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THE PURPLE BOARD FOR PILOTS |
Flying Journal
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Flying Journal - What's your viewpoint?
People often say that your viewpoint makes a difference in what you see. Just compare the flight to some favorite destination with the view you see when you drive.
Last month I wrote about a flight from Springfield to Indianapolis. If you have ever driven east, to Ohio, or Pennsylvania, or even New York, there is a good chance you can recall that drive, interstate all the way. Now it does go through some pretty country as it snakes along the backbone of the Ozarks. While you can see lots of forests and pastures and farmland on that trip, still you are never really far from civilization.
Of course you could fly essentially the same route in a plane. Indeed, that's essentially the Victor Airway routing. Of course St. Louis is in the way. You can go right over the STL Class B airspace (remember TCA?) with it's 8000 foot ceiling. That makes the eastbound VFR altitude 9500. If you are at 7500 or lower the controllers will more likely vector you around their airspace.
I really don't like to get vectored around. I'd rather vector myself around. Add to that the nearly $4 per gallon fuel in the cities at both ends of that route, and I felt plenty of motivation this summer to find a better vector. Let's say you would like to make one fuel stop at a smaller airport like Rolla or Salem or Festus. Festus is a good one. Now you get a route composed of two direct legs. Now you miss St. Louis (but be careful because there are jets coming out the SE departure corridor which reaches all the way to the Mode C Veil).
You wouldn't think it would make that much difference, but the scenery is quite different. Not that the land has changed much in a few miles, but you get away from the line of civilization that develops along major highway corridors. You can clearly see the difference on either a highway map or aviation chart. Flying the airway takes you over a continuous parade of small airports. But taking a route just a few miles south, there is only one airport (Salem) near the direct route over 150 nautical miles from Springfield to Festus. The same applies from Festus to Indianapolis.
Once during some training at the KC FSDO, we got to spend time at KC Center and I spent an hour with a controller whose job was to blend two streams of (mostly airline) traffic into one line to enter the west entry gate to Indianapolis. They join together over Interstate 70 several miles west of the city and you can see them when you are driving. One clear night I was able to see over a dozen planes at one time, all lined up to the west, coming into their positions out there over the highway.
I guess it's not that big a deal, but an airplane lets you see how our country is really put together. In a car you are so much more a captive audience, forced along channels of billboards and development. I noticed the same thing when I flew to Stillwater, Oklahoma a couple times last month to attend a once a week class at Oklahoma State. I have flown to Tulsa and Oklahoma City before, but never to that in between place, Stillwater.
Tulsa is hardly worth flying to in a plane from Springfield. The road is so direct and since the speed limit on the Will Rogers Turnpike is 75, most traffic is going almost as fast as a small plane anyway! When you factor in your time to get to the airport and get your plane ready, you might as well drive to Tulsa, unless you have a fast plane. But Stillwater is another hour driving, including through Tulsa, and either another annoying toll road (including three toll stops in 40 miles!) or smaller country roads. Altogether, it's about a 4 ½ hour drive to Stillwater.
Since my class met from noon to 5 pm on Thursdays, it meant a really early departure to drive and still have any sense left to learn something in class, and another long drive home, or a night in a motel. In a Cherokee Six, the no-wind time was only about an hour and a half. Of course the Victor 14 Airway goes directly from SGF VOR, to EOS at Neosho and then on to Tulsa.
But Stillwater is far enough west of Tulsa that the GPS direct route from SGF to Stillwater (SWO) is a few degrees north of V-14. It's not much, but it makes the viewpoint--and the flying experience--noticeably different. Unlike the airway which goes directly over airports, the direct route goes between Neosho and Joplin, then between Miami and the cluster of airports around Grand Lake o' the Cherokees. The closest airport is probably Vinita (I drifted south and finally was able to pick out the world's largest McDonald's restaurant that spans the turnpike. It's not nearly as big as it looks when you drive under it).
The route continues west-southwest to cross several miles north of the Tulsa Class C airspace and cuts right in between the little airports at Cleveland and Hominy (I have got to visit those someday) before you descend into Stillwater (which has a great airport, including competing FBOs).
