had no back door through the front. It was a
potential trap, but a beautiful trap with its indirect light, clear air
and sharp edged cloud formations, time for plan D.

I flew away from the front again and found a hole in the upper layer, deep
blue sky shown through. Climbing through into the bright sunlight and
brilliant white clouds I felt like the vampire who miss-set his clock for
12 noon instead of midnight, turning towards the front it looked like the
continental divide covered in snow. I climbed to the lowest ?pass? at
12,500? and looked through. On the other side was a low flat layer of
cloud with scattered giant mushrooms poking through, looking like the
country might have looked if the cold war had ended badly. From flight
watch and nearby AWOS stations I knew there was decent VFR under the layer
and it dissipated a couple hundred miles out. Finally an attractive
option, I shot through the gap, set medium economy power 1850 RPM at 18?
MP and started a 200 FPM decent to escape strong headwinds at 12.5K.

At 10.5K I stumbled onto a rare nut in the Deep South, westbound tailwinds
of 10-15mph. I knew the tailwind would not last long but leveled off to
enjoy it as long as possible. Approaching Little Rock it was still going
strong. This is where I normally pick a fuel stop and insert it in the
next flight plan. Checking the Garmin it showed only four hours to
Longmont. Checking the Rocky Mountain engine monitor it showed almost six
hours fuel remaining. I had never considered a westbound nonstop due to
the prevailing westerly winds, but had plenty of food and beverage onboard
and the all important super absorbent range extenders, so given the
opportunity, decided to go for it and opened direct. Within five minutes
the tail wind was gone. Within 15 minutes headwinds were over 12mph and
Longmont was much further away time wise than it had been, the original
time warp. Two hours out of Denver headwinds were increasing and the fuel situation
was tightening up. It looked like I was going to use all the fuel in the
wings leaving only the nine gallons in the header tank. I was a little
uneasy about that since I normally keep some fuel in at least two tanks,
if one goes dry unexpectedly I have another tank to go to. The wing gauges
are not as accurate as the header gauge so I would rather know exactly how
much fuel is in one tank than not know how much is in two tanks, so I did
what most pilots would do, rationalized. ?The header tank has a simple
reliable sight gauge, I know the fuel is really there and it will gravity
feed if the fuel pump fails. Some airplanes only have one fuel tank, nine
gallons at 5.5 gph is 1.6hrs, at 195 mph tas 175mph ground speed, that?s
280 miles, and some aircraft can?t go that far with full fuel.? The weather ahead looked to be deteriorating with a gray black overcast.
Flight watch wasn?t too concerned and when I got there it wasn?t as bad as
it looked from a distance, scattered buildups with associated rain and
turbulence requiring minimal diversions.

As I rounded the corner of the class B at Van Air there was a low fuel
pressure alarm, I switched to the header tank, fuel flow surged, pressure
came back as the float bowl filled, the engine never skipped a beat. Nine
gallons, 22 miles to Platt Valley, ?Yeah I can make that?.

8.6 hrs, 47 gal of 56 gal available, not as fast as United but I built the
plane because I like to fly and it doesn?t seem that long when you have
things to think about.

The Lancair 360 has exceeded my expectations, I wonder how many machines
on the planet can take two (very good) friends and bags over 1500 miles at
over 200 mph while getting over 30 mpg, and after 10 years and 1500 hrs
its still fun to fly even if your not going anywhere.

=====
BILL HANNAHAN
WFHANNAHAN@YAHOO.COM