I had some extra vacation at work and needed to see some family in a couple spots around the country to I decided to take my 180. I was also going to turn 26 on the trip, so it can be considered a birthday celebration as well.
My brother and his wife are both marine biology professors at University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Lab, and just had their first daughter (my first niece) a few months ago. Them living on the coast (different from Colorado) and having a new family member was enough of a reason for me to fly down. I'm originally from Kentucky so I also wanted to stay a couple days at my family's farm. So that was the general route - CO->MS->KY.
Boulder, CO to Ocean Springs, MS
I left Boulder at about 7am for the flight Southeast. A local guy was going to be serving as my copilot for the first day just for the adventure and the chance to log a few hours on the way down. The first couple hours were great with calm skies and cool temperatures but as the day progressed and we got into Texas/Oklahoma, it was a little hot and bumpy as expected. We had a slight tailwind most of the way with some spots of light headwind but overall we were making good time.
We stopped at Cedar Mills, TX (3T0) for lunch off a recomendation from Facebook. It's a smooth grass strip on Lake Texoma next door to a big marina and resort with a good restaurant. There were a number of Cessna 170's there so we fit in pretty well. Other than the humidity (we don't have that in Colorado), it was a great stop with good food and a really nice strip.
Cedar Mills (3T0) on Lake Texoma:
View from the restaurant at 3T0:
Should I make fun of Texas or Oklahoma for this single pig advertised as a petting farm? The lake is on the border so they should both take the heat...
After lunch we kept heading southeast, planning to get fuel once more before we got near New Orleans Class B and the expensive fuel that comes along with it. We made Alexandria, LA our stop and met an interesting character who very opinionated about Mississippi (where we were heading) not being as good as Louisiana. We let him talk, absorbing the local culture while really just wanting him to move his plane so we could fuel and keep moving. My copilot got this picture of a couple UH60's flying overhead while fueling at Pineville (2L0):
As we started getting closer to New Orleans, the swamp started to show it's face which was really cool. We were planning to take the VFR flyway through the New Orleans Class B, so we had to get down to 1500' AGL. Lots of good sight seeing over the bayous. I have traveled in this area a lot, but always on the ground or on boats, never from the air.
I was dropping off my copilot in New Orleans for him to catch a commercial flight back to Denver, so we planned a stop at Lakefront Airport near downtown before I would continue onto Ocean Springs, MS where my brother lives.
Flying directly over KMSY in the VFR flyway through Class B. Notice the airliner on the runway:
Lake Pontchartrain and the causeway to cross it:
Landing at KNEW to drop off Kyle. Cool approach over the lake, with zero traffic:
Parked at KNEW by a T6. Cool airport:
East of New Orleans heading towards Mississippi:
I landed uneventfully at Ocean Springs, MS (5R2) about 20 mins after leaving New Orleans, probably 7pm. After a long day, it was nice to have a brother to pick me up at the airport and a guest bedroom to stay at.
I was planning to head North on Monday and it was my first time to visit them since they moved to Ocean Springs a year ago, so Sunday was full of plans. We visited their marine lab, went out on the boat they are allowed to use (owned by the lab), and went to see the lot they are starting to build a house on this summer.
My brother and sister-in-law were starting a research grant in the next few months that was going to study the Chandeleur Islands out in the gulf, about 30nm off shore (I think). They were having to pay $1000 to get some bad pics from an airplane of the islands to better plan their efforts since it takes a couple hours to get to the northern tip by boat, much longer to actually boat around them. So she asked if we could fly out there about a month ago, which meant a month of deep thinking on whether I wanted to take the risk of flying out over the ocean or not, especially with the parents a my new niece. Feel free to lecture me on bad decisions or just say I'm going to shoot my eye out.
I decided I'd go for it, with a lot of limitations. I figured if we had to ditch in the water, the plane would probably flip, so I definitely didn't want 2 people on board (the rear pax getting out upside down, in the ocean, after a crash, seemed unlikely). I also asked that my brother get us a couple of his fancy PFD's, the kind that are slim and wearable and then inflate once you pull the string when you're out of the water. Him having the perfect kind was a perk of him running a marine lab. I wanted to be high enough to be in gliding distance of something for the vast majority of the trip (everything but a couple minutes). This meant 6000', which unfortunately was in an MOA so I told them we couldn't go if it was active. Also was being followed by Houston Center on radar. That's all the justification I will make. It was a great flight and she got the data she needed.
Heading back from the Chandeleur Islands. You can see the coast in the distance, and the barrier islands in the foreground are about halfway back to shore. For reference, it's about 12 miles between the coast and the barrier islands.