If you have driven to Tulsa, you may recall it can be quite beautiful, especially like this year when they have had more rain than us and it really is as the chambers of commerce like to call it, "Green Country." I have actually seen highway maps that designate that highway as "scenic." But obviously, you are limited by how far you can see from the highway. It is a gorgeous flight, especially this route that takes you over mostly open country.
What will be even more surprising, if you are not familiar with the area, will be how many lakes you will fly over. I cross the upper end of Grand Lake south of Miami, then Oolagah Lake northwest of Tulsa. On a clear day I might see Bich Reservoir (honest, that's what they call it) and on even a day so hazy it's MVFR, I can't miss the larger Skiatook Lake. I could see they were not having our drought this summer, but the first time I flew over I thought I was seeing a flood, or at least high water in the Arkansas River. Consulting the sectional, I realized I was actually seeing long, skinny Keystone Lake, formed by Keystone Dam just west of Sand Springs. Keystone Dam is also a VFR waypoint for area pilots and controllers. Actually, the Cimarron River, which flows through Stillwater, also runs into Keystone Lake.
As you can tell by now, Oklahoma may be "out west" and yes, there are some fine cattle visible along that route, but it's lush and green and probably not at all what some might expect.
For now, I'll just say I enjoyed the flights, I'm enjoying my class, and next month I'll continue discussing this summer's Oklahoma flying adventures.
Fly safely, and I hope to see you at the meeting, and have fun, safely, if you go to Oshkosh!
By Earl Homer - July 2005
Flying Journal - A Little Timing Can Be Everything!
I had been trying to get to Indianapolis to see my new grandson for about three weeks. Finally all the schedules worked together, but I only had a couple of days available, and since it's a 7-8 hour drive, if I drove, I'd have to turn around and come back the day after I got there. Sounds like a good time to take an airplane. I packed up and headed out to the airport on Sunday, hoping to return on Tuesday, then drive or fly Wednesday to Stillwater, Oklahoma for my once-weekly summer class on Thursday. That would be a snap in a Citation, wouldn't it?
Alas, there was a large system with ceilings below 1000 feet stalled over Illinois and southern Indiana, as well as a growing chance throughout the day of thunderboomers over Missouri. Reluctantly, I returned to the house. My only other chance that week would be to try again Monday, returning on Wednesday, which would mean I would have to leave by 7 am Thursday to make it to my class in Stillwater by noon.
I got to the airport early Monday to make the most of my time. But the remnants of Tropical Storm Arlene had not yet cleared out of Indiana. But after carefully studying the weather charts and forecasts, I determined I had a window of opportunity and sure enough, I was able to get out of Springfield ahead of thunderstorms moving in from the west and with one fuel stop and taking my time, the weather had cleared by the time I got to Indiana. I even had a good stiff tailwind that gave me a good push.
I couldn't imagine that same stiff westerly flow would still be hanging around two days later, but I should have know I couldn't be so lucky. Of course I stretched my visit with the grandchildren until after lunch and by then the winds had begun to lessen, and even more so as I flew west. Aside from the headwind, it was a beautiful day to fly. The big decision was whether to stay below a scattered layer around 5000 feet, get bumped around, or go up to 6500 or 8500 to smooth air but slow down 10-15 knots.
Actually I had started out the flight even lower to take advantage of some southeasterly surface winds. I enjoyed the closer view of the fields and towns and the Wabash River Valley, but when I finally got enough of the bumps, I cruise climbed until I found a compromise of smoothness and speed I could live with. Somewhere southwest of St. Louis the clouds cleared out completely and I cruised on into SGF at a cool 6500 feet.
I really should have just kept on flying on down to Stillwater Wednesday night. It would have only been another hour and a half. But I landed in Springfield, and by Thursday morning a new line of storms was developing in Oklahoma, so I left at 7 am to drive.
On the four-hour drive I meditated about time and our perception of time. The previous day, in the Cherokee Six, a headwind had made me spend an extra half an hour in the plane. Of course most of us hurried and harried Americans bemoan the time lost. We could just as easily change our attitude and be grateful for that extra time we got to spend in an airplane. It's not like it was 9 days!
