Gaston's 2008 Departure Thread

Jesse, Tristan and I made it in just after noon. We made one pit stop in Kansas City on the way down. Got a nice gap in the clouds (and a smooth ride in the middle) otherwise it was 5500ish in light chop. It's actually pretty nice down on the runway. Once you get inside the valley, there are some bumps...but manageable.

We ate lunch with Steve and Kathleen. Spkie showed up shortly after that. Then Dave Taylor. Tony and Kaye landed at KBPK and Jesse ran over to pick them up. Then came Mike A in his rental car.

The party has started! Y'all need to get over here!

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot. The runway is in fine shape.
 
Due to weather and the plane not being out of maintenance, the wife and I will be driving down. Be there sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Greg B just stopped here at JEF and is on his way, should show up there about 7ish I would say.
Can't way to see everyone.
Mark B
 
I gave this post a thumbs up because Kent and I will be sticking out our thumbs like hitchhikers tonight at Mountain Home!

Kent and I will not be able to leave Madison WI until maybe as late as 9 p.m. and are planning on flying into Mountain Home. We will have a terrible headwind and it looks like our ETA will be 1 a.m. to 2 a.m.-ish. We are hoping we could find a night owl to drive over and pick us up tonight.

If you are able to do so, please post here or PM / call Kent or me... one way or another we will check this board, messages, etc. before we leave so we can know whether someone has offered yet. I can offer you first dibs on the brownies I will have with me!

We will be in the 182, N271G and you should be able to see us on FlightAware. So far it looks like we will be ahead of all the nasty weather.

Kent has rented a Garmin 496 with XM weather so that will be helpful.

Hope someone can rescue us tonight.... thanks!!!
 
smigaldi said:
What is at SIK/
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AWESOME BBQ! And everything else too. You want a roll? They throw them at you, it's great. They walk around with big tubs of all the side fixins' and you get as much as you want.

Worth a stop, but go hungry!

Ron
 
skyflyer8 said:
Hope someone can rescue us tonight.... thanks!!!
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Well I can't but I know Will is flying in to Little Rock tonight and then driving in. Shhh, don't tell him I told you. ;-) I don't know if that's on his way or in his time frame, so maybe check with him, leave a voice mail at least. Kent has his number.

Ron
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Spike should be landing right about now, Dave Taylor is almost there.
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Spike insisted on showing off and blazing ahead with his speed demon machine. Somehow my course line fell off the map as I entered Oklahoma, althought the track log history is there. Maybe my spine-jarring landing knocked it off the chart! Winds were squirrelly! (that's my excuse and Im sticking to it.)

See ya, its pizza-at-the-See-cabin time!
 
Update on what I know so far:

Brook and Felix just landed at BPK.

Kim and Phil just landed at Gaston's.

Tom and I are still at the farm waiting for the next round of tornadoes.
 
N97642 off about 1115z, hope to be in Gastons approx 1345z...tomorrow morning, IFR
 
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Planning ~1400Z departure. See ya when we get there. N57039 on Flight Aware.
The attachment is one of the rather significant TS I flew around this afternoon. This one somewhere over Cuba at FL430
 

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rpadula said:
Oof. Double-digit groundspeeds. I feel their pain.


-Rich
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Yeah, I was just coming back to mention that. 88 knots in a 182. Ouch. Not fun when you're trying to outrun a long line of thunderstorms. I wonder if they can see the lightshow to the west...
 
I am sure they are getting a great view..... though I wonder if we should put odds on if they are going to beat that line of TRW+ to BPK.
 
Assuming they have the fuel for a non-stop (and in a 182, they likely do), they should beat it... but not by much!
 
gaston_trip_headwinds_06jun2008.gif
 
de Gulf... de Gulf!

Thursday morning, winds 3,000 over HOU were 190 at 42. It made hood time for my student quite interesting.
 
I just got off the phone with Kent a little while ago. They diverted to Jefferson City for the night. Their ground speeds weren't going to keep them in front of the storm, so he decided to call it a night.

Kent/Kate, we'll to see you tomorrow!
 
