Flight to AK, Day 1. KSPG – 1A5.

Any day’s travel that ends with you sitting on a porch and enjoying this kind of view, has to be considered a victory.

  All in all, both the girls and the guys accomplished all they had planned for the day.  Today started our trip Northwest, the correct direction for Alaska as opposed to the 1021 miles we flew in the opposite direction two weeks ago.  The morning commenced with what was probably the most challenging part of the day’s activities, getting the girls (and Declan) onto their commercial flight from Tampa International.  I dropped them off on the departures curb of Tampa International Airport right on time at 6:30 am.  Speaking to Liz, they had a couple problems with medications in carry-on bags and not having Declan (lap sitter) on anyone’s boarding pass.  After overcame those issues, they boarded on time for their 07:55 flight.  They met the car in short term parking of Kansas City International Airport’s terminal C and started on their way.  They seem to have found a hotel in Sioux City, IA for the night, though I haven’t talked to them yet.

The plan for today’s flight was to file and fly IFR direct between Albert Whitted Airport (KSPG) and Macon County Municipal Airport (1A5) in Franklin, NC.  Franklin is where my Uncle Norris and Aunt Marlene’s farm is located.  This is a favorite spot for our family to visit because Brayden and Carly love to feed their horse carrots and apples.  We planned to arrive midafternoon and stay the night before departing with Uncle Norris on Monday morning (17 June).

St. Petersburg’s weather was terrific with light winds and a scattered layer at 2,500 feet below clear skies.  I filed IFR to climb through the scattered clouds and take advantage of cooler temperatures up high.  The magnetic course direct to Franklin is 360°.  Using the rules for IFR/VFR flight, this would dictate flying at an even thousand-foot altitude.  I attempted to file for 5,000 feet as the perfect compromise between speed, winds, and the difference between scattered layers of clouds at 4,000 in north Florida and 6,000 in north Georgia.  They didn’t bite and cleared me to 4,000 for a final altitude.  No matter.  After passing the lower clouds around the Florida/Georgia border, we climbed above all the other layers at 6,000 feet.

What can I say about the scenery along the gulf coast of Florida?  No, seriously.  What can I say about it?  Once you get past Clearwater Beach, the coast and adjacent areas are pretty devoid of interesting sights.  I snapped a couple photos of things we thought were interesting like industrial plants with huge runoff canals and gigantic strip mines. 

 

Making 145 knots true airspeed at 6,000 feet yielded us 135 knots over the ground.  We were witness to a funny conversation on Atlanta approach control’s frequency around Macon, GA.  Another airplane checked in on the way to Franklin.  The controller asked the other aircraft (Baron) if there was a fly-in at Macon Country because of there were three aircraft on the frequency heading that direction.   The Baron pilot responded that there was not a fly-in, and that everyone was flocking to the cool mountain air.  To that end, it is interesting to see the vacation areas spring up the farther north you get in Georgia.  From about Lake Oconee on, there is a noticeable increase in lake a country vacation areas.

Nice little airport built into a peninsula of Lake Oconee (I think.  I made a note on the iPad exactly where the lake was, but don't have the iPad on my.)

I cancelled our IFR clearance just past Athens to avoid climbing to 8,000 feet over the mountains.  Flying VFR, I was able to stay below a scattered to broken layer of clouds at about 4,000.  We maneuvered around scattered clouds and settled at 3,200 feet through the southern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Four miles south of the airport, we did an orbit of my Uncle’s farm for some pictures, and then we crossed midfield to make left traffic for runway 07.  I was way high on the approach causing us to land an embarrassing 2,000 feet down the 5,000 runway.  The previously discussed Baron was on the ramp getting fuel and a bonanza followed five minutes behind us rounding out the three aircraft Atlanta approach had referred to.

Dam along Lake Burton on the Georgia / South Carolina border

The foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which make up one sliver of the Appalachian Mountains.

Macon County airport is a pleasant place with full service fuel, some great scenery, and the little airplane with big performance shown in the photo below.

The Just Aircraft Company SuperStol airplane.  This is an impressive machine that was introduced to us by Gary Schmidt.

I met Gary Schmidt from Just Aircraft, which builds the Highlander, Escapade, and SuperStol.  The airplane he had on hand was the SuperStol.  Just Aircraft is located just down the road in Walhalla, SC.  I, admittedly, know very little about their line of airplanes, but they are certainly performers.  Gary showed off with a departure that rivaled any of the stellar efforts I saw a couple weeks ago at the OK18 fly-in.

I’ve determined that the stop in Franklin was a good decision even if we are stuck for a couple hours in the morning for thunderstorms and fog.  Stress from the last week at Fort Leavenworth, travelling, and the Saturday packing extravaganza we did yesterday really took their toll on me.  After getting the girls on their way and fighting our way out of the heat of Florida, I needed an afternoon nap and some relaxing on Uncle Norris’s porch.  I would have struggled if we tried any more legs.

I went for a jog in the afternoon.  Admittedly, my only motivation for running was Troy Hamon’s trip report from a couple months ago.  I have to stay in shape(ish) for the Army stuff.  If Troy can run during his trip, what excuse do I have?  Thanks Troy!

Brayden had a great time helping his Grandpa and Uncle Norris work on the tractor, and of course, he fed the horse.  One of Uncle Norris’s skills is empowering kids with tasks on a job.  He can always find the right chore to give the kids that will challenge them, but allow them to figure it out on their own.  I remember feeling a real sense of accomplishing when I worked with him as a kid, and I could see the same in Brayden.

Now that Brayden headed off to bed and I have some time to focus on the computer, I’m finding a couple challenges for tomorrow.  First, I left the iPad in the airplane.  It has just over 50% battery left, which means that I’ll have enough battery for the day, but Brayden won’t be able to play Sudoku on it.  I’m going to make sure my phone is charged to get all the weather I’ll need during the flight.  The second wrinkle is several lines of thunderstorms approaching through the night and into tomorrow afternoon. 

Originally, our plan was to depart Franklin heading to Dayton, OH to visit my brother.  His law school classes preclude him from being able to meet us, so we are going to continue direct towards North Dakota.  This was a difficult decision.  I was hoping to meet up with Patrol Guy at Grimes just north of Dayton.  My dad, however, purchased tickets to the Midnight Sun Baseball game in Fairbanks on the 21^st.  He stated that this was one of his bucket list items.  We’re gonna see what we can do to get some miles in tomorrow, leaving more time in Canada for sightseeing and weather.  We hope to put 7-8 hours in tomorrow reaching a jumping off point for customs in Canada.  I’ll have to update tomorrow with what we decide on route and stops based off of weather.  Until then…