Well, that was a surprise.

So the Collings Foundation came to a nearby local airport. There was the B-17 (Nine o Nine), the B-24 (Witchcraft), the P-40 , a B-25 (Tondelayo), a Grumman “Hellcat” , and then of course, there was a TF-51 Mustang (Toulouse Nuts).

We toured the B-17 bomber, and the Mitchell, and then MC pushed me in the direction of the table where they have people sign up for the Bomber rides.
I have been on those rides before, and while they are pretty neat, I didn’t want to spend the (large) dollars to fly on one again. But I was willing to shell out the bucks if she wanted another ride in the B-24…
Nope, She wanted me to sign the papers to fly in the P-51, which she had previously paid for and which was ready for me….
Now, I’m cheap frugal…..I would never pay for such a ride for myself, and she knew this. So she bought it for me.
She paid for a half hour ride. Pretty serious $$. But “No Refunds”….so I accepted the gift and signed the papers and walked to the plane.

I had help strapping in, and got the preflight briefing on how to release the seat straps if needed and how to bail out and what to pull if I needed the parachute that was strapped to me.  I got a basic preflight briefing on where we would be going and what we would be doing….

But, it seems, as luck would have it, that they had decided to do a formation flight with the P-40 and the Hellcat. So the pilot of the P-51 asked if I would mind waiting while they started the other two aircraft and they took off. (duh, of course I objected I agreed to wait…..)

So we watched, and waited while they fired up, first the -40, then the Hellcat, then we fired up the Mustang and taxiied to the end of  Rwy 9 and lined up and took off.

Acceleration on takeoff is jet-like….in about 3 seconds, the tail comes up and about 5 seconds later,  we climbed out to enter a pattern for the airfield.
The P-40 joined up, then the Hellcat.

P-40 on the left

Hellcat on the right side

We orbited for a few passes, then the -40 broke off,

 We flew with the Hellcat for a few more minutes, then the Hellcat peeled off. (sorry, no picture)

“Are you ready?” asked my pilot…

“Of course” I replied.

We climbed to 9500 feet, and did some aerobatics. first a roll, then a 4 point, then a barrel roll. Some lazy eights, then a cuban….

Then he offered to let me fly.

While the sight picture is different (the cowling is about 6 times longer than that of my 182), and there is an illusion with the cockpit rail which makes the backseater want to raise the nose,  it only took me a minute to find what level flight looked like. I held straight and level for a minute, then tried out the controls, pitching up and down, banking left and right, yawing a bit.
The P-51 aircraft is easy to control. Trimmed out, it flew with very little effort. I did a turn to the left, then one to the right. Ron (the pilot) urged a steeper turn. I did…45 degrees….”No, steeper”…So I did, pitching at 60 degrees. “no, steeper“. So I did…nearly 90 degrees…..it is easy to do when one has about 1200 HP to keep the airplane flying.

I did some real turns, pulling better than 3 g’s. Put the nose on  the horizon, bank, and PULL it through. It’s hard to do when one is used to a Cessna 182…flying like that would pull the wings off of my airplane….. But I soon overcame my caution and had a lot of fun,…Now I know, and truly understand,  the term “Yanking and Banking“……. “you aren’t using the controls enough, Don’t be nice.. Fly this plane”.  So I did. It was FUN!.
That is a REALLY fun airplane to fly. With a bit of practice I think I could learn to be pretty smooth….

“Do a roll”. Huh? “Do_A_Roll!”. Ok, so I did. The first one wasn’t as smooth, as I let up on the left aileron too early so I didn’t end up wings level…, but the next ones were pretty good, first to the left, then to the right. Pretty easy, actually.  My 4 point rolls were shaky, …I’d never done those before, but the second set was better…Again, horsepower makes it easy to do. (I’m used to 230 HP in a 2900 lb gross weight airplane at 130 knots, not 1200 HP in a 9000 lb aircraft at 250 MPH…the difference is significant……way more energy and WAY more recovery). Cubans are fun to do when the airplane is designed to be “Yanked and Banked”….