By 9 days I am referring of course to the time it took Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager to fly non-stop and un-refueled around the world back in Voyager. Of course Dick was one of our speakers at the MPA State Convention in Neosho last week. We tend to romanticize such exploits and it was quite an eye-opener to hear what that was really like, to have to recline for 9 days, wiggling back and forth between the pilot and rest positions in that cramped "cockpit," sleeping an hour or two a day, trying to take off with the wingtips drooping into negative lift from more weight than they had ever carried, re-plumbing the 14 or so fuel tanks to work around a burned out pump on the last day to complete the flight. I was always impressed with that flight, now even more so as I learned more details. It was also intriguing to learn so much about Dick's brother Burt and his many designs, and the coming adventures of private spaceflight.
Thanks to those of you who made it to that memorable convention, to Mike Curtis and the Southwest Chapter and to the many sponsors and volunteers who made it possible.
Fly safely, and I hope to see you at the chapter meeting!
By Earl Homer - June 2005
Flying Journal - A Little Whining, a Little Flying
At long last, in fact, my last semester at Southwest Missouri State University is now history. Just turned those grades in yesterday. I better be careful about saying that I won't be teaching at SMSU next semester. A friend e-mailed that to a friend in another state and caused all kinds of concern. The friend didn't pay enough attention to the next paragraph. "It's now official. The governor has signed the bill so I will be teaching at Missouri State University next year." Sometimes the name change seems like a tempest in a teapot, but supposedly it sounds more prestigious and will help recruit better faculty and students (like the ones who go elsewhere for better money?) Of course most state-"assisted" universities are also facing declining support from their respective state governments.
I'm going to miss our nice short e-mail addresses, "xxx123f@smsu.edu." Don't change them yet, but our new one will be "xxx123f@missouristate.edu." My carpal tunnel syndrome shudders to think of those extra keystrokes, going on forever.
But enough whining. Let's talk about flying. Bill Cheek invited me along as he ferried the Cessna 172 he likes to fly back to its home base at Pittsburg, Kansas. That flight on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon brought back memories, all the way to my first solo cross-country flight. At that time, about 1990, the runways at Springfield Downtown Airport were numbered 10 and 28. We thought it was amusing that you could take off from Runway 28 at Downtown (3DW), and never turn, flying that runway heading of 280 degrees which would take you almost perfectly to a straight-in final on Runway 28 at Pittsburg (PTS). How often does that happen? The runways at 3DW were renumbered 11 and 29 to keep up with that slippery magnetic north pole when they were widened a few years ago.
Pittsburg hasn't changed much, except that now there are about half a dozen biz-jets based at the field. My instructor had said he sent me there because there were three runways, so you always had one into the wind. Also, it was mostly prairie over that route in case you had trouble. Finally, you had good long landmarks in the form of Highways I-44 and US 71 in case you got lost. When I started working as an instructor, I sent many of my own students on that same route, to Pittsburg, then Joplin, and back to Springfield. You get a little bit of everything-towered and un-towered airports, radar and non-radar towers-there's fuel and friendly people at all the airports, it's not long enough to be really tiring, but long enough to count as cross-country time.
When Part 61 of the FARs was changed a few years ago to drop the solo time requirement for the Private Pilot license from 20 to 10 hours, they also dropped the solo cross-country requirement from 10 to 5 and we started shortening up those flights, usually sending first cross-country solos to Joplin or Harrison. I always worried a little more about the rougher terrain between Springfield and Harrison, but it has never been a problem for any of my students.
When I think back, I'm surprised how many memorable flights I've had to Pittsburg, KS. I flew over there to take my practical exam for the Instrument Instructor Rating. That examiner has since taken an FAA job in Texas. About 6 am one morning I flew a thousand pounds of freight on a charter in an old Piper Aztec. I loved that plane, all 500 horsepower. My first student who has made it to airline captain built some of his turbine time flying freight in a Cessna Caravan between Springfield and Pittsburg for a few months and he took me along one night for my introduction to turbine flying.
If you ever stop in at Pittsburg, be sure to look at the photos and plaques on the wall. You can still see the three-runway configuration from when it was a training base in 1942.
Fly safely, and I hope to see you at the MPA State Convention at Neosho, June 10-11!
By Earl Homer - May 2005
Flying Journal - Some Joyous Flying-and a Great Sadness!
It would have been a great month in my flying. While I had given Wings lessons or a B.F.R. for a little flying each month this winter, it had been a while since I had flown much by myself or any distance. Last weekend everything came together for me and I borrowed a Cherokee Six to fly to Indianopolis to visit my daughter Heidi, her husband Stan, and my granddaughter, Claire.
