Saturday Beach Run

[Jim C]

Several of us got an email from a couple of the Panama City boys
saying they were going on a Beach Run this weekend since the weather
was decent this week, that is for the 'whole' week for the first time
in a long time, and it looked like it was going to extend into the
weekend. Had the front coming through Louisiana on one side and the
hurricane in the Atlantic on the other. No worries mate; they weren't
scheduled to cause any problems till Monday or Tuesday at the
earliest. A friend of mine e-mailed me that he was headed down to
Panacea on Friday afternoon and that we were all welcome to stay with
him at the beach house, then we could get an early start for Sandy
Creek in Panama City the following morning, so I decided very
quickly – I'm in.

Henry (flies a CHallenger I) flew over to Thomasville on Friday
afternoon (Sep 12) about 5:00 pm to meet me. I was just finishing up
getting everything ready to go. Henry had a new play toy. He got
himself an Olympus 750 camera and had mounted it to a tripod poll and
hooked that pole onto his strut and left main wheel brace. He then
put it in movie mode and took some great movie shots as well as some
still shots. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the beach run
shoots he took on Saturday.

Anyway, we departed Thomasville about 5:15 or so, and headed towards
Wakulla County International Airport (basically this in a 3000 ft
grass strip we have overnamed). Leaving Thomasville the air was
fairly clear, but getting down toward I-10 near Tallahassee it
started to get real hazy (smoke-like). The air overall was not bad at
all as far as turbulence goes. About 44 miles out we got a call from
Triker Bill, who was 20 miles south of Perry, FL. He was coming out
of Oldtown, near Cross City, and was going to meet us at Panacea.
Henry and I continued on and landed at Panacea. Triker Bill said he
was about 40 minutes out at that time, and Henry's wife, Sandra (who
had the transportation) was still a ways away as well, so Henry and I
went back up and worked our way around Alligator Point flying low
around the Beach and coastline along the Point and Bay and then back
to Panacea landing 4 minutes ahead of Triker Bill. Bill joined us
and we all put our planes to bed for the night. We then had dinner
at Angelo's Seafood restuarant and then off to Henry's for movies
(taken by his new camera) and a good nights rest.

