Back from Osh (great trip, 7 rotaries there) after an eventful return
flight. Entire state of Georgia was under a big dome of
clouds with MVFR conditions below. I made the decision to go
on top which was at around 12,500 ft when I reached edge of cloud
cover at north end of Ga. Had grand view of weather and could
easily navigate around thunderstorms that had buildups into FL
40. Bad news was that top of cloud cover kept rising as I flew
across Georgia and eventually reached 18,000 ft by the time I reached
the southern edge of cloud cover near Florida border. Did I mention
that I have no Oxygen on board?
Had one exciting moment when I encountered one of those
very thin gauzy looking cloud layers at 18,000. Not wanting to break
into Class A airspace I descended through it figuring I would fly in
the 200 foot gap between it and the cloud layer below for the few minutes it
would take to get past it. The canopy (and wing too I
suspect) immediately started accumulating ice. Class A here
I come, I'll deal with FAA if I have to. By the time I
spiraled down through closely spaced thunderstorms in Florida I had
spent about 2 hours between 16 and 18 thousand feet. It was a
fairly high stress period.
Shady Bend was under a thunderstorm by this time so I
diverted to Lake City and landed. It was hot, I was dehydrated
from not drinking enough water and the 3 G spiral down through the clouds
added to the discomfort level. Nevertheless, I felt OK at touch down
but by the time I taxied to the FBO I felt violently ill. I assumed it
was the hypoxia and heat exhaustion (had that back in Army days) but Laura
was concerned that the symptoms could be heart attack. Went to
hospital and blood tests showed slightly elevated enzyme that indicates
possible heart attack. Great. Now I am obligated to go through
the whole drill (cardiac catheterization) to prove it was not a heart
problem if I wanted to keep my pilots license. Test came out good
(cardiac guy said arteries clean as a whistle and hopes his heart looks
that good at 57).
The plane was magnificent the whole trip and did anything I asked of
it. Still had respectable rate of climb at 18,500 (who needs a
turbo?), engine never skipped a beat, burned 101 gallons in 17.1 hours of
flight (includes taxi time) so fuel burn averaged about 6 gph. Glad to
be home.
Tracy (belatedly ordering Oxygen system)