Nebraska Trip #2 2023 08/13-16

 Departed T67 a little after 0700 with my wife in the back seat and daughter in the copilot seat.  Ballast was removed from the nose and about 40 lbs. of baggage, snacks & water was in the passenger area.  Almost 40 gallons of fuel on board.  Our daughter Rachel, had just gotten off work and changed out of her scrubs.  She was super excited for this first trip and a her first ride in dad's airplane.  She had ridden with my CFI and me a few times 10 years ago when I was taking lessons in a 172 so had some small airplane experience already.  Her husband came out to see us off.

Right after taking off, LuAnn said, "Houston, we have a problem."  A shirt sleeve had flopped out as the canopy was closed before taking off and was slapping the side of the turtle back.  I opted to land at XBP (with a nice long runway) to retrieve the sleeve and then continue onward.  The landing at XBP was "like a truck" with the high DA and near gross.  The girls thought the landing was fine, but it was the hardest landing I've had as I was coming in a bit slow for the weight & DA.  I mentioned this to Marc later and he advised, "add 5 knots".

Our route takes us under and around some prohibited special use areas near Wichita, Lawton, Altus, Sheppard.  A direct route would go through 9 SUA's.  After we'd reached 6500 MSL (DA was quite a bit higher), I tried what Marc recommended after reading my previous trip report so went WOT and leaned to cruise RPM.  Wow.... 7.8 GPH.  The engine seemed like it was running a bit rougher, but the temps were good except the #4 EGT (I'd misstated in an email to Marc that it was the CHT) blipped high for a bit, so I went ROP for a few minutes, then back to LOP and everything seemed fine.  Bonus... plenty of fuel for the trip as I'd been allowing for about 10 GPH based on previous power settings and temps.

In flight, the copilot side HDX went off line and came back on.  I suspected that the sun shines on it and it overheated.  The pilot side stayed operational and other than showing an alert that the other display was off line, everything seemed fine.  It did it again on the return trip.  

We landed for a few gallons and potty stop at Woodward OK which was unattended on Sunday.  A couple of new Carbon Cubs were stopped for fuel and waiting for a batch of thunderstorms to travel further East to Georgia.  There were several layers of clouds with minimal rain showing on the radar.  

We passed near towns in TX, OK, KS & CO that we have driven through so many times over the years when we would drive several times per year.  Wichita Falls is about an hour drive but only about 25 minutes of flight.  We usually ate lunch in Childress TX and grabbed a sandwich somewhere in KS or CO.

 KSNY had been showing MVFR with a low ceiling, but was seeming like the weather was similar to the previous trip and was forecast to be VFR.  I had to decide over or under as we approached Nebraska.  Since the tops appeared to be under 8500 and broken, opted for staying on top otherwise would be close to scud running under the bases.   We skirted some clouds that were rising and also climbed a little higher to stay clear of the clouds.  Nearing Sidney we saw larger openings and the METAR was showing VFR but with gusty cross winds.  We'd been flying mostly with the autopilot, but occasionally disengaged when we maneuvered through breaks in the clouds.  It was nice to dial in the vertical decent rate while checking weather and alternate airports.  The panel was showing a 43 knots crosswind at 6500'.  There had been no radio calls or traffic showing on ADS-B, so started announcing a straight in landing for 31.  As expected, we got tossed around quite a bit on final but the air was cool, almost chilly with the all the wind.  Welcome to Western Nebraska (almost Wyoming).

George had been out mowing but met us at the hangar again.  I kneeled the plane so the girls could climb out and we threw our bags into the car my sister Dotty & John brought.  George, John & I pushed the plane back into the hangar, but George said he'd need to move it later.  I showed him how to raise and lower the gear, make sure the wheel was lined up to go into the wheel well and also how easy it would be to tip the plane backwards without ballast in the nose.   He asked if I wanted 20 gallons again before departing on Wednesday and confirmed 10 gallons/side.  This should easily get us to our first stop South at Scott City KTQK.  We had lunch in town at Grandma Jo's homestyle restaurant barely beating the church crowd.  They had homemade pies and ice cream for desert.

We spent several days with family and friends making plans for September and later.  The weather was cool enough jeans and long sleeves felt good to someone use to triple digit temps.  On Sunday there were six of us at the farm and taking a gamble, drove dad's Dodge Dynasty to town for lunch since it was the only vehicle with front and back bench seats.  LuAnn & I had driven it the last time we were home, filling up the tank and airing up a low tire.  It started hard a couple of times.  We made it to town and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  When we got in the car to leave, it cranked, chugged and died.  Several more attempts and all it would do is crank.  I popped the hood, pulled the intake off the filter and tried again.  Seemed like it wasn't firing, so either no spark or no gas.  A couple of local old timers walked over to provide unsolicited input, probably the best was "get a Ford" even though he was driving a Chrysler product.  A few more tries and the engine fired up.  A younger guy asked how long the car had been sitting and recommended putting some Sea Foam in the tank.  Later, on the suggestion of a pretty experienced mechanic, flipped the ignition switch three times and counted the check engine light flashes to retrieve the codes which indicated the battery had been disconnected and a problem with the cooling fan circuit.  To bad there isn't a "bad gas" code.  My wife informed me we probably shouldn't take that car again until we fix it.

