Practical Use Of An Airplane – Part 1
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I’m always looking for ways to deploy my airplane in a practical way. I know many of you fly trips as your primary mission, but the vast majority of my personal flying is just local. Flying for the $100 hamburger, practicing formation, and doing aerobatics are 85% of what I intended to do with my airplane. Part of challenge is the single back seat, precluding family outings. Although it’s fast, has good range, and enough avionics firepower to compute orbital mechanics, I almost never go anywhere in it, sans the occasional trip to Oshkosh.
A traveling opportunity recently presented itself when my son needed a ride to Florida for Spring Break. I seized the moment. Oh sure, the gas alone would buy him two airline tickets, but this would be much more fun and convenient. Plus it makes for good father-son bonding time. Although he has grown up around aviation, he has never gotten the bug. Maybe this trip will change his mind.
TO FLORIDA OR BUST!
Columbus, OH (KCMH) to an intermediate stop in Monroe County, TN (KMNV) and on into Panama City, FL (KECP)
Although the RV-8 will easily do Columbus, OH to Panama City, FL nonstop, I elected to stop for gas at the halfway point and stretch our legs. Since Mitchel isn’t a seasoned flyer, I figured he would want the break. It was actually me who ended up needing a rest room break.
We would strap on the airplane for a predawn departure to get there in time for me to return home at a reasonable hour. Wheels off at 07:15am and back down again two hours later at a nice little country airport called Monroe County in Madisonville, Tennessee. Self serve fuel was $4.70 a gallon and the locals were really friendly. Back in the airplane for a total stop time of :30 and then two hours until we touched down at KECP.
The weather was good the entire route except for unforecast coastal fog that obscured Panama City. Using the ADS-B weather from the Stratus, we had a heads up on the situation. We planned to drop into Dothan, AL if things didn’t improve, but luckily it lifted just in time. I love it when a plan comes together. One thing I noted on the Stratus is updating is unpredictable and even though I was in coverage areas the entire time I rarely received more than two stations. I am using it on my dash so I need to experiment with other mounting options. To be fair, this was my first outing with the unit so more to come as I get additional experience using it. Even with slow updating it was very helpful. Once I got close enough to want fast weather updates, I could just tune in the AWOS. Look for a more thorough review of Stratus and Foreflight in a future article.
The solo return leg, was uneventful. I marched up to 7500’ and went home non-stop at 55% power with almost four hours on the hobbs after vectors at KCMH, seems I showed up at the same time as all the airlines.
Stats:
55% power at 160 KTAS (184 mph) on 7.7gph at 7500’ – very close to the marketing number that Van publishes. The total distance was 685 miles each way.
The RV-8 burned 18 gallons from KCMH to KMNV and 17.8 gallons from KMNV to KECP. I haven’t fueled it up from the return leg but it should be close to 34 gallons.
Flying for 8 or 10 hours at work isn’t unusual, but for me this was the first time I have spent that much time in one day flying a light airplane since the mid-90s. It was cool indeed. It’s great to see the practical side of recreational aviation and I look forward to the follow-up mission to retrieve him next week (weather permitting).
Let’s hear from you. What have been some practical reasons you’ve used an airplane?
More to come…
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Awesome trip recap! So did your son catch the bug via the trip?
Thanks Ian! I’m not sure. He was pretty focused on the Spring Break part, but we’ll see. He did drop a few hints that I’ll be probing once he returns.
Brent
Brent, sounds like a great time and I’m sure your son had a blast! Interestingly enough the USAF doesn’t let us use the jets for practical purposes – i.e. We can’t use them to fly TDY like to a USAF conference or meeting attendance unless it’s part of a training mission. I know you can get reimbursed up to the price of comparable transportation for flying your own private airplane, but as you pointed out in your article it’s often more expensive to fly GA over commercial, so you’ll still pay out of pocket a bit. I’m just glad they will cover some of it! Great article!
Rob,
That’s cool! I didn’t realize they would do that. More reason for you to grab an airplane. Even a partial recoup is better than none.
Brent
The usefulness of a GA airplane for transportation will vary somewhat with location. In SoCal we don’t have to worry about ice or thunderstorms for the most part, so the IFR is almost always flyable. On the other hand, we don’t really have anywhere west to go because it’s thousands of miles of open water. You have 360 degrees of possibilities!
Your trip sounds like fun, and a fantastic validation of your ride. Did your son pick up any interest due tot he trip? BTW, there’s nothing wrong with using an airplane for local “fun” flying. That’s some of the best aviating you can possibly do!
Most of my trips are practical. Visiting the in-laws in San Luis Obispo, a weekend in Vegas, flying somewhere to provide instruction, that sort of thing. We’ve even flown from Orange County to Van Nuys in order to avoid driving through L.A. traffic. Nothing better than zipping along at 200 mph while the people down below are doing 2 mph…
Ron,
I hadn’t really thought about it but you’re right, local geography has a lot to do with it. I think he might have a little be more interest than before. We’ll see.
A buddy just bought a C152 to use to teach his young boys to fly, he mentioned that on the way down.
Brent
Nice write up, Brent. I think “practical” is all about how you define it. When my daughter was too young to entertain herself, trips from our home in western NY to SE Michigan to visit family were done two different ways: a 2.25 hour flight at 110 knots or a 6+ hour drive via Canada where border crossings created significant variability in travel times. It was cheaper to drive the car, of course, but as the parents of a bored toddler, making the flight by GA held tremendous practical value for us!
Chris,
That’s an awesome example of where it makes maximum sense. I love it.
Thanks!
Brent
Very cool Brent! Makes me wanna throw my 3 sons in our Warrior and head somewhere fun! Reading about your trip to ECP was pretty cool. Quality alone time with your son Mitchel can never be underestimated! Thanks for the recap. Dunno if we would do that trip from Michigan at a 100KTAS lol but sounds like a great day aloft. Best, Ryan
Thanks Ryan! Yep, I’m hoping the weather holds for Part 2, this time of year is crapshoot. If you end up going someplace this summer make sure we hear about it. Have fun!
Brent
Great article Brent! Glad to hear from some local guys (I’m up at KOSU), since there’s never too much going on around here. Let me know if you’ll ever be around Don Scott!
Drew,
Thanks! I get up there for EAA 9 events on occasion. What are you flying?