Great flight report.  Good to see you made it home ok.  

I believe you left your FOD cap in my back seat.  Would you like for me to drop it in the mail or hold it until you come to California?

Sam



Made it back home about 2PM my time (3PM if you are living on Tulsa time 😊). Thanks to the Crains for surpassing their own hospitality records year after year!

 

Now for a brief flight report:

 

Abstract:

Slogged through massive head winds! Made it home.

 

Details:

Thought life was good when I took off from Enid with a small tailwind and smooth air. That changed before I even exited Vance MOA’s. First I lost 5 mph, not bad…oh now, 10 mph, then 25 mph. Can this get worse?  How about 30 mph. Tried different altitudes, even down low, same deal, but bumpier.

 

Better land at Liberal KS and put on some more fuel. Could not download my data from the flight computer there because parked on the ramp, the airspeed was reading close to 30 mph, so the EFIS thought I was still flying! Put my finger over the pitot for 20 seconds and solved the problem.

 

OK, more fuel and off I go to my original fuel stop at Triniidad. Same headwinds, but worse. Wind direction has come around to almost on my nose now…I am seeing 105-110 mph (TAS is showing 155-160). My mind drifts back to my Cherokee 140 days, but hey now the OAT has increased from 23 to 28 and now the sun is on my shoulder…. So I land in Trinidad and put some more fuel in it and launch from there.

 

I am looking at wind forecasts over the peaks of the Sangre de Cristo range and La Vita pass. Showing 25 knots from the SW, so that is doable and I don’t see any lenticulars. So I start my cruise climb to try to get 12,500 before I try anything over the range. Good news is I have plenty of time to climb, since I am only seeing high 40’s mph over the ground: Hope no one was watching on Flightaware, they will think I am driving the courtesy car from WDG!

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Still not enough altitude for my comfort, so I turn back away from the mountains to continue climbing, Same airspeed ~105, but now my groundspeed is high 160’s (moving away from home)!

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Find a nice saddle to cross into the San Luis valley and now I only have 20 mph headwind alleluia. Call FS and extend my flight plan, good to go.

 

Had the Kevin Boddicker style 90 degree crosswind at home, but that seemed like a welcome relief. Plane is sleeping in its comfy hangar now.

 

Glad everyone else got home in style. Will wait to hear from Charlie. I am sure he will have a good story or two.

 

Cheers,

Jay