Thanksgiving Flying continues...

So, I left you whilst having coffee in Kerrville.
Once the plane has been topped off by the ground staff, I hopped back in, checked the weather, and got out the chart for the last short hop to Real County Airport, just north of the town of Leakey (pronounced Lakey).
The checks were all good, and I taxied for takeoff, and departed the area with just a bit of mild turbulence to cope with - but nothing untoward.
I skirted along the edge of airspace earmarked as an Alert Area, which means that military training may be taking place. The sky was blue, and the visibility almost unlimited - conditions referred to as 'Severe Clear' or 'CAVU', ceiling and visibility unlimited.
A strong headwind meant that I was making only 70 knots groundspeed, but eventually, after about 25 minutes the hill country plateu began to break up into canyons and valleys, and the topography of the destination began to look familiar.
I began the descent from 4,500 towards the airport, which unusually for someone that learnt in the flatlands of east Texas, was still 1,600 feet above sea level. My home base is a mere 152 feet MSL, so this was a bit of a novelty! The other thing was that the surrounding mountains were pushing 1000 feet above the aiport, so as I decended to pattern altitude (the height at which you make your visual approach for landing), the hills were about level with me.
I passed over the field to the west, and circled to the left, decending and entering on a left downwind leg for runway 15. The traffic frequency was quiet, as I passed along the right side of the airport. I continued a little further up the valley than I would usually do on approach, as things were so narrow I wanted to be sure of plenty of maneuvring room, I turned to left base, and then onto extended final approach as I lined up with the runway. I was close to the valley sides by now, and when 30 seconds from the end of the runway, I passed a house on the hill just off my right wingtip, or so it seemed!
I dropped over the trees at the north field boundary, and touched down on target. Letting the plane slow at a leisurely rate, I was happy to see my freinds waiting for me in the parking lot! This was the way to travel...!

The following day, the weather was not suitable for flying, so we spent time by the river, skimming stones and sitting in the sun as the clouds parted. The afternoon gave way for a brief flight, so Gill and I went back up to the airport.
Checks complete, we were off once again, this time south down the valley to the cabins on the Rio Frio, where we circled several times and took photos of Frank et al waving at us from the ground! Continuing south, we turned over 'Old Baldy' at Garner State Park, and proceeded south to Garner Field at Uvalde. The canyons and hills suddenly gave way to the flat area south of the hill country, and we made a good landing, after negotiating two first-time-solo students in the pattern!

Once on the ground, we refuelled - we didn't need to, but there are three useless things in flying:

1. Runway behind you
2. Altitude above you
3. Fuel in the fuel truck!

Saturday morning dawned, and with it came some fairly impressive winds! However, the sky was blue, and Frank was keen (well, sort of!) to go for a buzz. Annoyingly, the wind had switched overnight, and was now blowing strongly from the north. This meant a taxi down to runway 33, and a departure route that would take us up the valley, with climbing terrain on all sides. However, the weight, balance and performance calculations predicted we would be able to manage this with plenty to spare, and it was so. However, the effects of the wind rolling over the hills was fairly amusing to say the least. The tin-can-with-wings did some amusingly bouncy maneuvres, which Frank took in his stride! However, we climbed out, and once again bounced down the valley to take some photos of the cabins from altitude.

We turned North East towards Lost Maples State Park, and climbed up to 5,500 feet, where the air was very smooth, but even so we were slowed because of a 30 knot headwind. Visibility was once again excellent, and we turned a soured around for a while before heading back towards Leakey, so I'd have enough fuel for the flight back to Kerrville that afternoon. This time however, the wind was behind us, and we sped home at about 130 knots ground speed, making the trip in a matter of minutes. It was noticeable during landing that the gusty turbulent wind was still in force, and I kept power high and airspeed up until very close to touchdown to prevent any sudden drops.

After lunch, we piled all my things into the plane, excluding all the beer and wine which I'd flown out, and due to the lighter weight I rapidly climbed out of the turbulence to 5,500 feet and headed for Kerrville where I refuelled for the 180 mile flight to Houston.

I took off behind a Learjet, leaving enough separation to allow for his wake vorticies to dissipate, which can flip a small plane over if you are unlucky, and headed up to 7,500 feet for the journey home. The winds at this altidude were around 30 - 35kts, so my groundspeed at times neared 140 knots at 75% (cruise) power. This meant I rapidly made progress, passing Canyon Lake Dam, and then south of Austin Berstrom International Airport within 40 minutes.

The constant wind enabled the plane to almost fly itself, with just the lightest touch on the controls from time to time in order to keep on track, but I was free to look at the passing view and for other aircraft at leisure.

We'd had some very heavy rain over the preceeding week, and much of the countryside below me was covered in swollen rivers, impromptu lakes and swampy fields. The photos in the galleries section of this site show the sun glinting off all these lakes as it was going down behind me. Superb!

Finally I was approaching the Houston Airspace, and I decended to 1,700 feet to remain clear of the Class B. 10 miles out, I called up

"Hooks Tower, Cessna November Eight Niner Zero Three Two, with information Tango, Inbound for Full Stop"

"Cessna Zero Three Two, Squawk 0426"

I continued towards the airport, and a couple of miles out:

"Cessna Zero Three Two, enter left base, Runway Three Five Left, Cleared to Land"

I decended towards the runway, making the best landing of the trip, exited the runway, contacted ground control, and after being cleared to taxi, continued to the ramp, where I shut the engine down for the final time this weekend.

So, in all - 8.2 hours total flying time, about 600 nautical miles covered, and all wings, wheels, engines and other important bits still attached. I call that successful!

posted by Sam @ 16:58