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 It was July 10, 2006, when I arrived where the airplane lived in Mansfield, Massachusetts, expecting to train with the owner that Monday and Tuesday before completing the purchase, then fly to Pennsylvania to get signed off on my license by a CFI there before heading home to Wisconsin. But the weather was bad both days and all I got to do was make six trips around the pattern on Tuesday between intervals of wind and rain. Wednesday I was expected in Littleton, Massachussetts, for a couple of days of consulting work with an electronics firm before heading back to Mansfield.
From Mansfield, the owner and I flew down to Pennsylvania to get my license signed off for that category of aircraft. What a flight it was (2.5 hours each way)! The flight path took us directly over Manhattan and all the New York landmarks. The guy I was with was used to this traffic area so he took care of the communication details. It was fantastic! I have a new mental vision of the entire New York area. He pointed out all of the landmarks (Central Park, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the twin towers location and more). In this aircraft you have unlimited visibility in all directions so it was a very educational experience. I got my light sport signoff in Pennsylvania so was now legal to fly the StingSport solo.
I was ready to start home on Saturday. However, the money transfer that was supposed to take place on Friday did not happen. So there I sat unable to pay the remaining money I owed the current owner to take possession of the aircraft. I sat all weekend in Mansfield with nothing to do. Saturday I went down to Newport, Rhode Island, and played tourist. An interesting city. Sunday I drove to Cape Cod and was not impressed. Tons of traffic, millions of people, not much to see, and expensive. Very incompatible for an old farm boy from Wisconsin. Getting back across the bridge from Cape Cod was not fun on Sunday afternoon.
Come Monday, the check still had not been received so I sat in Mansfield another day. On Tuesday the check arrived and was wired to my bank and then to the plane owner's bank. I finally headed West on Tuesday afternoon and overnighted in Tunahannuck, Pennsylvania. It is a very small airport surrounded by mountains. Not accustomed to mountains in the pattern (since at home in Wisconsin the geography is essentially flat in all directions) I was high on final and had to do a go-around. There was a gas station adjacent to the airport so I borrowed a gas can and pickup truck and fueled with 93 octane auto fuel. They are friendly, grassroots aviation people there who showed much interest in the StingSport.
Next morning I headed out across Pennsylvania. It's a long flight over endless, unfriendly, forested mountains until about Pittsburg with few places to make a forced landing if necessary. I went high to 6,500 feet so I had altitude to use if I had to pick a place to land.
The next stop was in Salem, Ohio, for fuel. New Era Aviation is a StingSport dealer there and I dropped in to say hello. They were in the process of assembling several new StingSports and I got a chance to see the "interior guts" of a StingSport.
No auto fuel was available in Salem so I fueled with 100LL. Headed out again I flew low to stay under the Cleveland controlled airspace. All my trip legs were about 2 to 2.5 hours. This is very safe fuel usage with much reserve in that plane (and that is about my bladder capacity with not much reserve).
About 30 miles out of Salem there was a loud pop, and wind noise became evident. I did not know what had happened behind me so I thought I had better stop to take a look. Aircraft control had not changed at all so I was not too concerned but wind noise was loud. I selected "go to nearest" on the GPS. It then shows you a list of nearest airports from nearest, next nearest, next nearest, etc. with the distance and course to get to each. I selected one ahead that was not too far off my course, punched "go to" and followed the new course to Medina, Ohio. Landed there and found out that the small window that covers the ballistic aircraft parachute rocket exit had come ajar and was lying in the rear of the cabin. The rubber gasket that holds it in place was presumably lying somewhere in Ohio. So, I got some duct tape (what else) from the A&P there and taped it back in place hoping I would not have to use the parachute.