Basically, with Ron’s encouragement, I was allowed to play with this airplane. It’s like being given the keys to a GT road racer and being told to play with it, only in three dimensions..(and yes, I’ve raced some high performance cars…the comparison is close).

Too soon, it was time to return….I flew the route back, and the pattern (250 MPH!…In the Pattern!!!) until the final turn and then Ron took over for the final and landing….

We touched down and he taxiied back…

And before I knew it, It was over.

Not many pictures, because I was TOTALLY surprised and unprepared for the whole experience…and I was engrossed in the flying…pictures came last… Had I known, there would have been a GoPro with me….But it was a surprise….

But it was great! Fun, exciting, Hands on, Interactive. 4.5 G’s. Noisy. Gobs of horsepower…. A real blast.  A great experience.

I’m kind of a lucky guy. It was a great surprise and a great gift.

I really want a P-51 in my Christmas stocking….(and a large checkbook for fuel and maintenance)…

And I got 0.9 hours of P-51 Mustang flight instruction time in my logbook…

I don’t really think a non pilot can appreciate and understand what this aircraft is, or what it can do….I am sure that they enjoy the flight, but as a pilot, I can REALLY appreciate this plane.

Thanks, MC!

So Saturday, I had been watching the progress of Tropical storm/Hurricane/Tropical depression “Barry”….

After we finished our business in Texas on Saturday, we had time to fly home……or at least part of the distance…

So I called 1-800-WxBrief for a briefing…..explained that I wanted to go back to NW Indiana, and had planned for Sunday, but could leave Saturday night if that was a better idea for VFR flight…..as the weather at Tyler was clear to at least 10,000 ft and not windy. Perfect VFR flying weather.

The Meteorologist briefer told me that the storm would track east and north….that my proposed route of flight (Tyler/Ft Smith/Joplin/Springfield Mo/Springfield Il/Home) would be clear, possibly a bit of headwind….maybe a small deviation west and north to clear the expected 3500 ft ceilings and a bit of turbulence out of Tyler….

So we stayed the night, planning to leave in the morning after a good nights rest……

Yeah, not so much.

Morning came, and the ceiling was lower than forecast…..lots lower. Like 1500 ft AGL.

I called again, and was assured it would clear shortly…expected to be 3500 ft in 90 minutes. Clearing to the north and west.

So we went to the airport, pulled the plane out of the hangar, preflighted, paid the bill, loaded the luggage, and waited.

and waited.

Finally, some clearing. the ceiling was 2200 (just above minimums,) and the tower told me it was clearing to the north and west (notice a pattern here?) and cleared me for taxi. We taxiied to the assigned runway and took off.

So much for forecasts.

About 20 minutes into the flight, the ceiling dropped….to about 1500 ft AGL. I tuned in the ATIS at Tyler, and it was…600 ft…..Can’t turn around (shit)…. Turbulent too, so we were flying at 90 knots to not beat up the airplane…It was clearer at Majors, but only marginally. Hmmm… Set a course for East Texas Regional (staying out of the Dallas class Bravo airspace), and looked at obstructions in my path (Don’t wanna hit any towers or anything) in ForeFlight…. Clear below 1000 ft AGL, so we kept going….staying just VFR. Vis was 4+ miles, so we were barely legal, I’d have landed at East Texas Regional if it hadn’t cleared up by the time we got closer…2500 ft and 8 miles visibility.  The AWOS for Durant OK (to the north of us) said 3500 ceiling, so we turned that way…..turned right (east) at Durant and flew to Joplin. Found a hole in the clouds just after Durant and climbed to find the tops at 6300. Flew at 7500 for most of an hour at 127 knots indicated…146 true. And we had a tailwind of (at one point) 45 knots…so we made some real time to Joplin. Stopped there for fuel and a bit of walkaround.

Very pretty up above the clouds

From there, it was gravy. Clearing skies, higher ceilings, mostly perfect…..We did cross the Mighty (muddy) Mississippi River again going north-east (ish) after Joplin, somewhat north of St Louis.

Mightier and Muddier than the trip down. Lots more out of the banks too.

