This was a great adventure and it was fun to share it with friends, family, and perhaps a few strangers on the web. Now that the flight is over, I’m working on a new site and some new adventures.
Check out the new site at 3PointLanding.com.
Well, I’m officially back now. I’m actually typing this up from the office. On Saturday we all met back up at Air Park for their weekly EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) grill out. Then we did a little flying and filming with the N95. See the video below. This is us flying over the Sonoma wine country. I’m in the J3 with my girlfriend Jenny. Her brother is doing the filming from another Cub flying along side.
The video below is a long awaited celebratory drink of some really nice port wine that I picked up in Portugal just before making the long journey West. It was a good feeling to have finally made it.
Lastly, I want to say a quick thanks to the following people.
Jay, for helping me get the plane ready to go. My good friend Jeff Smith (AKA Smitty) for helping with the financial side of the production. Tom Garland for driving ground crew. Tom Howard for making the long flight as co-pilot. Jenny for putting up with me :). Kamar, who agreed to support the trip. Nokia, for the use of the N95’s. And all of the folks that offered their hangers to us when we put down for the night.
I’m preparing one last post for the blog and then I’ll officially end AdventureCub.com. But keep checking out my other blog MyPhoneRocks.com, I’m working on another trip for next year that will hopefully be bigger, better and longer 
We Made It!!
We made our final destination last night a couple of hours before sun down. We made a hard push to make it home because we were looking at a possible front bringing in some weather. We were worried that if we didn’t get in that we wouldn’t get in until Sunday.
We took off from Apple Valley at 7:30 AM and headed into the high desert towards the southern edge of the Edwards Air Force Base military operation area. Once we got past that we climbed up to 5000 ft to get into Tahachapi pass. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the winds that were being reported were inaccurate. You can see from the video below that we were concerned that we might not make it through the high desert.
When we got to the top the wind wasn’t bad at all but it was amazingly cold. I didn’t take too may pictures heading into the pass because my hands were too cold. I did get a couple, however they didn’t get a geo tag. The picture on the left is from the edge of the Tahachapi pass just before you climb over and see the Tahachapi airport. The field elevation there is about 4000 ft. Tahachapi was the last high pass. From there it was all down hill. We dropped into the central valley and headed North.
Our experience from the day before on the long two hour run gave us the confidence to skip a couple of our planned stops. Instead of doing four sixty mile runs we did two one hundred and twenty mile runs. That cut quite a bit off of our travel time. We actually had to hold up at our second to last stop in order to give our friends a chance to get to Sky Park from the city.
We left Tracey and headed towards Mt Diablo. Once over the foothills we dropped into the Delta to the North East of San Francisco and headed straight for Sky Park. As we got closer and closer the sky got hazier and hazier. Because I had never flown into the area I was a little worried but it turned out that the visibility was just fine all the way in.
When we got to the airport we had a handful of friends waiting there to greet us, take photos and pop a bottle of champagne. We took some photos and video from the landing but I need to get them from my friends. I’ll put a final de-brief up in the next day or so. I’ll add up the hours, fuel, list of all the places we landed, and so on.
The picture on the left is the entire crew from the trip. From left to right that’s Tom Howard who rode in the front seat with me the entire way as co-pilot. That’s me in the middle. On the right it Tom Garland who drove ground support the entire way. I would have never made it without these guys and want to say a big thanks to Tom and Tom.
To Tom Howard, an especially big thanks for being there on Day Five when we went through the high winds and dust storm heading into Apple Valley. That was a really difficult run and having you up front calling the air speed, time and estimated fuel was really comforting.
To Tom Garland, providing ground support took a lot of pressure off and let us focus our attention on getting between the stops. It was a good feeling to know that there was someone meeting us on the ground and we didn’t need to try and find airport cars and cabs to get everywhere.
On Saturday at Sky Park there’s a cook out and I’ll take the final photos for the blog at that time. Until then, thanks to everyone that followed us on the trip. It was really fun making the journey and sharing it online with everyone.
