Arty's Ultimate Ultralight Adventure

Only 2 weeks and 2 days to wheels off! My To-Do list gets longer every day.

1. Get the engine running perfectly and replacing old parts.
I sent my engine (Rotax 503 DCDI) in for a thorough going over: decarboned the pistons, put in new gaskets (base, head, exhaust and intake,) cleaned the carbs, new bendix for the starter motor, new spark plugs. I also got a new 12v battery to run my radio and strobes. The mechanic said the engine was really clean - he might switch to Penzoil Air Cooled oil himself because I had so little carbon build-up.
Now we're finishing up with the re-installation. It took us 1.5 hours to get the engine off the ultralight and will probably take 4+ hours to put it back on. Some re-wiring to be done, and I'm putting in new fuel line, primer line, pulse line - and rebuilding my Mikuni fuel pump and changing out the manifold-exhaust springs. Plus just hooking everything up and testing it takes a while. I'm hoping to test fly it Friday - if it doesn't rain. I'd like to put 3-5 hours on the engine before we take off. "Honey, I HAVE to go flying - it's a safety issue! I'd LOVE to help clean out the barn, but flight safety comes first!"

2. Begin figuring out our route.
Randy and I have agreed on the general route we're going to fly - now I'm trying to map it on Google Maps. (Go to Google Maps and search for "Arty Ultralight Route 2009")
We've had lots of wonderful offers from folks around the country offering to help us out with gas, food, and - in some cases - a place to stay. I hate to disappoint anyone, but although we know the general route, we don't have a clue where we'll be stopping for gas or for the night. That's because some days we might be able to do 125-135 miles in a single leg, and might be able to do 3 or more legs in a day...but it's also likely that we might only be able to fly 50 or 60 or 100 miles and then have to land and wait it out due to weather.
Based on our fuel capacity (16 gallons for me, 20 gallons for Randy,) and cruise speed of 60-65 mph, we can plan 135 mile legs very safely (burning about 5 gal./hour since we're fully loaded with all our camping gear,) but we'll only make 135 miles a leg if there's little or no headwind. We can make much more with a nice tailwind. So the stops that I've put on Google Maps are a true guestimate.
I can't believe how much time it took me to figure out how to make the Google map - and I only got as far as eastern Texas! On previous flights we've figured out our general direction and every evening we'd sit down with our sectionals (for you non-pilots, that's an air map,) and figure out the next day's flight. We're planning on following major highways for the most part, and circling round Class B and C airspace. I have my endorsement for Class C & D airspace, and we'll probably avoid even Class D unless it doing so takes us too far out of our way.
I'm REALLY enjoying corresponding with all the folks who are e-mailing with advice and offers to help - and it also takes up much more time than I'd realized.

That's all for today. Tomorrow I'll write about calibrating my Spot Tracker and figuring out what to pack.