BK1 Oshkosh 2005 - Stuck In the Blades of the Pinwheel

Missed last year’s Oshkosh convention and itching to get going. Checked the weather this early Wednesday and saw that Hurricane Emily was just onshore about 400 due South just past Brownsville. It had been producing steady waves of rain bands over San Antonio with gaps of nice weather in between. I could imagine escaping to the north between the spiraling bands like a fly trying to go through the blades of a spinning pinwheel. The radar showed no rain bands in the way or coming for a while, so out to the airport we went to try and get all the stuff in the airplane and depart. The backpack with a 7 changes of clothes, tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, and other stuff came in at 25 pounds. Add four sectionals, water bottle, two boxes of business cards, two bags of trail mix, a pillow, and three towels we are ready for a week at Oshkosh.

At takeoff time it had been about an hour since the last look at the radar, but about an even number of scattered darker areas and blue sky sucker holes enticed me to go for it. Started the “Navigate Route” function of the GPS and off we went. Knowing that we were at “Oshkosh” gross weight brought back the “Overweight Hummel” takeoff style. Pick up the tail, wait until the ASI reads 55, then pick it up slowly. Well, a bump in the Zuehl grass put it in the air at about 48 indicated, but it felt solid. GPS zoomed in close to show the antennas, we first found a small shower strait ahead with about equally sized sucker holes on both sides. We could see the horizon through the hole to the left, so went that way. A couple of minutes later, things really started looking up when a shaft of sun broke through. Great confidence builder, we can handle this he thought bravely. A couple of more scattered shower to navigate ahead and we will be in the clear. Took the left fork in the road again, but this time there was no light at the end of the tunnel. A few drops started to hit the windshield as the chicken pilot returned and we executed a 180. Tried to navigate around the east end of the shower since there was a nice blue sky sucker hole over there. After flying east for about 30 miles, began to realize that this is a great way to go the Houston, not Oshkosh. There did not seem to be an east end to this shower now. That blue sky sucker hole was just above the skud layer we were approaching, so pulled up for a quick look and saw nothing but another weather box canyon ahead. Another quick 180 back to the clear spot that now seemed to be shrinking rapidly.

This seemed like a good time to check out the “Nearest Airport” feature of that new GPS. The first on the list was 4 miles, but toward the weather. The next one was Lufkin, about 11 miles away from the weather. The now completely chicken pilot decided to land there and look the situation over from the safety of the ground. The weather was changing so fast was not sure if I could even get back to Zuehl. They had a weather computer there and what it showed was scary. A 200 mile wide rain band had formed in the last hour and was growing fast. Another to the south was forming and moving in fast. Fortunately the path back to Zuehl was clear and this time the weather information was current. So tail between the legs the chicken pilot put the bird back in the coop and went home. Not much of a start for the epic journey, being stuck between the blades of the pinwheel.

Thanks, Bruce King

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