I flew my first real cross-country with Dan Dawson to Pocatello, Idaho in 2004. That trip was flown in a 1974 Piper Cherokee 140, and was about 700 nm (nautical miles). Next I obtained my Instrument rating in 2005. In 2006 I went to Seattle, WA to get my Seaplane rating. In 2007 I flew Victor to Salt Lake City, UT to attend the Rotary International Convention. In 2008 I flew Victor to Council Bluffs, IA to a Rotary fellowship meeting, a total of 1700 nm. That trip took 3 days of flying in each direction. While attending that meeting, Dave Flinn told me that he knew a place I could stay, if I was going to Oshkosh. He knew a couple (Bob & Dorothy Ray) with a home in very close proximity to the Oshkosh event, and they set up beds in their garage and basement, and tents and trailers in their back yard for attendees to stay during the event.
With that information, I knew it was finally time to attend Oshkosh. I convinced Erik & Victoria Gilbert to also attend Oshkosh, so we could fly together. They agreed to fly along with me in their Cessna 172, so I called the Rays and made arrangements for the three of us to stay there.
The trip started mid-morning on Friday July 24, when I left Marina, CA, and Erik & Victoria left Watsonville, CA at about the same time in their 172. We tried to communicate directly with each other on a frequency sometimes used for that purpose, 122.75. We used it mainly to give status reports to each other so we knew if we were keeping up with each other. We arrived in Lovelock, NV, about 30 minutes northeast of Reno, to fuel up and take a potty break. It was hot in Lovelock! Whew! It was 100 degrees and high desert with virtually no vegetation, like most of Nevada. At least we got to stretch our legs. After a short break we took off again, headed for Ogden, UT, our planned stop for the night.
Before reaching Ogden, I noticed my ammeter was showing about a 15amp discharge. At the beginning of the trip I had put an "INOP" cover on my VOR guage because it had stopped working. These two events were probably related, but I had not noticed the discharging battery previously. The next morning (Saturday) my battery was dead and wouldn't turn over the engine. I knew it would take at least a couple of hours to recharge my battery, and probably more time to diagnose and fix the real problem; so I told Erik & Victoria to go on without me, and I would try to catch up later.
I spent the next two hours waiting for my battery to be charged, and then flew a few miles north to Logan, UT, the only place within a 100 miles of Salt Lake City where I could find a mechanic working on this Saturday. The next couple of hours were spent talking to the mechanic in Logan as he diagnosed the problem, and with a couple of phone calls to my home town mechanic, Bob Ross. After all was said and done, the three of us decided it was probably the battery causing the problem, and the rest of the electrical seemed to be operating properly. The battery was showing a strong charge on the ammeter after being recharged, we could find no obvious problem with the alternator or ACU (alternator control unit, aka voltage regulator). We all decided that the best thing for me to do at this point was to press on, keeping an eye on the ammeter. By this time it was late afternoon and too late to travel any further; so I spent the night in a nearby hotel resting up for the next day. Via a text message from Erik, I found out he and Victoria had made it to Pierre, SD, our planned stop for the 2nd night.
The next morning (Sunday) I left Logan about 9am and had a non-eventful flight to a fuel stop in Casper, WY, and then to Pierre, SD and spent the night. Flying into the pattern at Pierre I noticed other pilots in the pattern pronouncing it as "Pir" or "Peer". Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to myself, I also pronounced it "Pir" as I entered the pattern. :-) Erik and Victoria made it to Madison, WI that same night, also a planned stop.
During our initial planning, Erik suggested that we spend the last night in a town near Oshkosh, like Madison, so the flight into Oshkosh could be short and early in the morning while we were still fresh and could give the flight into Oshkosh our full attention. All pilots flying into Oshkosh are required to download from the Internet and read a 32 page NOTAM (NOTice to Air Men), describing the special procedures for flying into and out of Oshkosh during AirVenture week. The basic procedures for flying VFR (Visual Flight Rules) into Oshkosh are:
Monitor the Oshkosh weather frequency at least 30 miles out, for wind direction, visibility, etc. After noting the weather information, monitor a specific frequency called "Fisk Approach" to instructions from the controller at that location.
About this time you are approaching a small town named Ripon, and you need to be at 1,800' altitude and at an airspeed of 90 knots or less. You must keep a 1/2 mile gap between you and the plane ahead of you, without flying "S Curves" to maintain spacing. If unable to maintain spacing, you are required to drop out and try again, picking an airplane to follow that is close to your speed. Ripon is about 20 miles from Oshkosh, and is like a funnel where all planes enter the system. At Ripon start following the railroad tracks that run northeast toward Fisk and Oshkosh. There are large orange arrows on the tracks to help you identify them. About 10 miles past Ripon is the town of Fisk. By this time you will be hearing the controller describe your plane (e.g. blue high wing taildragger) and ask you to acknowledge him by rocking your wings.
