Taylorcraft Travelogue

[baldeagle27]

I had another Taylorcraft ferry trip this week, Batesville, Arkansas to Yerington, Nevada. 1,776 miles in 23.6 flying hours for an average of about 75 mph. Lots of headwinds pretty much the whole way. It is a 1946 BC-12D with a Continental C-85-8, with the STC'd drill motor starter, which worked pretty well. And, thank goodness, two 6 gallon wing tanks in addition to the standard 12 in the nose.

Left Batesville at 6:40 AM on Thursday May 1 and got to Yerington about noon on May 3.

The trip also allowed me to continue my quest to fly a pre-1950 airplane in all 50 states. I thought Utah and Nevada would be the last two, but now I can't remember if I ever flew to Delaware, so I'm going to have to take my BC-65 over there soon to make sure I have all 50. At least it's only about 120 miles for that mission.

A few photos from the trip


Weatherford, Oklahoma



Windmills in Texas



Following old Route 66 in New Mexico just past the Arizona border. I-40 on the left.



Spent the first night in Tucumcari, New Mexico, not at this place, but they were the only hotel with an airplane parked out front-




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[baldeagle27]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

May 2, Winslow meteor crater



North side of Humphrey's Peak, north of Flagstaff, visible in the background of the above photo.



There is a whole lot of nothing in Northern Arizona, fortunately the airplane had a very good compass, so I was able to find my way to Valle, and then to the Grand Canyon




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[baldeagle27]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Some GoPro shots from over the Canyon











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[baldeagle27]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Landed at St. George, Utah, and then flew on to Boulder City, Nevada, just SE of Las Vegas, where I spent the second night. On Saturday I flew up to Tonopah

It's an old WW2 training base where they had B-24s, P-40s, and P-39s, and Chuck Yeager did some of his training there. There have also been several speed records set over the dry lake just south of Tonopah. There are three of the magnificent old wooden hangars still left at the airport, but all are slowly rotting away.

Then it was on to Yerington, near Reno


The new owner is Bill Carpenter, who found me from visiting this forum, so good deal.



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[Robert Lees]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Andrew, I'm sure your mother never knew your father's name, because you are a bastard for having done that trip without me.

The area around St George, UT is one of my favourite haunts (in fact I go there as often as I do the mid-west).

I bet you landed at the "new" St George, rather than the one on the Mesa. Ironically, the "new" one was built upon the site of the "old" one before the mesa-top runway.

Did you not do a touch and go upon UT27 the old sled-bed strip at Hurricane Mesa ?

I'm glad you had a good trip, and lovely photos !

Rob

[Howard Wilson]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Cool trip.
Great photos!

[M Towsley]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Thanks for sharing Andrew, absolutely beautiful photos.

[baldeagle27]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Thanks Rob (I think....??), and others. I don't think I could have done it with a passenger, as it sometimes took some doing to get high enough, but I managed to hook some thermals when necessary and that helped. St. George is magnificent, and there aren't the altitude restrictions there like at the Grand Canyon. Here's a shot near St. George:



I did see the old airport, but didn't go over there, was in a hurry to get to Las Vegas by dark.
Flying out through the canyon just west of St. George, where I-15 goes through, was again fantastic, but I was just too tired at that point to take more pictures (had taken the GoPro off unfortunately) so just enjoyed it for myself.



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[Pearson]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Andrew,

Very nice pictures. Thank you for sharing! Did you keep track of the cost of fuel for this trip? I would be curious about the price per gallon, cost per hour, or total fuel costs for the entire trip.

[Robert Lees]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Flying out through the canyon just west of St. George, where I-15 goes through,


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That's the Virgin River gorge down towards Mesquite. At the time of it's construction, that was the most expensive interstate per mile in the whole of the US. There are some great canyons-within-canyons down there; I've abseiled a few.

Very spectacular driving the Interstate too! Even worst driving it at night after a transatlantic flight!

[Bigdog]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Did you not do a touch and go upon UT27 the old sled-bed strip at Hurricane Mesa ?

Rob, thanks for the link about Hurricane Mesa. We had a Navion convention in Cedar City, UT about 5 years ago and I flew over the mesa several times. We were told about it but now I wish I had done a closer inspection. That's beautiful country.

[baldeagle27]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Andrew,

Very nice pictures. Thank you for sharing! Did you keep track of the cost of fuel for this trip? I would be curious about the price per gallon, cost per hour, or total fuel costs for the entire trip.

Total cost for fuel/oil was $724.25, but I'm afraid that I gave the receipts to Bill so don't know how many total gallons that was. It was burning about 4.7 gph, I expected more but it had a Flottorp climb prop so I don't think was using much manifold pressure for cruise rpm, about 2,400. Was using a quart of oil about every 3 hours so I put in maybe 8 quarts.



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[Robert Lees]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

Rob, thanks for the link about Hurricane Mesa. We had a Navion convention in Cedar City, UT about 5 years ago and I flew over the mesa several times. We were told about it but now I wish I had done a closer inspection. That's beautiful country.

Bigdog: It is indeed. I think I've visited that area (Southern Utah) about eleven times now, and I love it to bits. I'd move there if my lottery numbers came up.

You & I need to meet up; I just love the Navion. Proper aeroplane, but I could not afford to operate one.

Back to Utah: Of course, one cannot land on the Hurricane sled-bed, but there is a runway (now closed). In 2011, it looked like the photo below. It's still a bit security-conscious; for what purpose I know not.

As Baldeagle27 is eagle-eyed, I'm sure he spotted the concrete arrows as he passed Hurricane and St George. These are a few of the remaining ones left from the old mail days.

Last November (2013), I climbed the hill immediately to the west of Quail Lake, near Hurricane, to see one, although the views in the above website are better than my own photos.

I expect to be out in southern Utah again this coming November.

[crispy critter]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

As Baldeagle27 is eagle-eyed, I'm sure he spotted the concrete arrows as he passed Hurricane and St George. These are a few of the remaining ones left from the old mail days.

Rob,
I've seen several of them in my trips across the country. I forget where I seen it but once seen one that still has a small tower with a beacon or some type of light still on it.

[baldeagle27]

Re: Taylorcraft Travelogue

I'm afriad I missed the arrows, too much else to look at I guess...



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