My First Winter Flight; My First 100+ MPH Groundspeed!
Article by
Rickey Anderson
Pictures by Kevin Bertorelli (using
JoAnn's camera...)
2004 was a stellar flying year for me. I logged 85 hours of flight time which represented my most hours in a year in my 14 years of flying. As winter -- the annual time of flying sabbaticals in Chicago – approached, I started getting very anxious because I did not want to give up my flying fun just yet. Luckily for me, I completed several projects during the summer months that turned out to be milestones in my goal of helping me towards my goal of winter flight, the subject of this article. Those projects were:
(1) To close up the bottom of my fuselage (including the nose wheel area) to allow me to take aerial pictures without fear of dropping my camera to the earth below. Many great pictures have been taken of me in flight and I wanted to return the favor to my flying buddies!
(2) As Oshkosh 2004 neared, to decided to make a new windshield and replaced the one that split after I replaced the U-Bar in my aircraft’s nose. No one wants to go to the “Flying Mecca” with correctable flaws on their aircraft! During this process I put a wrap-around-windshield on with a hinged door design. Once I made several flights with this new configuration (one, notably, being a flight to Phantom Aeronautics – the Phantom factory – in Kalamazoo, Michigan where I inquired about the factory enclosure kit), I knew all I needed was a bulkhead and top for my current design to be completely enclosed. So…
(3) I carefully designed and installed a bulkhead and a top with an accordion type open/close system. I was FINALLY ENCLOSED! Once the design was refined after several flights I enjoyed many flights in the COOLING Chicago weather. But I knew WINTER was coming. So…
(4) I fabricated a ducting system to capture the engine cooling air and direct it into the new ENCLOSURE. It worked!!!
On 1/25/2005, with all of the above work behind me and a few days after the largest snow storm of the year to date, I hadn’t flown for a while so I decided to attempt a flight (assuming I could get to the hangar and get the doors open). So I took a drive out to the airport. When I arrived I saw that one of our Club members had personally plowed the gravel road that was behind the hangars (Thanks, Jim!) This was encouraging to me. But, unfortunately, no plowing was done in front of the hangars. So, after about 1.5 hours of snow shoveling around my hangar doors, and shoveling a path to the previously plowed grass taxi area, and after several heatings of the ground rods that secured my hangar doors so as to thaw the ice that had a grip on them that was stronger than the grip I was using to pull them up, I finally got the doors opened.
At this point I had literally worked up a good sweat, so I closed the doors and heated the hangar with my propane blower. This allowed me to slowly warm the engine and evaporate the sweat I had worked up. After about 30 had minutes passed, feeling dry and confident, and after noticing that the clock was showing 3 pm. with a sunset of around 5 pm., I realized that I had to get going if I was going to do any significant flying. I put on my light cloth jacket as a wind breaker because I knew my winter coat would be too bulky for me to enter my newly designed egress system (the, um, door and top open combination). So I did my preflight checks and opened the hangar doors again, feeling winter rush in as if to give me a gentle reminder of the season.
I pulled my Phantom Ultralight out, having to walk through the soft and now wet and soggy grass and dirt earth under my feet. After my Phantom cleared the hangar I turned it northerly for startup. I didn’t want to prop blast my hangar; just a habit I guess. “Now what do I do?” This thought went through my mind because I had never started my engine in these conditions before. Well, I turned on the chokes, which I learned from my hangar neighbor, and gave the carburetors three full primer pumps. I switched the ignition ON and pulled the starter rope. The Rotax 503 engine popped, shook, and rattled. The prop rotated several times and then stopped. “Now what?” “Do I prime again?,” I asked myself. I decided not to. With the chokes still on I pulled the starter rope again. The 503 did what I would call a sluggishly slow rotation up to about 1000 rpm and continued to rattle and shake – it was as if the engine was trying to shake off the effects of the cold weather just like I was. I did not touch a thing for about 30 seconds. Then, I shut down the engine, quickly walked over and closed the chokes, and pulled the starter rope again for the third time (I didn’t want to engine to have any time to cool at all.). The engine immediately went to 2200 rpms, my normal idle speed.
Feeling a little frigid, I walked to the blower in my hangar to not only warm me but allow my NEW heating system to warm up the fuselage. After another 5 minutes passed, I topped off my gas tank, closed the hangar doors and sloshed my way back to the plane.
When I got to the plane and got ready to enter I noticed that my shoes were filled with snow, water, and mud. “NOW WHAT?” I said to myself again, not wanting to get that mess in my fuselage. I went back to my hangar, got an old towel, placed it on the area I would be stepping on (the chill factor from the prop blast was apparent on my face and hands [no gloves!] – BRRRRRRR COLD) and FINALLY GOT IN.
