Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

[RCFC]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

Richard
We met several years ago at Ron Sawyer's flyin in Columbia. I was camping in a motor home and you needed a ride to the hotel. FYI. Finally got my bird flying after being in storage for 43 years. Back to your question. I followed the cheep gas using my Ipad. I would recommend you buy an Ipad as you can't get lost with an Ipad. Buy the one with the built in gps and with 64g memory so you can down load the sectionals. I use Garmin but try them all before you buy to find the one you like. Good luck with your trip.

Ken Andrews
N33959
Clovis, Ca

[RCFC]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

OSHKOSH We camped next to the Tcraft. The first morning we woke to thunder over head and large drops starting to fall. Rain started blowing up under the rain fly and blowing into the tent so we were wet. Then the tent pole snapped and the tent came down on us. I told Zach to just stay in the sleeping bag as there was nothing we could do but wait it out and hope everyone had tied their airplanes down real good. Wind was reported to be 60-70 mph. Other than the first day the weather was great. Now for OSH... I can not tell you how much fun it was. Not enough time or space to do so. We were there for 7 days and loved every minute.

[RCFC]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

Up early Sat to take my wife Charlotte and grandson Zach to Green Bay by truck. Once back in Oshkosh loaded our stuff and found the ground crew volunteer who rides a little scooter. She took us right out to the runway where another volunteer flagged us off. Easy. Leaving the pattern we flew right under the Ford Tri-motor then several speedy home builts went by us. About 10 minutes went by and the traffic was all gone and we were on our way. Second Grandson Trevor (8 yrs) is very excited about the trip home. One of the first things he says is noticed how everything is so green here. We come from Calif and everything is dead or dying. Day was cool and the air smooth so headed for Boscobel Wi and the $3.99 a gallon gas. (Sold Out) Had lunch and headed for Prairie Du Chien for gas. I had purchased new head sets as old ones had just killed our heads on the way out. I bought Zulu 2 Light Speed with noise cancelling Strange flying and not hearing the engine. Guess I will get use to it. Flying this morning about 90 mph with a good 50 miles visibility. Just missed a bald eagle at 3,000' came out of no where. Let Trevor do some flying as I was real tired but he is a little to short and it stressed him so I took over pretty quick. Just needed a minute to rest my feet. Landed in Atlantic Ia found the airport car to be a retired police car with the keys init. One of the crop duster crew said to just take it as there was no one else on the field. I told him that in Calif we would get tazed for doing that. lol Car ran great!! Found a hotel did laundry, had dinner and went to bed.

[RCFC]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

July 26 Rained hard last night. Lighting and thunder woke me up about 4:30. When we got to the T-craft found her all wet inside the head liner the seats what a mess. after some drying out we took off climbing out 5,000' until the clouds thicken then got below so we could see and fly in the shade. Landed in Osborne Ks out of gas and found no one at the airport and no self service. I called the three numbers on the wall with no answer. I told Trevor that I bet everyone was still in church. After 1:00 I called again and got a Tim to come a sell us gas. Super nice guy who took us to town for lunch. Dropped us off at subway and said to call him when we were ready to go back to the airport. I wanted to buy him lunch but he wouldn't have it. Took off on the grass strip climbed to 5,000' getting hot now and landscape is turning brown unless the farmers irrigate. We landed in Lakin Ks and were told that a big storm was coming and they expected half dallor size hail. I told them that would wreck me for sure and wondered if they had a hanger to hide in. He called and three of the airport board members came right out along with a police officer. Got me in a hanger in no time and the officer escorted us to the hotel What service. 375 miles 5.6 hrs Notice the speed 71 mph. Much better than earlier when we were doing 55 mph

