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Ferrying the FireFly From Perryville, MO to Winchester, IN
The Original Plan
| Airport | Distance |
|---|
| K02 |
PERRYVILLE, MO
PERRYVILLE MUNI AIRPORT |
| 62.7 sm |
| MVN |
MOUNT VERNON, IL
MOUNT VERNON AIRPORT |
| 54.2 sm |
| 1H2 |
EFFINGHAM, IL
EFFINGHAM COUNTY MEMORIAL AIRPORT |
| 63.1 sm |
| PRG |
PARIS, IL
EDGAR COUNTY AIRPORT |
| 43.9 sm |
| CFJ |
CRAWFORDSVILLE, IN
CRAWFORDSVILLE MUNI AIRPORT |
| 35.4 sm |
| TYQ |
INDIANAPOLIS, IN
INDIANAPOLIS EXECUTIVE AIRPORT |
| 49.8 sm |
| UWL |
NEW CASTLE, IN
NEW CASTLE-HENRY CO. MUNI. AIRPORT |
| 29.2 sm |
| I22 |
WINCHESTER, IN
RANDOLPH COUNTY AIRPORT |
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| Total distance along planned route: 338.3 sm |
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My wife wished to be part of ferrying the FireFly from Perryville to Winchester. I planned the route along interstates and state roads that gave easy access to the airports. I planned no more than 70 mile hops with the basic assumption that I could maintain a 45 to 50 mph minimum ground speed. Also I assumed that the Victor 1+ would burn no more than 2.6 gph which would give me a one hour 45 minute duration and leave about one half gallon reserve.
Adverse winds pushed the ground speeds down below 40 mph. On the first trip leg when the stick timer and gps expected time of arrival totalled greater than two hours, I had to divert to Benton, Illinois. One has to cross a lake just before getting to Mt. Vernon. Below is how the trip turned out.
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The Actual Trip Path
| Airport | Distance |
|---|
| K02 |
PERRYVILLE, MO
PERRYVILLE MUNI AIRPORT |
| 51.2 sm |
| H96 |
BENTON, IL
BENTON MUNI AIRPORT |
| 22.1 sm |
| MVN |
MOUNT VERNON, IL
MOUNT VERNON AIRPORT |
| 54.2 sm |
| 1H2 |
EFFINGHAM, IL
EFFINGHAM COUNTY MEMORIAL AIRPORT |
| 32.4 sm |
| 1H8 |
CASEY, IL
CASEY MUNI AIRPORT |
| 32.5 sm |
| PRG |
PARIS, IL
EDGAR COUNTY AIRPORT |
| 43.9 sm |
| CFJ |
CRAWFORDSVILLE, IN
CRAWFORDSVILLE MUNI AIRPORT |
| 35.4 sm |
| TYQ |
INDIANAPOLIS, IN
INDIANAPOLIS EXECUTIVE AIRPORT |
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| Total distance along actual route: 271.7 sm |
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Upon landing at Benton, I found they were out of 100 LL. I ran some fuel flow numbers and discovered I had enough fuel to get to Mt. Vernon but it would leave no reserve. I asked the field attendant to try and get some 100 LL from the tank. He did and I got .75 gallons. I burned 4.7 gallons flying from Perryville to Mt. Vernon.
My wife met me at Mt. Vernon, and we walked fuel containers through the FBO so that I could refuel. My radio battery went dead, so I took it off my leg and put it in the luggage compartment. A couple of fellows chatted at me about the local EAA Chapter activities. They thought I was brave to try and fly an ultralight to Indiana. The main runway was closed so I had to use a cross runway to land, but upon leaving I used a parallel taxiway because it was headed in the direction towards Effingham, Illinois. The thermals were starting to be more pronounced and since I could not climb without loosing ground speed, I just had to put up with them.
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Leaving Old Home at K02
On final to Effingham, a plane taxied out and back taxied. It was evident he did not see me so I "S" turned and slowed up so that I would have enough runway space to land over the top. Very friendly people at the airport. They opened the security gate and let Louise drive in to deliver gas. One of the fellows there was a father of the pilot that back taxied. He said he could not understand why his son did not see me because he said he could see my nose light before he could see me.
