I've just departed Winder airport and as I pass 1000' AGL I start my timer and place the fuel selector to feed from the rear aux. tank. Except for ourselves, fuel is the largest payload we carry, and it must be managed properly in order to stay within CG limits. If for any reason I were unable to feed or transfer out of my rear tank it behooves me to land ASAP or face aft CG problems as fuel gets burned out of the forward tank. I will plan on running out of the rear tank for an hour and a half prior to switching back to the main forward tank. I can then transfer whatever remains in the aux into the main tank, know exactly how much fuel I've got left and plan my next fuel stop accordingly.
I tune in Hartsfield's ATIS to get the local altimeter setting then I switch over to 123.3 to see if I can get a hold of Jim. It's amazing! He heard me and I can hear him. We compare relative positions and it looks like he'll be arriving in Jackson a few minutes ahead of me. Jim assures me once again that he's prepared, and that our communications problems of the past are over. I'm not so sure. I cross Covington at 5500' MSL and haven't felt a ripple since take off. There is a little headwind, but everything else considered it's so much the better. We'll be able to fly more and enjoy this glorious day longer. I'm level at 7500' and I ask Jim for his position. He tells me that he's overhead Seven Lakes, a small private strip. I'm a few miles north of there and we start looking for each other. The Moni is very hard to see from some angles so it helps if you turn a lot. I spot Jim east of my position and I give him a steer to intercept my course. Soon he sees me and we are once again on our way together to Sun n' Fun.
Next fix is Savage airport in Montezuma, GA, known for not having any people or fuel. Once at cruise I usually throttle back to 6000 rpm and let the Rotax do its thing. She's running rough at 6000 rpm but smooths out after a turn or two of the mixture control. Our groundspeed is only 90 kts. but the magnificent weather more than makes up for it. As I sit there watching the countryside roll by I can't help but think what's going on inside that engine. If there is anything I've learned over the last nine years of flying 2-cycles it would be that there are three things that make 2-cycle engines run smoothly: mixture, mixture, mixture. The EGT's on my airplane have always had a mind of their own. Sometimes they're within 25° of each other and sometimes my front one is up to 200° cooler. I don't know why this is other than the fact that I've got a custom-built intake manifold that places the carburetor 90° from the stock Rotax position. I used to worry about EGT temperature since all the Rotax pubs recommended a max. of 1200°. My engine would run rough with cruise EGT's below 1200°. I finally overcame the 1200° limitation and I now lean the engine until it runs smoothly and let the EGT's fall where they may (typically around 1250°-1275°). I then pull the choke, which is actually a fuel enrichner, and if I get an rpm drop I know (hope) the mixture is just right, if the rpm stays the same but the EGT drops then it means that I have leaned a little too much. Having a mixture control allows you to have a smoother running engine at all altitudes and various rpm settings. It's highly recommended.
I'm starting this trip with 222.3 hours on the Rotax. I sit there and ponder that fact for a while. Let's see... multiplying it by sixty will give me the number of minutes, multiply that result by 5000 and I'll get the approximate number of times parts have gone up and down and round and round. It comes out around 67 million cycles! You do a lot of thinking on a Moni cross-country. Better start thinking of something else...
There aren't many days that the Moni will truly fly hands off but this is one of them. I would characterize the Moni as neutrally stable, once upset from a trimmed condition it does not have a strong tendency to return to the pre- trimmed state. That doesn't make for a low workload airplane on a cross-country but it's probably the reason the airplane is so much fun to fly. Today however, you can pitch down by stretching your arms forward, pitch up by pulling them towards your chest. Jim is flying solidly alongside, the engine is humming along, airspeed indicator shows 105 mph, the air is glassy smooth, visibility unlimited, we can talk to each other ... it truly doesn't get better than this.
Cordele, GA (CKF) is the next fix after Montezuma. It's hard to miss, north of town and sitting on the west side of Interstate 75 sits the airport with its three intersecting runways. I plan to switch back to my forward tank over Cordele, it's been an hour and a half since I left Winder. From this point on we will follow I-75 all the way to Valdosta. I've fond memories of Cordele. In my early KFM days, Jim and I went to a fly-in in Tifton, 34 nm south of Cordele. Scattered clouds turned to broken over Cordele to undercast south. I had only enough gas to make it to Tifton and the ol' pucker factor kicked in. We were VFR on top but had no way of knowing what the Tifton weather was like. I called Jim and expressed my puckered outlook on life at the time. He humored me and we turned back to descend and land at Cordele for more gas. I was alongside Jim when we started our descent. Those holes sure looked bigger and better defined from up high. There are few moments when you wish your Moni would have the glide ratio of a piano, and this was one for sure. After punching through that hole I joined up with Jim over lake Blackshear and we made a beeline to the airport. Zipping low along the countryside at 100 mph we 'strafed' a passing train then entered the pattern and landed. That was another one of those Moni religious experiences you always remember. We went on to Tifton, enjoyed the show, on the way home stopped in Thomaston for fuel and then I got a tour of the Flint river by Jim that I won't soon forget either. I'm sure Jim also remembers it fondly. Anyway, back to the story.
