trip report from jim c
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2003 3:55 pm
August 23 - Saturday started off normal Lots of fog and rain and
didn't look like it was going to improve much word was 71% chance
of thunderstorms in the afternoon. I had originally planned to fly
up to the west of Columbus to a friends place (Ted's Flying "C"
about 135 miles to the NW of TVI). I was to meet some fellow flyers
enroute, fly on to Ted's, stay overnight, and return the next
morning. Well, it sure didn't look like this trip was going to
materialize, much like several other planned trips these past couple
of months. Weather just has not been cooperative lately. I was
really getting tired of the constant lousy weather. I figured the
other guys had gone on ahead and here I was bowing out because I
couldn't even get into the air. I sent an e-mail to Ted saying I
wasn't going to make it, and even complained off-handed earlier on
this group about the lousy weather constantly being seen going
through here.
Well now, about 2:30 or so I saw some patches of blue sky. I checked
the weather on-line and saw that it looked to be clearing a little to
the north and to the west, roughly in the direction where I was
going, so I figured I'd make the trek up to the airport and see how
it was and if I could get out and find a hole to work my way to the
NW somewhat. When I got up to the airport and got the plane packed
and ready to go, it seemed to be patchy to the NW and a big black
cloud was just hovering over the end of the east side of the
airport. I decided to chance getting out and if it didn't pan out I
wasn't sure I could get back in to TVI. Well I up and went. The
wind was minimal, it was hotter than blazes until I got some airflow
going, and was very nice at altitude. I climbed through the clouds
to about 4500 ft and it smoothed out just as nicely as can be. I
went NW for about 6 miles then turned directly west, skirted around
some big stuff and then it started to clear out and became very
nice. It was like the parting of the Red Sea for Moses I had about
a ten to fifteen mile gap as a corridor heading to the west between a
line of Thunderstorms to the south and some residual big stuff to the
north. The opening came and all of a sudden I was in just
magnificent and beautiful flying conditions. As I headed to the
west, it started to get clearer to the northwest.
I then heard my fellow flyers on the radio. I thought they were up
flying around near where I was going. I found out they had been
turned back earlier due to storms and such as well and they also had
a ray of hope and were trying to get around a line of storms so they
could move up to Ted's as well. I was to the north side of the
storms (the better place to be) and they were to the south of the
line of storms. We decided to try and meet at Donalsonville (17J).
As I turned directly toward 17J I was lined up directly with a T-
storm, and although 17J was to this side I didn't know if I really
wanted to go there, but decided to move toward that direction and see
how it was. It turned out that I could get into 17J just fine and it
was actually pretty calm. The other guys found a passage through the
storms and rain and skirted between the storms and made it as well.
While the "other" guys were refueling some wind came up pretty
suddenly and then backed off a little. Boy, we had some good timing
on this one. There were now 4 of us together (a Gull 2000, a
challenger I, a Fergy II and what my friend calls a Fly Baby - ?)
and we headed off to the north where it just cleared up as nice as
can be, the wind was very minimal, and hardly any bumps. We headed
up to Lake Eufaula, skirted the East side up the lake (more friendly
terrain on that side), crossed over the northern part of the lake and
landed at Eufaula airport (Weedon - EUF). We rested our tails for a
few minutes then headed on to Ted's. Ted met us in the air in
between (add to our menegerie a Kolb firefly) and there were now 5 of
us going into his private strip. Boy, this turned out to be a great
day of flying after all. I ended up with 183 miles total today and
had some nice flying with friends as well.
We arrived at Ted's Flying "C" about 6:30-7:00. We refueled, tied
the planes down for the night and had a home cooked meal prepared by
Ted's wife Beverly. She also had homemade banana pudding which was
really great as well. We certainly made her feel good, that is, if
eating a lot is taken as complimentary. Anyway, "we" (da guys)
weren't suffering none at all.
August 24 We were up early, drinking coffee and suffering through a
breakfast of eggs, bacon and homemade biscuits. The sky was hazy,
but it was clear, and not a cloud in the sky. Winds were calm and
you just knew it was going to be a great morning of flying. We got
up in the air and it was very hazy, to the tune of about maybe 5
miles visibility, but the air was glass smooth. We decided to head
back to Eufaula, and then follow the lake down to the dam and the
south end. It was a gorgeous flight down the lake even with the haze
and the lake was also smooth as glass. Once reaching the south end,
I turned to the East and headed back toward home (TVI). The
visibility started to get much clearer and the ride was still very
smooth. About 45 miles from TVI, around 10:30 am I started picking
up scattered clouds, the first I had seen that morning. They weren't
really that bad and even below them the air was fairly good. I
landed at TVI with no mishaps and concluded the end of some great
flying, the first really good stint I had had in about two months.
Just for Ron - Over the past couple of days I had got in 331 miles in
4.2 hours using 9.3 gal of fuel That's 35.6 mpg at 2.2 gph. Don't
want you to mess up and get the wrong engine on your next plane there
Ron :>))))
Jim C (back to being a happy camper)