I returned from my trip to OSH last evening. What a flight !! I put 50.8 hours on the old Musketeer seeing the US at 100 Kts !! I left Watts-Woodland(o41) on July 20th for the first leg to Bullhead City AZ. My partner Kevin and I stayed over the night as it was 114 degrees when we arrived and I didn't think the Musketeer would climb very well with full fuel and the load we were carrying. We departed at 4am with a temp of 94 degrees and headed for Santa Fe NM.On the way were watched the sun begin to light up the desert and flew past the crator. We arrived at Santa Fe and I asked the fuler to fill to the tabs as the OAT was 96. Kevin and I went to luch and upon returning the tanks were topped. We had a field elevation of 6300 feet but, the runway was long and I decided we could slow climb out-and slow climb it was. We got off with 1K feet of runway left and lumbered around at 100-200 FPM until we found a thermal-we didn't need to wait long for that. We climbed to 8300 and it was apparent that was all we were going to get. We went south to an intersection recommended by the controller that gave us a 2K seperation from the ground. We went non-stop to Tulsa International for the Brittain auto pilot upgrade. Tulsa had a major thunderstorm and we considered an alternate. We had my 496 for weather and the the note stated the ceilings were 4500 feet so, we contacted Tulsa and learned people were getting in without issue. We went under the clouds and could see the walls of water a few miles right and left but, the path to Tulsa was clear. We made it without worry, no chances were taken !! Jerry Waters from Brittian met me at Sparks Aviation and beagn the install on Monday. Kevin and I visited the OK city site of the bombing and boy was it a tear jerker. If anyone has a chance to visit, they now have all the evidence on display. It makes one angry at the criminals involved but proud of the reaction of all the americans who participated in the event. The install took a day longer than expected but, it was worth it. I had Jerry add a heading hold and two nav tracking sources to my wing leveler. -More on that in a minute. Leaving Tul, We flew to Canton Ill to meet with an old friend, and get a free meal and room prior to OSH. We arrived with a beautiful sunset, had a steak dinner and by moring had ceilings of 1200 feet!!! We filed for an IFR clearance while enroute and obtained a direct OSH. I turned on the Brittian auto pilot and coupled it to the GPS and it flew the heading within two degrees all the way!!! I didn't have alt hold so, I watched the pitch. After 2.5 hours of solid IMC we broke out just prior to Ripon. That was great as I didn't have a reservation for OSH. If you can't get VFR at ripon and without a reservation you get sent off to an alternate. Lucky us we got to OSH!!! I was a little worried as I had heard of the long lines of planes arriving and the problems. WE SAW ONE PLANE ha ha. An aerostar passed us and that was it. The weather was bad so we didn't have the problem. We did find it funny that the arrows on the chart showing the arrival were actually painted on the RR tracks. No chance for mistakes. We did three days of Oshkosh, meeting the first night with BAC'rs at the dinner at the Hilton Garden-Thanks to Bob and his wife. The dinner was great and it proves once again BAC'rs rock!!! The following day we hit the booths and I tried to get a deal on the ZAON traffic alert that interacts with the 496. They were all sold out so, I walked away empty. We watched the airshow but, it ended when two P-51s were involved in an accident. I'm sure most of you have read about it. All I will say is it was a very avoidable accident and I was sad that there was no reason for the loss. The pilots were simulating a Reno air race-simulating, oh well.
On Monday we left OSH for Alpena Mich to see my sister. I have a thing about long over water flights-I hate cold water except to drink, so, we flew around the coast line. We had a head wind all through prior the flights but for once had a little tail wind. Since we were going by Mac Island I wanted to stop. We spent 2 hours just looking around then blasted off to Alpena Mich. After the visit we left the next day for Jackson Mich to see Kevins sister. We had lunch, fueled and headed for Souix Falls SD. We arrived that night after another long leg. The following day we flew to Billings Mont via Mt Rushmore. We obtained photos of the Presidents and flew on. To fly there you get a special transponder code and must remain above 7700 FT and 1/2 mile away. We arrived in Billings later that day, fueled, had lunch and took off for Spokanne Wa. We made it at about 6PM and were lucky enough to find a room. They had an AA baseball turney going. We slept a few hours and left for Orcas Island to deliver an OSH tee shirt to an old friend of mine. We arrived to find Orcas had an EAA flyin going on so, they got to view a seasoned Musketeer. We gave the Tee shirt to my friend, took her to lunch and left for Corvallis Or. The fuel at spokane and Orcas was over 5 bucks a gallon so we took on enoungh to make a safe flight and left. At Cov the fuel was 4.50 and we took on enough to get home. We FINALLY got a tail wind and saw ground speeds of 130 Kts. We arrived home in 2.5 hours. The Musketeer had one issue during the flight. My ground wire for the pilots side push to talk came loose. Our fuel burn averaged 8.5 an hour with the CHTS running 309 and egts at 1425. I used the Brittain auto pilot the whole way and it was great. It took the load off flying several times. It can be left on in any turbulance and the pilot can override it without damage. With the wing leveler and all the nav and heading holds, including a rebuilt indicator with bug 5500 bucks-installed!! (this includes the wing leveler as everyone probably wants to know about the complete system). The other item I believe made the trip very easy was the 496. The ability to see what is in front of you, weather TFRs Segmets airmets, airport info etc, allows for intellegent planning. I'm a little long winded but, I a Musketeer guy-I'm supposed to be.
On Monday we left OSH for Alpena Mich to see my sister. I have a thing about long over water flights-I hate cold water except to drink, so, we flew around the coast line. We had a head wind all through prior the flights but for once had a little tail wind. Since we were going by Mac Island I wanted to stop. We spent 2 hours just looking around then blasted off to Alpena Mich. After the visit we left the next day for Jackson Mich to see Kevins sister. We had lunch, fueled and headed for Souix Falls SD. We arrived that night after another long leg. The following day we flew to Billings Mont via Mt Rushmore. We obtained photos of the Presidents and flew on. To fly there you get a special transponder code and must remain above 7700 FT and 1/2 mile away. We arrived in Billings later that day, fueled, had lunch and took off for Spokanne Wa. We made it at about 6PM and were lucky enough to find a room. They had an AA baseball turney going. We slept a few hours and left for Orcas Island to deliver an OSH tee shirt to an old friend of mine. We arrived to find Orcas had an EAA flyin going on so, they got to view a seasoned Musketeer. We gave the Tee shirt to my friend, took her to lunch and left for Corvallis Or. The fuel at spokane and Orcas was over 5 bucks a gallon so we took on enoungh to make a safe flight and left. At Cov the fuel was 4.50 and we took on enough to get home. We FINALLY got a tail wind and saw ground speeds of 130 Kts. We arrived home in 2.5 hours. The Musketeer had one issue during the flight. My ground wire for the pilots side push to talk came loose. Our fuel burn averaged 8.5 an hour with the CHTS running 309 and egts at 1425. I used the Brittain auto pilot the whole way and it was great. It took the load off flying several times. It can be left on in any turbulance and the pilot can override it without damage. With the wing leveler and all the nav and heading holds, including a rebuilt indicator with bug 5500 bucks-installed!! (this includes the wing leveler as everyone probably wants to know about the complete system). The other item I believe made the trip very easy was the 496. The ability to see what is in front of you, weather TFRs Segmets airmets, airport info etc, allows for intellegent planning. I'm a little long winded but, I a Musketeer guy-I'm supposed to be.
