Earthstar Forums

Gents,
Soon I'll be picking up my new (to me) Gull 2000 in McKinney, Texas, and flying it back to Greenville, South Carolina. My plan is to follow I-20 through La, Ms, Al to the west side of Atlanta, then fly north of the city and back down to I-85 then follow it to Greenville. I'll be using a GPS as well and plan on flying at either 3500' or 5500', depending on conditions. I've got some idea of what I'll have with me, but am very interested in your suggeestions for this trip. It will be at least a two day trip, weather permitting.
I bought a Lightspeed anr headset from the gentleman I'm buying it from. He used it and liked it. He's also selling me an older Garmin Pilot 3 GPS with it. I figure the trip will allow me to see what I like or might change with the set up in the cockpit. The aircraft has an HKS engine and the plane was built by Mark. The trip is just over 800 miles.
Thanks in advance for any input. You're a great group.
John

Hi John,

Sounds like a great trip. Don't know what you're paying (if anything) for the
Garmin Pilot 3, but I have a Garmin Aera 500, which I love. It's got all the
latest data in it, a great display with simplified terrain, good obstruction
data base, airspace markings and it keeps a fine log of your flights.

I happen to be in the Jackson, MS area right now (but not with my Gull JT2) and
drove past a nice little country airport on Sunday. Payne Airport in
Pelahatchie, MS, just north of I-20 about 20 miles east of Jackson. Airnav says
it has 100LL and several aircraft based there. Owner Douglas Payne 601-854-8929
or 8755. I also checked out M16, John Bell Williams Airport near Raymond, MS,
which is about 30 miles west, also near I-20. Its owned by local community
college and appears to be a fairly busy GA airport (though real quiet on
Sunday). Someone in an Extra 300 or similar was doing aerobatics right over the
field when I was there, all alone. Nice tail slide.

If you're going to land in the Jackson, MS area on a Sunday, let me know. That's
my day off while I'm here and I'd try to meet you and say hello.
 Dick O'Reilly

John,

I gave that nice country airport a call, Payne Airport, and they don't cater to
ultralight/ELSA aircraft. They run a 'forest fertilization' service and the
field is used by contract planes. Airport owner didn't know of any ultralight
fields in the area. I searched DUATS flight planner and AIRVAV on Sunday and
Payne looked like the most likely in central MS.

I guess that means that in the Jackson area your best bet is M16 at Raymond, MS,
John Bell Williams airport. Avgas is available 24/7 with credit card. Field is
attended 0800-1700 weekdays and 0800-1200 Saturday. It owned by the Hinds
County Community College, which has an extensive aviation training program
(maintenance and flight) according to its website. At least there are no
airliners. You can read about it on AIRNAV.

Maybe Mark has some recommendations for this area of your flight.

Maybe there's a need for an ultralight/light sport friendly guide to US
airports.
Dick O'Reilly

I am not sure there is any such thing as a "ultralight/ELSA"
airport....any non-private airport is fine and is open to the public.
Stay out of Class B and C. You need a "tower endorsement" to fly into
class D airports (blue on the sectional) but if you don't have a tower
endorsement you can use any magenta-colored airport not marked "(Pvt)".
You can use a "airport facility directory" to find info like: does it have
gas, what runways it has, what pattern to use, and TPA, what CTAF, AWOS
frequency (if it has one), etc....

For planning a cross country these web sites are good:
http://skyvector.com/ (interactive sectional chart - right-click on
the map to set a waypoint)
http://www.airnav.com/ (on-line airport facility directory)
http://www.duats.com/duats.cgi (get weather forecast, winds aloft, etc..)

Blade.

If an airport is a public airport that has taken federal money they can not exclude you. Period. I would call the FAA and tell them what happened and find out if you have access. Too many airports are doing this and we have a responsibility to make them stop. My gut feeling is they have no right to exclude you if they are public since just about every public airport in the US has taken federal money.

-Alan Cossitt

>From my iPhone. Please excuse typos and terseness.

I'm sure the Payne airport has taken no federal money. It is a small strip on a
farm field. It is a private airport and so marked on the charts.


Of course John can land anywhere he wants on his flight, including private
strips with permission, which is often easily obtained by calling ahead. In the
area where I fly near Brian Ranch Airport in southern California, some of the
private strip owners want a signed waiver of liability. Forms for that are
available at the USUA website.

I much prefer little airports, especially little airports that cater to
ultralights and fat ultralights like my JT2. My plane is registered as an
Experimental Light Sport Aircraft with the FAA, as I'm sure are most if not all
of the US aircraft represented on this forum. It also is outfitted with a Mode S
transponder. I can take it into any airspace for which I receive permission, and
beneath the Class B veil surrounding LAX. Class C and Class D airports are no
problem as long as I follow the rules.

But little airports are a lot more fun and much less hassle.

My plane sits in its hangar back home, freshly painted and put back together
after my emergency landing on El Mirage lakebed. Test flying to verify that my
new fuel lines cure my apparent fuel starvation problem will have to await my
return to California in a month after I finish my work here in Mississippi. 
 Dick O'Reilly

Ditto to that, when we had to get "N" numbers and pilot's licenses, we are now official airplanes with all the respect due.

kb