Tag Archives: 50 states

East Coast Journey (Day 1)

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Day 1 went off “almost” as planned.   I was so excited to begin my journey.  I arrived a couple of hours early to the airport so that I could do a thorough pre-flight and still have time to “correct” anything that may have needed attention.  Luckily everything checked out OK and after a whole bunch of work calls/emails, I was ready to go.

After taking off VFR, I contacted Tampa Approach to pick up my IFR flight plan.  Despite the “cleared as filed” clearance I received, ATC seemed to have other plans for me! After numerous “scenic” vectors, finally I was cleared to Taylor (TAY) > Waycross (AYS)>direct destination.  I didn’t mind at all, because this new routing has even better (more direct) than what I originally filed and kept me clear of some pesky military airspace.
I got cleared to 16000 FT pretty quickly and eventually to 17000 FT.  At that altitude the ride was sooo smooth!
After playing with the sat radio and camera for a while, I decided to try my hand at taking a couple of in flight videos.  Haven’t had time to edit them yet. But hopefully I can get them cleaned up on YouTube later this week.
After a couple of quick hours, I landed in Duplin County Airport (KDPL), which is one my favorite fuel stops.  (Didn’t really need to stop there… I could have easily kept going to RDU… But I needed a break and it was a good excuse to stop at Andy’s Burgers, which is a little greasy spoon, with a cool 50s style atmosphere right next to the airport.
After a little break (and some calls/emails, etc) it was on to the final, short leg to RDU.
As the weather forecast had predicted, there was a lot of low level turbulence and gusty winds, which really made for tough landing.  But by that time, I was motivated to get down on the ground.
Had a great evening in Raleigh visiting family!  No new states yet.. But I am recharged for Day 2 where I will hopefully land in 3 new ones!!
So far, here is the progress on the trip:
Stay tuned for the next leg of the journey…
Cheers,
== T.J.==

East Coast Journey (Day 0)

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So tomorrow is really day 1 of the journey.  But tonight, was time for the flight planning.  My general sequence is usually as follows:
1 Weather 2 Route Selection 3 Airport/FBO selection
Then if time permits 4 Lodging 5 Ground Transport.  But if time doesn’t permit getting to 4 or 5, I am usually happy to figure that out on the spot upon arrival.
1 Weather: The weather looks great!  I used to check weather using the ADDS.  But recently I started using the new AOPA Weather site, which I find a little better… (only wish it was available via iPhone app)
The weather is good but looks like it will be bumpy as I near the destination.  I will probably file IFR.  But the weather is good enough that I don’t need to tomorrow + going VFR usually gives me better pictures… I will do one more check before departure and make the final VFR/IFR call tomorrow.
2. Route:  Tomorrow’s route will be a short, easy one that I have flown many times:

Assuming no surprises, I should get there in time for dinner with family…
In addition, I hope to try making some R9 avionics video clips along the way.  (It will be “take 1″… So who knows how good it will turn out.)
3. Airport/FBO: Raleigh has 2 major FBOs, which is rather common at bigger airports.  Both are full service FBOs with all the amenities.  I think I will use TAC Air.  (Not any particular reason… I just had a good experience at the TAC Air in Lexington, KY a few weeks ago… thought I would give this one a try.)
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Planning The Next Big X-Country

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After getting serious about “My 50 State Quest”, I have come to realize how much planning is involved.  The first 25 states just sort of happened as a byproduct of Work, Angel Flights, and General Joyrides.  However, the next 25 states will require much more active planning.
So here we are, near the end of September, and I am hoping to make it to a few new states in October.  In general, I am thinking about the following options:
Option 1 (Northeast) –  If I head to the northeast, I might be able to finish a bunch of smaller states and do it before winter arrives.  Since I don’t have any burning desire to fly to cold places in the winter. this might be a good idea in October.  In addition, this would give me a good excuse to visit some relatives in Raleigh along the way.
Here is the general route I am considering:

The total distance would be ~ 2200 nm and probably 5 new states.
Option 2 (Colorado) – One of the other destinations I have been looking forward to flying to, is Colorado.  The Eagle/Vail airport, where my family and I go every year to ski, is a must visit.  Then of course every pilot knows about Leadville, which is the highest airport in the country. Lastly, Colorado Springs, which is close to the Air Force Academy/museum is also a popular pilot destination.
The general route is shown below:

The total distance would be ~ 2800 nm and likely 3 new states.
So next step, later tonight if I can stay awake (or more likely l8r in the week) is to start looking for fly-ins, or cool places to land/visit somewhere close to my intended route.  If anyone has suggestions, feel free to leave a comment or email me.