[Joe cooper]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

July 26 Rained hard last night. Lighting and thunder woke me up about 4:30. When we got to the T-craft found her all wet inside the head liner the seats what a mess. after some drying out we took off climbing out 5,000' until the clouds thicken then got below so we could see and fly in the shade. Landed in Osborne Ks out of gas and found no one at the airport and no self service. I called the three numbers on the wall with no answer. I told Trevor that I bet everyone was still in church. After 1:00 I called again and got a Tim to come a sell us gas. Super nice guy who took us to town for lunch. Dropped us off at subway and said to call him when we were ready to go back to the airport. I wanted to buy him lunch but he wouldn't have it. Took off on the grass strip climbed to 5,000' getting hot now and landscape is turning brown unless the farmers irrigate. We landed in Lakin Ks and were told that a big storm was coming and they expected half dallor size hail. I told them that would wreck me for sure and wondered if they had a hanger to hide in. He called and three of the airport board members came right out along with a police officer. Got me in a hanger in no time and the officer escorted us to the hotel What service. 375 miles 5.6 hrs Notice the speed 71 mph. Much better than earlier when we were doing 55 mph

Thanks so much for the trip info! Nice t craft!

[RCFC]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

July 27 Storms all around us this morning so no early departure. Finally got going at 7:20 climbing out at gps 40 mph then cruising at 55 mph. Going to see a lot of the country today. Even with the wind slowing us down the air was smooth so it was easy flying did speed up to 72 later which made us feel a little better. But did fly the Oklahoma pan handle at 55 stopping in Dalhart Tx for breakfast. Super resturant on field. Called in on 3 mile final only to have two crop dusters cut in front which was ok since we were flying so slow. Gerald Burney a local asked if he could sit with us and talk airplanes. Oh my after 1.5 hours we said we had to go. This guy was so interesting telling stories of his days flying a t-craft. Good times. Now headed west hoping for more speed. Climbed to 10,000' 58-64 mph cruise. We dodged thunder clouds all afternoon. Got a little rain but nothing bad. New Mexico like Texas is dry and brown. Would be in a lot of trouble if we were forced to land somewhere on this second leg. Rough flying this afternoon. Very glad to get on the ground at Sandia East (1N1) NM. This is one of the airport that you can build a house on and drive plane up to your house. Beautiful homes on five acres. The owner let us stay in a vacate apartment he had and use his wife's car to go for dinner. 365 miles 5.7 hrs

[Pearson]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

Richard
We met several years ago at Ron Sawyer's flyin in Columbia. I was camping in a motor home and you needed a ride to the hotel. FYI. Finally got my bird flying after being in storage for 43 years. Back to your question. I followed the cheep gas using my Ipad. I would recommend you buy an Ipad as you can't get lost with an Ipad. Buy the one with the built in gps and with 64g memory so you can down load the sectionals. I use Garmin but try them all before you buy to find the one you like. Good luck with your trip.

Ken Andrews
N33959
Clovis, Ca

Ken,

Yes, I remember you! I didn't know who it was in your original posts. I have't been to one of the fly-ins at Columbia in several years. Back then I was flying cargo for a now defunct airline where I could massage my schedule. After they went under, I was low on the seniority list at the next airline and had to take what schedule I could get. The last one of those fly-ins I went to was at Sonoma, CA.

I don't want to spend the money for an IPad just for this trip I have to make. I will be moving from KKLS in Longview, WA to a small strip north of Ft. Worth, TX. There are some serious mountains along the way, and I want to plan fuel so as to be as light as possible when I need to go high. Once I get there, I will not need to do much long range planning. I have a Garmin 296 for nav, but wanted to be able to plan out fuel stops with some sort of software program. I may go check out DUATS. I used that years ago when I was flying cancelled checks in a Lear. I heard they have improved it, so maybe it will do the trick.

Great pics of your trip to OSH. Thanks for sharing!

