- Joined
- Jan 7, 2013
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I finally got to fly my 235 to its new home in Florida Saturday.
It was questionable when I woke up, Central Illinois was fogged in with low overcast at 500ft. Forecast was for clear, sunny and warm once that lifted, but the forecasts didn't have it lifting until afternoon. That would be too late to make to to 15FL before dark, so I'd scrub if I couldn't get off the ground by noon.
It finally lifted about 10:30, and the day was as beautiful as predicted. I lifted off at about 11:30, turned southeast and climbed to 7,500 ft. I was pleasantly surprised to find the predicted tailwind was there, and a little stronger than predicted. I made 150kts ground speed consistently, TAS was 125kts.
After 2.5 hours, I landed at KBGF, which was a very nice little airport. New terminal, new runway and taxiways. Taxiways still had some construction in progress, but the paving was all done.
BGFYankee is the manager there, so I got to meet another Piper Forum member. He was a gracious host, the fuel was reasonable priced, the bathroom clean. I can definitely recommend KBGF if you need a stopping spot in that area. 31.9 gallons consumed at that point. Not bad fuel burn for a 235.
I left KBGF and headed southeast again at 7,500. I had planned a couple of jogs in the direct flight path to keep me clear of Atlanta and a restricted area in Georgia, but they were not major deviations. The tailwind was even better on this leg, with the GPS showing 160kts ground speed at one point, but averaged around 150kts again. I didn't use flight following, but kept tuned in to the various approach frequencies as progressed through Georgia. I had just had the latest GTN/GTX software loaded by the avionics shop, and the GDL-39 had full TIS-B service the whole way. It was nice to see all the airplanes approach was talking to on my iPad.
I touched down on the grass runway 9 at 18:50 local time. Another 30 minutes and I'd have had to go to KLCQ instead, since I had no intention of making my first landing on the 4000x25 foot asphalt runway at 15FL after dark. It has lights, but is a lot narrower than I'm used to. As it was, I landed a little longer than I liked, but still had plenty of runway left. The grass was already wet with dew, so I stayed off the brake and let the airplane slow down on its own. It was very nice to taxi to my house, open my hangar, and put the plane away. I'm pretty sure the plane is still smiling also.
This was my first long trip in this plane. It performed flawlessly. I could trim it hands off easily, and even after 6 hours of flying, didn't feel fatigued. I kept the engine leaned to about 1350 EGT, which kept the CHT between 350-370. Even on the long climb to 7,500, the CHT's only got up to 390, so cooling doesn't appear to be a problem.
Mark
It was questionable when I woke up, Central Illinois was fogged in with low overcast at 500ft. Forecast was for clear, sunny and warm once that lifted, but the forecasts didn't have it lifting until afternoon. That would be too late to make to to 15FL before dark, so I'd scrub if I couldn't get off the ground by noon.
It finally lifted about 10:30, and the day was as beautiful as predicted. I lifted off at about 11:30, turned southeast and climbed to 7,500 ft. I was pleasantly surprised to find the predicted tailwind was there, and a little stronger than predicted. I made 150kts ground speed consistently, TAS was 125kts.
After 2.5 hours, I landed at KBGF, which was a very nice little airport. New terminal, new runway and taxiways. Taxiways still had some construction in progress, but the paving was all done.
BGFYankee is the manager there, so I got to meet another Piper Forum member. He was a gracious host, the fuel was reasonable priced, the bathroom clean. I can definitely recommend KBGF if you need a stopping spot in that area. 31.9 gallons consumed at that point. Not bad fuel burn for a 235.
I left KBGF and headed southeast again at 7,500. I had planned a couple of jogs in the direct flight path to keep me clear of Atlanta and a restricted area in Georgia, but they were not major deviations. The tailwind was even better on this leg, with the GPS showing 160kts ground speed at one point, but averaged around 150kts again. I didn't use flight following, but kept tuned in to the various approach frequencies as progressed through Georgia. I had just had the latest GTN/GTX software loaded by the avionics shop, and the GDL-39 had full TIS-B service the whole way. It was nice to see all the airplanes approach was talking to on my iPad.
I touched down on the grass runway 9 at 18:50 local time. Another 30 minutes and I'd have had to go to KLCQ instead, since I had no intention of making my first landing on the 4000x25 foot asphalt runway at 15FL after dark. It has lights, but is a lot narrower than I'm used to. As it was, I landed a little longer than I liked, but still had plenty of runway left. The grass was already wet with dew, so I stayed off the brake and let the airplane slow down on its own. It was very nice to taxi to my house, open my hangar, and put the plane away. I'm pretty sure the plane is still smiling also.
This was my first long trip in this plane. It performed flawlessly. I could trim it hands off easily, and even after 6 hours of flying, didn't feel fatigued. I kept the engine leaned to about 1350 EGT, which kept the CHT between 350-370. Even on the long climb to 7,500, the CHT's only got up to 390, so cooling doesn't appear to be a problem.
Mark
