Day 1 - 6.5 hours flying to St Louis Missouri!

Our adventure began early this morning, when we met at Perkiomen Valley airport in the pouring rain, with the goal of flying to the Air Race Classic start in Denver Colorado in time for the start deadline of 11am on Saturday. It was cold, grey and miserable as we loaded our gear into the plane, and Arnie topped off the tanks for us. The weather services showed a heavy weather system over most of the East coast, with thunderstorms embedded throughout. But it was moving away to the East, and we could see a way through to clearer weather out West. We filed IFR to Columbus Ohio, with Mary flying the first leg. It was raining hard when we took off, and almost immediately went into the cloud. Mary climbed to 6000 feet as we contacted Philadelphia Approach. It was turbulent and a complete white out, and at one point Philly had to relay communications to us via another pilot because although we could hear them, they couldn't hear us. Mary said "this SUCKS!". We were in the soup all the way to Pittsburgh, but then we started to break out of the cloud tops and see blue sky above. Near Altoona we crossed a convergence of two fronts and the weather went down again, but although the cloud cover remained the bases were coming up at the airports further West. We took the ILS 28 approach into Columbus, but were able to approach and land visually. It was a tough 3 hour leg, and Mary did great.

We went to Odyssey Aviation at Columbus and managed to scrounge some fruit while the plane was refuelled. We picked up our voice messages, and I found that I may have bought a new house!! as the sellers have accepted my offer. Cool.

I originally intended the next leg to end in Peoria Illinois, but the weather showed a large convective system bearing down on Peoria from the NW at 35 kts, and there were severe weather watches and convective sigmets for the whole area. So we figured out that if we went further South we could avoid it, and filed to St Louis Missouri instead. I took off into nice clear weather. Around Terre Haute we heard some other female voices on the frequency headed West (call sign ...701...), so Mary asked if they were on their way to the Air Race Classic too, and they said yes! We think you guys might be one of the collegiate teams. We picked up headwinds over 30 kt at 6000 feet which were really slowing us down, so we descended to 4000 feet. The winds were better there, but there was a thick cloud layer so I also logged a chunk of instrument time. I was worried that at our slower ground speed we didn't have enough fuel to get to St Louis, but we did, and were given a visual approach to 28L following a regional jet. We left N29SP at Signature Aviation and checked into the Drury hotel for the night. We have no less than three free drinks coupons (each!), so are about to go down to the bar and restaurant for some real food.

Disgusting picture - when you're flying in cloud and have finished with your gum, there's no time to dispose of it nicely! Sorry Adelle.



Proof that we made it to St Louis - and that its almost 100 degrees here, which is why we look hot.

Mary unpacking the plane at St Louis.

Final preparations

Last night the mechanics did a final oil change; and fixed the issue with the "gear in transit" light, which was on too sensitive a setting. We have a part on order that should get the autopilot working again, that will reduce our workload on long legs somewhat, and we hope it will come in from California tomorrow. Today I flew the plane back to Perkiomen from Pottstown Muni with Mary right seat (1400 overcast), and we washed and waxed the N29SP, with the help of Mary's husband Arnie Wunder. All we have to do now is put on the number "8" decals. The current plan is to depart Thursday morning early - there's no good weather day out East this week, so we'll just file IFR and set off early to avoid the thunderstorms.

Still working out the kinks

Yet another bad weather morning. Set IFR off for Cape May to pick up Barbara and go down to the air circus in Virginia, but the 800 foot overcast over NJ didn't lift so we decided to make one of our (now frequent) diversions and go out to Pittsburgh instead. The clouds dissipated completely round about York, and Mary completed the flight into Alleghany County in bright beautiful weather. About 20 miles out, the "gear in transit" warning light came on and stayed on for 5-10 minutes, but we made a normal approach and landing. Once on the ground we called Andy Landis, instructor and Arrow expert, who explained that this probably was nothing to be concerned about and told us some things to look out for on the way home. Good thing we did ask, because about 5 minutes into the flight home the light came on again and stayed on the whole flight. The gear didn't come down, but the plane developed a distinct yaw to the left so we think the left gear might be drifting out of the well somewhat. Another thing for the mechanic to look at when he works on the plane tomorrow! While all this was going on, I put my hand down the side of the seat to pick something up, and some sharp edge gave me a 9 inch scrape in my forearm which bled all over the trim. But despite this I bravely flew on and successfully completed the flight back to Pottstown Muni. Altogether we have put 16 hours on the engine following its top overhaul, so it is ready for its oil change.

A warm and humid week

The picture is me at Perkiomen standing in between the yellow Cherokee I share with my two partners; and the white Arrow that Mary and I are racing.

