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jclarkmail(at)gmail.com
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 Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:40 pm Post subject: Back from OSH ... (VERY LONG-WINDED) |
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Well I finally made it back from Oshkosh.
After ten (10) days of RV/flying stuff, I must say I am tired.
First the formation clinic at SQI was great! We learned a lot and got in some good practice. I think it showed at the OSH formation flying that was done.
Second, the actual flying at OSH was wonderful in that a) it looked good from what the pictures show and b) there were lots of people that thought it looked good and really appreciated it. We were glad to be able to do it (I know I was).
Third, as usual, a big THANKS goes out to the "tag team" of Falcon and Kahuna. The combination of the two sets of skills and personalities makes it all work. Not to mention the inordinate amount of personal TIME and RESOURCES these two guys invest in making it be good and safe.
I left OSH on Saturday around noon as I heard that bad weather was enroute for Sunday morning. I knew I would not make it all the way to Columbia (can't quite do Flight Level 190 at 200+ knots  ). I hoped to make it to Lexington Kentucky and then early the next morning scoot over to Columbia. Hey if I went to the SC Breakfast Club I would surely win the prize for larthest distance!! .. Neither of these were to occur. I got as far a just past Lafayette, Indiana (Purdue) when after decending to avoid buildups *and* having the viz drop to ... let's just say LOW, *and* then having Chicago Center say "radar contact lost *and* did I say it was HOT and muggy? ... I decided to do a 180 and spend the night at Lafayette as I had done on a prior OSh return trip.
Well this choice was far more wise than I realized at the time because by the time the hotel shuttle got me to the hotel, the skies opened up and the "bottom fell out!" It POURED rain for some time. Where did it come from so fast?? Good thing I got "Papa Juliette" in a hangar for the night.
THe next morning, I arrive bright and early to depart. But I cannot (at elast not VFR). The airport is near a river and it is FOGGED IN!. So I wait, and wait. Finally after getting a "Special" I depart and circle the airport in a climb to see it it looks OK to launch. It looked fine so away I go. But just after passing over Indianapolis, I hit a visibility WALL!! (This is after descending again. I do this because I almost got caught in this type weather one year ... running out of climb and places to go.). Immediate 180 to land at the first place in the "clear'. Turns out to be "Franklin Flying Field (Indiana)". Nice people there. Got a turn of a WACO restoration effort. One done .. two underway. RV's on the field. Get invited to Sunday dinner with the airport manager at his parents place with the sibling and grandkids! I get offered a place to stay if I get stuck and a vehicle to use if I need to go into town!! Wow! They do this for a stranger who just happened to wander in out of the sky on a bad weather day. Thanks folks. I will never forget the visit.
After several hours there, I finally decide to launch, to see if I can at least make it to KLEX (the original goal the day before). Well ... once again, I hit the visibility WALL! I tell Center that I am doing a 180 to the nearest airport (Madison Indiana) which is about 3 miles away. Again, the airport is near a river (the Ohio River I think). Again, WONDERFUL people. The lady at the front desk sits and chat with meas I lament about how hot it is and how lousy the weather is and how long I have been trying to get home. She is so pleasant that I soon forget about my woes and actually enjoy sitting in the cool new FBO chatting. Some time later a guy stops in and joins in on the conversation. He ends up offering to call the owner of a nagar to see if I can "rent" it for the night if I get stuck. Anothe couple pulls up in their Comanche from OSH. They later check on me and give me their card, saying if I need anything ... just call. The local sage flight instructor goes up with a student (locally) but comes back with a Pirep for me after I have been there for a few hours. He now thinks I should be able to make it to KLEX! SO off I go.
I make it KLEX just as a storm seems to be crawling in. Just as I pull up I see a fella near a really NICE older Cessna 172 that has been restored. I find out that he (and his wife) have WON AN AWARD at OSH!! (Deservingly so ... nice plane) and they are planning to go to Greenville/Spatanburg .. the same route I need to take and he THINKS we can make it. We both check with FSS again an they think we can make it. (By the way, this is the FIRST time ever that the FSS people have been MORE optimistic about the weather than I was ... and they were RIGHT!) We both launch with the goal of making it to our destinations before dark (especially the crossing the mountains part). Eventually the smog/haze thins out a bit up around 7500 and I ease along at about 160kts (still 40+ shy of a certain RV ) Once I do get across the mountains I feel much better. At least I am back in SC and if the forecasted rain sets in for the next few days, I am in driving distance and near friends. So I start to descend. Back into the much. Man this viz stuff is REALLY bad. Good thing we installed an autopilot as it is earling its keep today. But what is that on the 396? A thunderstorm right near Columbia? And it is about to get dark? And the lower I go the WORSE the viz is getting. Oh well, I have plenty of options now as I am on home turf. I know the airports and the people at them. At several, I can just call a friend and get home if needed. But the 396 says the weather is just a few miles away and it looks like if I really shove the throttle forward and point the nose down a bit I might just make it. Now we are 170+ knots (160 hp ... slight downhill). I think I can make it. I see the lights of the city. I see the outline of the lake, I am "home". "Owens Field is 12 o'clock ...no observed traffic, radar service terminated, frequency change approved". Sounds wonderful. I cross mid-field to enter the pattern and land. Whew!! What a good feeling.
James
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This is an alternate email. Please continue to email me at james(at)nextupventures.com (james(at)nextupventures.com) .
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Larry Bowen
Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 802
Location: NC, USA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:43 am Post subject: Back from OSH ... (VERY LONG-WINDED) |
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Welcome home!
--
Larry Bowen
Larry(at)BowenAero.com
http://BowenAero.com
do not archive
James Clark wrote:
| Quote: | Well I finally made it back from Oshkosh.
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_________________
Larry Bowen
RV-8 SOLD,
RV-7QB in progress... |
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