Bringing my Cessna 140 NC89476 home: A Journey of a lifetime

Day Minus 35: The final Hawaiian flight was rather uneventful. Hurricane Lane had just passed by the Hawaiian Islands, and the weather was calm. The final addition I wanted to make to the 140 was to add Desser 8.50’s in place of my 6.00 X 6 tires to prepare for my time out west. After the tire change, I rolled out of the hangar and did three laps around the pattern to get a basic feel for the new tires. I landed just before sunset, and shut down in Hawaii for the last time.

Day Minus 33: The initial preparation for disassembly began. The rudder, elevators, vertical, and horizontal stabilizer were removed and brought home for an initial polish job and packing. For this particular Cessna 140, there were no access holes for the horizontal and vertical stabilizer bolts, so unfortunately I had the pleasure of crawling down the tail cone… twice…

Day Minus 32: My brother in law came with me to the airport, and we got to work on removing the wings. The struts came off, and then the wings themselves. The final piece to be removed was the propeller. With the container only being 20 feet long, every inch would count! The wings and fuselage were put into a friend’s hangar, and they would remain there until the container arrived.

Day Minus 19: The container arrived on September 14th at Kalaeloa Airport (Former Naval Air Station Barbers Point, HI). After receiving the container, I went to the aircraft department at Home Depot and sold them out of bubble wrap and ratchet straps (for the second time this week). Today’s priority is to get the wings wrapped with bubble wrap and hung on the container walls. Three straps were used to hang each wing, and three more straps were used to secure the wing to the wall to prevent swinging and movement.

Day Minus 18: Arrived early at the airport with the intention of finishing the packing job. The trick today would be finding a safe way to get the fuselage lifted nearly 6 feet in the air and slid into the container. In the end, we found the only way to get it done was to roll the main gear onto a pallet and lift it with a forklift while having another person stabilize the tail. Our largest concern was clearance on width. The main gear with wheel pant axle nuts was 94 inches, and the opening to the container was 94 ¼ inches. It was either going to just barely fit, or just barely not fit. We lifted the 140 up with the lift and slowly rolled it towards the opening. One of my helpers accidentally let the plane roll back too much and without warning, it rolled off the pallet and fell perfectly into the container! We had to remove the tailwheel and spring, but she fit like a glove! The tail surfaces were strapped to the floor and the plane was ready to ship.

Day Minus 16: The container departed Kalaeloa Airport and headed for Pearl Harbor.

Day Minus 12: The container was loaded on the cargo ship Horizon Pacific, and headed east across the Pacific Ocean for the port of Oakland.

Day Minus 8: Horizon Pacific arrived in Oakland, CA and the container was loaded into storage.

Day Zero: Bags packed, gear loaded, I was ready to embark on this insane journey to cross America twice: once south to north, from the Mexican Border to the Canadian Border, and again from west to east from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.

Day One: Woke up at 3:30 AM and caught a ride from my father to Boston Logan International Airport. Boarded my first of two flights for the day to Portland, OR. After a quick lunch, I boarded for my second flight to Fresno, CA. This part of the journey is where I learned how friendly, selfless, and helpful the aviation community can really be. Although I had never met him in person, a man named Brian offered to not only pick me up in Fresno, but offered me his guest house to stay in until the 140 was ready to fly! We headed to Atwater CA, enjoyed some Thai food, and went our separate ways for the night. Tomorrow would be the first real day of work, and we needed to rest.

Day Two: We woke up early and headed to the airport to receive the container at Castle Airport (Former Castle Air Force Base). We didn’t have any good plan to get it out, but since the pallet worked so well to load, we did the exact same thing to unload. Piece by piece, we emptied the container, and after some pictures to show his coworkers, the trucker headed out. Following lunch, I began reassembly. The tailwheel spring and tailwheel were first to go on for ease of mobility. Next came the tail feathers. I got almost the entire tail feather assembly complete just as the sun was setting. What happens next should have been a good indication of how weird this journey was going to be. I walked over to where Brian was helping his daughter and her classmates assemble a Grease themed homecoming float, and ended up riding along inside the tow vehicle for the parade. Certainly a strange start!

Day Three: Today was wing day! I wasted no time in getting the wings hung and struts attached. Hardware was torqued, and that remained was the control cables. Remember how I almost finished the tail feathers? Well, now came the dreaded task of slithering back down the tailcone to install the final bolts. Although I had never met him in person either, I had talked to him on Instagram a bit, and Taylor and his father dropped in with their gorgeous ragwing Cessna 170. After talking for a long time about the planes, the journey, and other shenanigans, I crawled down the tail, and Taylor held the wrench on the outside, and the tail was complete. Taylor’s friend Noam showed up in his white and green Luscombe, and we continued to talk till they had to fly out. The sun set shortly after, and I retired for the day.

