November 9, 2019
Fall is fly-in season throughout the U.S. and it’s no different in Texas. On some weekends there are so many fly-in’s that you have to decide which one to attend. The main reason for all the fly-in’s is the weather. In the Fall there are cold-fronts, rain, and days of overcast weather, yet there are also those days after a cold-front where the skies are clear, the temperature is cool and crisp and the winds have gone elsewhere.
The Saturday of the Kingsbury Aerodrome Fly-In was such a day… perfect by any measure. In fact, I doubt a better day could be made to order. We were in the plane for just a bit over 5 hours throughout the day, and for the entire time there was hardly a hint of wind. There was still some haze — some people just can’t resist burning something and creating smoke — but overall it did not affect the fabulous visibility.
Pre-Flight Planning
Kingsbury Aerodrome is 190sm/165nm almost due west from our homebase of Anahuac, Texas. Our usual flight speed averages around 70 knots, so we need to plan for a 2 hour 25 minute flight. That’s 4:50 round-trip which means we won’t have enough fuel to get there and back (and still have 30-45 minutes of extra fuel) without needing to refuel.* Our decision is to fly to Kingsbury, land, see the sights, then take off and head for Gonzales and refuel there. By doing it that way, our take-off weight at Kingsbury will be much lower. Kingsbury is a turf runway — turf tends to be ‘slower’ than a hard-surface runway — and fairly short at 2600 feet.
| * My plane holds 24 gallons and, when in flight, uses about 5 gallons-per-hour (gph). That means 4.8 hours of flying before fuel exhaustion. The FAA wants a gyroplane to have a minimum of 20 minutes of fuel left on board upon arrival at the destination airport but, frankly, my personal minimum is 45 minutes to an hour. That means 4 hours is as long as I dare fly without stopping for fuel. So my plan for a round-trip flight of 4 hour 50 minutes is too long. A fuel stop is definitely needed. For most of my cross-country planning, I usually look for an airport at the 3.5 hour point. |
Normally, I would land at my refueling point and refuel first before proceeding to the ultimate destination. My reasoning is that, if there is no fuel at my planned refueling point (it does happen!), I would then expend my time and remaining fuel flying to another airport that does have fuel. While it does happen, it’s pretty rare. Due to the unknown runway condition at Kingsbury, I decided that having a lower take-off weight was more important than risking the very small chance that my refuel point would be unavailable.
Since the weather is prognosticated to be stellar, the rest of the pre-flight planning consists of deciding what refreshments to take on board: water and energy bars, of course! I know that when we get to the airport, we will have to put the doors on the Cavalon. They’ve been off of it all summer but it’s pretty cool now so putting the doors on is definitely something we will want to do. That only takes 10 minutes. We should be able to get going fairly quickly.
Departure
Awake at 6am, then breakfast. It’s 44ºF upon arriving at the airport, so, yeah, the doors are definitely going on! With the drive to Anahuac and completing all the pre-flight tasks — putting on the doors is about 10 minutes but cleaning them, so we have a nice view out, takes another 15 minutes — we are finally ready to go around 8:15am. Yet, something doesn’t feel right with my warm-up and I shut down the engine to take a look. The right carburetor’s choke is stuck open but I barely touch it and it snaps into the proper off position. I ask Amy to operate the choke lever so I can watch to see if it happens again. It doesn’t. I attribute it to the cold temps — it’s now about 46ºF — and know that it won’t affect us at all in-flight, so I cover up the engine and get back in the plane.
Wheels-up is at 8:42am and we’re on our way. For those of you who read my blog entries, you will again see many similar photos of various sites. It is inevitable since the San Jacinto Monument and downtown Houston are dramatic landmarks that are impossible to ignore. Yet I never tire of seeing them and I can only hope the same is true for you!
At this point, we’ve flown through the Corridor and are now on the west side of Houston, dutifully heading west out toward the Texas countryside. Yet, we’re still not done with the suburbs… they seem to go on forever:
The air is clear, the sky a light blue, a slim layer of smog obvious in the distance but, with no wind, it’s a great pleasure to be flying. Since the flight from here is a straight-shot to Kingbury, there’s a lot of time to look around and find interesting things to see. As is my tendency, I’m flying at around 1500 feet, so, close enough to the ground to see what’s going on.