Despite humidity and thunderstorms, Mary and I have continued building time on the overhauled engine. Friday dawned with a low overcast and mist, but by the afternoon it had cleared up enough for us to go flying. I had had precisely zero sleep the night before, so Mary flew the whole time and I pretended to do nav/comm duties from the right seat in between naps. In fact I was so tired I actually can't remember where we went! but I think we just flew out West for a while. Today (Saturday) we were promised a better day for weather, but we started out with broken cloud at about 3000 ft with a 7000 ft overcast, and the lower layer pushed up cumulus and thunderstorms as the day warmed up. I felt much better having caught up on my sleep, and I flew left seat out of Pottstown with the intention of going to Akron Ohio to build some hours, first stopping at Lancaster to pick up some charts. But it was not to be. West of Harrisburg we climbed to 4500 ft to clear the mountains, and started to get into the cloud tops. We asked for 5000 ft and climbed again, but now the visibility started to go below minimums. So we asked for a diversion and filed IFR back to Lancaster. On the approach to Lancaster we were descended all the way down to 3000 ft, and still found ourselves in cloud. We also picked up the Pottstown weather and realized it had gone down to 2700 ft overcast. So we diverted again, this time IFR directly to the airplane's home base, Pottstown Municipal. But as we got close to the airport, we saw on the GPS a building cell with Level 2 returns less than half a mile from the airport, and it soon became visible out the window as well. So we diverted yet again! this time back to Perkiomen Valley, where Mary and I are usually based. We started the VOR 9 approach in cloud, but broke out about 2200 ft and landed visually. So in just about 2 hours of flying, we only managed to visit Lancaster and Perkiomen!! But we got yet more IFR and teamwork practice in. I should add that since Mary is a former air traffic controller, the kind of intensive radio work needed for a flight like this is much easier, since she is very quick, and knows exactly how to ask for what we want!

The schedule for the rest of the week is: tomorrow more flying; Monday fix the autopilot and change the oil; Tuesday wash and wax the plane and stick on the number "8" decals; Wednesday pack and check the weather; Thursday or Friday depart.

Cape May for lunch

Mary and I took Arnie down to Cape May NJ today to meet our friend and fellow racer Barbara for lunch. IMC both ways, again, with a lot of afternoon humidity leading to thick haze and cumulus build up. The plane is starting to feel very comfortable and familiar, and we split responsibilities the way we'll probably do it during the race, with the non-flying pilot doing radios and navigation. We have to put another 10-12 hours on the plane between now and Monday to get an oil change in before we leave for Colorado, so will try to fly every day.

Finally - a dual flight just the two of us!

Mary and I met up today to fly out to Frederick MD in N29SP. We went to support the Sugarloaf Chapter of the 99s who were having a yard sale and barbecue to raise funds, because they will host the terminus of the Air Race Classic in 2010! The weather was supposed to improve mid-morning, but the overcast was still around 2000 feet by 11am. We waited around at N47 for a while, then decided to file IFR and go. This is Mary starting up the plane, just before she took off, and flew about 40 minutes of solid IMC before letting down into Frederick. Well done Mary!

Here are some snapshots from Frederick: Mary talking to Carlo in between Young Eagles flights; Seth standing next to her birthday flowers and helping with the barbecue; Lin waiting to taxi in the C172; and Rose, Mary and Alison having a chat. It was great to see you all!

I filed IFR to fly home, and most of the flight was over a beautiful bright white overcast. Here we are approaching N47, and the overcast is breaking up.

Here is Mary talking to Tom, head guy at N47 and instructor extraordinaire; and most excellent line man Joe refuelling the plane at N47. Altogether a very nice flying day.

We have a plane!!

We have the charts, we have matching T-shirts, we have most of the paperwork done, and most importantly - we have a plane!! N29SP has been through its overhaul and annual, and is back on the line once again. The mechanic would like us to put 20 hours on it in the next couple weeks, and to do an oil change before we go. Today Mary and I went up in it for the first time in weeks, taking with us Ethel Bailey, Ninety-Nine and champion CFI. It was a beautiful day, and I flew to York and Mary flew us back. Oil burn was minimal, and things look good. As it happens, I'm in the process of changing jobs and have some free time planned, so we aim to take the opportunity to fly as much as possible prior to leaving for Colorado. So far the run up to this year's race has been a very different experience to last year, as we have had much less opportunity for training flights in our race plane than Linda and I did in 2008. But Mary and I both raced in 2008, and have flown together often before, and N29SP is an easy plane to fly well, so we are feeling pretty good at this point.