Day Four: Final assembly still needed to be completed. All that remained was the control cables and propeller. The aileron cables were routed, tensioned, and safety wired. The rudder and elevator cables were rerouted and connected, and the trim tab was re-connected and tensioned. The final item was the prop. The prop was re-bolted, torqued, and safety wired. The aircraft was fueled up and a run up was completed with one discrepancy. The gasket for the left wing sight gauge cracked and failed, causing a small fuel drip in the cockpit. The left tank was drained and a new cork gasket was fabricated and installed. The optest of the new gasket was good, and the plane was ready for the A&P shakedown.

Day Five: As tempting as it was, I could not fly the 140 until it was given the A&P’s blessing. The mechanic gave my work a very thorough inspection and gave me a small hit list to fix, then finally gave me the seal of approval to fly. The first test flight revealed that the trim was rigged slightly off. On landing, I ran out of back trim authority at around 70mph and needed to hold excessive back pressure for landing. Once that was fixed, I did three more laps around the pattern, and I was good to go!

Day Six: Finally in motion and headed out! Departed early from Castle and headed to Mariposa Yosemite Airport. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take the courtesy car to the national park, but at least I was able to run into town for food. After a quick stop at Mariposa, I took off and turned south. I had gotten ahold of Dustin (known to many as the flying fiddler) and set up a plan to meet up with him down in Mojave. En route, I made a few stops at some shorter strips for practice and stopped at Kern for a quick drink and charge for my phone. Had some fun traffic on the way into Kern, with a pair of F/A-18 Super Hornets running down the valley! Following my short stop, I continued south to Mojave and met up with Dustin. Gassed up, we headed north to hit up the nearby dry lakebed, Goler Heights, and passed by the recently re-opened Johannesburg strip. We arrived at Tehachapi just as the sun was setting, and headed out for some bbq. Tonight would be the first night of camping for me, so I set the tent up at the camping grounds at the airport, and called it a night.

Day Seven: I was woken up just prior to sunrise to the sound of a Cessna 182 taking off. I went ahead and tore down camp, loaded the 140 up, and turned south with the goal of making it to Hemet for brunch, with San Diego as my final destination. Unfortunately, the marine layer had not fully burned off yet over the Ontario area and I would have to divert. I landed at Hesperia, CA and hung out there for around an hour before I could continue on to Hemet. I was quite hungry at this point, so I inhaled some blueberry pancakes and some much needed coffee. The final leg of the day brought me to Montgomery Field in San Diego. I caught a cab to Naval Base San Diego and reserved a room at the Navy Lodge. Following a nice dinner with a former shipmate of mine, I headed back to the room and settled for the night.

Day Eight: Departed San Diego early and headed to Santa Paula. Unfortunately, the people I know out there weren’t there that day since they all had to be at work. Had a nice breakfast at the airport diner, and headed north once again to Monterey. Had more oil than usual on my windscreen and discovered my crankshaft oil seal was beginning to leak again… I’ll just keep feeding the engine oil, and add it to the to-do list upon my return to Massachusetts since it’s not enough to be a show stopper. Upon arrival in Monterey, I was surprised by the beauty of modern FBO’s. Even looking partially homeless (beard, grease stained jeans, and a carhartt jacket) I was still given the red carpet treatment! Rental car at the plane waiting for me and all! Enjoyed a 5 star seafood meal on the fisherman’s wharf in Monterey, went to a camping store to replace my cheap camping gear with the good stuff. Lessons learned from Tehachapi that proper camping gear makes all the difference. While my gear was plenty good enough for the warmer climate of Tehachapi, it would not nearly be sufficient for 3 – 5 days of High Sierra.

Day Nine: Left from Monterey and flew north. Stopped at Half Moon Bay to investigate oil leaking, and found no unusual conditions other than the known leak from the crank seal. Flew over the golden gate and proceeded north to the redwoods. Before arriving, I landed on a gravel bar on the side of a river near the Redwood Forest. I learned a new appreciation for the saying “if it looks soft, it might be”. Although I was not in a location where I could walk to the trees, it was a good excuse to use the bush tires and practice a beginner level off airport landing. Landed at California Redwood airport and they had no car available, so I proceeded north to make Portland before sunset. Landed at Roseburg airport for fuel and then landed at Troutdale Portland Regional Airport. My high school friend Rhea picked me up and we went out for dinner before calling it a night. After 8.5 hours in the air, I was exhausted.