There are several GA airports around Indy. In the past, I had used Indy Metropolitan, but Heidi and Stan have moved a little farther west in the city to their own condo, so this time I tried Eagle Creek Airpark (EYE), just west of the city, and just north of International Airport, just under the Class C shelf, rather like Springfield Downtown sits under the shelf of SGF. It's only a couple miles from the old Speedway airport, sadly now closed. That's another airport I will never have landed at, along with Meigs and St. Louis Weiss.
When I'm an old (really old) pilot I'll probably still be telling my students, "If you see a plane you want to fly (or an airport you want to land at), go ahead and do it, because it may not be there next month or next year."
The flight up on Friday was uneventful and beautiful. Only a few high thin clouds, and the southerly winds were pretty much a wash, little headwind or tailwind component. The first thing I noticed was Illinois looked rather dry, especially compared to the lush green of Spring in both Missouri and Indiana. I have flown to and over the Indy area many times, but of course never to this airport. I had considered it once before. The Metro Airport I had used before was the only one in the area with 15-33 runways. All the other airports have runway alignments more like 2-20 and 3-21. Once when I came in the wind was gusting around 25 from the northeast, making a nasty direct crosswind at Metro. My plan was to make one attempt and if I didn't like it, I would try another airport. But the landing went well (better than some of my less challenging ones-go figure!) and I never tried another airport.
Upon my arrival, the wind was moderate, so I just had to find the 4200 foot runway in the haze and urban sprawl (don't worry, I had Loran and GPS, but when I'm VFR, I still like to SEE the damn thing I'm going to land on). Fortunately Eagle Creek Airpark is adjacent to Eagle Creek Reservoir so it was easy to find. I think the lake is about 1200 acres, a couple square miles, so that's a nice big landmark. It is in Eagle Creek Park, which at 3700 acres, claims to be the 4th largest city park in America.
We had a great visit. Saturday Stan and Claire and I spent some time hiking and visiting the Nature Center in Eagle Creek Park. The flying was a little different returning on Sunday. A front was moving through Illinois with a strong westerly flow. Pilot reports indicated moderate turbulence below 10,000 feet. Winds upon my return to SGF were forecast around 20 and gusty. As I left Indiana, it was almost constant turbulence. I dodged clouds and tried different altitudes as I worked my way through Illinois. Twice, my head hit the headliner. Well actually, I was just sitting there minding my own business when the ceiling of the cockpit came down and hit me! Yes, my seatbelt was snug. Yes, it smoothed out a little around 8500 feet, but there were more clouds ahead and above, and I didn't feel like being blasted through all those rising cumulous IFR. About the time I got high enough to be smooth, the groundspeed dropped 15-20 knots, so I worked my way back down, to take the speed and saved fuel in return for the rough ride.
Actually, it was roughest between 5 and 6 thousand. When I crossed south of Festus into Missouri, I was past the front so clouds were gone, but even windier. Winds on the surface were around 150-160 degrees, from the southeast, but about 190 degrees at 30 knots or so at 6,000 feet. Yep, there's that Coriolis Effect you learned about. Finally, I ended up cruising over Missouri about 3500 feet, so I got the good view, and little headwind. And somehow, the turbulence didn't really bother me. I guess I was so glad to be flying. Also, I was very relaxed, and didn't fight it, and just let the plane bounce around me. Now I've got to figure out how to teach that to students who tense up and resist the bumps and thereby make it worse.
I guess the wind had gusted to thirty a little earlier, but it was 160 at 19, gusting to 26 when I landed on Runway 14 at SGF. It's the only place I worry much about what my landings look like, since I know several controllers, who have a ringside seat right there by runway 14. I thought I had it nailed, but at the last minute a gust held me back up for a moment, but it was otherwise uneventful. So it ended up being one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time. I'll just say this about fuel prices. I paid from $2.50 to $3.55 per gallon for 100 LL Avgas on this trip. That's an adventure in itself, and maybe another story.