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Refueling at Mt. Vernon, Illinois
The next hop was to be to Paris, Illinois, but it was a 63 mile hop and so I elected to land at Casey, Illinois. When I approached there was all kinds of activity. It was their "Airport Day". Louise was there, and she had stopped at McDonalds and got me a hamburger for lunch. Because I was using more gas than I planned, I decided to fuel up with 100 LL. I got out my reserve oil supply. It comes in plastic packets which you have to tear open and squeeze like a tooth paste tube to get the oil into the tank. I got it into position to squeeze and dropped the complete packet into the tank. Louise got me some empty fuel cans and hand transfer pump from the pickup. I pumped the tank dry, took the tank out turned it on its side and shook the packet to the opening and got it out. It could have been embarrassing if it had not been for a bunch of older than me guys standing around talking experimental aircraft and the crazy things that had happened to them.
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Welcome Committee at Effingham, Illinois
Flew on to Paris, Illinois. Things were going better in that I arrived before Louise. In fact she was not sure where the airport was and then she saw me cross above the road a head of her. I had to land in a strong cross wind with lots of trees and gaps close to the runway, so I got the FireFly down as quick as I could. This gave me a long taxi to the ramp. Before I could get there another fellow made a downwind approach and did a touch and go. While refueling the same plane made three more touch and goes. I taxied out to the ramp and he landed and did not take the early ramp for the parallel runway and was going to taxi on down to my end. The dreaded GA confrontation! I taxied out onto the runway toward him and rotated 360 to get back to the ramp, turned onto the parallel runway and took off. Sometimes smaller is better.
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100LL Refill at Casey, Illinois
Flew on toward Crawfordsville, Indiana. The clouds were closing and getting lower and with the sun getting lower in the west and flying northeast it looked dark and threatening. But the country side was beautiful with bright spots on the ground where the sun came through. I had to fly no more than 1,000 feet agl because at 1,500 feet I was in the bottom of the clouds. Thermal activity was abating but I could get on thermal streets and pick up four or five miles ground speed.
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Courtesy Hangar at Crawfordsville, Indiana
After crossing the Wabash River the trees start and there are more trees than open land. From a distance and being so low, the trees looked continuous and I did not like the idea of going over them. When I got closer I discovered open spots and so I flew from spot to spot but always in the general direction of the airport. Then I could see a bright spot that contained a red barn, and I realized that was at the airport. After landing and taxiing up to the FBO, I shut the engine down. A young fellow came out and asked if I had had a good day. I said yes but I thought it had just ended. Could he put the FireFly up for the night. He said they had a courtesy hangar, and I could pick up my plane at eight the next morning. A courtesy car would take and pick me up from town. Louise drove up and we pushed the FireFly into the hangar. I felt good, but I figured Louise had put in a much rougher day than I had.
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Moving Out of Refueling Area Indianapolis Executive Airport
Spent the previous night in a Super 8 motel. The Indy Grand Prix Race was the next day so the room was very expensive. Got to the airport at 8 am. Pulled the FireFly out of the hangar and refueled. Got off the ground by 8:30. Good flight to Indianapolis Executive Airport on the north side of Indianapolis. Taxied up to the FBO and tried to shut down the engine, but the ground wire to the switches had broken. Turned the fuel valve off, set the brake and got out to hold the FireFly while I advanced the throttle to speed up using all the gas in the float bowl.
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A Future Pilot
My grand daughter, son and his wife met me. I got there a head of Louise. Right then problems cropped up. They chased us off the apron in front of the FBO where it would be easy to carry fuel to the FireFly and sent us to the refueling area. Louise showed up and I tried to get them to let her drive in with the pickup but they refused to open the gate and chased us further down the apron. Then they brought a gas truck over to open the gate so the pickup could come in. After refueling, I primed the engine and pulled the propeller through two times as usual and everything was smooth and normal. I got my gear on and strapped myself in.
On start up I heard a scrapping noise and I closed the throttle to bring the engine to a slow idle, but I could not shut the engine down by grounding the mags, so I turned on the enrichener to kill the engine. I got out and banged on things to see what was loose and found not a thing. Tried to turn the propeller and the engine was frozen. Later I discovered a torsional vibration damper separated from the hub on the flywheel. It fell down between the ring gear web and the aluminum flywheel cover plate where it became a disk brake.
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Arrival at Its New Home I22
Traveled to my son's house and ate a Father's Day lunch, and rented a 26 foot enclosed truck with six pads. Picked it up at 1:30pm and we headed back to the airport. My son helped me to remove the wings. The line boys let me drive the truck in and we loaded the FireFly into the truck. The FireFly traveled the last 100 miles no more than five feet off the ground. From the airport I called my son-in-law and he, my daughter and grand daughter came out to help remove the FireFly from the truck, put it into the hangar and to remount the wings.
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Gas and Tire Gophers
Then all of us went out for ice cream and called it a day.
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