Three words: Early morning departure.

As others have said, launch before sunrise, land by noon in the western mountains. That gives you six hours of good flight conditions, USUALLY.

Sometimes, though, you just have to sit it out.

MTV

Barnstormer wrote:...and fly the wagon on myself.

St. George UT is an option as well, had forgotten about it.

Yeah, I would continue to forget about St. George. Nothing flies out of there cheaply and would probably take her through Denver to Reno. You might beat her there in the wagon. McCarran has lots of daily flights to Reno and it's on your way if you take the wagon on up yourself. Easy transport to LAS from Henderson which is an easy-in-easy-out airport for Vegas.

Looks pretty shabby between Vegas and Reno right now. Unusually cold front heading this way. Calling for 20G30+ kt down in the valley later on. Not very pleasant around these rocks when it blows that hard. Lots of junk coming across the Sierras, so if you DO go tomorrow, might want to wear a helmet.

When I have pax, even light+ turbulence can rank as good a reason to call a flight as weather. I've called long trips due to it, and even with those disappointments, at least we get to fly together still because airsickness was never the issue. It is a game changer.

The usual things apply with pax...no flying at peak turbulence times, or with more than moderate winds over the rockies. I also don't mind burning up the O2 and going at 14k'-16k', even in the summer, to avoid the bumps if it will make the ride more enjoyable for pax. Keeping the blood saturated with O2 also goes a long ways to reducing motion discomfort as well, and so does scopolamine.

Make no mistake...if I'm not doing the flying, I can get a bit airsick. It is no fun, and there is no way to rationalize it when you feel that bad. Serious airsickness is debilitating...just like a migraine. If I were unfortunate enough to feel that way, I'd say I didn't want to fly again too. My dad will toss cookies in glassy air in 5 minutes. He dreams to fly, but his body won't let him enjoy it.

A move to the bush of Alaska will cure any woman's fear of flying as she knows a plane ride is the only way to go shopping.

Hey Phil, I'm really sorry this happened to the both of you. She didn't seem to like flying that much in the first place, and now with this, getting her back in the air is going to be tough. Really sorry!

I'm not going to start making suggestions, since you've gotten enough of them, and you're a big boy. Just know that I'm thinking of you, and hoping everything's OK!

I'll be sending some pix from Alaska soon!

Barnstormer wrote:YB, just what I'm looking for, thanks.

Wife reminded me that we are carrying lots of stuff for this trip that won't go on an airline, but I can put her on and fly the wagon on myself.

St. George UT is an option as well, had forgotten about it.

If you decide to fly to Vegas, Henderson executive is closest to KLAS much cheaper tiedown.

Had a great time riding the train to the Grand Canyon today, I'll post some photos later. Wife enjoyed herself today. We will be in the air shortly after first light in the morning headed to St. George for fuel and then hopefully to Truckee - if not we will be closer. Gonna be an interesting day. We have oxygen on board and use it above 8500 feet, I'll have the wife on it for the entire flight.

I feel your pain. We bought a Maule this spring after 2 years with no plane. Two weeks ago we set out from Houston to Durango. In the past my daughters have been pretty sensitive to air sickness. We tried to land every day by 10:00. At the end of the trip I had the family convinced to wake up early. It also helped a great deal to get their eyes on the horizon and off the iPad when we had some bumps. Took three days to make a six hour flight. (Hail, bad plug and a rent car all contributed). Funny thing on the way home no turbulence. Left ABQ by 7:30 and flew straight to Houston with fuel in Midland. For an extreme type "A" personality, it was a lesson in flexibility. The kids were happy and ready to go again.

Smart move for sure.

Decided to fuel at Mesquite instead of St. George. At least if we need to surrender for the day she'll be in golf heaven, and her clubs are in the wagon! Of course I'm screwed with my fly rods, not much trout action in Mesquite I hear. But she'll be happy!

Smart move for sure.

Decided to fuel at Mesquite instead of St. George. At least if we need to surrender for the day she'll be in golf heaven, and her clubs are in the wagon! Of course I'm screwed with my fly rods, not much trout action in Mesquite I hear. But she'll be happy!

My first post did not work (I think) so my short advice is to fly at 25-50 ft AGL. You might find good air up high but once you learn to fly low you won't want to go back. Hard to do back east but should be fine in that country. Keep your head outside so you don't hit something. Do not take the wife up and scare her or make her sick!!! Land and pay whatever price for her to fly to the spa and wait for you to arrive.
DENNY

Just say the last post GREAT MOVE!!! Try that low stuff my wife loves it!!
DENNY

DENNY wrote:Just say the last post GREAT MOVE!!! Try that low stuff my wife loves it!!
DENNY

I'm fortunate in that my wife doesn't get air sick. She has been uncomfortable but never wanted out. I think the 180 will be even better as she isn't sitting behind me in tandem. And she also pretends to believe me when I tell her my plane is scared of hieghts and likes to fly as low as possible. I find that its usually rougher down low then higher at my place, as the wind coming through all the river valleys really makes for rough air.

Did try 100 feet but that made no diff, will try lower in the opportunity presents itself. Bringing the SQ2 down from AK spent most of Alberta in 100 foot ceilings so got very used to 25 to 50 agl, and it is awesome. Of course that was mostly prairie. No intervening mountains.

A thought just popped into my head that may not be obvious to some of the younger (in flying experience) pilots. And that is flaps aren't just for takeoff, landing, and slow flight. In an effort to gain as much altitude as possible, as quickly as possible, in hopes of climbing above the turbulence, eventually I ran out of climb umph (12,500 feet on this day). Once the ASI was in the white I pulled on 10 degrees of flaps and immediately added about 500 fpm to my climb (with some additional back stick as well). Even did 20 degrees once and nearly got 1,000 fpm. But I had the keep an eye on the CHTs cause at the slower speed she got to the high 390's fairly quickly.

Phil,

I am happy to hear you are on your way - both of you together in your airplane! And hope all goes well for the rest of your trip. Your wife is a real trooper!

By the way - I decided to postpone our trip to Idaho today due to the forecast turbulence and high surface winds forecast for our route from New Mexico to Garden Valley. Hoping for better conditions tomorrow.

Have a fun time in California!

Jan

Ground effect helps with the bumps better than 100.' I think the greater situational awareness would help with the sicknesses, but I only flew that low with Army crews and ag or patrol students. Family and the general public haven't the experience to make those kinds of choices. When alone in the desert, ground effect works great into headwinds.

If I remember aright, when the Shorts Stirling guys during the war were fully loaded out, they used to "stair step" up to altitude (which wasn't very high anyway given the shorty fat wing design) by popping the flaps at intervals.

Shortly after sunrise we were in the air. Made Mesquite by 7:00am. Heat gradually forced us higher but we made it to Truckee just as it was getting choppy. Wife was taking pictures which was a good sign. I'll try and get some photos posted tomorrow. Tahoe was stunning from the air. Thanks for all the tips. Jan hope you guys get in the air in the morn!

Glad today was a better day for y'all. Got a hot dose of what u had two days ago, in NM today Phil, got my ass handed to me and I got out at sunrise!!! Hope the rest of y'all's trip goes smoothly