Cruising down the Chandeleur Islands at 1500' AGL. I felt safe with all the long stretches of hard packed sand:
Out on the boat before sunset:
Ocean Springs, MS to Glasgow, KY
I got my brother to drop me off at 5R2 on his way to work on Monday around 7am. It was a beautiful, hot, sticky, dew-covered morning. Even though I grew up in the south, I've became accustomed to clear crisp cool colorado (CCCC) mornings - not this kind of sweating-before-7am thing. A couple quarts of oil added and I was on my way north east. Looking around for backcountry-esque things to do on the trip, I decided I'd head over to Florida to check out the RAF's Blackwater airstrip (8FD3). There were lots of low clouds at 500'-1000' AGL but very scattered making for a great smooth morning flight. I got flight following for this portion due to florida's scary VFR charts with their layers and layers of airspace. Didn't actually see any other planes, but heard the controllers talking to lots, many I assumed to be military based on their flights of two and call signs.
Near Mobile, AL:
Blackwater (8FD3). Thanks RAF
Heading North, somewhere in north Florida or southern Alabama:
I decided to stop at Tuskeegee, AL (06A) for various reasons. They have cheap fuel, it's a historic airport made famous by the Tuskeegee Airmen, and my Dad grew up about 5 minutes drive from there and I wanted to get pictures of his childhood farm for him. Seemed like a win-win-win to me. Little did I know it was a win-win-win-win. It turns out there cheap fuel price listed in Foreflight is not only accurate, but it's actuall full-service. So a guy a few years younger than I came out to the plane as I was pulling up, directed me, chocked my tires, and pulled up the fuel truck. I got a strong sense that he was the FBO owner (and airport manager)'s son. After paying for my gas inside, I asked them about the Tuskeegee Airmen museum I had heard about online. The younger guy offered to walk me over there and I took up his offer. As soon as we got out of earshot of the FBO owner (I think his dad), we said "You want to see something cool?"
"Well fuck yeah, what kind of question is that?" is what I was thinking but I remembered we were in the south so I just let out a "Sure!"
He started walking towards their maintenance hangar (not the museum hangar), turned back to me and said "It flew in last night."
I was pretty ecstatic. It felt really cool to see a Tuskeegee CAF P51, at Tuskeegee. That followed by my tour of the museum really made the day special. Pretty crazy what those pilots went through to get a seat in a plane. Really cool eye-opening stuff.
I headed out of Tuskeegee in a pretty good mood and got some tailwinds north after circling my Dad's old farm in Notasulga, AL to take some pictures for him. I guess I stopped taking pictures during this leg, because I don't have any...
The next few days were spent lounging, exploring, and working at my family's farm in Kentucky. Mom and Dad do horse boarding and when I come home it usually turns out to be the perfect time to fix a fence, pick up rocks, fix the tractor, etc. I think they plan it. Staying at home for a few days if worth the few hours of work per day though.
Evening on the farm:
Glasgow, KY to Boulder, CO
To get back to work on Monday, I needed to be in Boulder Sunday night. I wasn't really feeling like doing the whole stretch in one day and getting back late (mountainmatt and I already did that back in February), so I decided to break it up into two days, departing Glasgow on Saturday afternoon around 3pm.
Crossing the Ohio River, leaving Kentucky:
Flying over Lake of the Ozarks. I've never seen such a developed and populated lake before. Boats everywhere, resorts on the water everywhere, etc. Pretty neat, but too crowded for my tastes in activities I would say.
I decided to stop in Clinton, Missouri due to a 24/7 pilots lounge (read: free couch to sleep on), courtesy car, and cheap fuel. It was a great little airport, and I had some fun watching a skydiving outfit drop jumpers after sunset and fly their caravan like it was a Pitts. I have a feeling that either the boss wasn't around or the pilot was the boss, because he was doing high speed low passes, steep climbs, etc in the plane. Looked like he was having a blast. Meanwhile I dropped my oil filler cap between cylinders 3 and 5 and spent an hour removing the top cowling, burning my hand, and recowling trying to get it. I was successful, with only a couple burns. They were probably having as much fun watching me as I was them.
After a night on the couch, I got up before sunrise, took the car into town for breakfast and came back to the plane to get moving around 630am.
Sunrise on the spinner:
The rest of the trip home was mostly unexciting and calm. Starting in central Kansas, scattered storms started popping up and I was grateful for Foreflight's radar. Never saw any lightening, just rain storms. Had to switch fuel stops because a certain stubborn storm cell but it ended up being great as my alternate had even cheaper fuel, nice runways, and the best stocked snack/drinks I've ever witnessed...
Those snacks and drinks though...
Lots of isolated showers:
And some not so isolated:
That was the story the remaining couple hours back to Boulder. The storms gave me a really nice tailwind at about 4500-6500ft MSL and so I was moving at about 170kts GS through pretty smooth air. No complaining about that.
Ended up putting about 25 hours on the plane, stopped at 12 new airports, crossed 13 states, turned 26, burned/leaked 4 quarts of oil, scared myself a few times, passed the 100 hours of time in my 180, and had a blast.
-asa