So what was so bad about the month? My cousin, Thomas Arthur Holmer, SGF chapter member and former President of our Chapter, died March 28 of lung cancer. Sadly, we were out of town for his memorial get-together. My mother and one brother were able to attend. Those of you who knew Tom know what a great person he was. He was also a great pilot, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in the National Guard, with thousands of hours in both business jets and turbine helicopters. He will be sorely missed and our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Mary, daughters Anne and Kate, and all his family and friends. Tom and I went to the same school in Gowrie, Iowa when I was in first grade and he was in fifth grade, but then they moved to Mississippi and we moved to Colorado. I was so pleased when they moved to Springfield 4 or 5 years ago. Tom's parents, Art and Lil, live in Mesa, Arizona. He is also survived by sisters, Ruth and Sally and their families. Sadly, Tom's younger brother, Bill, was killed in a crop-dusting accident in the early 70s.
Fly safely, and share the joy (and don't forget to share your love with your loved ones)!
By Earl Homer - April 2005
Flying Journal - A Little Great Flying-Some Great Little Stories
I can't agree with Bill more-things are looking up. Last month I got my first flight in a Harmon Rocket, a tandem two-seat tail-dragger beefed up from the original Van's RV-4 design to accommodate, in this case, 260 ponies! Sort of a "crotch rocket" of "experimental" airplanes.
I have given tailwheel instruction from the back seat of an Aeronca Champ, but this was a little different. It was shorter than the front seat of a Cub. I'm glad I'm not even an inch taller. I could just sit under the canopy without removing the cushion. I could see some of the instruments with a stretch, but as I pointed out to the owner, the real horizon through that wide-reaching canopy and the pitch of the wings are enough for an instructor to know how the pilot is flying (at least under VFR).
The take-off roll, even with the two of us healthy boys, was smooth and all that power (what I'm used to flying on a six-seater!) thrust us forward and then up so soon I hardly had time to form an impression of the tailwheel technique. As we neared 3500 feet in a practice area, I raised up a little to see the airspeed indicating 160 knots in the climb! I'm in love and I'm spoiled, yet once again!
I always enjoy the smoothness of six-cylinder engines. Furthermore, this airplane was mechanically very smooth. I noticed on pre-flight, and then as I gingerly took the stick, how silky smooth the pivots on the control surfaces seemed. Aerodynamically and mechanically, the dominant impression was smoothness, with no sticking, no hesitation, no backlash. I have often commented that the cables and pivots on garden variety rental airplanes are a more crude technology than a modern bicycle!
I say I took the stick gingerly, as I recalled that on my first, check-out flight in an RV-6, I had taken the stick like I did in the Champ, and within a second I had to grab my hand with the other one and brace it against my knee to bring the plane back to level. It was about 4 times more sensitive than what I had flown before. My first lesson in a helicopter was like that, as well. But this time I was pleased that she never budged her attitude as we transferred control. Stalls recoveries were easy and gentle. We took turns maneuvering and worked up through medium and steep turns. She was easy to hold the nose up, even in 59 degree banked turns.
Ah, yes, another great plane in my collection flown-and a pleasure to fly with a pilot who had mastered that plane. Landings were pretty ordinary tailwheel events, requiring steady rudder attention, but no nasty habits displayed.
As far as stories go, I occasionally gather with some WWII veterans, who we all owe so much to, and I love their stories. They were really rolling this night. Just a sample, from a couple B-17 pilots. Imagine nearly a thousand B-17s in one raid. It boggles the mind. Then imagine a thousand B-17s trying to take off in IMC. Imagine a thousand B-17s spiraling up through the soup in a stack over low frequency beacons and then seeing them pop out of the tops all around you as you try to find the colored flares of your lead plane.
And finally, a story that I will use to illustrate one of the principles of flight we must teach to all private pilots. Students initially seem to think "ground effect" is a bad thing, because it makes them float down an extra runway length when they land their Cherokees too hot, or maybe they lifted off too slow once, and settled back down and scared themselves. But ground effect can get you off a soft field, or it can save your life.
Imagine a B-17, trying to return from a raid on just one engine, instead of two or three or all four. I don't think they are supposed to be able to fly on one engine. The crew volunteers to stay, even though the pilot orders them to bail out. They fly across the channel in ground effect, and unable to climb enough to reach the land in England, beach it successfully on the mud of the coast. There's no fiction that makes a better story than that!
Fly safely, and share the joy (including your memories)!
By Earl Homer - March 2005