Day Ten: Not too much flying to report for today. Spent the day in and around the Portland area. We went on a few waterfall hikes and got to see the city and surrounding wilderness. My friend told me she would have loved to show me the coast, but it was too far to drive, since it was around three hours there and three hours back. I reminded her I had the plane, and before we knew it, we were off! We flew from Troutdale to Nehalem State Park and found a great camping spot at 3S7. It was a short walk to the beach where we enjoyed the scenery, and then returned to Troutdale. After a quick pax swap, I flew with Rhea’s boyfriend Justin next and did a run down the Gorge of Portland at 500 feet. After landing, we went back to Rhea’s place for game night.

Day Eleven: Departed Troutdale for Hood River, Oregon to visit the WAAAM (Western Antique Aircraft and Automobile Museum). After spending a large part of the day at the WAAAM, I called and reserved a hotel in Anacortes, WA with the intent of meeting a mechanic out there who could assist me in replacing my crankshaft oil seal and stop my annoying oil leaks. I departed Hood River, turned north, and overflew Mt. St. Helens. While almost directly over Mt. St. Helens, I experienced an engine failure. Immediately went full mixture forward, which brought the engine back for a few seconds, and lost it again. This time, I shifted fuel tanks, and the windmilling propeller brought the engine back to life. A little shaken, I continued on to the closest airport, and while in the descent attempted to recreate the problem within easy gliding distance of the airport. Unable to recreate the problem, no matter how hard I tried, I landed and began to troubleshoot. Fuel had small traces of water, but nothing out of the ordinary (I guess the engine drank the other water…). Fuel starvation was not a possibility due to over 9 gallons still remaining in the 12.5 gallon tank. After a thorough fuel sump check and run up, I departed for Copalis State Airport to enjoy the opportunity to land on the beach. The engine ran flawlessly off of the previously contaminated tank after the bottom fuel was re-drained and verified to be clean. Departed Copalis and flew to Anacortes, where I met with the mechanic and discussed plans to have the crank seal replaced in a timely manner. Got my hotel room, and enjoyed some Thai food. The first crossing of the country from south to north was complete!

Day Twelve: No flying today while I wait for the crank seal to arrive in the mail, so I went and got a rental car and drove to Seattle. I visited the Boeing Museum of Flight at Boeing field, which was very impressive! The rest of the night was uneventful, and I went back to my hotel room and enjoyed my rest. With a pace like this, I needed to recharge a bit.

Day Thirteen: Still no flying today, so I took advantage of the 4X4 on the rental truck and did a little trail riding before the seal arrived. With the mechanics blessing, I went ahead and installed the shaft seal on the 140. The mechanic gave my work a good look over and said I was good to go ahead and test fly once the sealant cured. And now we wait…

Day Fourteen: After being on the move so long, it was nice to have some time to get secondary tasks done such as laundry. Once again, I took advantage of having a rental, and went for a drive through a national forest on the same island as Anacortes and saw some amazing sights! Returned the rental truck and headed to the airport. Test flew the plane with the new seal and all appears to be working. More Thai food for dinner (I like Thai food…) and an early night to get some rest before I fly to Deadcow for HSF ‘18!

Day Fifteen: Departed Anacortes as soon as the sun rose. Flew to Madras Oregon for fuel, and then to Susanville CA for more fuel. I ran into a few Skywagons at Susanville also headed to HSF18. I departed Susanville and flew to Bodad to enjoy some BBQ, and then finally made it to Deadcow. Bodad strip would be my most challenging landing and takeoff I have ever performed to date. The landing gave plenty of others a good ride on short final with a strong downdraft. Density altitude was very real here, especially for a Cessna 140. Fully loaded and full of fuel (keep in mind, I had not yet landed at Deadcow and unloaded) I needed almost the entire strip just to break ground, and then had a painfully slow climb out over the trees. I definitely used every one of my 100 horses to get out of there. I was able to utilize some ridge lift to clear the mountains and descend down to the lakebed. Once on the ground at HSF, I parked next to me was a 170B, who I later found out knew of me and my journey before I had arrived, and next to him was Dustin, who taught me my first off airport landings in Mojave. The day was wrapped up with stories around the campfire, and a long cold night’s sleep.

