Not being “mountain” pilots, Wednesday afternoon, Graham and I elected to follow airways south from Pine Mountain Lake to Bakersfield, California, through Tehachapi Pass, south of Flagstaff and into Santa Fe, arriving about four hours after leaving Wayne Handley’s. It was an uneventful flight, which is always good.
Santa Fe is an “artsy” town, for lack of a better description. We visited the plaza downtown for dinner and marveled at all the shops and the pleasant dry, cool weather. After a good night’s rest, we departed Santa Fe flying east to Wichita Fall’s Kickapoo Airport, about a two-hour flight. Roberto Rodriguez and Anthonie York of Transland (www.translandllc.com) met us at the airport to take us to Transland’s relatively new facility, but not before we had an authentic Mexican lunch (the sixth Mexican meal on this trip!).
About 50 years ago, in Southern California, Conrad Barlow founded Transland, a leader in the manufacture of ag-aviation dispersal equipment. Five years ago, James Frank bought Transland and moved the company to Wichita Falls. Last year, the company moved to its present facility where it continues to manufacture dispersal equipment and develop new components for the industry.
Our excursion plan was to finish with Transland Thursday, then Friday fly about 50 miles west to George’s Aircraft to meet with Kansas operator Bill Warner. Bill is a new owner of an AT-401 that has had the Trace Engine (www.traceengines.com) conversion done by George’s Aircraft. George’s Aircraft is the exclusive installation facility for the Trace Engine.
However, as all well-laid plans are subject to, Mother Nature decided she would move a cold front through the area Thursday night and the forecast winds for Thursday were to be 16-20 knots gusting to 28 knots. As any ag-pilot can tell you, that is not the kind of weather you want to be test flying a loaded aircraft with no prior experience flying it.
I called Bill and explained I felt we should cancel the evaluation flight and schedule it for next month. He agreed wholeheartedly. Next, I contacted Andy Biery of Trace Engines. He told me he had just delivered a Trace Engine AT-302 (used to be a factory built AT-301 with a Lycoming turbo prop engine) to Lane Aviation (www.laneav.com) in Rosenberg, Texas to be outfitted with a spray system and Hemisphere GPS system.
As it turned out, Andy was at Hobby Airport in Houston to catch a flight home to Midland, Texas. When he found out I had cancelled the Trace Engine AT-401 evaluation flight, he insisted I come to Lane Aviation’s to fly the Trace AT-302 and that’d he would cancel his flight to meet me there on Friday morning.
OK, that would work for me. Instead of spending Thursday night in Wichita Falls, we made the 1.5 hour flight southeast bound to Lane Aviation.
Friday morning was perfect for an evaluation flight. I won’t go into the details of the flights in this blog, except for me it was one of the highlights of this weeklong excursion. I made four flights in the aircraft that included flying it filled to the max. I was not disappointed. You should be reading a full report in the May editions of AgAir Update.
Later Friday morning, after the evaluation flights, Graham and I boarded our aircraft and headed eastward for home. It was about a 3.5 hour flight. After landing at our office at the Perry, Georgia airport, we had completed 25.8 hours of flying in seven days, burning nearly 700 gallons of fuel. It was a great trip, traveling coast to coast and back. Unbelievably, the weather was good for the entire trip. There were a few bumps crossing the mountains and a few more passing through a couple of cold fronts. Otherwise, all was perfect. God looks after fools, drunks and Bill Lavender!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
A coast to coast excision, part two...
To say it is difficult to find time to write this blog while on the road would be an understatement. It is 7a on Wednesday and Graham and I are waiting on Wayne Handley to pick us up for the two-block ride to the Pine Mountain Lake Airport near Groveland, California. Today, Graham completes his sixth Agrobatics session with Wayne in the Extra 300L.
We left the Phoenix area on Monday morning and made the easy flight up through the valleys of California to Pine Mountain Lake airport. Landing at this airport is a bit intimidating for a flat lander. There is plenty of runway, about 3,000 feet at 3,000 MSL, however there’s a huge canyon drop off of about 3,000 feet deep on the downwind leg for runway 27. You’d have to fly it to appreciate the illusion. It is comforting to have two engines! (However, most of the aircraft flying in and out of E45 are single engine aircraft and they seem to be doing just fine).
