BK1 Sun-N-Fun 2006 – Can’t Blame the Pilot, Can We?
Woke up the next morning to the usual low clouds for this area, the kind that burns off between 9 and 10 am. By the time camp was packed up, Tony came by and ask if I would like to come back up to his house for breakfast, great to start the day with such an easy decision. Met his wife and kids and had a great meal with some extremely friendly people. Soon the clouds began to break up and it was time to continue the second leg of the trip. Skywest is just on west edge of the inner ring of the Mobile Class C so we had to go back north the same12.5 miles needed for this detour before slowly veering east. The overcast was keeping the altitude to about 500 ft AGL, but soon patches of sun began to mix with the gloom and we pressed on. Couldn’t help but noticed that below there was nothing but water and thick clumps of trees below for miles, the great Mobile Bay swamp. Great, just what we need to start the day with an engine still on probation from yesterdays bad plug incident. Of course it immediately went into “automatic rough” mode, with nothing wrong, except between pilot’s the ears. This was the very moment that the decision was made to buy and ELT, it’s not required on single place aircraft, at least not until now on mine. Saw a long highway bridge a few miles north and noted that would be a great way to cross this area on the way back. The weather above and the terrain below kept steadily improving and before long we were getting relaxed again in smooth air and having fun once more.
The fuel looked good to make to Tri-County airport, the originally planned 2/3 stop yesterday, even with the 25 mile detour to Sky West. It took about 12 gallons of fuel to top her off, right on the money. Ask about the accommodations for overnight campers, since this is was where the original plan was to overnight. On this trip there were going to be no motels, have to make up for the higher gas cost someplace. They were very nice and said I could set up the tent on the lawn and use the bathroom and shower, will keep this in mind for the next trip. Before long we were back on course again, still a little jumpy about things in the very recent past, but the engine sounded strong and was restoring my confidence fast. Soon we made the “Tallahassee turn” and picked up highway 19 to start the longest IFR (I Follow Roads) portion of the trip. Miles of trees and swamps cut by one lone highway 19, it’s a boulevard with a nice looking grass area between, just like it was made for what I am using it for, a security blanket.
The mid day heat started to set in which for ground huggers like me that the ride starts to get hot and rough. Not so bad, but as the hours pass it starts to wear on the nerves. This was supposed to be a 1/3 trip leg from Tri-County to Lakeland, but about half way as closed in on Cross City, things started to malfunction. A well timed bump sent the first handful of my trail mix lunch all over my lap. Another bump spilled my luke warm water from the bottle down my shirt. Finally the sectional charts’s going south flip over and re-fold went south and it really started to get irritating. Several attempts left me frustrated with a wadded up mess where the straight red line over this flat country looked more like a winding mountain road. That was the last straw, we are stopping now to at least fix get the map fixed! After another not so great landing later we taxied up to the Cross City gas pumps.
The attendant must have sensed my mood as she cheerfully said, “You look hot and hungry, go get a free cold drink and grilled hot dog while you cool off in the air conditioned terminal building”. Wow! Now that’s service, felt like we went through a time warp back to the full service gas station era, you know, when they wanted your business. This was the same great place that was so good to me a couple of years ago on my first epic cross country so should have not been so surprised. About a half hour later we were, cooled down, with a full plane, full stomach, and properly tamed map. Stopping here turned out be great idea and really made the day, thanks to that pesky map.
The last hour’s flight into Lakeland was a pleasure with the building excitement of getting there. Since it was a few days early we had to talk to ATC for one of the two times required each year. Sure, they identify us amateur mike fright types in the first two seconds, but they just talk slower and make gentle corrections as I stumble through the pattern reading what they just said back wrong. A few minutes later here we are rolling up to the homebuilt parking area guided by a Gator (the ATV kind). Soon we were tying it down at Sun-N-Fun, right up front, second from the gate. This is going to be a great week.
It was a bit disappointing we did not make it to Lakeland in two stops like last summer’s Oshkosh 2005 trip. But we still made it in two days easily even with yesterday’s spark plug problem and today’s pesky map, we can’t blame the pilot, can we?
Thank, Bruce King