We dodged a couple of small thunderstorm cells around Decatur Illinois, and, while we COULD have made it home, decided to stop at Champaign, Il for some 100 LL….(expensive fuel, but it was a good idea, as there was a squall line between us and home). We flew north to nearly Joliet,Il and then turned east to get home.

All told, 8 hours of flying to get back.

Twas an interesting flight back. Challenging flying…not dangerous, but at or below my minimums for the first part.

I doubt I ever trust a weather forecaster ever again though.

Having said that, it was a wash as far as travel time, and (slightly) cheaper for the two of ys vs commercial.

Plus it was friggin’ cool flying myself to where I wanted.

Lessons: Never trust Meteorologists.  Don’t trust forecasts, or even conditions that are “clearing”…. wait for real, reported conditions to be above your minimums.

I can’t wait for an excuse for another trip.

So we traveled to Texas….Tyler, Texas, to be precise….I looked at Southwest flights from Midway to Dallas. $849 round trip plus surcharge. More at peak hours.  Each. (times two ’cause, while I COULD leave MC behind, then I could never return home).
Plus Parking at MDW

Then I looked at the cost of flying my 182. (yes, I wanted to fly my OWN plane there, but I DID try to look at the economics)

6:30 total time  each way more or less (including routing around Saint Louis and either Little Rock or Memphis). My cost per hour including maintenance? $110.

Time is a wash, as the travel time To MDW, then parking, then TSA, then being there a half hour before boarding puts us at least 2 hours, (better plan for 2 and a half) plus 2 :30 travel time, plus 2 hours from DAL to Tyler….

And besides, I wanted to fly the damned plane.

So we flew private. As in Private Plane private style.

The weather on the trip down was AWESOME. Clear skies and a 4 knot headwind on our first leg….2 hours to Mt Vernon Illinois. Flight Following all the way, great controllers. Pleasant and professional. 8500 ft at 128 knots indicated….142 true.

Mount Vernon is a VERY nice, well kept airport. Cheap fuel and a decent FBO…Pleasant people too.
Took a short walk, did the necessary, and we were again airborne.

Second leg was to Stuttgart Arkansas, just south and east of Little Rock. 8500 and (since it was hotter) 124 indicated (about 146 true according to the GPS calculator)

We did cross the Mighty (muddy) Mississippi River…It was out of it’s banks.

Not much there. Self serve fuel and, while the Runways were well kept (Markings were fresh and such), the rest of the airport is….well-broken in, shall we say. Lots of cropdusters in the area….and none of them use the radios! Stuttgart was, once, a VERY nice aerodrome…now, sadly, neglected.

We filled up, walked to the airport building to use the facilities, listened to the phone ring at the airport office while we did our business (there was no one there for the 15 minutes we were in the building…good thing we are honest) and left. Lining up for departure, AFTER I had listened to the radio and called “Departing RWY 18” we had the fun of watching another cropduster land at that moment on 36…No radio calls, nothing. Just heading right at us as we began out takeoff roll….Disconcerting, I must say, even at the far end of a 6000 foot runway.
Interesting, that. Them boys are crazy.,,,,but all cropduster pilots are. We stopped our takeoff, he turned off at the first taxiway, and we again began our takeoff roll, this time without any other traffic scaring me.

Departure was without incident.  Again, Flight Following and great controllers. 6500 (per the controllers request (for traffic) and 133 indicated. I didn’t bother to calculate the true airspeed. (it’s still on the far side of 150 MPH)

We went past Texarkana, and were deviated a bit by Longview approach for a small pop-up thunderstorm that was just sitting in our path….

Passed off to Tyler tower and, once I figured out the right runway …their runway numbers are SMALL… we got on the ground and parked (with a bit of taxi assistance by the ground controller) and found our FBO.

Johnson Air in Tyler is a nice facility. They were pleasant and professional….But they forgot to order our rental car…..and there were none to be had at that late time in the day…So they gave us a crew car for the first evening and most of the next day until they could get a rental for us. Screwed up, but made it right, which is all one can ask.

Dinner was Stanley’s Barbecue…not fancy, just plain damned good food. Exactly what I needed after a long day of flying…that trip down was (until then) the longest I had flown in a day.

And off to our hotel.

More later as I have time to put another post together.