GyrOZprey
Aussie in Kansas.
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2011
- Messages
- 3,593
- Location
- Whitewater KS
- Aircraft
- Butterfly Aurora N5560Z / Titanium Explorer N456TE & N488TE/ - trained in MTOsport 446QT/488FB
- Total Flight Time
- 1061
It was a challenging year for racking up flight time in Kansas....the spring was super windy, then rains, then heat ....FINALLY we had a beautiful fall weather with two much anticipated events for me to achieve some serious flight-time on cross-country adventures!
October 6,7,8 ...I completed my first FULL FLY-Kansas Airtour (740 Nmiles, 11.5 flight hours, 8 airports visited- 4 new ones for me)....in 2019 & 2021 ...I completed 1 & 2 days of the tour ...a unique event for USA state DOT's run by the KS DOT-aviation dept.( https://www.facebook.com/KDOTAviation/ https://www.ksdot.org/Assets/wwwksd...ssrelease2022/sept/Air_Tour_Press_Release.pdf. ) ...to promote aviation in our rural communities & out-reach to youth - a lot of school kids come to the airport stops to see a variety of aircraft & talk to pilots!
Next challenge was ...to attend my gyro-club. LSRC PRA Chapter62 (Anahuac TX) annual fly-in - on On October 15th ....a 2 day truck/trailer drive of 700 miles ...OR with a good weather window ...maybe I could actually FLY down! As the 10 day weather looked promising. I began plans to fly down ... easy legs with lovely opportunities to spend overnights with beloved friends. All good for stops with the Potters (Carl & Deb) ...TAG owner & CFI for night 1(Wednesday) near Tulsa OK...a 2.1hour flight to 2K9 (Haskell OK) ...then day 2 to Fainting Goat 87TX (about 4 hours flight) - Craig &Cathie Mcpherson ... Thursday overnight in their lovely student bunkhouse with access to courtesy car for fuel run & food to Whitney. Next leg (Friday)to my primary CFI & special friends Desmon & Crissy Butts ...at their new hanger-home at Waverley estates airpark XS09. (approx 2.5 hour flight).
Last year I stopped by with my truck-trailer rig on my way home from Anahuac ...to see their new hangar & home under construction.
It was great to see the completed house and get to stay in the student hangar-loft apartment!
Saturday ..I flew (1.2 hours into headwind - return flight was 1 hour) over to Anahuac ...enjoyed catching up with my friends & meeting the new members, paid my dues & had a wonderful Italian food lunch.
Now the challenge of cross-country open cockpit adventures began to materialize ...I could see for several days on studying weather for Dallas -Houston and the Windy app that a cold front was bringing storms to Dallas area Sunday ...then rain to Houston on Monday. Thankfully Desmon & Crissy had no pressing plans or work and I was able to hang around for 4 nights visit instead of the planned 2! We had so much fun ...good food, fellowship & laughs, Crissy & I went on a delightful short nature trail walk in Sam Houston forest! Her awesome professional massage therapist skills were much enjoyed on my flight-stressed body!
On Tuesday ...I would be beating against headwinds ...but planned a direct flight home and overnight in Ada OK. .... I had my first 100ll refuel (after a 2.5 hour headwind slog of 80kt AS doing 60 GS ) at Terrel TX ...my lunch-stop both down (day2) and back ! I called ahead to the airport manager at KADH ...to arrange a spot where I could plug in my battery charger ...and scored a wonderful spot in a heated hangar next to a helo-on a trailer. My hosts were the fuel supplier also ...and I topped off with 100LL next morning. The afternoon winds dropped my GS to 50kts ... 2.6 hours for a 127 mile leg! But the joy of gyro-flight and seeing new-to-me country from 900ft AGL and lots of beautiful fall colors turning the vegetation below - kept me happily entertained!
My flight down I had nice tailwind so my 80kt AS=80kt GS ...although the "wind waves" ...made for tiresome endless pitch & power adjustments to maintain my chosen height AGL. ( when Crissy gave me her lovely massage session ...she exclaimed my stick-hand was "on-fire" ...it was so hot & stressed from 3 days of " hard/active" flying! ...I feel I have a very relaxed stick-hand ...but the constant on-off with the rising then falling air waves ...obviously took its toll!)
My last day of the grand adventure ... the winds had switched overnight so my expected 2 hour leg to Ponca City for lunch took 1.8hours ...I enjoyed a fun lunch at the airport Mexican restaurant ! I was parked next to gate into the restaurant and a smart corporate jet with two lovely couples ...from SC enroute to Napa CA for a 25th anniversary wine-tasting trip befriended me ...asking about the gyro ...while their jet was refueled they had a quick lunch break & I enjoyed some meal-fellowship with them ...telling them about cross-country adventures-flying in a gyroplane!
Last leg home was75 Nmiles from KPNC to ToevsFarm (1.1 hour flight time) and ... best estimate about 34 Nmiles S of home @ approx 37.42N 97.13 W (near Udall KS) ...I passed my total flight time (all gyro/only gyro) ...of 1000 hours.
It took me a week to get around to totalling the page in my logbook to see that pilot milestone had snuck-up on me!
My PIC/solo in training time is about 887 ...my flight-training received column shows 113! ( my total time in TAG gyros is 807 hours)
Round trip stats .....ToevsFarm -T00 & return. 1125 Nmiles. 18.4 flight hours (Hobbs & flight timer ..includes taxi time) Av fuel consumption 5gal/hour
Airports visited ...Haskell OK (2K9). KTRL( Terrel TX) ,87TX (Fainting goat) XS09 (Waverly estates) T00 Anahuac XS09-KTRL- KADH (Ada OK) KPNC Ponca City!