[RCFC]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

July 28 Just another day of flying. Up early tried to get breakfast before we left but the power had gone off in the night and Walmart was the only thing open so we drank some chocolate milk to hold us over til the next gas stop. Off at 6:20 to clear smooth air. climbed to 10,000' then Trever says Grampa I need to go pee. I got out the H.E.R.E. and told him to not over fill it. He was having trouble so I held the container and he went to work. Everything was going fine then we hit a bump and I moved the contain and he couldn't stop peeing so he peed on my hand , his legs and his pants. Little PUNK!!! We were cruising this morning 82-84 mph At this point anything over 80 is awesome. The country here is fairly flat but getting higher, not steep like Wyoming. We flew south of Albuquerque to stay out of class B space then headed more NW stopping for fuel in St John's Airpark Az (KSJN) $4.25 gal. Thunder storms North and South of us so we decided to eat a snack out of the vending machine and get going.We dodged thunder storms for 2.5 hours. Had a few sprinkles but managed to stay out of the main event. The mountains are now getting steep and rugged and for 75 miles not a place to land. Made me a little nervous flying. We were just out of Wickenburg Az when I could smell a faint smell of burning oil so I figured I must be leaking somewhere but then it went away and I didn't think to much about it. Then later I noticed I was feeling kind of sick, dizzy and very drowsy. I opened the air vent even though it was kind of cold but I needed fresh air. When we got in the pattern and I cut the power I heard this cracking noise but when I looked at Trevor he was squeezing an empty plastic bottle so I thought that was it. We landed and taxied up to the gas pump shut off the engine then removed my outstanding new head sets. Got gas got the airport car, ate dinner got a hotel, went swimming then went to bed. 390 miles 5 hrs

[RCFC]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

July 29 OUR LAST DAY!!! Hoping to be home early this afternoon we were up early and had breakfast at the hotel. Out to the air port talked to a couple of other pilots that were looking at the T-craft then fired up the T. She sounded like a tank, real loud. So I shut her down and took off the cowling to try and figure out what was the problem. Found that the exhaust nuts had backed off and I had a major exhaust leak. Then I figured out that yesterday we were being gased and the cracking sound was the engine back firing. One of the guys said to me "didn't you hear this when you came in yesterday" I told him I had new noise cancelling heads sets. He laughed and "OH you bought Lightspeed head sets" We used some tools that Lee the airport guy had and once we tighten up the nuts she was back quite and running smooth as ever. Today we finally got a break with the wind. Cruising at 100-105 mph which was great because how much desert can you stand to look at. I think I must be ready to get out and take a couple of days off from all this flying. Stopped in Apple Valley for fuel then flew btw Palmdale and Edwards air force base at 7,000' then over Tehachapi into the smoky Central Valley of California. My wife Charlotte met us at the airport and took a real nice video of our landing at Reedley Airport (o32) 466 miles 4.8 hrs Glad to be home but better yet I'm glad I went and I'm glad I took my Grandkids, I think this trip will be a memory they will never forget nor will I. Thanks for reading my story. N33959 1941 BC12-65 Deluxe Ken Andrews

[TimHicks]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

What a great Story! What a great adventure!

[Joe cooper]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

What a great Story! What a great adventure!

Also.....what a great t craft! Who rebuilt it, when? etc, what Engine? Looks like the person did a magnificent job! Thanks again.

[RCFC]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

Joe
My Tcraft is a 1941 BC12 Deluxe which I stored in my garage for 43 years. Once I retired I put her together and finished the rebuild in Oct 2014. I have nearly 150 hrs on her A65 since Oct. This was a life long dream to fly to Osh and to take my Grand sons was a big bonus. Was and unbelievable trip.

[Robert Lees]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

Ken,

I've been reading this thread (and I saw your Taylorcraft at Oshkosh) and I can only say that both the aeroplane and your report of your trip are both amazing! The pictures speak more than you may imagine!

Well done; I take my hat off to you!

Rob

[clear_prop1961]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

Ken- If you are willing, tell every one about your "beach" landing and why it took you 43 years to restore the aircraft.
Jerry

[RCFC]

Re: Three weeks in a Taylorcraft. Oshkosh here we come

Rob

Thanks for comments

Jerry

That story is best told drinking

Ken