Where there are trees, they seem to be struggling to change colors. We have had only a couple of cold fronts at this point, yet they weren’t strong ones. Here is a view of a large park west of Houston — Bush Park — that is mostly trees. The other picture is a close-up of a few trees that are more successful than most at changing colors.
For the remainder of the this leg, we spend our time chatting, looking for other planes, keep track of our position and remark on interesting things we spot on the ground:
Amy now has the camera and grabs a few shots as we descend and land. Amy’s brother, Charlie, is on the ground taking a video of our landing.
Landing at Kingsbury:
Thanks, Charlie! Good job!
As I land and roll out, the three aircraft that have landed in front of me are queueing up for a parking spot. I taxi on over so I’m behind the third plane, following along until it’s my turn. The plane that landed behind me doesn’t get the gist of what we’re doing, so he cuts in front of me and takes the spot that I have been pointed at. It’s not a big deal… I just keep taxiing a bit longer and grab the spot next to the scofflaw.
Kingsbury Aerodrome and Pioneer Flight Museum
I am amazed. The last time I flew to Kingsbury was 17 years ago (click here for that story). In those 17 years not a lot of the buildings have changed and, yet, everywhere I looked I was astounded at what I saw. This fly-in was much bigger than even the Under-The-Wire Fly-in. In just a quick glance around I saw rows and rows of aircraft that had flown-in, a large group of Model T autos, re-enactors dressed in WWII garb, a row of powered-parachutes, a long line of antique cars and from the 40s/50s/60s, food trucks and two bands playing, a large group of motorcycles (and a few truly antique ones) and all of that on top of what I expected to see: antique aircraft from WWI and WWII.
My long-time friend, Tom Gaylord, is there to greet us along with Amy’s brother, Charlie and s.o. Sheri, and their dog Eli. When I met up with Tom in my 2002 visit, we practically had the entire place to ourselves. Now, people are crowding around to look at the Cavalon, taking pictures and asking questions. People are standing in line at the food truck, walking among the many aircraft, standing or sitting listening to the bands… they are everywhere. And this fly-in isn’t even advertised!
I am gobsmacked yet no one (but possibly Tom) could understand why. They have done an excellent job bringing together a large number of elements to create something that I have to describe as better than just a mere fly-in. After flying for 2.5 hours, I am pretty tired but still managed to get a nice selection of photos, so take a look for yourself at a few of them:
We lined up early in front of a food truck — yet it was still a long line — and grabbed some tacos and burritos for sustenance. After eating, Tom and I chatted a bit about the various antique aircraft scattered around and the work he was doing for the museum. We then strolled around looking at Model T’s, cars, motorcycles, powered-parachutes (forgot to get a photo of them), and a close-up look at a lot of the antique aircraft. It is amazing to see all of these classic vehicles, land and air, in one place. If you have any interest at all, this is the place to be. They may have both a Fall and Spring Fly-in, so mark your calendars and check out their Facebook page, too.
After two hours of looking around, we’re getting a bit tired and know that we still have a 2.5-hour trip back, plus a refueling stop. So we decide to head out. As is typical, as soon we start to prepare to get ready to leave some people show up to ask questions. So the departure is delayed as we chat amiably with those showing interest. We also stand together long enough for someone to get a group shot:
Finally, we’re ready and everyone stands back. My right wheel is stuck in a shallow hole so I have to really gun the engine to get out of it. Somehow during this process, I manage to unknowingly set my brake… it was only the first notch but enough to make things difficult. Even though I get the wheel out of the hole, having the brake set makes it seem like I am still stuck. I end up gunning the engine quite high (not good) to get the plane moving. Luckily I then saw the brake setting, released it, and I could again move easily.
I felt pretty foolish. At least I discovered it quickly.
Other planes were queuing up behind us and someone asked on the radio if we were departing. I answered in the affirmative, moved out on to the runway and spooled up (pre-rotation). I know that many (most?) fixed-wing pilots may not have much knowledge about the process for a gyro take-off, but I certainly felt their eyes on me. Some, I’m sure, were interested… others may have been merely impatient for me to get going. But you can’t hurry a spool-up. I managed to get it together and start my roll-out.
Charlie took another video of us taking off… he was in the wrong spot, and there were a lot of photographers/videographers around him…. it’s not as interesting as the landing but for the sake of thoroughness, I will include it here. What’s funny is the off-hand comment one guy made at the very end of the clip.
