Pietenpol-List: Re: Pietenpol-List Digest: 10 Msgs - 11/23/04
Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 10:06 pm
Original Posted By: "john s"
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.Blame Corky if you think this post is not Pietenpol specific enough becausehe told you I would fill you in. As you know I stopped to visit him inShreveport and Jim Markle in Plano on the way from Winslow AZ to Naples FL.I won't bore you with all the exciting details of the adventure. Just acouple of points that I hope are helpful to any Pieters planning to do someXcountry flying.We left Winslow mid-morning and planned to land at Santa Rosa NM for gas.Our plan worked, sort of. We landed and all we could find was sagebrush,red mud and paper signs that said "If you want gas call City Hall or thePolice..." Fortunately we had a cell phone because there was none to befound. They said they would come out and meet us. We finally saw some lifeand flagged down a car coming out of a hangar (a banker who stored bankrecords in the hangar) and he pointed us to where the gas was. It tookabout an hour before the employees showed up. On this stop the delay didn'thurt because we were grounded by weather 20 miles ahead so we rode into townwith them and spent the night.The next day we headed toward Texas and about 40 miles of our planned gasstop at Jacksboro we ran out of holes in the coulds and went under. We ranalong at 2200' to Jacksboro where they had self fueling. When we landed afellow pilot standing next to his aircoupe(sp) told us the pump didn't work,that he had been there for 4 days waiting for weather to clear and that hehad gotten someone to come out from town with mogas. We called for mogasbut were told that the fellow who could accomplish that was visiting hismother for the afternoon. We flew about 30 miles to the next airport andfueled without incident.We were then in very marginal VFR conditions and barely made it to Plano tovisit with Jim.We had no problem with fuel at Shreveport or any of the other airports.Here is the problem to consider. If you stop at towered fields duringworking hours weekday you will be assured of getting fuel (and a very highbill more than likely). This is not the kind of place I like to land in myPietenpol. I like grass and/or out of the way funky airports, preferablywith self fueling. The price is better and usually the people are veryfriendly. However, you run the risk of sometimes being surprised. On oneXC I called unicom to announce our landing and need for gas (not a selffueling field) and actually saw them leave 10 minutes early as we were inthe pattern. Had to fly to the next airport. Fortunately this was in aCessna 140 which had enough gas to make it.Why is this important? Pietenpols don't have that much gas to begin with.Land with minimumes and you might be spending the night because you don'thave the option to fly to the next airport.I could tell a lot more about the trip, but let it be known that I am verythankful we got through TX and LA when we did.Now, I am off Friday to NC to bring back a Piper J-3. Tough job but someonehas to do it. Then it will really be back to Piet building.Ted________________________________________________________________________________
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.Blame Corky if you think this post is not Pietenpol specific enough becausehe told you I would fill you in. As you know I stopped to visit him inShreveport and Jim Markle in Plano on the way from Winslow AZ to Naples FL.I won't bore you with all the exciting details of the adventure. Just acouple of points that I hope are helpful to any Pieters planning to do someXcountry flying.We left Winslow mid-morning and planned to land at Santa Rosa NM for gas.Our plan worked, sort of. We landed and all we could find was sagebrush,red mud and paper signs that said "If you want gas call City Hall or thePolice..." Fortunately we had a cell phone because there was none to befound. They said they would come out and meet us. We finally saw some lifeand flagged down a car coming out of a hangar (a banker who stored bankrecords in the hangar) and he pointed us to where the gas was. It tookabout an hour before the employees showed up. On this stop the delay didn'thurt because we were grounded by weather 20 miles ahead so we rode into townwith them and spent the night.The next day we headed toward Texas and about 40 miles of our planned gasstop at Jacksboro we ran out of holes in the coulds and went under. We ranalong at 2200' to Jacksboro where they had self fueling. When we landed afellow pilot standing next to his aircoupe(sp) told us the pump didn't work,that he had been there for 4 days waiting for weather to clear and that hehad gotten someone to come out from town with mogas. We called for mogasbut were told that the fellow who could accomplish that was visiting hismother for the afternoon. We flew about 30 miles to the next airport andfueled without incident.We were then in very marginal VFR conditions and barely made it to Plano tovisit with Jim.We had no problem with fuel at Shreveport or any of the other airports.Here is the problem to consider. If you stop at towered fields duringworking hours weekday you will be assured of getting fuel (and a very highbill more than likely). This is not the kind of place I like to land in myPietenpol. I like grass and/or out of the way funky airports, preferablywith self fueling. The price is better and usually the people are veryfriendly. However, you run the risk of sometimes being surprised. On oneXC I called unicom to announce our landing and need for gas (not a selffueling field) and actually saw them leave 10 minutes early as we were inthe pattern. Had to fly to the next airport. Fortunately this was in aCessna 140 which had enough gas to make it.Why is this important? Pietenpols don't have that much gas to begin with.Land with minimumes and you might be spending the night because you don'thave the option to fly to the next airport.I could tell a lot more about the trip, but let it be known that I am verythankful we got through TX and LA when we did.Now, I am off Friday to NC to bring back a Piper J-3. Tough job but someonehas to do it. Then it will really be back to Piet building.Ted________________________________________________________________________________