Thanks to friends loaner fuel cans & shuttles to get Mogas ...I was able to only have to use 20 gal of 100LL ...on my homebound trip.
October 6,7,8 ...I completed my first FULL FLY-Kansas Airtour (740 Nmiles, 11.5 flight hours, 8 airports visited- 4 new ones for me)....in 2019 & 2021 ...I completed 1 & 2 days of the tour ...a unique event for USA state DOT's run by the KS DOT-aviation dept.( https://www.facebook.com/KDOTAviation/ https://www.ksdot.org/Assets/wwwksd...ssrelease2022/sept/Air_Tour_Press_Release.pdf. ) ...to promote aviation in our rural communities & out-reach to youth - a lot of school kids come to the airport stops to see a variety of aircraft & talk to pilots!
Next challenge was ...to attend my gyro-club. LSRC PRA Chapter62 (Anahuac TX) annual fly-in - on On October 15th ....a 2 day truck/trailer drive of 700 miles ...OR with a good weather window ...maybe I could actually FLY down! As the 10 day weather looked promising. I began plans to fly down ... easy legs with lovely opportunities to spend overnights with beloved friends. All good for stops with the Potters (Carl & Deb) ...TAG owner & CFI for night 1(Wednesday) near Tulsa OK...a 2.1hour flight to 2K9 (Haskell OK) ...then day 2 to Fainting Goat 87TX (about 4 hours flight) - Craig &Cathie Mcpherson ... Thursday overnight in their lovely student bunkhouse with access to courtesy car for fuel run & food to Whitney. Next leg (Friday)to my primary CFI & special friends Desmon & Crissy Butts ...at their new hanger-home at Waverley estates airpark XS09. (approx 2.5 hour flight).
Last year I stopped by with my truck-trailer rig on my way home from Anahuac ...to see their new hangar & home under construction.
It was great to see the completed house and get to stay in the student hangar-loft apartment!
Saturday ..I flew (1.2 hours into headwind - return flight was 1 hour) over to Anahuac ...enjoyed catching up with my friends & meeting the new members, paid my dues & had a wonderful Italian food lunch.
Now the challenge of cross-country open cockpit adventures began to materialize ...I could see for several days on studying weather for Dallas -Houston and the Windy app that a cold front was bringing storms to Dallas area Sunday ...then rain to Houston on Monday. Thankfully Desmon & Crissy had no pressing plans or work and I was able to hang around for 4 nights visit instead of the planned 2! We had so much fun ...good food, fellowship & laughs, Crissy & I went on a delightful short nature trail walk in Sam Houston forest! Her awesome professional massage therapist skills were much enjoyed on my flight-stressed body!
On Tuesday ...I would be beating against headwinds ...but planned a direct flight home and overnight in Ada OK. .... I had my first 100ll refuel (after a 2.5 hour headwind slog of 80kt AS doing 60 GS ) at Terrel TX ...my lunch-stop both down (day2) and back ! I called ahead to the airport manager at KADH ...to arrange a spot where I could plug in my battery charger ...and scored a wonderful spot in a heated hangar next to a helo-on a trailer. My hosts were the fuel supplier also ...and I topped off with 100LL next morning. The afternoon winds dropped my GS to 50kts ... 2.6 hours for a 127 mile leg! But the joy of gyro-flight and seeing new-to-me country from 900ft AGL and lots of beautiful fall colors turning the vegetation below - kept me happily entertained!
My flight down I had nice tailwind so my 80kt AS=80kt GS ...although the "wind waves" ...made for tiresome endless pitch & power adjustments to maintain my chosen height AGL. ( when Crissy gave me her lovely massage session ...she exclaimed my stick-hand was "on-fire" ...it was so hot & stressed from 3 days of " hard/active" flying! ...I feel I have a very relaxed stick-hand ...but the constant on-off with the rising then falling air waves ...obviously took its toll!)
My last day of the grand adventure ... the winds had switched overnight so my expected 2 hour leg to Ponca City for lunch took 1.8hours ...I enjoyed a fun lunch at the airport Mexican restaurant ! I was parked next to gate into the restaurant and a smart corporate jet with two lovely couples ...from SC enroute to Napa CA for a 25th anniversary wine-tasting trip befriended me ...asking about the gyro ...while their jet was refueled they had a quick lunch break & I enjoyed some meal-fellowship with them ...telling them about cross-country adventures-flying in a gyroplane!
Last leg home was75 Nmiles from KPNC to ToevsFarm (1.1 hour flight time) and ... best estimate about 34 Nmiles S of home @ approx 37.42N 97.13 W (near Udall KS) ...I passed my total flight time (all gyro/only gyro) ...of 1000 hours.
It took me a week to get around to totalling the page in my logbook to see that pilot milestone had snuck-up on me!
My PIC/solo in training time is about 887 ...my flight-training received column shows 113! ( my total time in TAG gyros is 807 hours)
Round trip stats .....ToevsFarm -T00 & return. 1125 Nmiles. 18.4 flight hours (Hobbs & flight timer ..includes taxi time) Av fuel consumption 5gal/hour
Airports visited ...Haskell OK (2K9). KTRL( Terrel TX) ,87TX (Fainting goat) XS09 (Waverly estates) T00 Anahuac XS09-KTRL- KADH (Ada OK) KPNC Ponca City!
Thanks to friends loaner fuel cans & shuttles to get Mogas ...I was able to only have to use 20 gal of 100LL ...on my homebound trip.
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