Arty's Ultimate Ultralight Adventure

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

What a wonderful day! Three of Sam?s friends from the EAA chapter came by in the morning. They had heard our stories at the chapter meeting last night and wanted to see our birds for themselves. Gerry ? who also owns a Drifter ? came by again ? he?s becoming an old friend, since we first met him on our stop at the Flying Ten on the way to Sun n Fun, and again several times on this return stop. Obviously all the tale swapping delayed us, and we didn?t leave until 11:30 a.m. Thanks, so much, Sam, for your wonderful hospitality!

We had phenomenally wonderful flying weather today. A nice tailwind: nothing spectacular, only about 10-15 mph, but it scooted us right along. We had planned a stop at Perry-Foley, FL but the tail wind was so nice that we radio?d each other and continued right along, landing at Quincy, FL after about 2.5 hours. I had forgotten to turn on my SPOT and discovered I can do it in the air with a little contortionist twisting. It lies in a bed of foam on the floor pan and is partially obscured by my seat. But heaven forbid that you should think that Randy is flying by himself today!

I LOVE using the Anywhere Map GPS. I can?t download the manual since it?s only PC compatible and I am an ardent Mac fan. At Sun n Fun I had about an hour?s worth of instruction on how to do some basic things with it ?such as crate a flight plan = and I?m figuring it out as I go. When someone says that something is ?intuitive and oh, so easy? I know that I?ll never figure it out. But I?m getting the hang of the Anywhere map without the manual = so it really Is intuitive.

I have it rubber banded to my left thigh, where my faithful Garmin 12 hiking GPS used to go. The Anywhere Map folks gave me a little ?tower? to mount it on; the tower straps around my thigh with a Velcro strap. But it?s too awkward, so I used a different mounting mechanism that?s included in the box and just rubber banded it on.

I wasn?t sure that I would be able to understand everything on the map ? or that I had really programmed it correctly, so I also rubber-banded my Garmin 12 on my left forearm. (#64 rubber bands are certainly a critical supply element for me!) But I needn?t have worried = the Anywhere Map performed flawlessly. It was such fun to see nearby airports pop up (even private ones, which are not usually in aviation data bases.) And seeing the names of towns, roads, bodies of water ? I was able to test my pilotage skill by first seeing if I could figure out where I was using the sectional, and then checking it against the Anywhere Map. I was right about half the time.

They told me that I was using it in absolutely the worst possible conditions: open cockpit and bright sunlight. I find that it?s not a problem ? I lift my left thigh slightly and tilt my head to the left to throw a slight shadow?and I can see everything perfectly. Obviously I?m delighted with this new ?toy?. I told Randy he could try it out tomorrow ? and am already regretting it.

From Quincy we planned to fly to Florala, AL to refuel. It was a grin from ear to ear flight ? beautiful cloud formations, beautiful scenery. These ?poached eggs? are actually in a sewage pond.

Here?s the Swanee River. Someone told me that Stephen Foster never left New England ? all his songs about the south were based on imagination, not actual experience.

And here?s the dam which creates the huge Lake Seminole in Georgia. The name Chattahooche is underlined and in caps on the sectional; I?m not sure what it refers to. I?ll have to look it up tomorrow.

And of course trees, trees, and more trees, often in strange and intriguing plantings.

But when I landed at Florala, I discovered that they only sell jet fuel. They primarily serve military trainers, both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. So we decided to continue on to Monroeville for gas and to spend the night. The sky became even more dramatic; that drama was accompanied by brief rain bursts.

Randy said he didn?t get caught, but I flew through about 5 rain cells that I couldn?t get around. Not a problem as they were fairly light and brief.

To cap off a perfect day, the FBO was still open when we landed at 7:20 p.m. and loaned us a courtesy car so we could go to Pizza Hut for dinner! Now I?m back in my tent, uploading the photos to share with you. It?s a slow connection through my cell phone tether, so I can?t show you all the photos I want. Maybe tomorrow I?ll have a better connection.

Oh dear, it?s not going to be the quiet and peaceful night I had hoped for. This airport, like Florala, is heavily used to train military pilots. It?s 11:00 p.m. and a helicopter is practicing hovering.

It left, and now a jet is practicing touch and goes! Even ear plugs won't shut out this noise. And to think that I have a sign in my office that says "I love airplane engine noise." It comes down as soon as I get home!