The GPS is not an essential part of the flight right now. A 160 heading or simply following the interstate will take us right to Valdosta (VLD), our scheduled fuel stop 75 nm ahead. Turner Co. airport and Tifton slowly slip by below us. Next airport 18 miles away is Cook Co. in Adel, GA. I fly over that field and remember that long glide down with a broken crankshaft back in the 'KFM era' on a previous return trip from Sun n' Fun. I see the motel by the interstate and the truck stop where I had dinner. All things considered, that episode could have turned out a whole lot worse. The radio interrupts my reminiscing, Jim wants to speak with Valdosta approach control.
We switch over to 126.6 and Jim attempts to call. This is a military controller for Moody AFB and he's gotten himself all worked up over something. Controllers get upset because pilots make simultaneous transmissions, but how the hell are we supposed to know when someone else is talking on a UHF frequency? After Jim's third attempt the controller blows us off, orders us to stay clear of Moody and maintain VFR. Maintain VFR? Where is this guy anyway? You couldn't bust VFR if you tried. Jim proceeds to tell him that since he was the approach controller for Valdosta, and we were planning to land in Valdosta, it would be nice to let him know. "Call the tower and leave me alone." was the gist of his reply. Jim could probably see me grinning in the cockpit.
We start a let-down about 20 miles out and call Valdosta tower. He asks us to report a right base for runway 17. Thermal activity is starting to pickup and it gets bumpy below 4000'. A flight of four T-34's calls the tower, they're at about our same relative position but lower. They beat us to the right base and we get cleared to land after reporting them in sight. The wind conditions at VLD are a big improvement from those of our previous expeditions. Jim makes a nice formation landing alongside me and then we have to hold short and give way to those T-34's that cut us off in the first place! The consolation will come at the gas pump. It's warm down here and if feels good to stretch the legs and make a pit stop. Jim always seems to know at least one person at every airport and today is no exception. One of the guys flying a T-34 was an old acquaintance from his days with Southern Airways.
The Hobbs meter reads 435.3 for a block to block time of 2.5 hours. 7.8 gallons of 100LL was purchased totaling $16.12. Not bad for a 200 nm journey. Jim was born just across the Georgia border in Pinetta, Florida. He asks me if I mind if we fly over the old homestead and farm where his brother and sister still live. How could I mind? We can see some scattered clouds building to the south and I ask him if he wants to stay low or not. I hear 5500' for final on our way to Leesburg, FL where we are headed next to meet a friend of Jim's for lunch.
As we are getting ready to depart an ASA Brasilia taxis past on its way back to Atlanta. I flew that trip dozens of times, but right now it seems like a distant memory. We taxi out and Jim now leads since he's taking me on another one of his 'tours'. We takeoff and tower quickly bids us farewell on our journey southbound. We fly a 190° heading at about 1000' AGL and soon Jim starts to descend. I'm trailing right behind him. We soon reach 200', then 100', suddenly Jim swings his Moni around to the left and dives towards some pine trees. I follow behind him and find that we're making a low approach at his brother's 2000' grass strip. The trees are tall and the runway looks narrow. Jim threads the needle expertly and makes a nice pull-up/wing-over right over the house. I can see someone waving out of the corner of my eye. We climb and get back on course towards our next fix, Suwannee, FL (24J). We have entered Florida airspace.
Jim points out the river that he played, grew up in, and fished in as a child. Flying offers a lot of time for reflection. Too much time perhaps, because we've lost sight of each other. Jim's Moni climbs better than mine and he's left me behind. The clouds are building nicely and bases are about 3500'. I tell Jim that I'm just north of I-10. He says he's just about there as well. We start comparing GPS positions relative to 24J. We're practically on top of each other. Why can't I see him? I tell Jim that I'll be circling directly overhead the airport once I reach it. He agrees to do the same. We get there and we're still lost. I finally ask him his altitude and he responds 7500'. Well no wonder we are lost, I'm at 5500'! Good working radios and we still can't communicate. I start my circling climb to 7500' and several minutes later we finally spot each other. Oh well, good thing we're not trying to break any records getting to Sun n' Fun.
