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@l8-aero
So this was the final route: Note the blue dots do not represent stopping points, the were generated by Delorme. My start/stop points were: Lakeland, FL (LAL), New Hibiscus, FL (X52), Palatka, FL (fuel)(28J), Summerville, SC (DYB), Burlington, NC (BUY), St. Mary’s, MD, (to stretch my legs)(2W6), and finally Wings Field (LOM).
Total distance, straight line between airports, was 1079 miles. Total flight time was 13 hours.
Kitty Hawk - First Flight Airport Scratched
Well Saturday morning came and it was time to decide if I was going to fly east out of Burlington, NC and visit Kitty Hawk, or fly north to home. The weather was going to be the deciding factor.
Weather along the route to First Flight Airport (FFA) was good until evening. So no problem getting to Kitty Hawk. The weather to Wings Field (LOM) was also good, but only until mid-afternoon. If I went to Kitty Hawk I would have time for a quick visit and then I could make it to LOM before dark, but I could not make it to LOM before the bad weather moved in. I could stay in NC until Sunday morning.
A quick look at the weather map and I knew Sunday would not be a good day for flying low and slow in a very light airplane. Surface winds were forecast to exceed 20 knots and I’d be facing very strong northwesterly winds aloft. So if Sunday was no good for flying then I needed to get home on Saturday. With no time to beat the rain to LOM if I went to FFA I was forced to cancel FFA.
There will be other good weather weekends when I can go to FAA.
Climbing to 7500′ just south of Florence, SC. I could see that at some point I might get squeezed between cloud layers as the lower layer became more solid and perhaps higher. There was also the risk that the higher layer would become lower.
Unplanned flight from visual meteorological conditions (VMC) into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) is one of the most prevalent causes of aviation accidents. It is important in this situation to carefully analyze the weather and make prudent decisions.
I checked weather along the route and found that none of the airports were reporting overcast skies below 7500′ which was my altitude. With this information I knew I would probably be able to find a hole to use to descend below the lower layer if the clouds started to close in. Staying above the cumulus layer kept me in smooth air. I knew below the cumulus it would be bumpy and unpleasant.
Sure enough, just north of Rockingham, NC, I decided it was time to descend to 3500 feet. It turned out that the higher layer eventually dissipated and the lower layer broke up a bit becoming scattered at my destination, so I could have stayed at 7500 feet. But I’m not sorry I descended. At the lower altitude I knew I was not going to be trapped between layers.
If I had gotten myself trapped I would have made a 180 degree turn and flown back to an area where I could descend. While the weather wasn't great I had enough options to be comfortable flying a fairly long VFR cross country flight.
This rare bird was parked at Palatka, FL. This is a Luscombe 11E. The 11E model was a derivative of the model 11 that was manufactured briefly the first decade of the 21st century this example was manufactured in 2008. The most striking difference between the 11E and the original model 11 is the change from tailwheel to nosewheel. Another significant change was an upgrade to 210 horsepower.
View of Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center including the shuttle assembly building in the center under the clouds. Photo quality is poor due to shooting through the window and the normal Florida haze layer. The clouds would eventually force me to a higher altitude.
Thursday to Summerville, SC
Thursday was five hours of flight time. The first stop was Palatka, FL. where the airport terminal has a 15 foot alligator on display. The next stop was Summerville, SC.
Flew up to Palatka at 3500 feet. Bumpy below a broken layer, but winds aloft were against me and worse the higher I went. Put 19 gallons of fuel in the aircraft. A tad more than predicted because of my extra take off and landing practice in Vero Beach.
Decided to climb up to 7500 for the trip to Summerville. Had to deviate initially to avoid some clouds so my path was a bit further to the south than I had planned. This added some time to the trip. It was a bit cold at 7500 feet. Down in the 50s and I was wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt. Even with cabin heat full on on I was cold so I eventually descended to 5500. The cabin heat did better at that altitude.
Landed in Summerville about 2:51 after starting out giving me just a few minutes short of 5 hours of flying for the day.
I’m writing this from the Somerville airport where I am waiting for the weather to clear a bit as a weak cold front moves through. The weather does not look good for First Flight Airport today so I’ll just fly North behind the front until I’m at Burlington NC. That way I’ll have a straight flight east in the morning to Kitty Hawk. I may only have a short time there before I need to scoot north before the next front comes through. I’ll see on Saturday what works best.