Here’s today’s map. We have continued taking pictures with the N95 and using Shozu to upload them as soon as we take it. This has been a really great way to document and share the trip. So click the map to see today’s photos and where they came from.
If you look at the map you’ll notice that we didn’t take any pictures for a while. The reason is because we had a pretty sketchy hop. We took off from an airport called Twenty Nine Palms and headed for Apple Valley which is where we are now. It’s about 50 miles which should take about 50 minutes. However, it took us just over two hours to get here.
When we took off we had a head wind of about 20 mph. Not uncommon but the wind and the bumps just kept getting worse and worse. We were also having a hard time climbing because of the outside temperature, the field elevation, and because we were fully loaded with fuel. By the time we got half way we were barely breaking 4000 ft, struggling to climb so we could clear the pass.
To make things worse we were starting to move slower and slower as the winds kept picking up. With 40 miles to go our airspeed indicator was showing 75 mph while the GPS was reading a 30 knot ground speed, or about 35 mph. That’s a 40 mph head wind which is never any fun in a cub.
Then there was the fuel. We have 2.5 hours of fuel under normal conditions, meaning we don’t have the throttle pushed all the way forward. Fighting these winds and flying at nearly 6000 ft by the time we leveled off we nearly had the engine fire walled. So we had that in the back of our minds.
When we finally made it, the fuel gauge was almost reading empty. When we landed the wind was really strong and fortunately it was straight down runway 26. From the time our wheels touched the ground until the time we stopped we rolled less than 15 feet. After that run, we just called it a day.
I took the video below just after we tied down the plane. You can see from the background that the visibility is really low.
Today we also took some videos of us flying. I’ve posted them below.
It’s 5:20 AM. The weather looks good. There are some light winds from the SSE giving us a nice tail wind but later on this afternoon they will be switching to the West. This should be enough to get us out of the Phoenix area and on past Blyth. I’m not sure how far we can make it today but I’ll try to make a mid day post. We’re packing everything up, getting breakfast and then heading on our way.
We didn’t make it very far today. We thought we had a fuel leak and now we are pretty sure that it was a false alarm. By the time we came to that conclusion the wind had picked up to a point where you don’t want to fly a Cub. It was about 25 MPH. It’s not really that bad flying in 25 mph winds but the airport we were aiming for had a runway that would have required a direct cross wind landing. I’ve done a lot of cross wind landings, but a 25 mph cross in a Cub has a high pucker factor for any pilot.
Before we started having problems we had a really great leg across Tucson and the surrounding mountains. We crossed some ridges at about 5000 feet and in the morning when the wind is calm and the early morning sun is lighting up the mountains it’s really beautiful. It’s a view that makes the trip worth while.
Click on the map below for todays hops. You’ll notice that it ends at our first stop, that’s because when we started having the fuel issue I stopped taking pictures and started working on alternate airports. Safety first
Tonight we are staying in a hanger courtesy of Richard Ankrom from Alpha Tech Coatings at Phoenix Regional Airport. He was nice enough to move some projects he had in the hanger around and make room for the Cub. So a big thanks for helping us get the Cub out of the wind and weather for the night.
We’re just over half way home now and tomorrow we have a couple of tricky legs. Our first one is only 50 miles and it will let us know for sure whether or not we have a fuel leak. Our second leg is more than 100 miles and there is nothing in between. If we do have a fuel leak we will be landing on the road. We actually picked up a 5 gallon gas can just in case but I really hope we don’t have to use it.
That’s it for today. We’re hoping to have a good tail wind tomorrow. Cheers from Paul and crew.
We left out early this morning and had a great first leg. During the second leg we noticed that the fuel gauge was dropping more rapidly than normal. We started doing some short runs to test and now we are stuck just South of Phoenix at Phoenix Municipal airport where, as it turns out, they don’t have a terminal or fuel. Also, the wind has picked up and we’re waiting until it gets closer to evening to move on thinking that we may get some calmer winds.
With the down time we’re at a local Starbucks uploading some videos from today.
