Cessna 140 to Johnson Creek

Huckster79

Huckster79

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Huckster79
ive been invited with a group of guys that go to Johnson Creek yearly for a dozen years or better.

I fly a Cessna 140, I’ll be solo and at last fuel stop before hand one of the guys with a 180 or Navion can take any of my gear- so I figure roughly i’d Be 1250lbs-1300lb, gross is 1450 even with full fuel...

Thoughts? I hear pre-10am is wisest for small planes- we would be going the last week of July...
 
Last weekend in July until first day or so of August... two days to get out- were in Michigan...
 
You are thinking the right things. I'd go in with fuel for McCall + 1 hour. That and leave at sunrise. What do your performance graphs show?
 
Huckster79 said:
ive been invited with a group of guys that go to Johnson Creek yearly for a dozen years or better.
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Forget the planning... DUDE THAT'S AWESOME! You're going to have a freaking blast! Do you have phat tahrs yet? :)
 
I watched a YT video a while back of a family with an RV-10 that flew in there and camped with some friends. That looks like a bucket list trip for you folks out west.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Forget the planning... DUDE THAT'S AWESOME! You're going to have a freaking blast! Do you have phat tahrs yet? :)
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I got 800's so not bush tires but pretty beefy for a little bird.... One of these days might get a beefier TW... I have an old Scott 2000 so hard rubber and skinny, I gotta think on a true soft field it would be like having a pizza cutter as a tw...

Yup I decided I'm going! If I said no, I would regret it too much. Just gotta see if the X will trade some kid time around as its a week I have my big boys- but thats never been an issue we have always been good to each other cooperating with stuff like that with zero drama...

They do "excursions" from JC each day, and I said well I may not be able to do those and they said they leave no pilot behind... If we are going out for an excursion and going to be out during the day where it wouldn't be good with the 140 I can grab an extra seat in one of the bigger planes that go...

Fallsrider said:
I watched a YT video a while back of a family with an RV-10 that flew in there and camped with some friends. That looks like a bucket list trip for you folks out west.
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We aren't out west... We are in Michigan so its a two day flight out, about 15 hours as the Super Cub and I will slow the rest of em down a bit...

kgruber said:
You are thinking the right things. I'd go in with fuel for McCall + 1 hour. That and leave at sunrise. What do your performance graphs show?
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I looked last night I forget off top of my head but I believe at 6000 feet it shows climb performance just under 400 fpm and that was with a wooden prop in the "POH"... I figure next clear day, I'll go climb up to 6500 and 7500 feet (I've only had her to 3000 once for 10 minutes-lol) and simulate a take off and see how she does for climb first hand...
 
Only went once, but it was great! I was the only twin there at the fly-in. People tended to avoid flying mid-day as it got pretty hot. Can also get very busy in the air there, so keep a good lookout. Do it!
 
Huckster79 said:
....We aren't out west... We are in Michigan so its a two day flight out, about 15 hours as the Super Cub and I will slow the rest of em down a bit...
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I live in NC, so you are "out west" to me. But yes, it is a long way from Michigan to Johnson Creek. I can see where that would be a long journey in a slow plane. The couple I watched the video with were going from Minnesota in a much faster plane. Big difference. I hope you get to go anyway, because that sounds like a very fun trip.
 
Fallsrider said:
I live in NC, so you are "out west" to me. But yes, it is a long way from Michigan to Johnson Creek. I can see where that would be a long journey in a slow plane. The couple I watched the video with were going from Minnesota in a much faster plane. Big difference. I hope you get to go anyway, because that sounds like a very fun trip.
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Yea these guys make the trip out as much a part of the fun as JC itself... one year they had a guy go with em with a high hp 150 and had to stop every hour and half for gas! Lol. They know every airport from Michigan to there with a nearby Mexican restaurant too :)
 
hoping I can get audio set up to my GoPro by then- the darned external mic audio adapter is completely out of stock everywhere...
 
Johnson Creek is a great grass strip with many amenities! I can't address 140 performance, but in general many BC pilots would consider 10:00 a.m. about the latest you would leave an BC strip until the evening. Of course performance/experience weigh in. The Idaho Division of Aeronautics has a nice app for the Idaho airports and that has a lot of information pertaining to arrival and departure procedures at Johnson Creek. It's free, give it a look!

If you have never flown the BC before I would suggest that you get your feet wet at Garden Valley, which is about 50 miles to the south, before you try Johnson Creek. You will need to be comfortable flying in canyons and close to trees...

Have Fun!
 
