840 nm in one day

[opticsguy]

Stugeon Bay (KSUE) to Dallas on 27 April. Lots of IFR forecast for MO during the day. If the winds hold up, I think we can do it, if not, Sedalia or Lebanon, MO overnight.

 

KLBO has a courtesy car and several gas cans you can use to get ethanol free 93 octane at a station down the road.

[CT4ME]

Gotta spot link?... We'll "fly along"

[mocfly]

That beats my longest just flown last week of 650. Makes for a heck of a long day.

[kentuckynet]

year before last we left santafe new mexico just before light and landed in crofton ky just before dark

903.4 nautical miles W

hope to never do that again

mack

[S4Flier]

I guess to each own. Barring geographic necessity such has flying over large bodies of water, never saw the need to have legs much longer than 3 hrs. Makes for a much nicer, comfortable and safer trip by taking a rest stop or two. You can easily do a quick turn in 15 mins and give a local FBO some much needed business Did 700nm last fall with two stops. Adding 30 mins to 7+ hrs of flying didn't make a material difference in travel time but made it much more pleasant.

[FastEddieB]

On the one hand, I've done comparable daily mileage...

 

...on a motorcycle!

 

That said, it's hard not to be fatigued after a long day of flying. If you live near SL, even 5,000' can take its toll after a while. I know that higher than that and my brain turns to mush after a finite amount of time at altitude.

 

It's said, "Fatigue doth make cowards of us all". Well, if not "cowards" exactly, it can certainly lead to "unforced errors", which often occur on that last leg, often on approach or landing near or after sunset.

 

I'm 63, and I find I can still do very long days in the air, on a bike, or driving a van full of dogs to NJ. Can do it on donuts and coffee and adrenaline, and seem to be none the worse for wear at the end.

 

But what I have noticed is that it can take me several days to recover - I literally feel beat up for that long.

 

For our trip to Page, with reduced fuel we planned about 2 hour legs - about 200nm in the Sky Arrow. And three of those legs felt like a full day. Often felt like a fourth leg was doable, but by early/late afternoon packing it in for the day usually seemed like a better plan than pressing on.

 

And one good rule is to always plan an extra day for every three planned flight days as a cushion. We used ours staying in Amarillo an extra day due to forecast high winds an turbulence along the route. NEVER put yourself in a position where you HAVE to be somewhere at a specific time. If that's the case, the airlines are a better bet, sequestration notwithstanding.

 

For us little guys, the maxim should always be "Time to spare? Go by air!"

[Jim Meade]

Iowa City to Spruce Creek is 911 nm direct, probably flew closer to 1000 nm circling Atlanta. One day.

[josjonkers]

year before last we left santafe new mexico just before light and landed in crofton ky just before dark

903.4 nautical miles W

hope to never do that again

mack

 

[Johnny]

 

Ditto here, Mack ... don't wanna do that again! My pilot wife and I just completed a round trip in our SW from Palestine, Tx to Fullerton, Ca, with stops in Big Spring, Tucson, Phoenix and Odessa. Approximately 2300 miles ... wow! It was primarily a wedding trip, but we were able to piggyback a hose change with Roger, which turned out to be a fabulous stop in Tucson. But next time, I'm thinkin' it's gonna be a job for JetBlue!

 

~~ Johnny

[Duane Jefts]

Took off from Kodiak, AK 9pm and arrived in Barbers Pt, Hawaii at 1pm the next afternoon. That was my longest flight Dec 25th 1979.

[C ICEY]

The secret is In-flight stretching!

 

 

[FastEddieB]

The secret is In-flight stretching!

 

Sorry, have to paraphrase Lynyrd Skynyrd on that one:

 

"Ooh that smell, can't you smell that smell?

Ooh that smell, the smell of feets surrounds you, yeah!"

[mocfly]

I want to know how you avoid moving the control stick?

