Ed's Flight home to Seattle from Melbourne Florida

 I just completed a 2500 nm trip in the Phoenix from Melbourne to Seattle in a little more than 2 days. What an adventure! It took four 5-hour legs plus a 24-hour weather stop to get back home. I decided against a direct route to SEA due to a major cold front draped across the midwest which seemed to be slowing down into a very windy stationary front with 30 kt surface winds. However, there was a dry line with manageable winds along the southern portion in TX, so that was my back door.
Started out early Saturday morning from MLB and traveled over to the west coast of FL at 2500 ft, building my confidence with the Skyview and autopilot controls.


 Turning N after passing under the Orlando Class B, I followed the Gulf coast up to Tallahasee (KTLH) at 8500, picking up a great tailwind as I turned W. With a TAS of 115 kts I had a GS of 140 kts as I headed for Baton Rouge, landing at Hammond Northshore (KHDC), just N of Lake Pontchartrain (5h, 568nm, 20.1 gal, 4 gph, avg 114 kts).
I stopped for some lunch and then started out for Midland TX (KMAF) that afternoon. After a ceremonial crossing of the Mississippi I climbed to 10,500 to smooth out the ride.


 The oxygen system gave me lots of options on altitude, and I settled in and enjoyed some tunes on the plane's stereo system.

 I arrived 5.5 hours later at Midland TX amid a landscape of oil wells (5.5h, 610nm, 22.4 gal, 4.1 gph, avg 111 kts).

 Next morning (day 2) I headed NW towards Seattle, crossing diagonally over NM at 10,500, encountering some of the first high ground of the trip.

My course later took me over Hobbs and Moriarty NM.

The terrain is high desert here, and it felt odd to be so high MSL but relatively low AGL. The mesas and canyons were spectacular.

 My route took me very close to Four Corners before landing in KBDG, Blanding UT (4.5h, 493nm, 19.1 gal, 4.2 gph, avg 109 kts).

 Once airborne again in the afternoon some serious terrain started to appear. The Wasatch Mts south of Salt Lake City combined with 10+ kt thermals drove me up to 14,500 to avoid the bumps.

  After crossing the crest I found a nice smooth area over the Great Salt Lake. Next stop was Nampa ID (KMAN) near Boise. (4.5 h, 482nm, 19.4 gal, 4.3 gph, avg 107 kts).

 It was now 5 PM on Sunday (day 2), and Seattle was within reach. A vigorous (for May) Pacific frontal system was racing me to Seattle, and it looked like it would get there first. My plan was to continue NW to the Columbia River in eastern OR and follow it through the Columbia Gorge to Portland under the decreasing ceiling, turn north, and duck under the OVC030 in Puget Sound up to SEA. Along the route there were several light prefrontal showers and the steadily lowering ceiling.

  After poking through some nearly MVFR I emerged to find an eclipse!

 Finally, the Columbia River appeared and I made my way W to Portland.

 Turning N the Puget Sound Basin went IFR, so I settled for the night in KKLS, Kelso WA. It was somewhat frustrating to be only 100 miles from home at this point. Nevertheless, safety first when the sun is setting. (3h, 325 nm, 12 gal, 4.0 gph, avg 109 kts).

 The next day was MVFR with rain as I sat out the warm sector. The trailing cold front which passed by 1800 pdt had some of the most impressive rain showers I have seen in a while. After clearing at 1900 I set out for home to Arlington WA (KAWO) under BKN025,

arriving an hour later at 2030.

Weather decides how you go. One of the considerations for my decision was my ability to handle crosswinds in such a light aircraft. The deciding factor for me was not so much the ceiling and visibility but the winds at landing. The final route was not what I had originally planned for in the days preceding, but it turned out to be a wonderful journey.  The direct route would have taken me over more of the central plains into W Montana where the Rockies are the narrowest. The route that resulted from the weather, however, was a diagonal over some of the West's very high ground, but I was surprised that most of it was high plateau and not very mountainous. The Wasatch range was about the worst I saw. Nevertheless, the O2 was a must.

Bottom line... It's hard to believe I went 2500nm in just a little more than 2 days. I would not have wished to do that in a Cessna. In addition to being a great medium performance glider this is an awesome xc touring machine. The Phoenix was comfortable and efficient the whole way, and the standard stereo intercom is a great addition. Interestingly, I was able to plug in a simple FM radio and listened to NPR and classical stations nearly the whole distance (changing stations every 100 miles or so). I also recommend upgrading your headset to a NR Bluetooth model like the Zulu.2 since you have a surprisingly quiet ride and can make phone calls at appropriate altitudes. The Skyview glass panel is simply amazing, and I highly recommend it as well. It gives you a remarkable amount of flexibility and options as you fly, with a smooth and effective autopilot. If you live in the west, be sure to get the O2 system - riding higher than the bumps is a good thing.

Ed trains in his new Phoenix

 Ed spent a day and a half learning the ins and outs of his new Phoenix.  We made flights with both sets of wingtips, flew cross country using the autopilot, and made numerous take offs and landings.

 Like Art, Ed chose the Dynon Skyview, which is the most capable flight instrument available, hands down!  Primary flight display, engine monitoring system, and gps map page all standard.  You can select any page and view it full screen, or view 2 or 3 pages with split screens.  Gauges are completely user configurable, so you can select where you want the gauges, and what type and style of presentation.

