The flight is now officially underway!

My friend Dave Anderson from Hemet drove up to join the flight and provide ground support for me as I get started. Dave also helped me get started on the original flight across America 4 years ago. Evan Green met Dave and I at the airport before sunrise and we got airborne by 7:05.

Evan and I flew up the Santa Clara River valley for over an hour before he turned back for CMA. I continued on toward a landing site on a road that Evan had scouted out for me, since Agua Dulce refused to waive their ban on Ultralights. This road was at Acton and was very nice for this purpose. While on the road Dave and I were visited by a few onlookers and a Sheriff's Deputy. He was very cool about everything and asked all sorts of questions about my PPC. He liked it and wished me well on my journey.

Along the way I battled headwinds for the first half of the flight and climbed up during the second half to get a nice tailwind so I could make it on my measly 5 gallons of fuel. :) The flight lasted 2 hours and 25 minutes, covered 68 miles and I burned 4.25 gallons of fuel.

The weather out here in southern California has been terrible with record setting amounts of rain and snow. Today I was flying sort of in between systems, and the rivers were still flowing pretty strong and the reservoirs were full.

After warming up and drinking a cup of hot coffee I took off from the road in Acton and headed toward Hesperia. I flew up close to a mountain range that was covered in deep, heavy snow. The dark clouds over the ridges looked like they were dumping more snow too. As I got closer to Hesperia some of those dark clouds began to encroach upon my airspace and the ride got rough and bumpy. After landing in Hesperia it rained and the winds picked up.

Phil Dietro was waiting for me at Hesperia and we were talking on the radio while I was on the way. I entered the airport pattern and reduced throttle to descend when I heard a disturbing sound. It was a familiar sound though. It was metal to metal vibrating, and I looked back to see a broken prop ring support tube. I knew that I could keep flying and make my landing, but I did not want to have to go around again. I told Phil that I had to make it down on the first try, even though there was some cross wind because I had a problem. He guided me to the parking area or ramp and I landed there without incident. That flight lasted 1 hour and 33 minutes and I burned about 2.5 gallons of fuel. It was a 60 mile flight.

This same tube had broken before at home and I had fixed it with a gusset. This time it broke beyond the gusset from the vibration. Phil was a valuable asset today as he lives close by and knows the area well. He retrieved his trailer and we loaded up the Mini Me and took it to Apex Rentals in Hesperia. The guys there were fantastic and rented me a welding machine with wire and gas and let me use their shop to make the repairs in. The two brothers that run the business, Ryan and Joey Leis worked along with me and provided some steel flat stock that I welded on either side of the broken tube and to the ring after welding the tube back together. That made the ring stronger than ever and did not add but maybe a pound or two. They even gave me some red paint to fix it up after the welding was done. They only charged $20 for everything! They were some really good folks.

By the time we were done it was too late to chance a 65 mile flight to the next destination, the winds were up, and we were tired, so we called it a day after we dropped the Mini Me off at the airport. I tied it to a post and covered it up for the night.

Tomorrow I hope to make up for the lost time this afternoon and do 3 flights, ending up in Blythe, California on the Arizona border. I am in a bad location for Internet access and am using a cell phone connection so I will save the photos until I have a better connection. Maybe tomorrow night or on Monday. I plan to take the day off from flying on Monday and do some laundry, visit with some other friends, and rest while taking in a concert at Quartzite, Arizona.

Have a good one!
Steve

 

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