|
|
|
|
By this time
the afternoon temps were peaking and I had one more short hop to make
for the day. I had planned
to make Evanston-Unita WY for the evening, which was another hour away.
With a very hot day at Rock Springs, and a high elevation airport
(6760’), the AWOS was reporting a density altitude of 10,300.
I also had 10,000 feet of runway that provided enough room to
abort if necessary. The
takeoff was fairly normal, although long, with the aircraft getting
airborne within the first 1000 feet.
By the time I passed the departure end, I had only gained about
300’ of altitude but climbing slowly.
With out any further delay, I headed for Evanston-Unita.
An hour later I landed for the day at Evanston.
The next day
was starting out somewhat cool but the heat was to start its onslaught.
I departed Evanston-Unita at 0756 and headed towards Wendover.
The smoke from the wildfires was still with me as I entered the gap in
the Washauch Mountains immediately East of Hill AFB, UT. I called up
Hill tower and headed across the Class D at mid-field.
I made for the lake and was soon “feet-wet”. The visibility
over Salt Lake was down to about 8-10 miles so navigation over the lake
was somewhat suspect. From
the east shore I could faintly make out the outline of Antelope Island.
Over Antelope Island, I could make Stansbury Island, and from
there, the west shore. Once
clear of the lake it was an easy trip across the Great Salt Desert and
into Wendover for an easy two-hour flight.
I put
another 8.9 gallons of gas in the BF and departed to the Northeast,
following the I-80 to clear the terrain.
Once clear, of the hills, I was direct to Battle Mountain, NV.
1.7 latter, I was arriving at Battle Mountain and the heat was
approaching 100. Finally, I
needed to add another quart of oil.
Generally, this A-75 engine ate one quart of oil in about 15 to
16 hours of flight time. Not
too bad. I met a couple of
the Air Attack pilots, one flying a PC-6, and the other a P-3 fire
bomber. They did give me some good-natured harassment over the size
of the Boredom Fighter, but that quickly ended when I suggested that I
had the privilege of leaving Battle Mountain.
They got to stay. On
to Reno-Stead, NV. I headed out
over some of more desolate country between Battle Mountain and Reno.
I had plenty of confidence in the engine to stray from the
highways and did so frequently. 2.3
hours later I was on the ground at Reno-Stead.
I parked in good company for the night; Mig-15s Iskra TS-11,
F-86. I was fortunate to
get a ride into town and equally fortunate to get a room at
Circus-Circus. Hot Summer
Nights was starting in Reno and the hotels were quickly filling. Circus-Circus provided a great prime-rib dinner and a good
Margarita. The next day
was the last. I caught the
bus to Reno –Stead, which let me off ¼ mile from the airport.
At 8:50 I was airborne towards Donner Pass and Lake Tahoe.
I crossed over the area at 8500 and generally followed I-80 down
the west slopes of the Sierra Mountains.
Landing in the desert if an engine quit is one thing, but landing
in the mountains among redwood trees is certainly another.
I kept within gliding distance of I-80 this time.
After 1.3 hours I landed at Placerville, CA had a Coke, and
filled up the airplane. Placerville
is one of those airports that you really would like to go back to.
It sits at approx 2700 feet and is located in the Sierra
foothills. Both approach and departure are over greatly rising terrain
as the airport site at the top of a butte. Next stop Hollister.
The 1.7-hour
trip to Hollister was fairly uneventful.
After monitoring Stockton Approach, I felt it wise to give them a
call and let them know I was out there.
The San Joaquin Valley in California gets to be a busy place and
I was at 6500’. Just high
enough to get run over by a Queen Air.
After delaying the landing at Hollister for a C-172 with an
engine problem, I finally made it back.
I was lucky enough to find some hangar space until the coastal
marine fog would let me back into Half Moon Bay.
Three days later I was able to make it back to Half Moon Bay.
In summary,
I spent the better part of 46 hours airborne for the odyssey to Oshkosh,
covering approx. 3400 statute miles.
25 stops (including OSH) and 183 gallons of gas were consumed. Not too bad on the fuel consumption. Averaging just under 4 gallons per hour, you can’t
beat a grand tour of the western US at ten bucks an hour.
Weather both ways was most excellent! The aviation gods must have
smiled upon me as I came the closest to having the mythological tail
wind in both directions. And
who would have thought that a plan drawn up well ahead of the flight
could have been flown per plan over a two-week period? Who needs a GPS?
When you’re going this slow, you really can’t get lost that
fast. I relied on MK VI
eyeballs, sectionals, a plotter, watch, and the all-important E6-B wiz
wheel (used for ground speed and fuel consumption calculation).
I have to admit that the most difficult navigation I did was out
over Iowa and Wisconsin. Never
did get lost, however there were times when I wasn’t quite sure of my
position within 10 miles. All those darned towns look the same! I
believe that state planning officials told the original occupants that
they were to be issued the following:
Tower, water
type, one ea. |
|
|
To
end this story, the airplane
performed pretty darn good. I
developed a minor exhaust leak on the #4 cylinderand that was about the
extent of the mechanical problems.
That 55 year-old Continental never missed a beat!
Well, that about wraps up the trip to OSH 2000.
I’m still doing some repairs to the bird and hope to be back in
the air soon! Would I do
it again? You bet!
|
|
| Back... | |