Track my progress on https://share.delorme.com/n62925
L8 at X52
X52
Made it to New Hibiscus Airpark in Vero Beach, FL yesterday. It was an early morning start departing Wings Field at just after 7.30 in the PA-46T Meridian. We stopped for fuel in Wilmington, NC and then on to Lakeland, FL.
After lunch we test flew the aircraft, did some paperwork and got some dual instruction on hand propping. Then Andrew headed back north in the Meridian and I headed to New Hibiscus airfield in Vero Beach. Scroll down to see the planned route. Scroll up to see N62925 tied down at X52.
The weather across central Florida was acceptable for the trip with a six thousand foot ceiling and more than 10 miles visibility throughout. The cloud layer was made up of cumulus clouds and so it was fairly bumpy below them. This slowed me down a bit.
I also took a brief detour to South Lakeland airport for a few take offs and landings before heading east to Vero, this added some time to the trip. Total flight time was 1.6 hours. You can see my flight on the https://share.delorme.com/n62925 web page. This shows the leg from Wilmington NC to Lakeland and the leg from Lakeland to X52.
Today I flew in the AM. Just some takeoffs and landings at X52. I plan to stay in Vero until Friday AM and then head north.
Leg 7, going home!
Leg 6. Not much to say here. It is short.
Leg 5. Standby for Entries
Leg 4 - Stay tuned for entries.
Leg 3 is from Palatka,FL to Summerville, SC. I plan to overnight at a hotel in Summerville. This leg should take 2.8 hours which added to my 1.1 hours earlier gives me 3.9 hours of flying for the day. I’ll stop and have time to catch up with things back at the office and get a good meal for dinner. Remember all this is planning. Plans are always subject to change.
This should be a nice trip up the coast. I’ll pass Savannah, GA and Hilton Head Island, SC and landing just NW of Charleston, SC. I would have liked to have gone more coastal, but this was best for gas prices and reasonably priced overnight accommodations. I’m going to need to go inland around Myrtle Beach soon enough and there was no reason to delay doing so on this leg.
Fuel Planning
Well here we are at Palatka for fuel. “Wait” you cry, you left Vero without full fuel. “Yes” I reply because I had enough!. Also, there is no fuel available at New Hibiscus, and if I had needed fuel I would have gone to a different airport.
As you review my planning below you’ll see that I plan fuel based on time not gallons. This has two advantages. The first is that time is what I care about. How long will it take me to get where I am going? The other reason is it means the fuel gauges, which are believed to be accurate, are advisory. If they happen to be inaccurate it won’t matter because I’ll be tracking my fuel burn based on time.
I filled the fuel before I left Lakeland. The total fuel is 25 gals. and the aircraft burns 4.5 gallons per hour. This means N62925 holds 5.55 hours of fuel and I round that to 5.0 hous. The flight from Lakeland to Vero Beach will take 1.1 hours leaving me with 3.9 hours of fuel. I like to land with at least an hour of fuel remaining so that leaves me with 2.8 hour of flight time.
My next leg after X52 is 1.8 hours long. This means I’ll land with 1.0 hours of fuel and I still have the half hour I rounded away at the start. Plenty of gas.
Note: I have not ignored the increased fuel burn during climb. I’ve rounded away half an hour of fuel partly to account for that slight increase in consumption. When you get into bigger, faster, thirstier airplanes the climb fuel can be significant. With a low and slow bird like the Luscombe, not so much.
But let’s do the math. The ship burns about 6 gals. per hour in climb. If we climb to 5500 feet at 400 feet per minute it will take 13.75 minutes to climb. So we will use 13.75 minutes of excess fuel which is 1.5 gals. per hour. This amounts to just over 1/3 of a gallon. That 1/3 of a gallon is just under five minutes of flight time and some of that will be balanced out by the reduced fuel flow during descent. So yes, the extra fuel used in climb does reduce my endurance, but not enough to make a difference to my calculations so long as I don’t fly into my reserves.
Leg 2 ends at 28J which is the Palatka Municipal Airport. Earlier in the blog this airport was mentioned. I’m stopping here for fuel as there was no fuel available at X52.
X52 is the New Hibiscus Airpark in Vero Beach, FL is a grass field. Here is a link to information about the airport.
This is the first of the seven (7) legs. Lakeland, Florida to New Hibiscus Airport in Vero Beach, FL. I’m going there to visit family. I’m planning one or two days there, maybe more. One of the joys of private aviation, plans can remain flexible.