CraigV

History

4 Making Progress & Radio Problems:: Revision

Last updated by CraigV

Categories: Trike Talk, Tech, Equipment, Safety, Cross Country / XC, Big Fast Trikes, Weather

Some of the Back story-- Making Progress & Radio Problems:

June 16:

Yesterday was a very short day.  Left Dalhart, TX after 7 AM to give
the morning rain and TS's a chance to clear out of my path and zigged
over to Texhoma, OK (K49) then zigged back to Springfield, CO (8V7).
It was REALLY blowing at Springfield and I had already made the
decision to stop at the first AP that made sense after Springfield,
since there were lots of TS's ahead and even tornado warnings from
before Dodge City going East in the afternoon.

I had been watching the sky and the cloud edge to the East since
taking off from Dalhart. It was impressive with a definite line of
clouds with lots of cumulus that spread 2/3 across the horizon (at 9
AM) and that cloud line continued to the south and was just dark and
angry looking. I was rapidly overtaking the trailing edge of these
clouds as I headed East after Springfield but had already made the
decision to to stop at the first airport that made sense after
Springfield.  It became clear I would have to fly into that imposing
line if I were to make Pratt or even Ulysses but Stanton Co., KS (2K3)
looked good, so I started to descend there.

It was striking to feel the different air masses during that descent.
Most of the flight had been in warm, moist air but that last bit into
Stanton Co. turned cold in just a moment. It was easy to imagine these
different air masses feeding the cumulus and TS's that had just passed
through here just a couple hours before. The winds were calm (which is
probably why I my first bad landing of the trip) but they said the
winds were blowing 40 MPH the previous afternoon.

….

This morning I had planned to jump East to Pratt, only about 150
miles, but the forecasts had changed overnight and I decided to stay
here one more day.  It's interesting how my weather information
gathering has changed on this trip. In the past, my computer at home
was my main-stay and I primarily used Airnet.com and supplemented it
with my smart phone while traveling.  It was a good system.  Look for
a good weather window and consult Airnet.com a lot and go.

That system would have been quite cumbersome on this trip with the
wildly varied and rapidly changing weather.  My new iPad has opened up
a big online world to me. Airnet.com does not begin to give the detail
needed now.  I mainly use the NOAA weather site now  with Airnet.com
to provide some winds aloft, Weathermeister.com for a good all around
view, WingXPro for METARS, TAF's and quick in-air WX updates and
Flight Guide for some weather while approaching some airports. I do
have a ADS-B receiver that I ran out of time and didn't get installed
before leaving and did play around with it a little bit but have to
admit that it was becoming too much extra "stuff" even for me, the
aviation tech hound. I'll probably go see if I can get it working
today.

...Just got a call from the airport.  The motor on the
hangar door has died and he doesn't know how I'm going to get my trike
out tomorrow.  We've got some head scratching to do.

That's it for now...off to breakfast.

Craig

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Date: June 19: Making Progress this time

The weather has been as good as can be expected this time of year
in the Southeast. Hazy in the mornings and the cumulous build up and
turbulence driving me down around noon. I'm down near Mobile, AL
tonight and it was about 95 degrees this afternoon when it started
raining. Sorry I haven't written lately but I run out of time in the
day when I'm flying more. Mostly head winds today, hoping for
tailwinds as I turn North tomorrow and also hoping for a few more days
of good weather.

Interesting airport I'm at tonight. When I landed there were about 20
Navy prop trainers on the apron. There are military bases close to
here, so all the young pilots stop here as part of their training.

Craig

======
June 20th:

I landed and stayed in Bay Minette, AL yesterday and picked up MS, AR,
LA and AL. Just a couple miles to FL where I'll touch my toe, then
head Northeast. Not sure if I'll make it your way or not Trevor...will
keep you posted.
Fought headwinds all day yesterday but hoping for favorable winds
today as I turn in more of a northerly direction. Looks like I've
lucked out on the weather in the SE after all the winds, TS, hail and
tornado warnings in CA, AZ, NM, TX, CO and KS. It's time I caught a
weather break!
Will try to write something proper tonight.

Craig

later that day----

Having radio problems and also set it down due to mid day turbulence. Headwinds again today with weather moving in. Trying to get up to Trevor about 120 miles away, NE of Atlanta and hope to figure out the radio problem. Had to use the Icom back up radio and it barely works sitting in my lap. If I unplug all my electronic junk it helps somewhat. ... Thank God I brought everything.

Craig