It's hard to realize that I've flown sixteen thousand miles to Oshkosh and back. Six of these trips in my Vagabond PA-17, one in a PA-12 Supercruiser and the most recent in my 135 PA-20 Pacer.
In all these trips I've spent time, fuel, and emotional stress flying around, over and under Arsas and TCA's to the point I seemed to spend more time deviating than aviating. This time I had a KX-155, transponder with Mode C, cockpit intercom, Northstar Loran, Trimble GPS and a VOR with glide slope. It gave me immense satisfaction that quiet professional voices allowed me to fly my true course, streight over MHT, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and Saginaw.
It was a first also having a co-pilot, Carlyle Everett. We packed about 150 pounds,of gear including Carlyle's arctic jacket and pool floatation devices. This put us withIn eighty pounds of max gross with full fuel. Monday morning July 27th, found us loaded and ready to go. I did a take off and landing with the aft load to get a feel for the Pacer while Carlyle video taped and could not sense much difference in handeling so with a ring of condensation streaming back from the prop tips we took off for Oshkosh.
I got a little shock when MHT approach said they were not getting altitude information but resolved it by gettin the switch on the correct detent. The GPS showed 85 stat over the ground which gave the lie to the winds aloft of seven to eight knots out of 200.
We made Kamp in Durhamville N.Y. at 8:45 and were greeted by Mr Kamp and saddened to learn the airport was for sale and his daughter, who used to run the lunch counter was working at the Indian Gambeling Casino. He graciously gave her a call and she stopped on her way to work and russeled up eggs and sausage breakfast. We topped off with 25.4 g1s. of Mo-gas and launched into a headwind that reduced our groundspeed to 68 mph. In about two hours the displaced threshhold at Lockport slid under our wings as we fought a 35 to 45 mph crosswind on to 27.
Grateful for surviving the landing we decided to stay the night rather than being reduced to a hover on the next leg.
While I was tying down, Mike Fussell, a Cessna 185 pilot walked over and struck up a conversation the culmination of which was a tour of his workshope and home, cookies and ice tea and 21.2 gls. of Mo-gas and a ride to a nice resturant. We had supper together with good conversation with the kind of person that makes being in aviation worth all the hassel. Mike also fueled us on our way home.
After a two mile walk to breakfast my routeen pre-flight was interupted by a carb heat control half way out. It took me three hours, many impious words, a pulled bottom cowel, and air-filter to correct a peice of rust jamed in a butterfly valve bushing.
With sunburned kneepits, my best pilots shirt soaked with sweat and our calm winds up to 35 mph we ground our way to Marlette, Michigan where a phone call from the untended field got us 20 gls. of 80 octain for 7.5 gl. average.
At Mason County in Ludington, Michigan the 172 in front of us damn near dug a wing tip fighting the cross wind and when he did get it down on his next try he lallygaged the length of the runway so we had to go around again.
At Ludington I introduded Carlyle to the delicous homestyle cooking of the Kuntry Kubbard Resturant just one half mile acroas the runway.
Our flight across Lake Michigan was slow but scenically beautiful, with a ground speed of 61.6 mph and flying just under a 7500 stratus deck with occasional openings we had glimpses of shafts of sunlight coming through an upper scattered layer.
We circled Ripon three times before being cleared to Fisk. Finally down wind to 27 I heaved a sigh of releaf being where,I belonged in the hectic pattern only to hear"92 Alpha, go around, then all aircraft, go around." A lady in a P-51 had hydraulick problems and had spun gear up along the runway.
We were finally cleared to 36 right, (a taxiway) and followed a cute girl on a scooter to row 128 South forty. Six years ago I was on row 100 and it was the last row. This time there were forty rows still south of us.
I discovered we had a 360 degree crack around the inlet of the muffler and spent a day pulling it and taking it to the flee market where I had the immense good fortune of finding Wyatt Swain, a Boeing trained aero space welder who was demonstrateing Lincoln Electronics high tech TIG welders. Wyatt spent a meticuless three hours welding my muffler and when he was through I felt like mounting it in a jewelry display case it was so beautifully done. Wyatt would not accept any payment for his technical ex-pertise but you know he saved a 45 year marriage which might not have survived a $450 muffler on top of a $210 Oshkosh camping and flight line fee.
All in all it was a good flight. Carlyle was like a kid in a gumdrop factory, I attended a news letter editor's forum and despite some minor field maintenance my little Pacer took us 2000 miles on two quarts of oil. Not too shoddy for a 46 year old rag wing Classic.