Cheers,
== T.J.==

Trip Home from Chicago to Tampa (States 24 & 25)

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Finished work early… Now time to go home from Chicago… I just couldn’t resist taking a slight detour to land in 2 new states.
The route is show below and includes a quick lunch in Iowa and an even quicker stop in Missouri.
But this makes state # 25!!!
Weather was CAVU after getting above the cloud deck… (But quite bumpy below that)
I expected the midwest to have lots of farmland… But didn’t expect all the windmills… Who knew how green
IL would be!!
The mighty Mississippi River really didn’t look that grand in Iowa.  (Way cooler in  Louisiana)
Burlington, IA was an awesome find… Great little airport, multiple instrument approaches and
even a really cool local restaurant walking distance from the airport… (Hearty lunch of
Iowa corn-fed beef really hits the spot)
Beleive it or not, Burlington is a commercial airport.  The airport terminal was incredibly small! … Notice the baggage claim area that serves all 4 commercial
flights that arrive here daily from Chicago and St Louis.
Onward to the next stop (next state) Hannibal, Missouri (STATE # 25!!!)
On the way to Hannibal, Mo, a really cool bridge crossing the Mississippi.
No matter state you land in, always some cool planes to see… This was the towplane used by the
local flight school to for sailplane lessons.
OK enough detours… Really, really time to go home now… Cruising @ 17500 FT… With oxygen and a really nice tailwind!  Almost Home!!!

Cheers,
== T.J.==

Trip To Lexington (State #23)

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In my ongoing quest to land in all 50 states, today I landed in state # 23!!
My routing, as shown below, was nearly direct… (other than a little maneuvering around a couple MOAs)

It has been ~ 3 weeks since my last IFR X-Country.  Fortunately, today’s trip was rather
uneventful.  The weather was near perfect (just a couple a broken cloud deck below me)

ATC congestion was very light for most of the trip, which gave me plenty of time to take pix.
Here is really cool airport just northeast of Atlanta (KMLJ), which looked very cool from the air…
NOTE TO SELF: Need to come back and land here… Looks like an island or an aircraft carrier.
After Atlanta, time to cross to some small mountains (ok maybe hills)… But scenic either way!

Another cool airport (KRHP) in a valley between two ridges.  Looks like it could be quite challenging
to land there in weather.
As I got close to Lexington, it became surprisingly crowded and didn’t really have time to take pix.
I found out later that it was due to a horse show in town this week.

The inside of the FBO was really first class including both decor and service.

Cheers,
== T.J.==

Trip To Chicago

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This week I had some meetings in Chicago and it gave me a great excuse to put the Cirrus and R9 to the test and land a new state at the same time 🙂
My planned route was fairly simple: KVDF>CTY>KSYI (Fuel Stop) > KDPA.
Weather forecast was not very cooperative. (But still safely within my comfort zone.)

First leg of the journey was very smooth and uneventful.
As you can see from the R9 moving map, All of the ugliness was just beyond Shelbyville, TN.

After leaving Shelbyville, it got a lot more interesting.
Thanks to the vector mode of the R9(and some cooperative ATC controllers), I was rather easily able to weave my way through the ugly weather.
Despite being in the middle of the afternoon, I was in such solid IMC, that it felt like night flying!

Finally out of the clouds (sort of… At least enough to notice how much flat farmland is in the midwest)
Some cool airport (don’t remember which one) Looked like a runway inside a stop sign to me… 
Getting close to Chicago (could barely see it through the haze)

Finally arrived safely @ KDPA (Dupage County)… Nice shiny, new FBO building huh?
Thanks for following along…
Cheers,
== T.J.==

Trip To Meridian, MS

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Like most of my flights that head NW bound, this flight was up to Cross City then direct destination.
The Crystal River Nuclear Power plant… (Rather cool site in an otherwise empty part of the state)
Aerial view of the Crystal River airport. (Did lots of landing practice there as a student pilot years ago)
Found a gr8 parking spot @ MEI next to some military trainers. (Notice the Navy and Marines use the same training fleet) 
Close up of Capt Keith Taylor’s NAVY trainer (Thanks Keith!!)
Capt Taylor graciously allowed me to climb Up to the cockpit of his bird. 

(Wow! Do I appreciate my Cirrus cockpit with A/C and R9 even more after seeing that!!)
Thanks for following along…
Cheers,
== T.J.==