Unlike normal ATC communications, they do not want you talking on the frequency except for emergencies and when they ask you a question that requires a specific reply. Once identifed, the controller gives you directions to one of two different runways, and tells you to switch to the tower frequency for your particular runway assignment. You rock your wings to acknowledge his instructions. He also watches your plane to see that you've turned as instructed.
As you approach the assigned runway, the tower instructs you to land on or after a particular colored dot on the runway. There are 3 or 4 dots on each runway, and they are used to land more than one plane at a time. For example, "Blue high wing taildragger, land on or after the pink dot, and IMMEDIATELY turn left off the runway onto the grass without waiting for the next taxiway. Red Cessna, you land on the green dot and IMMEDIATELY turn left onto the grass without hesitation."
As advertised, this place really is the busiest airport in the world for one week each year!
Erik & Victoria were staying a day ahead of me, so they flew into Oshkosh early Monday morning. On Monday morning I left "Pir" and flew to Owattona airport in Minnesota for fuel and potty break, before continuing on to Madison for the night. I rose early Tuesday morning, departing Madison at 8am, and landed in Oshkosh at 9am. Fortunately, the route wasn't busy at that time of the morning. In fact, I could hear the Fisk controller talking to other planes, but couldn't see any of them. The first and only plane I saw in front of me was a Cessna on a 1/2 mile final approach as I was still 3 miles from the runway. As I approached the runway I was told to land on the pink dot and IMMEDIATELY turn left off the runway onto the grass. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed thousands and thousands of airplanes parked in every conceivable direction within a couple miles of the runways. At that point a very big grin spread across my face. I had finally come to Oshkosh and I was landing at the biggest air show in the world!
And just before touching down I glanced to the left and noticed thousands of people standing alongside the runways watching me land! Fortunately, I was down on the runway before I had time to get nervous and also fortunately, it was one of my better landings. Whew! But it was a couple of miles and another 30 minutes of taxiing before I reached my parking space.
After tying down my plane, leaving fueling instructions on my propeller and unloading my luggage; I started the bus ride, tram ride and the final 1/2 mile walk to my housing. I finally reached the Rays house about 11:30. Bob helped me pick out the best bed in the house (i.e. garage) and then I went into the house to relax for a bit. I had walked a long way carrying my fully stuffed backpack and my large fully stuffed dufflebag.
After unpacking and organizing my things and catching my breathe, I walked back toward all the activity. By far, this was the largest fly-in I had ever seen. In fact, it was the largest organized event of any nature that I had ever seen. There were hundreds of aircraft related vendors covering acres and acres; some out in the open in grassy areas; some in grassy areas with various sizes of tents; and many inside large exhibit halls. There were manufacturers, wholesalers and brokers selling the newest model of aircraft, floats for floatplanes, aircraft engines, avionics of all sorts, aircraft interiors and seats, headsets, tie-downs, chocks, charts and other publications, specialty products of all kinds, etc. etc. And of course, there were "official" hats, clothing and souvenirs of all kinds. In short, it was a pilot's candy store. Every aisle had something to catch my attention and cause me to stop and investigate. It was all so exciting!
I eventually made it to the flightline and had made contact with Erik & Victoria (via text messaging) along the way. With sporadic cell phone service throughout the airport grounds, we soon discovered that text messaging was the only reliable method of communication for keeping in touch with each other. We found each other on the flight line and caught up with personal news since we last spoke with each other on Saturday. Then the Airbus A380 made its grand entrance, circling overhead several times before finally landing in a stiff crosswind. What an amazing sight! Two days later we were able to tour the interior after a two hour wait in line.
This particular plane was not in regular commercial service; rather, it was used internally mostly for testing purposes. Most of the interior walls were open, exposing all the electrical cables and conduit in the walls and ceilings. There were no passenger seats setup. In their place were rows of plastic barrels filled with water, meant to approximate the weight of passengers for testing purposes, each barrel representing 3 passengers at 180# each. After walking the length of the first passenger compartment, which resembles the layout and size of a 747's compartment, we climbed a stairway to enter a duplicate passenger compartment of the same size. Yes, it's a double-decker! And it's huge! The total capacity is listed as 525 in a typical layout for 1st class, business class and coach passengers. Unfortunately, the cockpit was closed to public inspection, so we could only imagine the fancy glass panel electronics used to fly this behemoth. For pilot types like me it was definitely worth the two hour wait in line.
