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Peteohms
06-19-2013, 02:31 PM
“It was a dark and stormy night on Wednesday, April 3, 2013. (Well that’s how scary stories start.) As I slept soundly in my bed, I was occasionally awakened by flashes of lightning and claps of thun-der. I woke up before daybreak and got up to check the aviation weather on my computer, which still predicted low ceiling until late morning, as it had before I turned in for the night. I had all my camp- ing gear packed in the car and was anxious to leave for Kittie Hill Airport 77T. No use hurrying as it was reporting IFR conditions at nearby Georgetown, as well as along much of my 980 mile planned route.

It looked like once I got going that I might hit some bad weather, but I knew I could land and wait it out if necessary.

Finally about 10 AM it looked like it would clear up, so I headed to the airport to ‘stuff’ my camping gear in my plane.

Not much room in my Kitfox III. I can’t land on any runway with right hand traffic, as I won’t be able to figure when to turn final because the right seat is camping gear seat to ceiling
.
I was wheels up at 11:25 AM, head- ing for Cameron (T35) to get fuel. Sky was overcast at about 1800’ . Cameron is directly on my route and I wanted to fuel up there as they have good fuel prices and the coffee I drank before I left home was doing it’s thing.

My landing at Cameron was the first of many good landings on my trip to Barnwell. I hate to say it, but after Barnwell I could hardly buy a good landing. I managed a quick stop at Cameron and departed at 12:35 PM, with the local Police pulling up to watch my takeoff.

Since I was trying to fly to Barnwell on mogas as much as possible, my next planned fuel stop was Pineville, LA (2L0), about 270 miles from Cameron. I called ahead to be sure they had mogas and they assured me that they had a recent delivery. As I climbed out heading East from Cameron , I found the ceiling was getting a bit lower, so I flew quite a while below 1000’.

After another hour and a half I needed to stop and stretch my legs, so I checked Foreflight on my iPad and decided to stop at Lufkin (KLFK) and maybe get a bite to eat too.

Ceiling out of Lufkin continued to be low and visibility was getting a bit hazy as I was crossing lots of water at Sam Rayburn Lake, Toledo Bend Lake and a couple small lakes heading for Pine- ville and passing through Warrier 1 MOA.

Landing on runway 36 at Pineville was like landing on an aircraft carrier. I turned left base just downwind of Lake Buhlow and short final took me over the lake to the runway threshold at the North edge of the lake.

Wheels up at about 5:15 leaving Pinewood and the ceiling didn’t look too good. It looked like things were going to get a little worse ahead, too. As I was flying along I was looking on Fore- flight for alternative airports along my route in case the distance between the earth and sky reached my personal minimums (which are not very conservative). I soon reached the conclusion that those minimums were fast approaching. Over Catahoula Lake it started misting and I was down to flying about 800’ AGL so I got to seriously picking a spot to land. Jonesville, LA (L32) was 19 miles ahead and only a few miles off my course. Foreflight said that Edward’s Motel was 2 miles away from the airport and I figured I could walk that far. I altered my course a few degrees North and soon was convinced I made the right call. I was flying at about 500’ AGL as I approached Jonesville and was happy to be on the ground even though the weather was wasting a couple hours of daylight.

The airport looked like not much went on there and as I was taxiing around looking for a tie- down spot, a pickup truck pulled up, so I cut my engine. A gentleman named Pat Mc Caughy walked up, introduced himself as the airport manager and CEO of the crop dusting outfit based there. After I inquired about a tiedown, he said he could do me one better, and offered a free hangar for the night, a ride to the motel, and even offered to pick me up in the morning. What wonderful hospitality we pilots find as we travel.

After breakfast Pat drove me the rest of the way, about 1⁄4 mile,. to the airport. I had mentioned to Pat that my dad had been a crop duster pilot and crashed his Stearman and was killed when I was 4. Though all of Pat’s planes were Turbine Thrushes, he said he had something in his han- gar that I might like to see. It turned out to be a Blue and Yellow Stearman with wheel pants and a ring cowl. What a beautiful plane. He had traded a cherry Supercub he had for it.

I’m sure I could have talked Pat into a ride in the Stearman, but all the crop dusters needed to be fueled and loaded and I had Barnwell in my sights and no time to wait for all that activity to fin- ish. Though they had 100LL on the field, I felt I would be in the way, so I waved goodbye and at 8:15 departed into nearly clear skies to fuel up at nearby Concordia Parish (0R4).

Well the clear skies didn’t last long. As I was approaching the Mississippi River, light fog was hanging in the area and the ceiling was back. At Jonesville I was warned about the inhospitable land I would be traveling over going East and I was getting the opportunity to view it up close and personal. Usually when I’m flying I’m keeping an eye for where I could make an emer- gency landing. From 500’ AGL I was looking for places to make a soft crash if need be and, at the same time, spotting each of the abundant towers sprinkled along my flight path.
I remember not too long after I left Concordia Parish I passed just south of Natchez-Adams County (HEZ) thinking I hope the ceiling lifts. A half hour later I was thinking I would turn back to Natchez if it didn’t get better in the next few minutes. Fortunately the ceiling slowly lifted and it wasn’t long that I was flying over the towers instead of around them as I was working my way to my first successful, mogas fuel stop.

As I approached Clark County (23M) I listened to nearby Meridian, MS ATIS for the winds. I was expecting a crosswind from the right on final approach to runway 34. Well, on short final I watched the windsock shift back and forth from right to left. I won’t say it was a bad landing, but it was an exciting landing.
As I pulled up to get fuel, I was greeted by the airport manager (missed his name) who was very friendly and asked about my plane and trip.

When I walked into the terminal I could see that this was a real grass roots type airport. There were pictures of visiting aircraft on a bulletin board and a mural of a biplane on the wall painted by kids from a nearby school.

12:10 it was wheels up and again heading East. I was looking at about 6 hours to Barnwell and didn’t plan to make another stop for fuel until Swainsboro, GA about 70 miles WSW of Barnwell where they had mogas. I guess I had one too many soft drinks on this leg so after a couple hours I had a strong desire to find a spot to land. Marion County, GA (82A) was handy but had no facilities so I had to make do.

As I was approaching Swainsboro, I tried to reach someone on CTAF, but there was no answer. I had somewhere crossed time zones and the non self service mogas was unavailable. Knowing I had a proven 6 hour range I trudged on towards Barnwell, watching my fuel sight gages like a hawk and keeping an eye on alternative airfields fields in route.

About 6:45 PM I was in the pattern at Barnwell, SC and 6:55 was parked in my spot at the fly-in and greeted by several Sport Aviation Association ”
members including President Ed Fisher and VP Butch Harvey, who had been following my trip on the inter net with GPS signals sent by my Spot Tracker.

SkySteve
06-19-2013, 04:03 PM
Great story Pete. I can hardly wait for your return trip! What's your Spot page?

Peteohms
06-19-2013, 04:06 PM
Sorry, I made that trip on the way to Sun N Fun. 6 hours down to Lakeland. Then headed home with 2 weather days slowing me down. I flew a total of 35 hours on that adventure. April 4-13, 2013

SkySteve
06-19-2013, 04:09 PM
Well then, tell us the story of the return. We need a good bed time story.

Peteohms
06-19-2013, 04:27 PM
I think on it. I was made famous by the media while at Sun n Fun.

inzersv
06-20-2013, 02:19 PM
Thanks Pete, great story.