 

[opticsguy]

didn't get to post last night. We got forced down in Centerville, IA. We tried to get into Kirksville, MO, but it went from MVFR to LIFR when we were 10 miles away. Lucky for us, Centerville was clear this morning and KIRK was still IFR until 1100 or so. As it was, we set a new record for a single leg, 500 nm even, direct to KADS, 4.6 hours. My wife and I split a cup of coffee this morning instead of having two each, and that made the difference. That and the 3" memory foam upgrade of our seat cushions.

 

Centerville gave me hangar space overnight for free, and has ethanol free mogas (87 oct). The hotels in town are nothing to write home about.

 

Surprisingly, we had smooth air from 4000 ft and higher on a clear spring day over OK and TX. Nice temperature inversion.

[WmInce]

I hope you didn't use 87 oct. in a 912ULS without at least 50% 100LL?

 

Roger,

 

With regard to the above, what are the repercussions?

Would a single or one-time use have significance?

[FastEddieB]

Not Roger, but...

 

...yes, a single detonation/preignition event could destroy an engine in very short order.

[opticsguy]

Roger, I bought half 100LL and half 87, which was added to what was left of the 93 octane I bought in Indiana/Wisconsin (some with ethanol, some without). I would say the resulting "octane rating" of this mixture was pretty high. It ran like a top.

 

I started the trip setting the Dynon D120 "fuel remaining" to what I knew I had, and adjusted it as I bought fuel, and after 27 hours of flying it read within half a gallon of what I had remaining when I landed.

[FlyingMonkey]

Last year my wife and I drove from our home in Georgia to Michigan to visit her family, it took 18+ hours. I look forward to the opportunity to do that in 7 hours in a CT.

[CT_MATT]

Last September Tip and I flew my plane back from Delta Colorado to Pittsburgh, PA. Day one was just over 10 hours of flying covering about 1050nm stopping in Goodland Kansas, Centerville Iowa, and finally Plymouth Indiana before running out of daylight. It was just over 3 more hours to get back to Indiana, PA to drop Tip off then back to my old home base of Herron, WV. We lucked out with the weather cooperating the whole way other than having head winds. All in all a great trip especially crossing the Rockies. We can definitely attest to these planes having long legs.

[FlyingMonkey]

Half 100LL and half 91 octane mogas does nothing to hurt or help the octane rating.

 

With that mix you will have an effective octane rating significantly better than 91, or significantly lower than 100. It depends on what perspective you are approaching from. Either way, your post is pretty much incorrect, if you mean that mixing the two would not give more detonation protection than 91 octane mogas straight up.

[S4Flier]

It's simple math. Ignoring the 93 octane already in Optiguy's tank, he put in 50% 87 and 50% 100 octane. Average is 187/2 = 93.5 octane.

 

Google 'octane mixing' and you'll find they do, indeed, mix (at least according to Mobil ).

 

Lead is a different issue but pretty much unavoidable on trips outside of your local area.

[GlennM]

Half 100LL and half 91 octane mogas does nothing to hurt or help the octane rating.

 

I love this forum! I always get a good laugh. Please keep it up.

[opticsguy]

Actually did it yesterday. KSUE to KDTO (Addison was closed). Mexico, MO KMYJ has mogas (87) for $4.15. We tried a stop at Neosho, MO, also, KEOS. Very helpful staff in a new facility. They gave me a truck and two gas cans so I could get my own 91 octane. I'll stop there again for sure.

 

8.2 hours of flying, and all but 3 hours in air smooth enough to use the autopilot, and a tailwind at that.

[DocRon]

Not that I wanted to be one-upping anyone but on June 7th I moved our CTLS from Hawley, MN (04Y) to our new home in Camp Verde, AZ (19AZ)via Hot Springs, SD (HSR) and Grand Junction, CO (GJT) in one day. I logged 10.2 hours covering 1093NM. (Yes, everything hurt getting out of the plane that day.) It was also 54 degrees when I departed and 106 when I arrived.