Riding on the train they call the Surfliner!

Vance

Gyroplane CFI
Staff member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
18,363
Location
Santa Maria, California
Aircraft
Givens Predator
Total Flight Time
2600+ in rotorcraft
I was riding on the train they call the Surfliner this morning from Guadelupe to Oceanside. It was the first leg of what I suspect will be a magnificent odessy. A good friend just purchased a Cavalon in Chatham, MA. We are going to go pick her up in Chatham and fly her back to Oceanside. The idea was born over six years ago and we have been planning and scheeming for a little over a month. We are finally pulling the trigger. It is about 2,600 nautical miles the way we plan to fly. We fully expect this to be modified for the weather. We just had dinner and were unable to contain our excitement. Years ago I used him as a test student to learn to teach people to fly gyroplanes. I never did get around to teaching him to takeoff and land. We are going to do that at Chatham Municipal Airport before we start back. I hope to write about the adventure when we get back.
 

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Oh wow, that is one of the most exciting things you can do flying. I once took a commercial flight to Ft Smith Arkansas and picked up a Mooney Mite back to Minnesota. First it's a plane I hadn't flown before so new is exciting. Second, I made an adventure out of it. I stayed overnight in an FBO. It was a blast. I would love to do something like that again, especially in a gyro. Good luck and hope to read about the adventure.
 
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Teaching someone to take off and land is not easy and I had not yet developed a sylibus for that so we did ground refrence manuvers and pilotage for about six hours.

I went to several CFIs to learn to teach landings.

We are planning on spending our fist day doing takeoffs and landings at the departure airport.

I am going as a CFI and friend.

I intend to do as little manipulating of the controls as practical.

We have agreed on our priorities:

  • Survive the adventure.
  • Preserve the aircraft.
  • Have my friend learn to fly his gyroplane.
  • Have fun!
 
Sounds exciting... I see a lot of headwinds in your future, though! What's your projected fly-back date?
(You are not taking a train all the way to MA, are you??)
 
That will be quite a cross-country adventure Vance... shades of 'Miss Gale' dreams a while back. It looks a similar sort of trip that Chris Lange and his buddy did a few years back when they crossed the US.

Hope you have a wonderful trip, and that by the time you get to Oceanside, your friend has grasped the fundamentals of take offs and landings. He will certainly have had a most marvellous magic carpet ride across an amazing Continent.

I was always fascinated doing it, though much higher and in greater comfort. It just brought home the enormity of what it was to those pioneers who did that by waggon train.
 
Is Oceanside going to have a Cavalon based there?
 
I’m soooo jealous!!!!!
 
Sounds exciting... I see a lot of headwinds in your future, though! What's your projected fly-back date?
(You are not taking a train all the way to MA, are you??)
The fantasy is to be back in Oceanside May 13.
We took a plane to Newark and now we are in Providence.
Tomorrow we will drive to Chatham Municipal Airport and begin flying.
We may stay Sunday for weather.
 
That will be quite a cross-country adventure Vance... shades of 'Miss Gale' dreams a while back. It looks a similar sort of trip that Chris Lange and his buddy did a few years back when they crossed the US.

Hope you have a wonderful trip, and that by the time you get to Oceanside, your friend has grasped the fundamentals of take offs and landings. He will certainly have had a most marvellous magic carpet ride across an amazing Continent.

I was always fascinated doing it, though much higher and in greater comfort. It just brought home the enormity of what it was to those pioneers who did that by waggon train.
It has been a dream of ours for some time and things just finally came together.
The timing is less than optimal because the sale of my house closes on the ninth and so does the escrow on the replacement property.
Poor Ed is going to have to manage a lot of details.
The tent should come off about when I get back to California.
Our new home was built in 1925 so it needs a little work.
We are both very excited about the first and second leg of the journey being competed successfully.
 
The hope is to base the aircraft at Oceanside.
Does the owner have a hanger there? I am trying to get in there, about 10 minutes from my house, but the waiting list is about 20 years long.
 
Vance.....It would be an honor if you were to stop by the Paxton, Il airport ...1C1...and let me fill up your gastank. You may have a further south route.....

What is your rough window of time for your trip? Mid June..July??

What an adventure.
 
Um... he said he hopes to arrive back in CA within the week!
I was just noticing you are at 1C1... we have 1A1 and 1B1 within about ten miles of each other here in NY (they are the two closest public airfields to me at NY1).
 
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Does the owner have a hanger there? I am trying to get in there, about 10 minutes from my house, but the waiting list is about 20 years long.
I was able to get hangar space at an otherwise full airfield by taking a half-sized space at the end of a T-hangar building. I think that's always worth asking about, for gyros.
 
Tyger...My bad.....I just read part of it and thought it was still in the planning stages.
 
My personal opinion is that getting back in one week is exactly what Vance calls it: fantasy.
But you never know with Vance!

I was able to fly from KPCD to 1B1 in one day, but it was a LONG day (the longest day of the year), and headwinds are less of an issue flying east.
 
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Does the owner have a hanger there? I am trying to get in there, about 10 minutes from my house, but the waiting list is about 20 years long.
I asked him and he is out of room.
 
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