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Launched on a journey of 1,000 miles
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We depart late of course; airborne at 0930 CST. I had hoped for an earlier departure for this long trip. No one else is ever late for takeoffs, I guess. This trip starts at our home base of North Little Rock (KORK) and goes (maybe nonstop) 1,000 miles to Harford, CT, to attend the annual AOPA EXPO 2007. There is a long flight ahead.
The Sky Prints bound single book with all the VFR sectional charts is very handy. Today we will travel over half the United States but will only use one book. No charts all over the cockpit. I use a simple notation to record any frequency changes I encounter directly onto the chart. That way I’m better prepared for the return and any future flights, and don’t have to scrabble for changes lost in the last flight notes bin.
Flight following is one of the great services we GA pilots are afforded. I always use it, and even for long trips plan only a direct-to flight. With flight following you get the excellent radar service that goes with the use of the controller’s airspace (you’re only borrowing it for a while). All the benefits of an IFR flight plan without the responsibilities. Just use good judgment and some social grace to let the folks at center know you appreciate the service.
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Our little segment of a great circle arc (orange line at end of arrow) hardly tickles this cow's flank.
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Today our course arcs north in a graceful segment of a great circle, which is the shortest distance between two points on a sphere. The initial heading starts from North Little Rock at 066 and ends in Hartford at 094.
Another aid I’ve grown fond of is the SureCheck 496 GPS manual. Here are some of the guidelines from that manual I’m thinking of today.
• Expired Databases are Passé! An easy way to get into trouble is the use of outdated information to avoid airspace or find a wrong frequency. We post reminders in Sting Notes when Garmin issues new databases and other updates, to help you keep your GPS current.
• 1,000 Miles to the Next Waypoint? Are you really flying that far non-stop? Check that you entered the correct location.
• Direct-Through a Mountain? GPS route calculations do not consider terrain, airspace, TFRs, International Boundaries or fuel capacity. ALWAYS have current maps and watch for terrain and other obstacles.
• Chart Trumps GPS! GPS is awfully good but the current published charts with NOTAMs are the final authority, not the GPS.
• Look Outside! Be extra vigilant for traffic when using airways or crossing naviads. Other GPS equipped aircraft flying your route may wind up on the course centerline right next to you. By the way, if you have the PCAS™ collision avoidance system installed in your StingSport, you’ll soon discover what a help it is.
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Seriously, the route.
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The 496 XM WX™ weather is great. It helps keep things current on a long trip. Winds are shown at the surface plus at 3,000, 6,000, 9,000 and 12,000 feet, in addition to the movement of air masses. Airmets, Sigmets, Metars, TAFs and even TFRs pop up or go off screen as they are reported. I don’t fly without it. So what will be our climb-to winds today?
As forecast, the winds are showing the same at 6,000 or 9,000 so we settle in at 7,500 for the ride. A better tailwind component than expected is calculated and displayed on the big Grand Rapids Technologies dual glass screens. They even agree with each other! Our groundspeed varies from 118 to 157 knots but the ride is as smooth as my grandbaby’s’ butt.
On a long trip leg you have time to enjoy and think a bit. All the goodness, blessings and freedom to fly where and when you wish. I have told other pilots to enjoy each trip so I remind myself to do the same. There are many people who will live their entire life and not see the things we see in one flight. But they are there down below, in arrarys of tiny homes where people are living a good and full lives. The homes, by the way, are much bigger if you fly lower.
NON-STOP TO HARTFORD?
Because of the forecast favorable winds, we originally intended to attempt the entire trip non-stop. But I don’t have a room for the night at Hartford so I go for a better cruise speed. This plane has the long range wing tanks which can stretch to seven hours of seat time. That is a long time to sit! But pushing the ground speed we will have about 6 hours endurance, so there will be a stop for the night.
I try to plan refueling stops by their location as near to ‘on-course’ as possible. Preferably I would like for my approach to be straight in to the runway aligned with the course. Less lost time in wandering off to find a good refuel location 20 miles away. But that is ideal, today I have found a small airport with fuel that is on-course but the winds are favoring the reciprocal of our heading. So I start a letdown at the VNav indicators and keep the power in place for the descent. Not a lot of power, but enough to gain some airspeed rather that descend at idle. Horizontal travel time is the plan for the day and the elapsed time so far is 5.4 hours
Refuel and launch in 15 minutes. To take advantage of the slowly decreasing tail wind we climb to 9,500 feet for the rest of the trip. Ouch, we just lost an hour going East because the sun likes to go West. Now where can I put it that hour so I can find it on the return trip? We don’t know where we will spend the night but the sun is at our back and we press on.
Traffic increases as we near the busy New York Center and approach control. You can tell that all those jets are aimed at one spot and are arriving from our rear to make the gate times at LaGuardia or Islip. Although the chatter is fast and frantic, the controllers allow us to mix into their system. They talk fast even for New Yorkers.
WEATHER CHECK BRINGS CHANGE OF PLAN
Checking the enroute weather and possible overnight airports along our route we find that fog and low ceilings are forecast for the morning in Hartford. They now have overcast skies and weather is moving in from the Atlantic. I really believe that on board XM WX™ weather is a extremely good safety improvement. It allows you to make rational decisions while airborne to complete or change your route with knowledge of where the conditions are most favorable. After some high level thinking it appears that we should press on for a night landing at Hartford even though we have no place to sleep. Even friendly competitor Greg McCarthy has tried to help us find a room for the night but none are available.
North of New York City, ahead of us, we can see gathering clouds at our altitude and begin to plan an enroute decent to remain VFR. The sun finally gives up its last bit of twilight and we push into the eastern night sky.
As we descend, the clouds become overcast above us making the night darker. We finally have good forward visibility at 3,500 feet. Now our helpful wind turns around and we are swimming upstream against a 15 knot headwind. Our goal of a non-stop flight would never have come true. At 60 miles from Hartford, New York tells us that our altitude is too low for flight following and service is terminated, squawk VFR. Sudden but not unexpected. We can finsh this flight in less than 30 minutes. Hartford ATIS says come on in; the weather is good but expect fog and low ceilings in the morning. That meets our plan! Even the tower controller has been watching us since the abrupt New York handoff. So New York kept him posted on our arrival and was not abrupt after all, just a little too busy for low altitude traffic.
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Folks rarely forget their first demo ride in a StingSport
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HELPING HANDS ALONG THE WAY
Lots of frequency changes along this flight route! Do you remember the Jonny Cash song, “I’ve been everywhere man, I been everywhere!” Well here are some of the folks that loaned me airspace during this trip: Little Rock Departure, Memphis Center, Nashville Approach, Minneapolis Center, Louisville Approach, Lexington Approach, Cincinnati Approach, Huntington Approach, Indianapolis Center, Charleston Approach, Pittsburg Approach, Cleveland Center, (Washington ADIZ), Washington Center, Baltimore Approach, Harrisburg Approach, Philadelphia Approach, Allentown Approach, New York Center, (New York is busy!), New York Approach, Boston Center, Bradley Hartford Approach, and finally the Hartford-Brainard Tower which has radar and was kind enough to point out that many other pilots also line up on that brightly lit, straight freeway at night (like I do at first). Especially true when the approach end of the runway is hidden right in front of some smokestacks and the runway lights are turned down.
1,000 MILES • 7.8 HOURS • 128 KNOTS
So we arrive safely after 7.8 hours of flight that averaged over 128 knots groundspeed. It was a good flight. Oh, by the way, since we were in Hartford we did a few demo flights after the show. Stay tuned to Sting Notes for the final portion of this trip report and the return flight using more information from the XM weather services.
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