Huckster79 said:
Yea these guys make the trip out as much a part of the fun as JC itself... one year they had a guy go with em with a high hp 150 and had to stop every hour and half for gas! Lol. They know every airport from Michigan to there with a nearby Mexican restaurant too :)
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Wow. That's much worse than a 10 hr. camping road trip we took back in '09 with some friends of ours. At the time, they had one of the mini RVs built on a Toyota truck chassis. The gas tank wasn't very big, and we had to stop every 2 hours for them to get gas. Of course, stopping for gas on the highway isn't near as time-consuming as stopping for gas with a plane. 1-1/2 hrs, gee whiz!
 
idahoflier said:
Johnson Creek is a great grass strip with many amenities! I can't address 140 performance, but in general many BC pilots would consider 10:00 a.m. about the latest you would leave an BC strip until the evening. Of course performance/experience weigh in. The Idaho Division of Aeronautics has a nice app for the Idaho airports and that has a lot of information pertaining to arrival and departure procedures at Johnson Creek. It's free, give it a look!

If you have never flown the BC before I would suggest that you get your feet wet at Garden Valley, which is about 50 miles to the south, before you try Johnson Creek. You will need to be comfortable flying in canyons and close to trees...

Have Fun!
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I will check that app out. Thank You!. Yea even YouTubes videos have helped me realize that at pattern height from the strip you are not that far agl with the upward slope... Definitely a different sight picture...

The good news too for someone new to this is I will be following an old salt in, he will be in his Super Cub and have been told to follow Jack in and I'll be good, I think it will help following an experienced guy in, that if I'm way above him I need to pull my big boys pants up and get a bit closer to those trees...

From what I'm reading if I go in light in the old 140 I will be good, and I can be just gas and me, as I can send my pack in with one of the guys in the 200+hp rigs...
 
Fallsrider said:
Wow. That's much worse than a 10 hr. camping road trip we took back in '09 with some friends of ours. At the time, they had one of the mini RVs built on a Toyota truck chassis. The gas tank wasn't very big, and we had to stop every 2 hours for them to get gas. Of course, stopping for gas on the highway isn't near as time-consuming as stopping for gas with a plane. 1-1/2 hrs, gee whiz!
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Yea that would get a bit excessive! 10 stops just to make it out there... Musta been an 0-320 or something in her. I bet she climbed like a homesick angel as long you didn't stray far from an airport with gas!
 
idahoflier said:
If you have never flown the BC before I would suggest that you get your feet wet at Garden Valley, which is about 50 miles to the south, before you try Johnson Creek. You will need to be comfortable flying in canyons and close to trees...

Have Fun!
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By comparison, when I came back from flying bush in Alaska to the California mountains, I was pretty jaded and had to adjust to flying in the canyons. Let's just say a few passengers spotted their panties seeing trees at eye level...
 
I’m going to do some high flying and simulate some take offs and such up at 5500-8500ft or so. Any other flat land flying practices I can do to be better prepared?
 
Huckster79 said:
I’m going to do some high flying and simulate some take offs and such up at 5500-8500ft or so. Any other flat land flying practices I can do to be better prepared?
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Do you have any canyons where you are? If you do, flying in or above them can be good practice. Ground reference maneuvers would be beneficial. Practice short field T/O and landings and maneuvers at MCA...
 
idahoflier said:
Do you have any canyons where you are? If you do, flying in or above them can be good practice. Ground reference maneuvers would be beneficial. Practice short field T/O and landings and maneuvers at MCA...
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Well, he is in Michigan - if he is anywhere near Detroit, the approach to runway 7 at DET takes you right over Mt. Elliot.
 
idahoflier said:
Do you have any canyons where you are? If you do, flying in or above them can be good practice. Ground reference maneuvers would be beneficial. Practice short field T/O and landings and maneuvers at MCA...
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Well besides finding a local canyon ;) very good ideas on brushing up on those maneuvers...

Really gotta get out and try popping flaps just as she’s on edge of flying... with my “Monstrous” flaps the “POH” calls for popping em to full... makes sense as they do not slow you down much at all like Fowlers do, though the lift difference is noticeable landing off vs on...

I was thinking some good ol falling leafs would be wise...

Being I can’t practice for real may as well polish the skills who’s importance will be increased by the flight environment I will be in..
 
BrianNC said:
This is the one I bought for my GoPro and it works great. It's been about a month or two though and they had several in stock.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/nflight11-14875.php
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Thank you!!! Is that two separate pieces? I ordered the one that looks just like that but without the audio chord to the jacks... I have a lapel mic I was gunna put inside an old headset and duct tape the ear muffs together so it got some “airplane noise”... but that one does still show in stock, if that’s a separate chord I’d order that one.
 
Huckster79 said:
Thank you!!! Is that two separate pieces? I ordered the one that looks just like that but without the audio chord to the jacks... I have a lapel mic I was gunna put inside an old headset and duct tape the ear muffs together so it got some “airplane noise”... but that one does still show in stock, if that’s a separate chord I’d order that one.
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I had never noticed before but now that you asked it is actually two pieces I didn't know it came apart. The chord part plugs into that box.
 
BrianNC said:
I had never noticed before but now that you asked it is actually two pieces I didn't know it came apart. The chord part plugs into that box.
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Perfect! Then I’ll have that extra chord if I don’t like lapel pin mic. That’s great not only can I have it for out west but also our trip around the entire lakeshore of Lake Michigan in a couple weeks...
 
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