December 2, 2018
Many years ago, the group I flew with out of Bailes airport would occasionally fly to the Brenham airport (11R) to have lunch. Inside the FBO building is a 50’s themed diner that had a typical 50’s type of menu: burgers and such. The three photos below are all from 2003.
It’s been at least 12 years since I’ve been back to Southern Flyer Diner. Only a year or so ago, the diner closed down. Recently, though, I heard it had re-opened so we decided to go take a look and see if anything had changed… and have lunch!
Amy and I both have been suffering for more than two weeks from a bad cold, and we have just come to the moment when we are feeling much better. On Saturday (December 1) the weather was beautiful and Sunday was supposed to be just as good. In the time since my last entry, I had only flown a couple of times and, then, just local flying with lots of stop-n-go’s. Today I filled up my gas tank with 21 gallons — not quite full — to handle the two (roughly) 90 minute legs, there and back, plus the usual extra. Air temperature on the ground was about 80ºF (26.7ºC).
Wheels up was at 11:48 am and it didn’t take too long before I started my little game of spotting unusual things on the ground.
To get to Brenham, we could go through “the corridor” or go around north of Intercontinental Airport. We chose the corridor because it is just a hair shorter and quicker, but the view of downtown Houston is always a bonus!
As usual when I fly the corridor, I stick to the extreme northern edge, avoiding the possible “stadium TFR” from Minute Maid Park. You can see my actual track (in cyan) and the red arrows point to the Class B and TFR lines I have to stay between.
At this point I’m in the middle of the corridor, at around 1500 feet, and 10 miles from the runways at Intercontinental Airport… but with my decent telephoto lens, I can make them out!
For this trip, as soon as I clear the tightest portion of the corridor, I jig to the northwest and generally follow Highway 290.
At one point I have to deal with Weiser Airpark as it is directly on my track. My ceiling — the maximum altitude allowed at this point — is just under 2,000 feet. The pattern altitude for Weiser is 1137 feet, so I decide to stay high — around 1,800 feet — and announce my position and fly directly over the field. There was some local traffic but they seem to be doing pattern work and so I won’t bother them, and they won’t bother me. As we pass over the western edge of the runway, Amy takes a shot of the hangars.
A few miles later, we pass near by the Highway-290/Grand Parkway-99 interchange. It’s huge. In many ways it’s ugly, but in some ways it’s a thing of beauty, too.
We’re approaching Waller, TX… I used to live out near Waller, so Highway 290 is like an old friend… well, more like a frienemy, being under almost constant construction for decades and I practically lived in many traffic jams. Once away from the congested areas, the countryside has a few landmarks I’m used to seeing. Seeing them from the air gives me a different perspective and I find them interesting once again.
Now we’re out in the wide-open countryside with little but rolling hills, and widely scattered farms, ranches and homes. Air temperature at altitude was about 64ºF (17.9ºC). Another 15 miles or so and in the far distance we can just barely make out Brenham Airport, the white hangars showing up against the brown landscape.
I’m happy we’re getting there because I only had a light breakfast, so I’m hungry. I am ready for lunch! (The body of water you see in the distance in the photo above is Lake Somerville.) As usual on a nice weekend day, there is quite a bit of traffic in the area… people flying in for lunch, or having finished lunch, flying out. We spot a fixed-wing plane at our altitude heading in our general direction… they pass off our left side, less than a mile away. I had my landing lights on — I always keep them on, for safety — but the other pilot did not. They did not show up on my ADS-B navigation display, but it’s too soon to expect every aircraft to have ADS-B. (Of course, pilots that stick strictly to areas outside metropolitan areas are unlikely to spend the money for an unneeded ADS-B system.)
By the time I’m about to pass over mid-field there are two other aircraft announcing their position. That means I have plenty of time to enter the pattern and land. I execute the “new” FAA-suggested downwind entry pattern, then do a quick base and final, and I land at Brenham.
I grab the first open parking spot and make sure the wheels are chocked.
It’s not unusual to have someone approach me and ask to look at my gyroplane, and this turned out to be no exception. After assuring the gentleman that he and his family can take a look, Amy and I head into the diner. A quick look back and we see them all gathering around for a group photo in front of the Cavalon… haha.
The trip so far:
* distance: 101.4 nm (116.7 sm, 187.8 km)
* time in the air: 1 hour, 47 minutes
* fuel burned: 8.5 gallons (32.2 liters)
The flight plan said it would be 94.8 nm and 1:28, so it took us a bit longer than planned, and used about half-gallon more fuel than I expected. I always plan for needing more fuel than the plan, though, so we’re good. There was a little bit of a headwind, but not much. The air overall has been smooth, with just a few bumps. (My fixed-wing brethren may have a different story but the rotors on my gyroplane smooth out most of the bumps.)
In the diner, the female wait staff wear poodle skirts and bobby socks, and have bouncy personalities. Songs play on the jukebox and the decor completes the picture of a 50’s diner or malt shop. (And fortunately (or unfortunately), I’m old enough to have experienced them first-hand, in the 50’s. My best memory is of KG’s Drugstore in the West University village.)
The food is good and the service is excellent. 45 minutes later, we are tanked up and ready for the return trip. (I meant that we were tanked up… I still had plenty of fuel in the plane, so no additional fuel was necessary.) We quickly un-chock and saddle up, then taxi out for take off.
The airport is not as busy now… no one is in the pattern and no waiting required. I move on to the runway, spin up the rotor and we’re off!
The route back will be the same as the one we took to get to Brenham, so not much more to talk about. However, I did fly a slightly different track so there were a few things we spotted that were interesting:
As we again approach the downtown area, I can’t help but take a few more shots:
Somewhere in northeast Houston, near U.S. Highway 90 is this interesting “hill.” I’m not sure if it’s just a very old landfill, or someone’s attempt at recreating a Mayan turf pyramid! Very unusual, and I can’t find any hint of what it might be. But I love a mystery!
Up ahead are a couple more interesting landmarks to see…
From this point on, in any of my trips that bring me back through the corridor, the view is pretty much the same and the landscape gets monotonous — just petrochemical plants, swamps and bays, mostly — so I don’t expect to see much. I happened to look down as we cross Interstate-10 — our normal route back home from the airport — and saw this accident… the inbound side was totally blocked by the truck and debris, and the outbound side only had one lane open. So we took a different route home!
For this 2nd leg of the trip:
* distance: 101.4 nm (116.7 sm, 187.8 km)
* time in the air: 1 hour, 44 minutes
* fuel burned: 8.3 gallons (30.3 liters)
Amazing that the distances were almost exact! We had an occasional and slight tailwind on the way back, so it was a tiny bit quicker return. (If I had flown, on average, as fast as I did on the way to Brenham, the resulting time in the air would have been even quicker.) Less fuel was burned due to lower engine settings, overall.
Overall:
* distance: 202.8 nm (233.4 sm, 375.6 km)
* time in the air: 3 hour, 31 minutes
* fuel burned: 16.8 gallons (62.5 liters)
Interestingly, my most important statistic — gallons used per hour — was lower than what I expected: 4.8 gph. Generally speaking, with a near-full tank and a passenger, I typically expect 5.5 gph, so this was a nice surprise. It’s likely that it being a cooler day helped out.
Overall a very nice flight! I’m glad you could fly along with us!
ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ
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