Arty's Ultimate Ultralight Adventure

Sunday, April 26

Sun ‘N Fun ends today, and we’ll be packing up and flying out tomorrow. The turf ultralight airstrip “disappears” this afternoon; it was created by the FAA especially for Sun ‘n Fun. For those of you who are going “Huh? How can a 1400’ grass airstrip disappear?” – the strip is in controlled airspace (of the Lakeland-Linder airport) and to land there at any time other than during Sun ‘n Fun, you have to get permission from the control tower. I’ve already talked with them, and they’ll give us permission to fly out from it tomorrow; permission, not a ‘clearance’ – it will be at our own risk. Isn’t it always?

In preparation for leaving, . I was able to borrow a portable generator and we charged up our cell phones, laptops, and other chargables.

Now – a question for you. We’re got a tentative route home figured out and I’d very much appreciate hearing from you about it.

Our method of flight planning is a 3-step process:

1. We look at a road map and choose a tentative route. This is usually based on prior knowledge of portions of the route (in this case, from Albuquerque to Oregon,) and from suggestions we’ve been given. Since we tend to follow roads (and they can be little, tiny back roads or interstates,) anyone can look at a map and see where we are thinking of going. We avoid congested areas (meaning cities and suburbs.)

2. I put out the “road route” to various ultralight e-mail lists and – for this flight – to this blog and ask for input. What I’m looking for are people who are familiar with any segment of the proposed flight route. I’m especially interested in hearing from people who have flown over segments of our route, so they can warn us about unsafe terrain and make suggestions for alternate flight paths. This worked very successfully on our flight here, and helped us get around Tuscon’s and El Paso’s airspace, and around the swamps in Louisiana and Mississippi and Florida.

3. We incorporate the suggestions when Randy and I sit down with sectionals [air maps] and plan specific waypoints. That’s the route I’ll be posting on this blog. Of course, it will change based on weather and new information.

SO – here’s our tentative flight route. Please take a look, and if you’ve flown any portion of the route, or are very familiar with any part of it from the ground, please let me know whether there is anything to be aware of…remember, we’re flying two-cycle engines and want to be able to have landing spots as much as possible, in case we have engine problems.

Also, if you know of nice small airports along the way, let us know. Obviously we’ll see them on the sectional and can look them up in our Flight Guide, but there’s nothing like local knowledge.

And finally, if you know a safe and yet more scenic route – let us know!

1. From Lakeland, Florida, follow I-75 north to Gainesville, FL.
2. Pick up Hwy. 27 to Foley, FL and go around Tallahassee to the north and on to Bainbridge, GA.
3. Take Hwy. 84 to Dothan, AL
4.Follow Hwy. 231 to Hwy. 29/10; continue east on 10 to Greenville, AL and then on to Meridian, MS
5. Pick up Hwy. 20 and head east past Shreveport.
6. Somehow get around all the congestion (looking for suggestions!) and pick up Hwy. 82, following it past Sherman, TX on to Witchita Falls, TX.
7. Pick up Hwy. 287 and follow it to Amarillo.
8. Pick up I-40 and follow it to Albuquerque.

What do you think? Please let me hear from you. THANKS!!