I left Medina and headed for my next stop in Kendallville, Indiana where l filled again with 100LL. The next stop after Kendallville was south of Chicago at New Lenox airport. It was late in the afternoon and the visibility had grown very poor with haze. I stayed under about 4,000 feet so I could have fair visibility. I arrived at the airport South of Chicago I had arbitrarily chosen for the next stop and was grateful to be on the ground. It was not fun flying through this haze. I began to look around and the place seemed strangely deserted. There was one fellow at his hanger in rows of hangers so I taxied over to talk to him. He told me that everyone there had gotten notification on July 1 that they had to be out by July 31. The airport was closing and would be developed. There I was, at essentially a closed airport with no food or hotels in sight. The airport was still open but clearly shutting down for good and almost everybody had pulled out. Now what? The guy suggested I fly over to Joliet airport only 11 miles away. It was an active airport and had hotels nearby. So, reluctantly, I took off and followed my GPS heading through the haze again to Joliet, a very short flight. It was a good airport and I found a good hotel very near the airport. Boy was I relieved! I looked forward to the final leg of the trip, a short 130 miles to my destination at the Iowa county airport at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, the next morning.
But when the next morning arrived it was IFR all day. I sat at the airport, unable to leave in the stormy overcast weather. I checked back into the hotel again that night.
The next morning (Friday) the overcast remained and radar showed rain on my course. Again I sat on the ground looking at the sky frustrated. Finally, in the afternoon, flight service said it was marginal VFR between Joliet and Mineral Point although radar showed some rain very close to my destination in Wisconsin. I took off and conditions were not bad at all. Visibility was good under 10,000 ft. Being cautious, I had set Monroe, Wisconsin, as the destination on the GPS. Monroe was about 30 miles short of my Mineral Point but almost on course and looked clear on the radar. I did this in case my real destination was weathered in as the radar in Joliet showed.
When I arrived at Monroe I was looking at a wall of rain showers from left to right not far past Monroe so it was a good to have the choice of landing there. They even had an empty hanger for me to park in. Monroe is only about 40 minutes via road from where I live so called my wife and she drove down and picked me up.
The next morning, Saturday, we had to leave for wilderness camp we were scheduled to be at in Northern Wisconsin so the plane lived in Monroe for a week. I spent that entire week at the camp and at Oshkosh Airventure 2006 driving tram as a volunteer for four days.
It was now three weeks since I had left for Massachussetts and my lawn looked like a hay field. Finally, Monday, July 31, my wife drove me to Monroe and I made the final 30 mile flight to my home field and I hangared my passion in it's new home. My wife had driven from Monroe to the Iowa county airport to pick me up again. I polished and kissed my new love good night (and my wife didn't even care) and parted for home with an indelible smile painted on my face.
The experience in Massachussetts and flight to Wisconsin had been filled with frustration, anxiety, helplessness, and boredom while waiting. But, it was an exciting adventure that I will always remember and feel privileged to have experienced. When one is presented with the task of having to make life decisions for which no chance of preplanning can be made for every detail, it creates a great feeling to have gone through it and arrived unscathed. Philosophically, it is a microcosm of life. Throughout life, one has to make decisions based upon the information at hand at the time. Sometimes those decisions are right and sometimes they are wrong and you live with the consequences. So it was in my short adventure. Actually, in retrospect I am grateful for the challenges I experienced. God blessed me with what it took to make the right decisions and to solve the problems, and gave me safety along the way. Again a microcosm of what is experienced in life.
I look forward now to simple pleasure flying the StingSport on bright sunny days in Wisconsin. If you care to join me, let me know and we will soar together exploring God's world and it's beauty from the air.
The aviation characters I encountered along the way were pure serendipity. General aviation people tend to be opinionated, conservative individuals who want to tell you what is wrong with the world. An example of this was an old pilot character that I talked to at some length at the Mansfield, Massachussetts, airport while I waited there. He looked and talked like he had been personal friends with Orville and Wilbur. Somehow the Massachussetts Kennedys came up. He had many stories about the Kennedys that I assure you, you don't hear on the news. Correct or not, it was great fun listening to him. I loved it! At most stops on the way home guys came out to see the StingSport since it is of a new type they were not familiar with. At some stops it was hard to continue my journey because they wanted to talk. Each one was a character in his own right. A very fun, rich experience, as are all days in general aviation for those of us that are driven to share in this sport!
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