Another great memory of the event was the forum featuring Chester "Sully" Sullenberger and Jeff Skiles of the famous water landing of US Airways flight 1549 into the Hudson River. Each man received a standing ovation from the overflow crowd as they walked into the forum tent area. The first thing Sully pointed out at the start of the forum was that First Officer Jeff Skiles was every bit as responsible for the safe landing as was he. They worked as a team during the 3 minute emergency and Sully just happened to be the one at the controls. Sully has 23,000 flight hours compared to Jeff's 20,000. But for circumstances, Jeff would also be a captain and was every bit as qualified as Sully to be a captain. Then it was opened to questions from the audience, which for the most part were mainly technical questions that a pilot would ask about the actual flying of the airplane. Many questions were preceded with a comment to the effect that, "You two are heroes in my book!" At least two persons took the mic to merely say, "I have no questions. I just wanted to say I think you are true heroes, and to thank you both for what you did!" In one of his responses, Sully stated that he had come to realize that his new found "temporary" celebrity status was an opportunity to make a real difference in aircraft safety, and is working with the FAA to do so. This guy has his head on straight. He credits training and everyone else's input for the positive outcome of his Hudson River landing. He constantly repeats that the outcome would never have turned out so well without the training, skill and work of his entire crew, the air traffic controllers, and the different rescue crews from both sides of the Hudson. Needless to say, both pilots received another standing ovation as the forume ended.
Another notable memory was seeing and hearing well-known actor and pilot Harrison Ford introduce one of his movies, "Six Days Seven Nights" at an outdoor theatre on Thursday night. He was on the stage with Edsel Ford to introduce the movie. Edsel took the opportunity to state that his pride that Ford Motor Company had not taken any government bailout funds, which received a strong applause from the audience. Harrison of course spoke mostly about the flying aspects of making the movie. A DeHavilland Beaver was featured in the movie, which he was not qualified to fly at first. He took the necessary instruction, but still wasn't allowed by the insurance company to fly it with passengers in the movie, due to his experience level in that particular model and type. During one scene, he was supposed to be flying with his co-star Anne Heche as passenger; but it was actually his male CFI (certified flight instructor) wearing a dress and make-up to look like Anne. That of course got a chuckle from the audience. He impressed me as a very down to earth person, not at all taken up with his celebrity status. He admitted that acting paid very well and he would continue acting as long as he was able to make money doing it. He was very friendly with the crowd as he left the area, stopping to sign autographs, and even allowing his photograph to be taken with a couple of young female fans. He was in no hurry and eventually climbed into the back seat of a modest SUV. He returned waves through the open back window of the vehicle as they slowly drove through the crowd. Another "celebrity" he seems to really have his head on straight. I'm seeing a common thread here, of good guys and pilots. Hmmm.
We spent the rest of the week enoying the sights, sounds and food of this very well organized and staffed event. Having worked on many different events myself, I was amazed at how smoothly it all worked. There were trams and busses covering all of the heavily traveled routes. Food and drink vendors were well placed and well spaced. You were never far from food, drink, a bench or a clean restroom or porta-potty. Vendors of similar types were grouped together. All the forums were held in the same area. The different types of attendee aircraft on display were grouped together (antiques, war birds, experimental, home builts,etc.) And every volunteer you met was friendly, knowledgable and efficient. The only problem they were not able to solve was my lack of stamina. There was just too much to see and I got too tired to see it all. I guess I'll just have to go back again to see the rest of it. :-)
All three of us decided to leave Friday morning. We were getting tired and felt we had probably seen all we really wanted to see, at least at this point. Whateve was left to see was not as important on Friday as it would have been on Tuesday. But the main reason was the weather. After raining on Thursday, it was going to be clear on Friday, and then another storm was coming in on Saturday that would make it difficult getting out of town for a couple of days. So we got up early Friday, and I took off for home, while Erik & Victoria left for a side trip to Arkansas to visit her brother.
The trip home for me was uneventful, except for my stop in Albuquerque on Saturday. My right brake went out just as I was parking Victor. I noticed the right pedal felt soft and the plane wouldn't turn right. Pushing the left pedal would turn the plane left, but the right pedal had no effect on turning or stopping. As soon as I got out of the plane, I knew the problem: There was a puddle of red fluid on the asphalt around the right tire. Brake fluid was draining out of the system on the right side. The attendant helped me push Victor into his tie-down spot for the night. Once in the office, I gave him my credit card for fuel and then he called a local mechanic for me. Since it was the weekend, the mechanic was going to charge me extra for the work, but I didn't have much choice. And after the difficulty finding a mechanic the previous weekend to look at my charging problem, I felt fortunate to have someone available to come to me and fix the brake that same afternoon. The FBO took me to a hotel, and the mechanic called me that evening to say the brake was fixed and I was good to go. I was able to leave at zero-dark-thirty (early) the next morning as planned, and was on my way home without losing any time in the air due to the brake problem.
The weather was a tad hot, but severe clear for the last day of my trip. Leaving Albuquerque, I stopped for fuel and breakfast in Prescott, AZ, lunch and fuel in Lancaster, CA (near Palmdale) and from there made it to Watsonville that afternoon.
As always, it was good to be home. I lay in bed with a smile on my face that night, knowing I had just finished another great cross-country flying experience. But before going to sleep, I began to wonder about my next flying goal. What's next?
1 comment:
Amazing story, thanks for sharing! I'll never forget my trip out there in a 172 and sure missed going in the years since then. One of these days I look forward to doing it again, but it was great to get to experience it through your story!
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