Expedition Day 1 The NAA "Certificate of Departure" form is signed by the tower and all configuration checks are complete. I climb heading in to the morning sun and up to 11,000 ft over the Sacramento valley. The plane is heavily loaded with 90 gallons of fuel, safety equipment for polar/desert/marine environments, spare parts, and flies like a sluggish transport. My nimble RV feels like a completely different plane.
The familiar landmarks of Sacramento, Blue Canyon, and scenic Lake Tahoe quickly pass by under my wing and I have a grin plastered on my face. After 5 years of planning, the RTW trip is finally happening. The routine tasks of navigation, engine monitoring, and communications help me to relax and stay focused. Every 100 miles or so, I am handed off to a new controller as I progressed over the sparsely populated western states. Occasionally, I spot a lone ranch or an open pit mine in the middle of nowhere. After about 3 hours, "May" crosses the Sierra Nevada, the Great Basin desert (avoiding numerous no-fly, restricted areas), and the Rocky mountains. The terrain rises quickly near Bingham City, Utah, requiring a climb to 15,000 ft over the Rocky mountains. This would be the highest altitude recorded for the entire around the world flight. Over Nebraska, I am forced to divert 100 miles south of my original great circle route to avoid a super cell dominating South Dakota. This impressive formation will eventually spawn 2 tornadoes and golf ball sized hail. Further south, the volatile atmosphere spools up 2 more tornadoes that afternoon. I hear fear in the voices of commercial pilots trying to wrangle better vectors around the storm. If the big boys are nervous, it gets your attention. After flying 1552 nm non-stop from California, I arrive at Oshkosh, WI at 8:52 pm local time. I am exhausted, and ask for progressive taxi instructions to the base the famous Oshkosh tower. The controller on duty waits for me to land after hours, and provides a quick tour of the tower along with signing an official FAI "certificate of landing" form. Hopefully, the NAA/FAI will accept my paperwork for this record attempt. I spend the next day recovering from my flight, visiting the EAA museum with my brother, and planning for the next leg of the trip. Looking ahead a few days, I may be delayed flying to Montpelier/Barre due to thunderstorms over New York and Pennsylvania. How about some simple VFR weather! Comments are closed.
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