Monday afternoon I left Graham in the capable hands of Wayne for the beginning of his agrobatic training, while I flew down the mountain to an ag operator’s strip southeast of Oakdale, California to visit with the Hawke Ag Aviation; Steve, Shane and Rosalyn Sperry. This family-run operation, in addition to its flying service, also farms nearly 400 acres of almonds. Needless to say, I left with a gift of about 10 pounds of premium, shelled almonds!
Tuesday, again while Graham was training with Wayne, I flew south about 100 miles to Tulare to visit with Valley Air Crafts, the California Air Tractor dealer and service center and Johnston Aircraft, a Cascade Aircraft Conversions dealer, Thrush service center and parts sales, along with new Thrush and used aircraft.
Mike Schoenau, owner of Valley Air Crafts, took a few hours out of his day to visit with me that included a lunch treat at what used to be Aero Dog; a converted Convair aircraft fuselage that several years ago Mike turned into a popular hot dog stand (sold over $50,000 worth of hot dogs the first month in business). Mike has since sold the unique restaurant and it has been turned into a bar-b-q place. Great lunch!
Afterwards, I taxied the aircraft south on the west taxiway of runways 13-31 to Johnston Aircraft to visit with old friends Dave and Joy Johnston. The Johnston family has been selling ag-aircraft parts and aircraft around the world for over 65 years. Dave’s father, Elmo, started the business. On one of my trips to Australia, over 15 years ago, Dave and Joy accompanied me during part of the visit. Joy is a native Aussie.
Late in the afternoon, I returned to E45 just as Graham and Wayne were finishing their fifth Agrobatics session. The smile on Graham’s face when he exited the aircraft was priceless. Wayne’s course is invaluable training for any pilot, especially ag-pilots. Graham had brought along his Go-Pro video camera, as did Wayne bring his. This made for great entertainment after the dinner Wayne’s wife, Karen, had prepared at their home. Just to show you how hospitable the Handley’s are, Monday night was their wedding anniversary, and yet, they entertained Graham and I as if it were any other night, sitting by the fire pit drinking Mother’s Milk (some kind of adult beverage Wayne served).
Today is the last Agrobatics session for Graham. I’ll try to catch up on some work, digitizing my poorly handwritten notes of my visits this week. After lunch we’ll depart for Santa Fe, New Mexico, about a 3-4 hour flight, depending on whether we launch direct VFR over the mountains or follow a more traditional IFR route of airways. That decision has yet to be made...
We left the Phoenix area on Monday morning and made the easy flight up through the valleys of California to Pine Mountain Lake airport. Landing at this airport is a bit intimidating for a flat lander. There is plenty of runway, about 3,000 feet at 3,000 MSL, however there’s a huge canyon drop off of about 3,000 feet deep on the downwind leg for runway 27. You’d have to fly it to appreciate the illusion. It is comforting to have two engines! (However, most of the aircraft flying in and out of E45 are single engine aircraft and they seem to be doing just fine).
Monday afternoon I left Graham in the capable hands of Wayne for the beginning of his agrobatic training, while I flew down the mountain to an ag operator’s strip southeast of Oakdale, California to visit with the Hawke Ag Aviation; Steve, Shane and Rosalyn Sperry. This family-run operation, in addition to its flying service, also farms nearly 400 acres of almonds. Needless to say, I left with a gift of about 10 pounds of premium, shelled almonds!
Tuesday, again while Graham was training with Wayne, I flew south about 100 miles to Tulare to visit with Valley Air Crafts, the California Air Tractor dealer and service center and Johnston Aircraft, a Cascade Aircraft Conversions dealer, Thrush service center and parts sales, along with new Thrush and used aircraft.
Mike Schoenau, owner of Valley Air Crafts, took a few hours out of his day to visit with me that included a lunch treat at what used to be Aero Dog; a converted Convair aircraft fuselage that several years ago Mike turned into a popular hot dog stand (sold over $50,000 worth of hot dogs the first month in business). Mike has since sold the unique restaurant and it has been turned into a bar-b-q place. Great lunch!
Afterwards, I taxied the aircraft south on the west taxiway of runways 13-31 to Johnston Aircraft to visit with old friends Dave and Joy Johnston. The Johnston family has been selling ag-aircraft parts and aircraft around the world for over 65 years. Dave’s father, Elmo, started the business. On one of my trips to Australia, over 15 years ago, Dave and Joy accompanied me during part of the visit. Joy is a native Aussie.