 I think Ed likes his new plane.

 Check out the wing reflection.  The finish on the plane is perfect!

 Ed added his iPad on a suction mount on the center panel.  He has all of the apps you can think of, and runs the Foreflight program to do flight planning.  The Dynon map page can handle these functions too.

Flying with the short wingtips on the way to Sebring.  We left Melbourne in light rain, but as you can see the conditions improved on the way out of there.
Ed just reported in from Kelso, Washington after a flight of 3 days from Melbourne to Seattle Washington.  Arlington airport is his final destination but he is stuck for a day while a big front moves through.  The flight was around 2500nm, and Ed says that the plane performed perfectly!  We will wait with great anticipation for a full report soon.

Ready for Certification

Ed's plane is ready for certification tomorrow morning.  The FAA DAR will arrive to check over the plane and the paperwork, and issue the S-LSA airworthiness certificate.

 Ed chose the silver upholstery, a popular choice.

 We still have to do a few things to get ready for the certification.  Finish going over the paperwork, make copies for the DAR, install the wheelpants, and a few placards.

The custom panel utilizes the Dynon Skyview with autopilot and the V7 variometer.  Ed will make the flight home with his IPad and Foreflight in addition to the Skyview.  A soaring computer will be mounted in the center panel at a later date.

Phoenix 11th Place in the US OLC

We were very pleased to see the Phoenix flight scoring 11th place in the US OLC on Saturday!  OLC stands for On Line Contest, and is open to pilots around the world.  All you have to do is sign up, and fly with a flight data recorder which records the flight.  Most recorders come with an engine noise monitor, which shows when the engine was run during the flight, and can validate a soaring flight without the engine.  My Nano is an IGC recorder which monitors engine noise.  It is very small, and easy to use.
80 pilots in the US submitted flights on Saturday, so 11th place is pretty darn good - hope you don't mind a little horn tooting here.
We get asked over and over "how good a glider is the Phoenix"?  This flight shows that the Phoenix is capable of pretty respectable flights.  Since this flight occured in Florida with low cloud bases and comparatively weak lift, think what is possible out west!


Points  name  km fai-km  km/h  Takeoff location  Club  Aircraft


1 498.28 Tim Taylor 451.52 388.4 100.51 Logan-Cache (US / 9) NUTSO Ventus 2
2 490.03 Bruno Vassel  438.06 385.6 96.63 Logan-Cache (US / 9) NUTSO ASW 27
3 487.91 Bob Faris  445.22 256.1 134.42 Boulder CO (US / 9) Soaring Society of B... LS 3
4 486.81 Nicolas Bennet  511.97 240.7 102.78 Seminole Lake  Antares 20m
5 453.86 Greg Shugg  355.12 314.0 68.48 Pierson FL  Eagle Sport Aviation... Std. Cirrus
6 444.49 Robert Caldwell 465.04 198.2 116.77 Boulder CO  Ventus 2cT/1

7 438.47 Robin Clark  408.42 261.0 82.38 Herlong FL  North Florida Soarin... LS 6
8 434.16 Colin J Barry 416.53 174.6 100.36 Boulder CO   Society of B... Discus 2
9 418.15 Ken Sorenson  403.53 243.9 79.71 Soaring Club Houston... Ventus 2ax
10 415.99 Mike Ziaskas  399.45 152.2 89.32 Warner Springs Glide... Discus

11 409.69 James Lee  277.29 4.3 56.11 Seminole Lake  Seminole Lakes... Phoenix

165 Mile Soaring Flight

Yesterday I flew over to Seminole Lake Gliderport.  All of the usual suspects were gearing up for a pretty good soaring day.  I declared a Diamond Goal distance flight to Valdosta, GA, a distance of 186 miles.  After motoring up and then engine shut down for a start at 2400', we (Phoenix and I) headed north.  The anticipated winds never materialized, so the flight plodded north at a slow pace.  Clouds started off at 3000' and then slowly rose to over 6000' by the day's end.  The nice clouds ended south of Lake City, and I struggled to stay aloft for another 40 miles or so without their help.  The soaring flight ended 10 miles short of the Georgia border, and has been posted on the OLC, which you can see here: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2305000

 Nice clouds for most of the flight.  The Nano IGC flight recorder is seen here taped to the compass.

After the clouds ended, the only course was using the "blind man in the forest" technique.  (A blind man walking through a forest will eventually run into a tree).  Once I got lower, flying over brown fields worked a little. 

  

When the lift ran out and my altitude dropped to 1500' it was time to restart the engine since I was not near an airport at the time.  Since I had been soaring for 5 hours, I switched to the other battery for the engine start.  This is a shot of the Integra during the flight home to Melbourne using the autopilot to relax and eat on the way home.

Dynon Skyview Panel in the Phoenix

The Dynon Skyview equipped Phoenix is now showing on YouTube. Check it out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh4A9enIjQQ&context=C4b6b5b5ADvjVQa1PpcFPIK-tg-YsUFcpPncRuVZPlUWLkuk_n014=

Art takes his Phoenix home

Art left the roost this morning, flying his new Phoenix home to Wilmington, NC. This is about 450nm away, and I think Art plans to do it non-stop. Smooth winds, Art!