“I don’t know about that one!” Ha!
But we were up and flying, circling off to the east for a mile before turning SE toward Gonzales, our refueling destination. The flight time there is only 20 minutes or so.
Refueling
The fuel pump at Gonzales wants to pump either a specific amount of fuel, or an amount based on price. I opt to add 10 gallons even though I likely only need 5, at most. But the old pilots saying about …the only time you have too much fuel is when you can’t get off the deck, or you’re on fire… rang in my head. The other 5 gallons wouldn’t hurt. (The runway here is hard-surfaced so I wasn’t worried about my take-off weight.)
I also needed a bathroom break and they have a very small but nice pilot’s lounge, so I took the time to walk down there. While I was indisposed, Amy said a couple of guys came by… they had been at the fly-in and had seen us there… so when they saw the Cavalon sitting to the side here at Gonzales, they got concerned. They checked with Amy to make sure we were okay. Pilots typically are a grand lot, and these two were prime examples of the best of us.
We finally depart Gonzales at 2:08pm and have the same near-straight-shot back to Anahuac, without worry about fuel, and with little to do other than maintain course, watch out for traffic and take pictures. We again will go through the Corridor but the lighting is different so maybe the same landmarks will look different? Heh! I’m always hoping!
Heading home
After overflying RWJ Airport, there are 12 miles to go, most of it over Trinity Bay. As we approach Anahauc I listen intently for any radio traffic and scan the pattern for any sign of planes. I look hard at the taxiways and hangar area and see no movement at all. Given the complete absence of activity, I decide to shave off a minute or two and do a straight-in approach on runway 12.
As I make my landing — wheels down at 4:13pm — I find myself wondering if anyone ever came out to the hangar. It has been such a beautiful day, though cold. None of the other gyros in our club are enclosed so perhaps they felt it too cold to attempt flight? Too cold, maybe, for any maintenance, even? For Amy and I, with the doors on the Cavalon, we were in our shirt sleeves and at times a bit warm. We took warm jackets with us but never used them. The Cavalon really likes to fly when it’s cool and even when it’s cold. I flew it back from Maryland in January, and I was comfortable for most of the trip, despite the temps in the 30s and 40s.
After arriving and tucking the Cavalon into its spot in the hangar, Amy finds evidence that someone has been there. Later, on the club’s Facebook group page, we see that there were a few people that came out to fly. I am glad of that. It’s nice to be able to share a beautiful day like today!
Statistics
Anahuac to Kingsbury
departed 8:42am
arrived 11:02am
air time: 2.33 hrs (2:19)
ground: .3 hrs (00:18)
total: 2.63 hrs (2:37)
distance: 169.48 nm
average ground speed: 72.7 knots
Kingbury to Gonzales
departed: 1:12pm
arrived: 1:34pm
air time: .37 hrs (00:22)
ground: .3 hrs (00:20)
total: 0.67 hrs (00:42)
distance: 22.82 nm
average ground speed: 61.7 knots
Gonzales to Anahuac
departed 2:08pm
arrived: 4:13pm
air time: 2.07 hrs (2:04)
ground: .14 hrs (00:08)
total: 2.21 hrs (2:12)
distance: 150.03 nm
average ground speed: 72.5 knots
Totals
air time: 4.77 hrs (4:46)
total time: 5.14 hrs (5:08)
distance: 342.33 nm (393.95 sm)
fuel used: 26.5 gallons
fuel rate: 5.16 gph
average ground speed: 71.8 knots
I was impressed that my fuel burn was only 5.16 gph… why?… because I kept my speed up for the entire day, keeping it at 80-85 knots when I could, and averaging about 72 knots for the trip. That is a higher average speed than I normally fly. No doubt the low (possibly negative) density altitude helped the fuel use, and the calm winds let me fly faster.
This speed-and-altitude graph may not be exactly correct, but it’s close. The graph shows the entire trip. The two “dips” around the 200.0 mile marker… the one on the left is my landing to, and take off from, Kingsbury… the one on the right is my landing to, and take off from, Gonzales.
The actual flight path for the entire day:
I’m very happy you could fly along with me on this trip! It was a great day!
[Hats off to Tom for identifying some of the aircraft in my photos.]
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