Day Sixteen: After a terrible night’s sleep due to the cold weather, the camp began to come alive. At this point, there were 183 planes on the lakebed and engines already warming up. Dustin and I flew formation up to Bodad for a brunch that was being offered. Now that I had burned some fuel and emptied all of my gear, the 140 handled Bodad easily. After food, Dustin and I landed on a few lakebeds and headed back to Deadcow to meet up with some other 120s, a baby 180 (150/150TD conversion) and a Luscombe. Dustin and the group departed around 20 minutes before I was ready, and I had to play catch up. They were headed to the 747 which had been ditched at the site of Burning Man. Since their slowest aircraft couldn’t go faster than 80, I had an easy time catching up, and landed with the rest of the group. After looking over the remains of the 747, they departed to go fly to some geysers. I was unable to join due to my low fuel situation, so I diverted to Susanville and gassed up, made a beer run with the courtesy car, then returned to Deadcow. The STOL drags had already begun, so I had to land between races. Chris (the neighbor with the 170B) and I walked out to the dragstrip/runway and enjoyed a few races. Like the night before, the night came to an end with more stories and music around the fire before we all retreated to our separate tents.

Day Seventeen: The morning began with Dustin banging on my tent, informing me that it was time to fly. I rushed out, to join a flight of seven more aircraft for our Miniwagon flight of eight. What makes this particular group rather entertaining is the fact that the total cost of our small fleet of aircraft was still substantially lower than the cost of one single Carbon Cub! (Yes, I’m calling you all out) The 8 of us, consisting of 4 Cessna 120’s, myself in the 140, a 170 ragwing, a Luscombe 8E, and the 150/150TD conversion, departed to the geysers once again. We got into a loose formation and headed to Pyramid, flew through the geyser twice, and proceeded to terrorize some lakebeds and dirt roads with low level high speed passes and landings. Following these antics, the Miniwagon flight of 8 returned to Deadcow for the day’s main event, the final rounds of elimination of STOL drag! Chairs lined the strip, and over the next few hours we enjoyed watching a great set of races. The night was finished with awards, raffles, a live band, and fireworks near the fire.

Day Eighteen: Unfortunately, all good things must end. My first High Sierra Fly-in went beautifully and I loved every second of it! After some final goodbye’s, I departed Deadcow and flew to Lovelock for gas. Ran into the Nanchangs and a few 170’s there also gassing up. At this point in my journey, there was less adventure and more miles traveled, as I was pretty ready to get home. Time for some good old fashioned IFR (I Follow Roads), so I followed I-80 to Wendover for more gas. Flew over the Great Salt Lake and flew through the Rocky Mountains into Wyoming. Stayed the night at a hotel in Rocky Springs, WY.

Day Nineteen: Woke up early and got a ride to the airport from the hotel shuttle. Departed Rock Springs and flew 4 hours to Sidney, Nebraska KSNY. Refueled and borrowed the courtesy truck to grab some lunch. Returned to the airport and departed east. Landed at Millard Field outside of Omaha NE and got to the hotel right before sunset. Got some dinner, a shower, watched the Red Sox play a playoff game, and then got to bed.

Day Twenty: Woke up at 6 am and took off from Millard Airport around 8 am. Flew to Kewanee Illinois for fuel and a snack. Flew from there to a small grass strip in Indiana, Lowell field. Gassed up and talked to the owners of the field for a bit, then continued to Warren, Ohio. I got lucky, and met a couple of nice gentlemen with their Maule at the airport, and they were kind enough to offer me a hangar for the night and a ride into town to the hotel (even though I gave them a hard time for having a tricycle geared maule…). Warren, Ohio was much smaller than I had expected, and I feared I was going to be sleeping in the tent once again… Finished the night watching game one of the World Series. GO SOX!

Day Twenty-One: Woke up to a text from Mark (same guy from the night before who drove me into town) offering me a ride back to the airport. The genuine generosity in the aviation community never ceases to amaze me! I departed early from Warren, OH. Landed at KHTF for fuel and hot chocolate, it got cold in that plane with no insulation, seals, or heat! Left and had to divert to Finger Lakes Regional Airport for weather. Waited almost 3 hours, and jumped on an opportunity to get out in a slight weather improvement. Dodged rain, clouds, and fog, and made it to Northampton MA for a final fill up before finally arriving at Tanner-Hiller, AKA HOME! Coast to Coast in a 140, complete!

A special thank you to all of those who I met along the way, and those who offered assistance throughout the trip! It was truly a great pleasure to meet many of you and put faces to the names from the internet. Until next year!

Final Numbers:
-4536.7 miles
-70.9 Hours
-397 gallons of gas
-Endless memories
- 1 Journey of a Lifetime complete

Photos to come soon, still pouring over the hundreds of pictures...

Pictures or it didn't happen...

Seriously, it sounds like a great trip, and as a former 140 driver it's just cool to know about the adventures those wonderful airplanes are capable of. I guess you might have helped in some small way, too...

But this is the interwebs, and nobody reads, so pick pictures that you love, regardless of whether they go along with the written story, and post them up inside the written story. There's a chance people will accidentally read some of the story while looking at the pictures!