The Whistman clan is up, headed on the road in 30 minutes to try and get east of Dallas before the commute really ratchets up. ETA @ 3M0, 3pm-ish.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Yeah, I was just coming back to mention that. 88 knots in a 182. Ouch. Not fun when you're trying to outrun a long line of thunderstorms. I wonder if they can see the lightshow to the west...
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Yeah, that was at the beginning of the flight. I figured on about 85-90 knots groundspeed. But, the winds just kept getting worse. I used the E6B functions on the GPS to figure winds aloft and they were EXACTLY on the nose, to the degree! Sheesh.

Not too long after we took off, the ETE said we had 4:06 remaining. About 40 minutes later, I looked at it again: 4:06 remaining! :eek: When we finally got down to 65 knots over the ground (truing 133!) with increasing turbulence, I gave up. Oh, and...

SCCutler said:
Assuming they have the fuel for a non-stop (and in a 182, they likely do), they should beat it... but not by much!
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You'd think, wouldn't you? But with the increasing headwind, it became clear that we were NOT going to make it with the fuel we had - It would have taken all our reserves plus another hour plus! I figured at one point that I was getting about the same fuel mileage as my truck, and later it got even worse. :hairraise:

FlyNE said:
I just got off the phone with Kent a little while ago. They diverted to Jefferson City for the night. Their ground speeds weren't going to keep them in front of the storm, so he decided to call it a night.

Kent/Kate, we'll to see you tomorrow!
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I think we probably could have kept in front of the storm if we'd have had enough fuel, but flying all night just doesn't sound like much fun. :no: So, we're here at Mark Bell's place. (Thanks Mark! :yes:) We'll see what the wx looks like in the morning, and if it still sucks we'll drive down with Mark.

There sure was a lot of interesting chatter on the radio. One aircraft had some trouble getting a hold of tower so they switched back to Center frequency. Center informed them that the guys in the tower had bailed out due to an approaching tornado! Another aircraft asked for a clearance to get around the storms, and his reroute went from Waukon, IA to Minneapolis, MN and then Salina, KS. Talk about a detour!
 
Wow, this trip has posed some incredible obstacles for everyone who went.

For me, it's posed too many I'm out. Yesterday there were reports that indicated I should be able to at least make it to my first stop (Columbus, OH, and even if I got stuck there I was at a friend's FBO with my instructor as he's there anyway, so not a bad situation). Got to the airport, loaded the plane up, and... no way. Visibility went down to probably about 4. All afternoon the weather played the teasing game, where the sun would come out and I'd have a good patch where I could definitely go out, and then went back to bad. So, forget about it.

I decided to try again this morning and see, and if I couldn't get out first thing this morning, it's a no-go. Well, this morning is even worse than yesterday, so it's a definite no-go.

I'm sorry to not get the opportunity to meet and see all of you (and for those I have met spend more time around). Maybe next year, when I have more experience, more ratings, and a plane that burns more AvGas. Oh, and hopefully more good weather. :D

Oh, and I promise a new case of wine for next year. ;)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Not too long after we took off, the ETE said we had 4:06 remaining. About 40 minutes later, I looked at it again: 4:06 remaining! :eek: When we finally got down to 65 knots over the ground (truing 133!) with increasing turbulence, I gave up. Oh, and...
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Heh. At that rate, you wouldn't have even had to turn around to go back -- just a little slow flight would do.

Be safe and enjoy the weekend when you get there. You've earned it!!!

-Rich
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I'm sorry to not get the opportunity to meet and see all of you (and for those I have met spend more time around). Maybe next year, when I have more experience, more ratings, and a plane that burns more AvGas. Oh, and hopefully more good weather. :D
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Ted I'm sorry you won't be able to make it. Next year we'll order better weather across the country. :yes: We still won't fire Chip because nobody else will take the job. :D

Ted DuPuis said:
Oh, and I promise a new case of wine for next year. ;)
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:fcross: ;)
 
So, I put my boots on and splashed out to the ditch to check the water level. It looks doable, but there will be some splashing on the way outta here. Please keep in mind that my airplane WAS clean (even the belly) before leaving the hangar this morning. :yes: So don't make fun of her when she gets down there. ;)

We'll try to get there this morning when there is a break in the weather. Tom will be flying a Cessna 172 (not our old one) out of LLU.