I punch in Ocala, FL (OCF) as our next fix and we are once again en-route towards Sun n' Fun. At this point the skies are scattered to broken with the prettiest little cumulo-bumpus you have ever seen. The bigger ones had tops at nine, maybe ten thousand feet. The air was smooth and cool on top as we watched the clouds fly by. On occasion there would be a build-up along our flight path, which gave us an excuse to frolic and dance around them. The Moni looks so graceful and beautiful next to those white puffy clouds. I wished I'd had my video camera to catch Jim's wingtip kissing those wispy clouds. We shut our engines off over Ocala and started a glide down towards Leesburg. Jim shuts down at a higher altitude to make up for his lack of wingspan. He is supposed to fly over his friend's house to let him know to come pick us up. 123.3MHz is the glider chit-chat frequency and we could hear several other sailplanes enjoying the beautiful day. Bases were at 3700' and the ride got bumpy below it. We didn't encounter any major thermals to help us along though. Jim was soon below me and we decide to start up our engines. I love my new long wings.
We never did find Jim's friend's house so we headed for Leesburg. I follow Jim in, we fly overhead and make a short left hand pattern to runway 13. Not much activity right now. Jim calls his friend and we gas up the airplanes. Total time to Leesburg, 2 hours not counting the 12 or 15 minutes we glided. I purchased 4.5 gallons of fuel. We now have plenty of gas and will not need to buy any at Lakeland.
After a nice lunch we are ready for the final leg to Sun n' Fun. There was a gaggle of about seven Ryan's that were getting ready to depart. We decided to hustle and try to get airborne before them. We took off from runway 13 turned right heading southbound over Lake Harris which sits south of the airport. It was a nice day for the 'F' sports, flying and floating. GPS now shows 47 nm to the Lake Parker power plant, which is the entry point to the pattern at Lakeland (LAL). We will be arriving at Sun n' Fun in about 30 minutes.
As we level off at 2500' MSL, I look at the ground below and ponder the possibility of an off-airport landing. There are dozens of little lakes, and where there is no lake it's mostly swampland. We pass a few private strips and Seminole gliderport. There is a lot of activity at the gliderport and I suppose we would be welcome there if need be. It's time to get with the program, we switch frequencies to monitor the LAL ATIS. Nothing new here, they are landing to the east on runway 9L which normally is a parallel taxiway to runway 9. They aren't holding around Lake Parker, and that is good news.
Every time we've been to Sun n' Fun we have landed to the east. The procedure calls for joining east of the powerplant so as to be in a single file by the time you overfly the powerplant. You should be at 1000' MSL and fly at 100 mph heading west. Hopefully the guy you are following knows what he's doing. Flying west once you cross the interstate you turn southbound so as to stay right of a golf course and left of a water tower painted like an orange. There are some strobes on the surface to guide you along. This heading takes you right towards the LAL control tower where you will turn back to the west to enter the downwind leg of the pattern. It's typically a very short pattern. The tower controller will let you know when to turn base and whether to land short or long.
I'd been leading so I trust that Jim is right behind me. We're listening to the controller at the powerplant. I'm following a high-wing Cessna and it isn't very busy. As we overfly the powerplant we don't even get to rock our wings. Either the controller didn't see us, didn't care, or didn't know what the hell to call us. The guy in front of me turns south on cue which means that he is paying attention to the guy in front of him. As long as everybody does what they are supposed to do it goes very smoothly. My "leader'" starts to slow down as we head towards the control tower, I guess he's getting anxious. He turns downwind and I turn shortly after him. The tower controller hollers at us to put our gear down. I inform him that what he sees is all we got. A quick turn to base and final and before you know it we're on the ground at Sun n' Fun 1995.
Flag men start directing you and we wind up making a left turn on to the NW runway and end up doing the scenic perimeter tour of the LAL airport. We taxi clockwise all around the north side of the airport, then past Flight Safety and the old Piper factory buildings. We soon start seeing people and airplanes. This section is where the 'spam-can' parking is as well as parking for 'spam-can camping'. People look in amazement while they smile and wave at the two contraptions taxiing by with only one wheel and dragging a wing. They probably wouldn't believe us if we told them that we came all the way from Atlanta, 360 nm as the crow would fly. Now we can see the ultralights flitting about the afternoon sky off our left, the warbird section is off to our right. How many hundreds of gallons did they spend getting here? Did they have more fun than we did? I think not. We finally reach the homebuilt area after almost completing a 360 around the airport perimeter. Flagmen point us down an alley and soon we are parked on row 42 next to some Sonerai's. It took us 38 minutes to fly to LAL from Leesburg and 16 minutes to taxi to our tie-down spot.
I'm not even out of my airplane when I spot the first Moniac in the greeting committee. It's Langis St. Pierre from Quebec, who's been building a Moni it seems like forever and a day. Perseverance is a wonderful virtue. The task at hand is to find our tie-downs so that we can put our trusty airships to rest for the night. We walk over to Freeman's Aviation, whom year after year have always helped us with our 'extra baggage'. We get the tiedowns and secure the Moni's for our stay at Sun n' Fun.
Now we've got to find Denny Paup (who's never been here), get to the hotel room, have a few beers, a bite to eat, and celebrate.
You still with me? Let's put an end to this ...
"Live long and fly safe ..."
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