{"id":3275,"date":"2019-11-13T12:32:26","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T18:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/?p=3275"},"modified":"2019-11-13T12:32:26","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T18:32:26","slug":"kingsbury-aerodrome-fly-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/?p=3275","title":{"rendered":"Kingsbury Aerodrome Fly-In 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

November 9, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Fall is fly-in season throughout the U.S. and it’s no different in Texas.\u00a0 On some weekends there are so many fly-in’s that you have to decide which one to attend.\u00a0 The main reason for all the fly-in’s is the weather.\u00a0 In the Fall there are cold-fronts, rain, and days of overcast weather, yet there are also those days after<\/em> a cold-front where the skies are clear, the temperature is cool and crisp and the winds have gone elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The Saturday of the Kingsbury Aerodrome Fly-In was such a day… perfect by any measure.\u00a0 In fact, I doubt a better day could be made to order.\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
After crossing Trinity Bay, we’re still 30+ miles away from downtown but can easily see it in the distance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pre-Flight Planning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kingsbury Aerodrome is 190sm\/165nm almost due west from our homebase of Anahuac, Texas.\u00a0 Our usual flight speed averages around 70 knots, so we need to plan for a 2 hour 25 minute flight.\u00a0\u00a0 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.*\u00a0 Our decision is to fly to Kingsbury, land, see the sights, then take off and head for Gonzales and refuel there.\u00a0 By doing it that way, our take-off weight at Kingsbury will be much lower.\u00a0 Kingsbury is a turf runway — turf tends to be ‘slower’ than a hard-surface runway — and fairly short at 2600 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* My plane holds 24 gallons and, when in flight, uses about 5 gallons-per-hour (gph).\u00a0 That means 4.8 hours of flying before fuel exhaustion.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That means 4 hours is as long as I dare fly without stopping for fuel.\u00a0 So my plan for a round-trip flight of 4 hour 50 minutes is too long.\u00a0 A fuel stop is definitely needed.\u00a0 For most of my cross-country planning, I usually look for an airport at the 3.5 hour point.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Normally, I would land at my refueling point and refuel first before proceeding to the ultimate destination.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 While it does happen, it’s pretty rare.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The plan…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the weather is prognosticated to be stellar, the rest of the pre-flight planning consists of deciding what refreshments to take on board:\u00a0 water and energy bars, of course!\u00a0 I know that when we get to the airport, we will have to put the doors on the Cavalon.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 That only takes 10 minutes.\u00a0 We should be able to get going fairly quickly.<\/p>\n

Departure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Awake at 6am, then breakfast.\u00a0 It’s 44\u00baF upon arriving at the airport, so, yeah, the doors are\u00a0definitely<\/em> going on! \u00a0 With the drive to Anahuac and completing all the pre-flight tasks — putting on the doors is about 10 minutes but cleaning<\/em> them, so we have a nice view out, takes another 15 minutes — we are finally ready to go around 8:15am.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet, something doesn’t feel right with my warm-up and I shut down the engine to take a look.\u00a0 The right carburetor’s choke is stuck open but I barely touch it and it snaps into the proper off position.\u00a0 I ask Amy to operate the choke lever so I can watch to see if it happens again.\u00a0 It doesn’t.\u00a0 I attribute it to the cold temps — it’s now about 46\u00baF — and know that it won’t affect us at all in-flight, so I cover up the engine and get back in the plane.<\/p>\n

Wheels-up is at 8:42am and we’re on our way.\u00a0\u00a0 For those of you who read my blog entries, you will again see many similar photos of various sites.\u00a0 It is inevitable since the San Jacinto Monument and downtown Houston are dramatic landmarks that are impossible to ignore.\u00a0 Yet I never tire of seeing them and I can only hope the same is true for you!<\/p>\n