Late in the afternoon, I returned to E45 just as Graham and Wayne were finishing their fifth Agrobatics session. The smile on Graham’s face when he exited the aircraft was priceless. Wayne’s course is invaluable training for any pilot, especially ag-pilots. Graham had brought along his Go-Pro video camera, as did Wayne bring his. This made for great entertainment after the dinner Wayne’s wife, Karen, had prepared at their home. Just to show you how hospitable the Handley’s are, Monday night was their wedding anniversary, and yet, they entertained Graham and I as if it were any other night, sitting by the fire pit drinking Mother’s Milk (some kind of adult beverage Wayne served).
Today is the last Agrobatics session for Graham. I’ll try to catch up on some work, digitizing my poorly handwritten notes of my visits this week. After lunch we’ll depart for Santa Fe, New Mexico, about a 3-4 hour flight, depending on whether we launch direct VFR over the mountains or follow a more traditional IFR route of airways. That decision has yet to be made...
Sunday, April 15, 2012
A coast to coast excursion, part one
Saturday afternoon, April 14th, Graham and I launched on a weeklong excursion in our aircraft flying from the AgAir Update offices in Georgia to Texas, Arizona, California and back to Texas before returning home. The plan is to visit operators and suppliers to the ag-aviation industry. The “plan” also includes Graham taking Wayne Handley’s “Situational Awareness” agrobatic course (http://www.waynehandley.com/). I was one of Wayne’s charter students for this course that he designed to demonstrate to ag-pilots just how fast things can go really bad in an ag-plane. Wayne does it through hi-intensity aerobatics in an Extra 300L.
This trip is reminiscent of the years when Graham was growing up and we’d take 7-10 days during the summer to travel the country to visit operators. It gave him quite an experience in traveling, as well as meeting people in our industry.
This trip encompasses about 5,000 miles. With any luck, it’ll take about 25 flight hours and 700 gallons of fuel. However, flying from coast to coast, there will be much of America’s landscape that will be seen.
Our first leg Saturday had us at Lane Aviation (http://www.laneav.com) in Rosenberg, Texas for dinner and an overnight stay. We departed Rosenberg about 9a heading west to Fort Stockton, Texas to have lunch with AgAir Update’s AirFire & Forestry editor, Marc Mullis.
We met with Marc and a fellow SEAT pilot, Bill Rose (SD) and enjoyed a great traditional Mexican lunch, Taco OJ’s. Marc caught me up on the latest news in the SEAT world. He is not expecting the firefighting season in Texas to be of any magnitude in comparison to last year’s.
After lunch, Graham and I departed Fort Stockton for Phoenix, AZ. Now, the scenery changes from the never ending plains of west Texas to the mountains that cross between El Paso and Phoenix. It was an easy flight at 12,000 MSL, except for the never ending headwind.
Tonight, we go to dinner with Greg Guyette of Hemisphere GPS (http://www.hemispheregps.com/) Guess what, Mexican! Fortunately, Graham and I love Mexican food. Did I say we had Mexican for breakfast this morning at Bob’s Taco Stand in Rosenberg?
This trip is reminiscent of the years when Graham was growing up and we’d take 7-10 days during the summer to travel the country to visit operators. It gave him quite an experience in traveling, as well as meeting people in our industry.
This trip encompasses about 5,000 miles. With any luck, it’ll take about 25 flight hours and 700 gallons of fuel. However, flying from coast to coast, there will be much of America’s landscape that will be seen.
Our first leg Saturday had us at Lane Aviation (http://www.laneav.com) in Rosenberg, Texas for dinner and an overnight stay. We departed Rosenberg about 9a heading west to Fort Stockton, Texas to have lunch with AgAir Update’s AirFire & Forestry editor, Marc Mullis.
We met with Marc and a fellow SEAT pilot, Bill Rose (SD) and enjoyed a great traditional Mexican lunch, Taco OJ’s. Marc caught me up on the latest news in the SEAT world. He is not expecting the firefighting season in Texas to be of any magnitude in comparison to last year’s.
After lunch, Graham and I departed Fort Stockton for Phoenix, AZ. Now, the scenery changes from the never ending plains of west Texas to the mountains that cross between El Paso and Phoenix. It was an easy flight at 12,000 MSL, except for the never ending headwind.
Tonight, we go to dinner with Greg Guyette of Hemisphere GPS (http://www.hemispheregps.com/) Guess what, Mexican! Fortunately, Graham and I love Mexican food. Did I say we had Mexican for breakfast this morning at Bob’s Taco Stand in Rosenberg?
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