Sounds like a great trip! I saw you land at HSF but didn’t get the chance to say hi.

You're up at Barre-Tanner Hiller? I learned to fly at ORH (Amity Aviation - long gone) and used to drop into 8B5 as I thought it was a fun strip to land at. Logbook shows 7 landings there from 97 to 99 when I stopped flying. Got back up for the first time in 18+ years this past June and am loving being back up. Put 30 hours in since then, joined a club here in CT (with a 172P and Archer II rotated between 4B8 and MMK), and sometimes rent a 150 and 172M at DXR closer to where I currently live. Looking to get my tailwheel endorsement soon and hope to buy something late next year/early 2020. 120/140 is a strong contender for a purchase. Want an older taildragger, have a somewhat low budget (like to stay below $30-$35k), but want something with an electrical system as well for ADS-B in/out and GPS.

I'll have to head up to 8B5 sometime soon to check out your 140 and shoot some nostalgic landings!

CT_Pilot wrote:You're up at Barre-Tanner Hiller? I learned to fly at ORH (Amity Aviation - long gone) and used to drop into 8B5 as I thought it was a fun strip to land at. Logbook shows 7 landings there from 97 to 99 when I stopped flying. Got back up for the first time in 18+ years this past June and am loving being back up. Put 30 hours in since then, joined a club here in CT (with a 172P and Archer II rotated between 4B8 and MMK), and sometimes rent a 150 and 172M at DXR closer to where I currently live. Looking to get my tailwheel endorsement soon and hope to buy something late next year/early 2020. 120/140 is a strong contender for a purchase. Want an older taildragger, have a somewhat low budget (like to stay below $30-$35k), but want something with an electrical system as well for ADS-B in/out and GPS.

I'll have to head up to 8B5 sometime soon to check out your 140 and shoot some nostalgic landings!

Swing up sometime! You probably wont recognize tanner hiller though, a lot has changed since 99. The restaurant is torn down. The pool is filled in with dirt, and the entire place is virtually dead unfortunately...

Some pictures... uploading from the phone so hopefully it works

Hammer wrote:Pictures or it didn't happen...

And use your gallery here, versus attaching files to a post. Tap the link button next to the thumbnail in your album to copy, paste where you want it to appear.

Zzz wrote:

Hammer wrote:Pictures or it didn't happen...

And use your gallery here, versus attaching files to a post. Tap the link button next to the thumbnail in your album to copy, paste where you want it to appear.

Unfortunately I beat you to it... next time for sure!

jlacharite wrote:

CT_Pilot wrote:You're up at Barre-Tanner Hiller? I learned to fly at ORH (Amity Aviation - long gone) and used to drop into 8B5 as I thought it was a fun strip to land at. Logbook shows 7 landings there from 97 to 99 when I stopped flying. Got back up for the first time in 18+ years this past June and am loving being back up. Put 30 hours in since then, joined a club here in CT (with a 172P and Archer II rotated between 4B8 and MMK), and sometimes rent a 150 and 172M at DXR closer to where I currently live. Looking to get my tailwheel endorsement soon and hope to buy something late next year/early 2020. 120/140 is a strong contender for a purchase. Want an older taildragger, have a somewhat low budget (like to stay below $30-$35k), but want something with an electrical system as well for ADS-B in/out and GPS.

I'll have to head up to 8B5 sometime soon to check out your 140 and shoot some nostalgic landings!

Swing up sometime! You probably wont recognize tanner hiller though, a lot has changed since 99. The restaurant is torn down. The pool is filled in with dirt, and the entire place is virtually dead unfortunately...

It was pretty beat up back then too. Still a fun place to fly into. Was a challenge for me compared to ORH when I first started going out on my own. Use to love PMX too, long since gone sadly.

What an awesome trip. Sorry I did not get to meet you at HSF.

I can't think of a a more fun way to see the country, a plane a tent and If you have room a bike. I took a week to get to the HSF this year and loved every minute of it. A real sense of freedom to go anywhere I wanted. Airplanes are fun, and the Southern states of the US are a great playground!!

daedaluscan wrote:What an awesome trip. Sorry I did not get to meet you at HSF.

I can't think of a a more fun way to see the country, a plane a tent and If you have room a bike. I took a week to get to the HSF this year and loved every minute of it. A real sense of freedom to go anywhere I wanted. Airplanes are fun, and the Southern states of the US are a great playground!!

Thank you! May see you next year. Gotta see what the school schedule will allow... i will be there if I can! The journey is half the fun for sure

Congrats on a great adventure. Thanks for sharing it with us.

That is very, very cool. Thanks for bringing us along.