I must say that April 4-6th was an awesome experience! Well, first of all, Above Earth Aerospace LLC purchased an airplane. So now we have something to put in Hangar 4. And you can guess from the title of this post that the theme of this post is all about the ferry flight.
The story begins in Houston...or rather Friendswood at about 3am. I only mention this because it signifies the beginning a very long, but very satisfying day. There was some pause for concern when going through security at Hobby since we both had one way tickets and a bags full of pilot gear. Although, I suppose terrorists aren't likely to walk on board with such preparations. Although, I could be wrong.
After a short layover in St. Louis, we made our final destination in Detroit. Everett's dad, Mo, was there waiting. Mo is a fine gentleman who is easy to talk to and a pleasure to be around. After a quick lunch, we headed to the Oakland County International Airport where our new set of wings has lived for the last 9 years or so. I can't really recall the emotions I felt at that moment I first saw her. I think it might have been "oh-crap-what-have-i-got-myself-into"...or perhaps, "this-just-got-real". Either way, I know there were some nerves and a little bit of giddiness. We did the walk around and climbed in and sat down. Then it was time for that first test flight. I say test flight, cause I'm not sure the last time that airplane flew. It just had its annual in February, so we knew it was airworthy.
As we were performing the preflight inspection we encountered our first issue. The left wing fuel sump would not stop leaking. That first thought was "oh-crap-we-aren't-flying-today". Repeated attempts at trying to stop the leak failed. So, we fired up the engine and taxied her down to the maintenance hangar. The tech greeted us and took a quick look at the problem. We were going to have to remove the sump, but we had fuel in the tank. Mo volunteered to plug the dike by placing his finger over the void left by the removed sump. The mechanic noted that there was some debris that was fouling the mechanism that closes the valve. Whew...easy fix. With Everett at the controls we took to the skies for a few touch and gos.
After that, it was my turn to get checked out in the airplane. My instructor was waiting for me when we pulled up to the ramp. One of the most nerve-wracking times is when you are handed the keys to a new machine and have had little to no time to figure out where all the bells and whistles are. In fact, my first take off was a bit shakey because I tried to take off too early. Turns out I was looking at the mph arc on the airspeed indicator, not the knots. The airplane wasn't going fast enough to stay in the air and she started to settle before finally taking off. That was really the biggest flub of the day. But I got through it and demonstrated my capabilities to the satisfaction of the instructor. And of course the winds were gnarly and going across the runway...those pesky cross-winds. And these were stiff cross-winds, just 2 kts below the demonstrated maximum for the airplane. Given a choice, I'll take the winds right down the runway.
After landing for the final time, I taxied back to the hangar and the instructor signed me off. We hung out at the hangar watching the airplanes take off and land. We had time to kill before Everett's mom and brother joined us. She's adorable, much like my mother. And Matt seemed pretty cool too. May I remind you this is still day number one.
We all had dinner and then headed back to the hangar to make sure had assembled all the cargo we intended to carry. Then it was finally off to Everett's parent's house for some rest and relaxation. It was good to be in a hockey town and to watch hockey with some hockey fans...even if they were Red Wings fans. Brandon, I still can't stand the Red Wings from all the Sega Genesis we played back in the day! Go Pens!! However, that was some good hockey...and we didn't go to bed until around 11pm Eastern time...so that turned out to be nearly a 20 hour day.
The next morning we had a nice breakfast and did the weight and balance calculations. Turns out we were going to be at or near gross weight, so a case of beer had to remain behind. You could see the tears form in the corner of Everett's eyes. We studied the weather and decided that it would be best for me to fly the first leg since the weather was questionable on the second leg. Since Everett is instrument rated this was the best option.
My three hour leg took us from Pontiac, Michigan, to Washington, Indiana. I went through several controlled airspaces which required me to talk to flight controllers. Since I have very little experience flying in controlled airspace, Everett helped me through most of it. We flew right over Indianapolis. Off to our left was Lucas Oil field and to our right was both the Indianapolis Motor Speed Way and Indianapolis International Airport. It was pretty amazing to see those landmarks from 5,500 feet. The whole trip was an amazing experience. Landing at Daviess County was, let's just say, one of my worst landing. That crosswind really messed me up. I'm pretty sure I thought the wind was coming from the left...when in reality it was coming from the right. Don't ask. There is a lot going on when on final approach.
After a quick restroom break, we took a look at the weather at our next destination, Memphis, TN. Weather was not favorable at all at that location. Tornadic weather was being forecast. That won't work. So much for catching some live blues and rock 'n roll. So we grabbed our ipads and started searching for the next best stop not affected by weather and not so far off our route. Paducah, Kentucky, was now our next stop. This is where we would overnight it. Remember earlier when i mentioned it would be best for Everett to fly the second leg because weather might become an issue? Well, it almost became an issue. As we approached Paducah, we ran into some deteriorating weather. The weather stayed VFR (visual flight rule) conditions, but barely. We did fly through some mist, but we stayed out of the clouds and never lost visual on the ground. As we were tying down the airplane for the night, it started to rain on us. The staff at Midwest Aviation was kind and called us a cab and reserved us a room at a hotel that they work with. The cabbie was, um...interesting. We got checked in and walked to the nearest restaurant, in the rain. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.
The next morning we did our weather checks and went to breakfast. We gave a call to Midwest Aviation and they picked us up and brought us back to the airport. We topped off with gas and did the pre-flight checks. Next stop was Monticello, Arkansas. Everett had this leg too, since he didn't do much flying on that second leg. We flew over the Mississippi River multiple times as it twisted this way and that. After about 2.5 hours we were on final approach to Monticello. Another restroom break, a quick bite to eat thanks to Everett's mom and we were on our way to our next stop, Anahuac, Tx.
I flew the fourth leg and this was another 3 hour leg. I seem to attract clouds as I set my cruise altitude at 4,500 feet. It wasn't long before we were getting a few clouds at our flight level. Since the clouds were so few, we climbed up to 6,500 feet and the ride was much smoother up there. We crossed Toledo Bend Reservoir and that landmark was our entry into the great state of Texas. We were almost home. The GPS distance to destination kept getting smaller and smaller. And finally, the airport was in sight. I crossed over the airfield and set up a good approach. And I had a much better landing this time. Anahuac has very cheap gas prices...some of the cheapest around. So, we pulled up to the pumps and got set up to fill the tanks. Only we encountered an issue with getting the fuel cap off. It can be a tricky beast, but with a little coaxing, we were able to fill our tanks with some cheap avgas.
There was one leg left. One quick 30min flight and our journey will be complete. Since we were fully loaded we were going to need a lot more runway to get airborne, and this was the shortest runway we encountered. Everett was able to coax the old gal into the air with plenty of runway to spare. We flew along the coastline of Galveston Bay and pointed the nose for home. It was a sweet feeling to be lined up on final at the end of a journey that started almost 1000 nautical miles away. It was a great accomplishment for the both of us.
We shut down in front of our hangar, her new home. She sure looks good in that hangar! The long journey was now complete. We traveled 978+ nautical miles. Ten and a half hours of engine time. We had the wheels down in five different states, four of which were new for me. It was an adventure that I won't soon forget. I look forward to the many journeys ahead for us.
I hope to capture those adventures here in this blog. As the saying goes, "give me a mile of runway and I can see the world."