It was now around 3:30 pm. I slowly taxied my way through the tight corridor I had just shoveled. It was lined by snow like a carefully laid track that I knew I had to follow or risk getting stuck in the snow. Finally, I made it to the open area previously plowed. By the time I got to the runway my fuselage air temperature was nice and comfortable 76 F. I taxied to runway 18, announced my takeoff intentions, and slowly pushed to full throttle.
The Phantom wanted to rotate at 28mph. I normally rotate at 40 mph, so I held it on the runway until that speed and then released the slight forward pressure I was using. She lifted as if being propelled by an unknown power source. At midfield I was already about 250-300 feet AGL (above ground level). Then it dawned on me: I needed to take pictures. So I quickly pulled out my Sony and took a picture of the club hangars as I passed by. Seeing snow on the ground for the first time during my flight was AWESOME!!!
I turned towards Cushing Field. It was fascinating to see the landscape I am so familiar with looking so foreign in its frozen and snow-covered state. I noticed the Bolingbrook Golf Course that is always filled with golfers – it looked like a miniature snow-covered mountain range. And the Quarry, all I can say is WOW! The air was smooth as glass – something I was told about by other pilots that flew during the winter. I focused forward, straining to scan the horizon for other aircraft against a slowly setting sun. THEN I GOT A STRONG FEELING OF PURE TERROR. WHAT WAS GOING ON!
I noticed a ground speed of 32 mph with an indication of 60 mph on my dash. This indicated a strong head wind. But how could this be? I did not feel it during takeoff, nor did I feel the effects I am accustomed too during summer winds. The engine vitals were stable with EGTs running about 50 F warmer than usual, but well within the engine tolerances. Everything looked and felt OK. Then I just as quickly calmed myself, noting that it must be the nature of the WINTER AIR. The feel of the plane and flying was just different.
After enjoying about 47 minutes of flight in a now 68 F cockpit, I was 5 miles from Cushing as indicated on my GPS. I announced my intent to enter from the 45 into a left downwind for runway 18. I was 2.5 miles from Cushing as indicated on my GPS but still hadn’t located the airport. It was hidden in the natural camouflage of snow. I just could not pick it up. OK, there it is, I luckily noticed the buildings and hangar patterns that looked familiar. But the runway was partially covered with snow. More relaxed now, I turned left downwind and notice a significant increase in ground speed, 57 mph, and a crab angle. This newly-gained ground speed decreased immediately when I turned left base for 18. Now on Final, the increased groundspeed again occurred with opposite crab angle. This confirmed the headwind indicators at the beginning of my flight. I descended with the intention of landing for refueling. But, after seeing no one around on the ground, and after looking at the snow moguls I would have to maneuver around on the runway during landing, I checked my fuel. I had enough to get back to Clow so I did a fly-by at 200 feet AGL and turned toward home.
As I turned easterly I felt the Phantom get a mild push. My back was pressed into the seat from the slight increase in G forces. I looked at the GPS ground speed indicator. It was showing 85mph. This put a smile on my face as I knew it would be a short flight back to my home field. My indicated airspeed was 58 mph. But, the slight push continued. The GPS GS was now reading 103 mph, UREKA! That was the fastest ground speed I have ever seen in my Phantom. Now I knew what a 100 + ground speed looks like as I rushed by the ground. After several sightseeing scans out the fuselage window, another glance at the GPS GS showed 115 MPH!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!
With only 12 minutes of flight time behind me I was 5 miles out of Clow. Then my concern grew slightly – how to maneuver in this FAST AIR to land? I announced, “Clow traffic, Ultralight 10RA is 3 miles out, will be over the top at 1,600 msl on a 45 to enter the downwind for 18.” By the time I made my second announcement of “over the top” I had to simultaneously start my downwind turn to slow my easterly progression in time to settle into the downwind pattern. I did a 45 degree left coordinated turn and had to maintain a severe left crab to stay straight during this downwind leg. Then, I announced and turned left base. It felt like I had deployed some kind of airbrake. My seat belts held me down snuggly in resistance to the fast slowing action. I saw my ground speed go from 110 mph to 35 mph in about 20 seconds. Now in the base leg I immediately announced Final and turned toward runway 18. The ground speed picked up to about 58 mph, which I expected. But, I had to crab sharply in the opposite direction to stay lined up with the runway. When I got within 5 feet of the runway, in a 300 fpm decent and traveling 50 mph, I quickly snapped out of the crab and the main gear touched down just as I aligned with the runway. A nice landing, if I have to say so myself!
Just 15 minutes after a Cushing fly-by I had landed at Clow. I gave myself a psychological pat-on-the- back and then a HUGE uncontrollable SMILE appeared on my face. I taxied with pride back to my hangar with a feeling of accomplishment from all the work I had done during the 2004 flying season to enclose and heat my fuselage. Was it worth it? YOU BET! Would I do the work again? YA BETCHA! My only thought was why I didn’t do the enclosure years sooner. I have been missing a great flying time of year. But No More!
By Rickey Anderson
A Phantom UL Pilot
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