Day 7 - Saturday, 9/15/01 - Departure TRK->OGD

Got up to a beautiful day of sunshine.  The Saturday/Sunday weather forecast was great for our trip home as long as we stayed to the North.  We filed our IFR plan to Ogden, UT with a 10 am departure time.  On Friday, the EAA chapter found a member to provide us with a copy of the OGD plates - a fellow Lancair builder no less.  Back out to TRK, I got rid of the car and noticed that no one else made it to the EAA fly in.  Arnie, with the faster Lancair, would go first - the controllers would not allow an IFR flight of two, even though VMC existed. We taxied out to the runway, stopping and shutting down behind two ordinary aircraft (Cessna, I think).  Since there was an RCO nearby, Arnie got in contact with Reno departure so we could get in line.  Reno would only handle one IFR flight into or out of our "zone" at a time.  This meant that 4 flights got into South Lake Tahoe before anyone got cleared out of Truckee.  Finally, after over two hours, Arnie got his clearance and departed.

By this time you probably got the idea that I had no problem hearing clearance delivery - true, but they could not hear me.  So, being reasonably smart, I pulled out my cell phone and called FSS - you know 1-800-WX-BRIEF.  Remember that Truckee in is California and Reno is in Nevada.  The FAA automatic call router gave me to an FSS in the bowels of CA because of the area code (IL) transmitted by my phone.  For some reason, they could not give me a direct dial number for an FSS in NV and they didn't know the number for Reno clearance.  Ok, I taxied back to the main terminal and used the direct land line phone for FSS - they could not give me the clearance because of circumstances, but they could give me the direct dial number for clearance delivery - of course, I was on a phone that could not be dialed.  Saved by my cell phone, I finally got a clearance with a void time.  Arnie was long gone. So long gone that I did not hear any center communications with him once I was airborne.

Lesson #12 - Have all your ducks in a row, including any ATC phone numbers you might need.  Trust nothing to Chance; she can be a foul tempered lady.

The flight to OGD was pleasant and uneventful.  There were so few planes were in the air, it seemed as though I had my own personal controller.  Several times I received vectors to avoid restricted areas by quite a wide margin, much wider than that indicated on the GPS.  I guess they were worried about sloppy F-16 pilotage.

Arnie got to the right airport first this time (under radar guidance, heh heh) and, when I landed, we discussed staying for the night since we got such a late start and lost an hour in the time zone change.  A weather check again showed no problem for the two-legged finishing flight on Sunday.  Probably OGD to ANW (Ainsworth, NE) and then on to home.

We did not notice any security at OGD, the gate was open and people wandered out from the restaurant to inquire about our planes.  There were many businesses on the field with easy access from the street.  However, Hill AFB is 5 NM to the South and there were regular flights of F-16 pairs in and out of Hill.  They were slick looking and it was nice to see them flying cover for us.  Luckily, one of the folks that stopped by offered to take us to the hotel (Marriott, I think), one with a nice bar.  Note that Utah is not dry and we were.

Day 8 - Sunday, 9/16/01 - OGD->ANW, or so it would seem.

Back at the airport, the weather was checked, IFR plan filed, Arnie fires up since he's going first again and I listen in as he received his clearance.  Arnie doesn't believe it since we were told that the usual departure is 240 degrees with a circling climb over the Salt Lake, then on course over those mountains east of Ogden.  The clearance was something like fly the runway heading, then fly the 005 degree SLC VOR radial, 62 NM, then on course, etc.  Note that this sends you North into the mountains rather than west of Salt Lake City.  They probably thought we were terrorists from Wisconsin.  Anyway, I benefited from hearing the clearance repeated several times so I was ready when it was my turn.

Lesson #12 - Let the other guy go first so you can look like a brilliant professional pilot.  Eavesdrop on anything that could help improve someone's first impression of your façade.

Lesson #13 - Confused terrorists should always reject a complicated clearance and request radar vectors.

Ready, I tune in the tower for release and what do I hear, Arnie is coming back!  OK, I cancel everything (delays or retries were not allowed, we would have to re-file) and taxi back, beating Arnie once again.  Arnie pulls up along side and deplanes.  He said, "I could not get the #@%&# pump to run up my gear!"  "It works for down and locked though."  Just my "cup of tea" and the investigation began.

Having opened the dump valve, the pump would still not run "up".  We borrowed a continuity tester from the local Cessna maintenance shop (remember, shops are open on Saturday and Sunday) and the isolated pressure switch was found to be inoperative.  We found and called Don G. for advice on how we could get a pressure switch and he said, "Just get two wires and twist'm together until the gear sounds like it's up, then pull'm apart."  Clever, I thought, and KISS too.  Well, liking a more sophisticated solution, I asked the mechanic to sell us some wire and a switch.  "Nothing doing", he said as he gave us wire, connectors and a discarded Cessna rocker switch.  You run into the nicest people when you fly a Lancair and know how to whine.

After installing the pilot operated gear control, the pump would still not run!  Uh oh!  Further testing indicated that the "up" relay was dead too.  No problem, back to the wrench - "Any 12 volt intermittent relays?"   "None available." He replies, "But there's an auto store in Ogden".  No Problem.  We borrow the courtesy car and head for Auto Zone.  There, we find an old guy who used to fly Luscombes.  He knew exactly what we needed, an old Ford starter relay - $13 I think.  Lesson #14, Trust old guys, they know stuff.  Beware of whippersnappers.

Back to the airport, I jury-rigged it in since we would otherwise have had to remove the whole pump/relay mount to replace just the relay.  Now, the pump ran (with the dump valve opened) but he was not allowed to flight test it (IFR only).  Well, what the heck, he could test it tomorrow, when the weather was going to be ugly.  "Let's go back to the hotel so we can practice unpacking our bags again and visit the bar", I thirstily said.  "Forget the unpacking", Arnie added.

To Be Continued.

Grayhawk