\"Between <\/a>
Between the northern edge of Trinity Bay and Lake Anahuac are these fish camp houses. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Downtown <\/a>
Downtown is easy to see on this clear morning. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Stallworth <\/a>
Stallworth Stadium used by Goose Creek ISD schools. It looks like there is something going on, too! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Baytown <\/a>
Baytown Airport <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"San <\/a>
San Jacinto Monument in the foreground, while petroleum plants belch away in the background. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A tug seemingly guarding its trophy barges. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Railroad <\/a>
Railroad bridge over a part of the San Jacinto River called Bear Lake. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A barge storage area on Old River. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The new Rancho Verde neighborhood. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"We're <\/a>
We’re again heading through “the Corridor”, just along the north edge of downtown. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Downtown <\/a>
Downtown Houston with Williams Tower in the background. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Looking <\/a>
Looking down on a cell tower. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Slowly <\/a>
Slowly moving trains. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Looking <\/a>
Looking to my left as I line up over the 610N freeway. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Colorful <\/a>
Colorful cherry pickers <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\""Independent <\/a>
“Independent Texas Recyclers” recycling center. <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The Williams Tower is the tallest building in Houston outside of Downtown Houston, and is the world’s tallest skyscraper (at 902 feet) outside of a city’s central business district. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"White <\/a>
White Oak Bayou snakes its way to the northwest. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"On <\/a>
On our left, the Memorial Park Golf Course <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The old Hempstead Highway on the left, paralleling the newer Highway 290 (Northwest Freeway). <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Looking <\/a>
Looking south, along 610-West and the Galleria\/Uptown area, and Williams Tower. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Looking <\/a>
Looking down Interstate 10 and the Energy Corridor <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Another <\/a>
Another golf course — Houston has quite a few inside the city limits. This one is the Houston Country Club. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Looking <\/a>
Looking west over the Memorial Area. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"This <\/a>
This house in the Memorial Villages subdivision kind of jumped out at me. Super nice! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"This <\/a>
This cool looking building is the new Frostwood Elementary School! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Looking <\/a>
Looking due north along Gessner Blvd., to the left is the Memorial City Medical Center, on the right is Memorial City Mall. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

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.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet, we’re still not done with the suburbs… they seem to go on forever:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 As is my tendency, I’m flying at around 1500 feet, so, close enough to the ground to see what’s going on.<\/p>\n

Where there are trees, they seem to be struggling to change colors.\u00a0 We have had only a couple of cold fronts at this point, yet they weren’t strong ones.\u00a0 Here is a view of a large park west of Houston — Bush Park — that is mostly trees.\u00a0 The other picture is a close-up of a few trees that are more successful than most at changing colors.<\/p>\n

\"Bush <\/a>
Bush Park, behind Addicks Dam <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"As <\/a>
As close to fall colors as we see in Houston <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

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:<\/p>\n

\"Beautiful <\/a>
Beautiful dressage ring at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Cinco <\/a>
Cinco Ranch High School in the foreground; Grand Parkway leads toward the north, intersecting and continuing past I-10 <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A field of contrasts <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Oxbow-type <\/a>
Oxbow-type lakes created from a part of what used to be the Brazos River. The river is now a quarter mile to the west. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A farmhouse and tank near Sealy TX <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The twisty San Bernard River meanders towards the northwest <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Amy <\/a>
Amy spotted this guy, coming from our left and heading beneath us, flying *very* low… <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"I <\/a>
I snap this as he emerges from under us, probably no more than 100 feet off the ground. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Glueck <\/a>
Glueck Tree Farm, between Sealy and Columbus <\/div> <\/div>
\"Headwaters <\/a>
Headwaters Construction Materials, near Alleyton TX <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Columbus <\/a>
Columbus TX and the bridge over the Colorado River <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The Fayette Power Project, also known as Sam Seymour Power Plant, is a coal-fired power plant located near La Grange TX. From us, it’s about 20 miles away. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"I-10 <\/a>
I-10 rest stop. What caught my eye are the structures on both sides of the interstate, looking like (perhaps) an old overpass. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Weimer <\/a>
Weimer TX, population ~ 2200. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Schulenburg <\/a>
Schulenburg TX, population ~ 2900. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Impressive <\/a>
Impressive home with wrap-around porches, near Schulenburg <\/div> <\/div>
\"Flatonia <\/a>
Flatonia TX, population ~ 1400… traditionally, this is considered the halfway point between Houston and San Antonio, and a great place to take a break from driving along I-10. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Small <\/a>
Small orchard SW of Flatonia TX <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Amy <\/a>
Amy spotted this purple retention pond, part of the egg production at Cal-Maine Foods. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"We're <\/a>
We’re finally near our destination. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A lot of planes already here, with 3 ahead of me and one behind me. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Amy now has the camera and grabs a few shots as we descend and land.\u00a0 Amy’s brother, Charlie, is on the ground taking a video of our landing.<\/p>\n

\"4N1A7821\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A7823\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"4N1A7825\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Landing at Kingsbury:<\/p>\n