Everyone was up bright and early Saturday morning. Henry made Bill
and I a gourmet breakfast (instant oatmeal, coffee and grapefruit
juice) and then off to the airport to get ready. We were ready to go
about 8:15 am EST. Triker Bill led off, and he took a route that
went totally around Alligator Point. Henry followed and took a
shortcut up past Alligator Point and headed on down the coast. I
took off a few minutes later giving them a head start and took a
route that cut between the two; however at the time I thought both of
them were up in front of me. As I was working my way up the coast
toward Henry I found out Triker Bill was behind me, so I ended up
backtracking to where he was. Next thing we knew ole Henry was 8-10
miles ahead of us and was just a booking it. Our route over to Sandy
Creek ended up taking us down the inner coast to Carrabelle, then
across to St George's and down the outer islands, around the Port St
Joe Peninsula to Mexico Beach and then over to Sandy Creek (@ 91
miles). The morning flight ended up being pretty smooth overall,
especially above 300 ft. It got to be quite bumpy dropping below
that going low down the beach. Now Henry was way out in front and
then he cheated. He didn't go up the peninsula but took the inside
route. He called downwind at Sandy Creek when Triker Bill and I were
still 19 miles away on the Port St Joe Peninsula. He had that hot
rod of his moving right along. Now Triker Bill on the other hand,
couldn't get that thing he was flying to go forward. Actually, he
was taking his time enjoying the ride and scenery. I was busy
playing around and doubling back every now and then to stay up with
him. He was forcing me to use some of that gas in my tank by
doubling back every now and then. Oh well, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We all got into Sandy Creek about 9:45 (EST), 8:45 their time (CST).
We had a little snack, some coffee, talked a little and then mounted
up for the return trip. Nine (9) planes made the Beach Run from
Sandy Creek back to Panacea: Two Challenger I's, one Fergy II, one
Rans S-12, one Gull 2000, one Kolb, one C-152, one Renegade and one
Trike. Taking off from Sandy Creek was interesting to say the least;
the grass was wet and thick. It just seemed like the plane did not
want to get off the ground. I had the stick back in my lap and
checking trim as well, then as soon as the mains left the ground it
was like being shot out of a cannon, the plane just up and moved on
out of there. Once in the air it seemed like we had a heck of a wind
since we were being blown around a bit, but there was only a 5 mph
difference between the GPS and the ASI, so it wasn't too bad (number
wise). Off we went toward Mexico Beach, then down the beach, and
across the approximately 3 mile gap to Port St Joe Peninsula, then
down onto the beach. It was pretty bumpy down there close so I
stayed up about 400 feet or so until the turn at Cape Sandblast, then
it got just as smooth as can be down low, so several of us were down
around 10-90 feet (altitude wise) or so off the beach. Then we made
our turn along St Vincent's island, a wild life preserve and over to
little St George's and back down onto the beach. Once again it was
bumpy until we made the turn at the old light house, then back down
onto the beach. Not much marine life today, although we did see a
few dolphins, and someone reported a couple of sharks although I
didn't see them. We continued on to Big St George's and on over to
Dog Island. A couple of the guys were running a little low in fuel,
so we decided to stop in at Dog Island. Two of the guys carry some
extra fuel with them so they were able to help these guys out. Going
into Dog Island we had almost, but not quite, a 90 degree crosswind
and it got a little squirrelly, but everyone made it in just fine.
The mosquitoes and bugs were in full force; in fact a couple of those
little suckers had their last meal due to my generous disposition.
So we got these guys a couple of gallons of fuel to go the last 15
miles or so and then got off the ground quickly. Broken clouds were
coming in lower off the gulf (around 1000 ft) at this time, and we
had about 5 miles of water to cross to get back to the mainland. I
went high above the clouds; the tops seemed to be about 1800-2500
ft. At this point everyone headed to the last stop, Panacea, for
lunch except me; I headed on back to TVI, since I had a place to be
that evening and still needed to get back home early. Just as
everyone was coming into Panacea, Jumpers were let go and their
chutes were opening about 2500 feet or so. Everyone stayed out of
the way until they were on the ground and then headed in. I was
watching the whole shebang as I was headed off to the NE. I went
high for a while around 4500 feet, dodging the clouds which seemed to
be building up a little bit more and enjoying the scenery; it was
pretty scenic up there. The clouds started to get pretty thick about
20 miles out of TVI, so down I came and into the turbulence. The
last few miles were fairly uneventful and I landed back at TVI
without further ado.

Special Report for Ron: Overall, I flew 441 miles in 6.2 hours using
11.9 gal of fuel. That comes out to 37.1 mpg and 1.9 gph. Since
this was a beach run where we generally want to go slower, my average
speed was around 71, but I also topped out around 107 a couple of
times.

[adwsail01]

Despite the low numbers of posts recently, stories such as this keep
me coming back for more!!!! Nice narrative. I have got to get up
there and see your 2K.

[Ron Carroll]

Another great tale, Jim, thanks again for sharing with all your
fans. And thanks for remembering me, and 're-arousing' me
(not bad for an old man, eh?). I'm always impressed with your
plane's performance, and always welcome your experiences.

Some day when I can afford it I'll get another TG or Odyssey with
a HKS. Until then I'll have to settle for sharing your good times.

Don is probably at the Alvord Desert with his TG, enjoying the
annual ultralight campout. The Alvord is a huge dry lake @ about 5000'
MSL, located in the south-east corner of Oregon, and is famous for
its awesome scenery. The runway is 20 miles long in any direction,
and there are hot springs to soak away the grime of the day, over a
cool one. I've never been there, but like your stories, the hangar
talk when the others return makes it tempting for next year. Maybe
next time . . .

Ron