This was a short trip as our daughter had to be back to work on Thursday so planned on being to Sidney at 0700 again.   George gave me the bill for fuel & discounted the hangar fee one night then helped push the plane out and load.  The starter sounded like it didn't smoothly engage on the first start attempt so need to check that.  There was almost a direct cross wind and taking off uphill extended the take off roll some but we had plenty of runway left when we lifted off.  I allowed the airspeed to climb on the upwind and turned downwind as we were above I80.   Set the altitude bug for 7500' and entered direct to KTQK while I punched in the flight plan on the HDX and IFD.  The AP tends to do what you tell it to, so making sure there is a source selected when you push the NAV button.  This seems to be a common oversight of mine so I need to have a sub-list for getting the AP to play well.  It was turbulent also and suspect the roll trim is probably slipping on the torque tube similarly to what the roll trim was doing.  It's on my list to move the AP roll servo out of the hell hole and probably put it behind the pilot's seat back.  Much easier for maintenance and will be easier to eliminate the slipping issue.

The winds weren't optimal for the trip home, but looked like 7500' was about the best we were going to get without O2.   After reaching cruising altitude, went LOP again and appreciated that the fuel range would be extended.   In a little bit over an hour, landed straight in on 17 at KTQK, had to back taxi, then to the pump and kneeled for fuel.  The girls found their way into the FBO while the line guy came out and asked, "Weren't you here a couple weeks ago?"  While chatting and me trying to do some "if the winds are bad, how much fuel do I need math" the pump's credit card authorization timed out despite me slowly punching buttons.  I put in 12 gallons of fuel putting us a little over 30 gallons which should be enough for some wind & 30 minute reserve.   The last 150 miles of the trip is near some nice airports as alternates too.

After we departed Scott City, the copilot side HDX went off line, rebooted and came back on.  Doesn't seem like it should be temp causing it so opened a support ticket when we got home.  I have FlyQ running on a tablet and phone as well, plus the SDS panel reads out some of the engine parameters.   

Rachel had dozed off in the copilot seat but I nudged her and pointed at an Air Force tanker coming towards and 3000' above us.  I wondered if it could be Mark Richardson out of Altus?  The waypoints I use keep us between the SUA's and we stay under a couple of ones that have a floor of 8500'.   Near Sheppard, ADS-B was "IRON-11,12,13 & 14" doing some runs within our 15 NM ring on the screen.   I could see some dust or smoke rising from the ground in that prohibited area we were passing by so took a photo.  I took a couple of screen shots and recall several friends claiming they fly VFR through the MOAs.  This probably wouldn't have been a good day to do that.

The OAT was staying at moderate temps but it was getting pretty bumpy as we began to descend near Bowie for T67.  The METAR for KAFW had me thinking Rwy 32 would be preferred with a crosswind from the NE at T67 but radio chatter revealed 14 was being used and quite busy.   I watched for traffic and made announcements, even extended my downwind after a tail dragger (without ADS-B) announced he was taking off when I was about to call my base.  After extending, I announced base to final and the tail dragger said he was taking off and someone advised, "There's a plane on short final" so he held and announced he needs to get his hearing checked.   As usual there was a fairly common wind shear on final for Rwy 14 when the wind is out of the East or West.  I landed quite a bit faster than usual and got on the brakes hard initially to get slowed down and rolled to the end.

I had my daughter hit the hangar door remote button to open the door and I got a little to close to the bifold door so had to quickly turn 90 degrees to keep from hitting the top of the winglet before door opened more.  I kneeled the plane most of the way, and as the girls were starting to unload in the taxiway in front of the hangar, the nose "clunked" when the wheel pivoted.  Dang it.  I need to remember to straighten that wheel out as soon as I climb out.   We landed with enough gas to easily make it to 1/2 dozen alternate airports so was happy with my planning to not haul more than we needed.   The ambient temp was tolerable (90's) when we landed.

We're all so thankful to make this trip in about 3.5 hours of flight time, around 4 hours with one stop.  We used to spend 12 hours driving to make this trip one way, multiple times a year.  Weather and payload will be our deciding factors for future trips.  

The only major squawk so far is the copilot side panel resetting and the starter engaging.  I pulled the logs and open a support ticket via email.  My wife mentioned the pad that she leans back against on the spar had slipped.  I'd still felt some air around my feet and ankles so will try to find if it's through the top covers or landing gear cover that is leaking.  

I'd been running the oil at 8 quarts but was getting some blowing out the breather so started running it at 6 per several folks suggestions and that seems to be working well.   The residue in the exhaust pipes is a lighter shade of grey after running LOP.  And there's smashed bugs to clean off.