RV9798
Well Known Member
by Pete Liem Victoria, BC Canada.
In May I received an invitation to attend a seminar related to my job in Albuquerque, NM. A grin formed on my lips, since this was the excuse I needed to test my newly built Van?s Aircraft RV9A on a long journey.
Two days would have been great to do this 1000+-miler voyage, but I had only one day available to get to our destination. The weather forecast for New Mexico wasn?t favourable and there were reports of thunder boomers in eastern New Mexico. The Pacific North West weather looked gloomy too. Obscuring Stratus clouds were sitting between Victoria and Oregon for almost a week. The chances of getting there on time were getting questionable. My golden rule of flying is: Whenever I fly myself, there should be no pressure to get to my destination. If I NEED to be there, I will fly commercially.
We departed the Victoria Airport at 7 am in clear sky and calm air. Our rendezvous with the US Customs was set at 8:30 am at the Portland International airport. When we came to the Puget Sound area at 2500 ft it became clear that we could not proceed under the clouds to Portland International Airport (PDX) and that we had to go over top. The Stratus layer topped at 8000 feet and we climbed to 11500 ft with the blessing of ATC and arrived at the US Customs with 15 minutes delay, because of our earlier escapades to ascend and stay VFR. The officer at PDX was friendly and courteous and bid us a good flight after the formalities were done. We asked the FBO to top our tanks and strolled to the terminal for breakfast.
My wife liked FBO?s. At the Portland International, we stopped at Flightcraft. The general aviation people, but more specifically the small business jets use this facility. The employees were very nice, professional and friendly. The facility was first class. Nice clean bathrooms, mouth wash and tooth brushes provided, nice lounge with complimentary coffee, courtesy car. Good place to be when you are tired and want to stretch your legs.
Mountain Home (U76), Idaho, was our destination for the next segment and was 329NM away. The weather as promised was great and the clouds were scattered far apart. Portland tower handed us over to Cascade Departure and we were granted our request of ?Flight Following?. This is an invaluable service by ATC, especially if you fly over inhospitable terrain. The Controllers will keep you informed of traffic and local altimeter settings. Climbing to ?one three thousand five hundred? we donned the oxygen and enjoyed the unfolding scenery. The green Northwest started to change in to brown and sand of arid rock as we progressed eastward. The tales of good tailwinds going east materialized with a ground speed of 180 kts on an true airspeed of 150 kts. We will pay later homeward bound, I guess.
The wind was howling straight down of runway 10. Field elevation of 3164 feet and 38C temperature gave us a density altitude of 6500 feet. Taxiing gingerly to the active, we had to execute the correct aileron-rudder-elevator deflection, so not to flip the plane. Aided by the wind the plane lifted up after only a short run on the tarmac. The RV power weight ratio made the density altitude a non-issue. The straight out departure was easy, though very bumpy because of the convective air at that time of the day. Contacting the Mountain Home Departure we were alerted, not to stray in to the MOA, which we almost did. The bumps finally seized when we passed 11000 feet. Settling at 15500 and sipping on our oxygen, we went zigzag around the 6 MOA?s in this region. My co-pilot decided to take a travel pill and slept till we approached Page Municipal Airport in Arizona, 421 miles and 3 hrs later. Denver Centre okayed the frequency change to the Page Traffic frequency and we were surprised how busy the airport was. Page, situated on a mesa in extreme north-central Arizona, is the gateway to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Lake Powell. This means lots of commercial flights in and out of Page (PGA). Biz Jets, Turbo prop commuters were coming in on a very regular base. When we entered the traffic pattern, which was 5100 ft, we had to be watchful and merged safely with the fast incoming traffic. I bounced the plane on landing, because of the cross wind, high sink rate in an 8000 ft density altitude and all the pressure surrounding it. Taxiing to the FBO we felt the intense heat of the desert. It was 44 C in the shade.
In May I received an invitation to attend a seminar related to my job in Albuquerque, NM. A grin formed on my lips, since this was the excuse I needed to test my newly built Van?s Aircraft RV9A on a long journey.
Two days would have been great to do this 1000+-miler voyage, but I had only one day available to get to our destination. The weather forecast for New Mexico wasn?t favourable and there were reports of thunder boomers in eastern New Mexico. The Pacific North West weather looked gloomy too. Obscuring Stratus clouds were sitting between Victoria and Oregon for almost a week. The chances of getting there on time were getting questionable. My golden rule of flying is: Whenever I fly myself, there should be no pressure to get to my destination. If I NEED to be there, I will fly commercially.
We departed the Victoria Airport at 7 am in clear sky and calm air. Our rendezvous with the US Customs was set at 8:30 am at the Portland International airport. When we came to the Puget Sound area at 2500 ft it became clear that we could not proceed under the clouds to Portland International Airport (PDX) and that we had to go over top. The Stratus layer topped at 8000 feet and we climbed to 11500 ft with the blessing of ATC and arrived at the US Customs with 15 minutes delay, because of our earlier escapades to ascend and stay VFR. The officer at PDX was friendly and courteous and bid us a good flight after the formalities were done. We asked the FBO to top our tanks and strolled to the terminal for breakfast.
My wife liked FBO?s. At the Portland International, we stopped at Flightcraft. The general aviation people, but more specifically the small business jets use this facility. The employees were very nice, professional and friendly. The facility was first class. Nice clean bathrooms, mouth wash and tooth brushes provided, nice lounge with complimentary coffee, courtesy car. Good place to be when you are tired and want to stretch your legs.
Mountain Home (U76), Idaho, was our destination for the next segment and was 329NM away. The weather as promised was great and the clouds were scattered far apart. Portland tower handed us over to Cascade Departure and we were granted our request of ?Flight Following?. This is an invaluable service by ATC, especially if you fly over inhospitable terrain. The Controllers will keep you informed of traffic and local altimeter settings. Climbing to ?one three thousand five hundred? we donned the oxygen and enjoyed the unfolding scenery. The green Northwest started to change in to brown and sand of arid rock as we progressed eastward. The tales of good tailwinds going east materialized with a ground speed of 180 kts on an true airspeed of 150 kts. We will pay later homeward bound, I guess.
The wind was howling straight down of runway 10. Field elevation of 3164 feet and 38C temperature gave us a density altitude of 6500 feet. Taxiing gingerly to the active, we had to execute the correct aileron-rudder-elevator deflection, so not to flip the plane. Aided by the wind the plane lifted up after only a short run on the tarmac. The RV power weight ratio made the density altitude a non-issue. The straight out departure was easy, though very bumpy because of the convective air at that time of the day. Contacting the Mountain Home Departure we were alerted, not to stray in to the MOA, which we almost did. The bumps finally seized when we passed 11000 feet. Settling at 15500 and sipping on our oxygen, we went zigzag around the 6 MOA?s in this region. My co-pilot decided to take a travel pill and slept till we approached Page Municipal Airport in Arizona, 421 miles and 3 hrs later. Denver Centre okayed the frequency change to the Page Traffic frequency and we were surprised how busy the airport was. Page, situated on a mesa in extreme north-central Arizona, is the gateway to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Lake Powell. This means lots of commercial flights in and out of Page (PGA). Biz Jets, Turbo prop commuters were coming in on a very regular base. When we entered the traffic pattern, which was 5100 ft, we had to be watchful and merged safely with the fast incoming traffic. I bounced the plane on landing, because of the cross wind, high sink rate in an 8000 ft density altitude and all the pressure surrounding it. Taxiing to the FBO we felt the intense heat of the desert. It was 44 C in the shade.