Morning before takeoff
We got a good video this morning before heading out but the video from the end of the day was lost, sorry. The end of day video was not very good anyhow
Today we went from Pecos Texas, through El Paso, and ended up just to the East of Tucson in Wilcox Arizona. Early in the morning we we had a good tail wind and made some great time. If all things go well we may make Sky Park in two days.
Click on the map to check out the latest map. We had some really great scenery going through the mountain passes. I took all of these pictures with the N95 and most of them were geo tagged. Quite a few were actually uploaded while we were flying.
Not to sound like a Nokia commercial but I have to say it’s been really nice to be able to take photos that are automatically geo tagged and upload them straight away. When we got to the hotel tonight they were just already all there. The only thing I transferred using my computer was the video when I posted it to YouTube. Also, the N95 is small and with a real shortage of space in the cockpit that’s a pretty big deal. Sharing the trip in this way would be difficult with any other device.
We had one interesting leg. We had to fly through El Paso’s terminal area getting vectors from El Paso approach. It was really hair raising because our radio was cutting in and out, it was hot and at that altitude making it hard to get the cub to a decent altitude, and we were unfamiliar with the area. We accidentally crossed over into Mexico at one point… oops. Anyhow, we made it through and spend the next hour trying to ride thermals in order to maintain a reasonable altitude above the ground. Good times
Well, I’m sitting in the parking lot at Days in using their free WiFi since my hotel has none and I need to go make some phone calls, plan tomorrows route, and get some sleep. Looking forward to another good day tomorrow and so from beautiful Wilcox Arizona I will sign off for the night.
We’re in Pecos Texas staying at the Best Western hotel next to the airport. I just ate the worst Chicken Fried steak I’ve every had and after an entire day in the Cub I am beat.
It was a pretty eventful day. Dallas was cloudy and windy. We had to make a diversion on our first leg because the wind was too strong and we couldn’t make the first stop. Once we hit Breckenridge the clouds starting clearing but we ended up with a 20 mph wind off the nose so we were averaging about 60 mph ground speed. It’s pretty embarrasing getting passed by cars when you’re flying next to the freeway. We’re hoping that tomorrow the wind will be a little more favorable.
Click on the map above for some photos from today’s route. The pictures don’t go all the way to Pecos because I didn’t have the GPS on for the later pictures. I’ll be sure to catch everything tomorrow.
Below are the videos from today. We took one before we took off, somewhere in the middle, and at the end of the day.
Lastly, we had a litle mishap with the plane. The wing got backed into the hanger and damaged the aeleron, but only slightly. It shouldn’t have an effect on the flight characteristics.
Ok, It’s late and we are up at 6 AM. More pictures from tomorrow and hopefully we have no wind or tail winds.
First day and boy was I jittery. But, everything went smoothly. Below is a quick video just before take off.
Before I go too far I need to say thanks to two people.
Dave at AirportPilotShop.com for getting me my headset. He shipped it to me overnight and it showed up this morning. I’ll be sure to let everyone know how the new Zulu headset is working. It was great on the first leg, but we’ll see after I wear it for 10 hours straight. Thanks Dave leaving me a message earlier and letting me know you had one and then for sending it down to me in Texas. I’ll give you a call when I pick up a new headset for Jenny.
Gene Soucy, from Gene Soucy Airshows. He’s providing a hanger for the plane tonight at Aero Country in McKinney. Gene just opened a nice little self serve fuel station there that we’ll be using tomorrow before heading out. So thanks for the enclosed hanger for the night.
Here’s a link to my map on Flickr where you can see my progress and some images I took. Some of them I uploaded while I was flying. More to come.
And below is a short video after landing where I admit publicly to the worst landing I’ve ever made. LOL
Tonight we’re picking up my co-pilot at Love Field and planning tomorrows leg. Looks like a cold front is moving in so we’ll see how far we can make it before hitting high winds or storms. We’re planning to leave out at 7:30 AM.
And with that, I’m off.
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