How is the runway and parking area today? How much rain did y'all get down there since yesterday?
 
Diana said:
How is the runway and parking area today? How much rain did y'all get down there since yesterday?
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7:30am
No rain last night, surface remains great.

few clouds e1000'agl, higher thin broken layer, vis 8+, 5kt NE wind in the valley right now

Pretty fair morning!
 
Diana said:
Ted I'm sorry you won't be able to make it. Next year we'll order better weather across the country. :yes: We still won't fire Chip because nobody else will take the job. :D
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And hopefully next year I will have the skill, ratings, and means to get there in less fair weather than I presently have! Instrument rating, here I come! :D
 
Diana said:
So, I put my boots on and splashed out to the ditch to check the water level. It looks doable, but there will be some splashing on the way outta here. Please keep in mind that my airplane WAS clean (even the belly) before leaving the hangar this morning. :yes: So don't make fun of her when she gets down there. ;)

We'll try to get there this morning when there is a break in the weather. Tom will be flying a Cessna 172 (not our old one) out of LLU.

How is the runway and parking area today? How much rain did y'all get down there since yesterday?
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We brought a bucket and some rags....;) Now if we can only get Tom and Phil to do a little scrubbing.....:D
 
Kent,

Gastons called and was wondering where I was.....I told them you are enroute and delayed due to wx. Be safe, have fun!
 
Still planning a 1430 departure. Changed destination to BPK due to winds, TS, rain, plague, etc in forecast. See you soon. N57039
 
I'll be picking up Danielle (Pookies) at Nashville in about an hour. We then need to make a decision whether to fly (3 hours) or drive (7 hours).

The radar is showing precip just west of 3M0 and training north easterly. The six hour forecast is calling for VFR to MVFR conditions with potential for TS.

For those of you on the ground at Gaston's, what's it looking like? I'm not asking you to make the decision for me but rather just provide some on the spot observations.

One way or the other we'll see all y'all sometime later today.

Thanks!
 
My planned departure time is 3pm CDT which should put me in AR a bit after That's assuming the wind forecast holds, a 20 degree shift in the wrong direction will add a half hour to the trip.
 
I'm headed to the hangar shortly and Tom will be leaving about an hour later or else later this afternoon. There are few lines of showers that keep training across our route.
 
Gosh as all of you are telling about your departure plans I am feeling a little bit more blue all the time. I really wish my plane was at Gastons instead of here in S49er. Bob
 

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My wife and I are a no-go. The weather is just to much for me.

I do have a reservation for tonight that is open to anyone that needs it.

I think it's cabin 18 under Allan Lindsay. Feel free to use it since it's paid for. My cell is 815 382-0261 if anyone needs it to take over the room.

Boy am I bummed. :( I was really looking forward to the trip and meeting everyone.

Allan
 
Wow - an adventure and it's barely begun. Have a great time, all!
 
FYI--The runway as of 12:16 PM on Friday is completely dry and firm. The winds may create some bumps on the approach but they quickly fade over the runway.
 
Bob Bement said:
Gosh as all of you are telling about your departure plans I am feeling a little bit more blue all the time. I really wish my plane was at Gastons instead of here in S49er. Bob
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We wish you were here, too. We're all waiting for folks to show up. The weather is sort of iffy, though. We would enjoy hearing your stories while we wait....

I just came back to bake a few cookies for everyone.....
Life is good at Gaston's....
 
Jason and I are here in JVY. We diverted here instead since our original destination (OWB) would have likely had us in the air for over four hours. Looking at the weather, it looks like the cells of t-storms are moving north/east away from 3M0. Can anyone give us a PIREP that flew in from that area? You can call 203-644-9141 (Jason) or 914-262-9797? We'll have our cell phones on for the whole flight.

Thanks!
 
alindsay said:
My wife and I are a no-go. The weather is just to much for me.

I do have a reservation for tonight that is open to anyone that needs it.

I think it's cabin 18 under Allan Lindsay. Feel free to use it since it's paid for. My cell is 815 382-0261 if anyone needs it to take over the room.

Boy am I bummed. :( I was really looking forward to the trip and meeting everyone.

Allan
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Allan: Where are you located?

Best,

Dave
 
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