(Photo courtesy of Kevin Bertorelli)
Associated as I have been with the great Fox Valley Flying Club for over 2 years, I've discovered a common thread that holds us all together - the love of flying. Well I'm happy to say that this newbie is no exception. Having completed the construction of my Kitfox Lite last May, and having finished my flight training with Larry Gehrig (the club's fearless flight instructor) last June, and now being a proud graduate of the Club's first UL Pilot ground school (see separate article), I've set my sights on some flying adventures this year. I hope you all are ready for some fun and adventure too!
Call me crazy, (which I know you all do), but my most recent excellent adventure presented itself on Wednesday April 23rd - an absolutely gorgeous day. It all started the afternoon before. I had been meeting with one of our strategic partners (a politically correct phrase for "vendor") on a work project that we had outsourced to them. They are located in West Chicago, just one mile from KDPA (punch that into your GPS and find out where I'm talking about). I had to meet them again the next day at 11:30 am, and so I pondered the possibilities of flying to KDPA. (Of course I would never have even entertained this thought had I not learned all about Controlled Airspace Classes and proper communication techniques in my ground school instruction). I got all giddy thinking that I could actually pull this off. But I did have a back up plan - just in case: my car keys were in my pocket.
The next morning, I called 1-800-WX-BRIEF and got a pilot's weather briefing. This was just a formality because I could tell by 7 am that it was going to be a beautiful day with clear skies, warm temps and winds of about 5 to 10 knots. I remembered what Larry had told me about being "helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and revenant" (well one out of 10 is not bad). So I called KDPA to "ask"/inform them what my intentions were. After talking with the airport director, then flight service, then the tower personnel, then the actual controller, I got the "green light," with the controller saying "well, I think that is fine. Uh, you do have a radio, right? I don't think the airport director has a problem with this..." That was all I needed to hear. "Thank you very much," I said. "I'll see you at 11:30!"
Now, if my radio would only work. I was having difficulties with it the previous week. Sound was coming from only one side of my headset. Out came the soldering iron and 30 minutes later I had it fixed (at least temporarily - it's all going in for service next week). So, all I had to do was pre-flight the plane, gas her up, set the GPS to... to... to... oh, I know: look at the Illinois Airport Directory - that will tell me everything. So I set the GPS to DPA. And, then I decided that I had better write down the ATIS, Tower and Ground frequencies on my knee board. OK - all set. I fired her up, announced "Clow Traffic, Kitfox Ultralight, departing 360, Clow," and off I went.
The first bit of trouble that I experienced was on takeoff. There was a GA plane doing a cross wind and I was promptly asked if I had the cross wind plane in sight. I responded yes but decided to alter my course 10 degrees to the East to make sure I was going to pass well behind it (knowing full well that by the time I got there, the plane would be on downwind at mid field). As it turned out, there were two planes on their cross wind legs. I missed them both, but I don't know how they did with each other. I was now finally "out of there" and off on my 17 mile, 25 minute flight adventure!
I started having a bit of trouble with my radio again, and worried that the trip might have to be scrubbed. Lots of engine noise was coming in through the radio, and I was hoping that when I modulated the guys in the tower would be able to hear me. I turned up the squelch so that it would not drive me crazy and proceeded as planned.
I decided that I'd better not fly as the crow does, since it would put me right over Fox Valley Mall and lots of houses. (Remember the Part 103 rules about flying over congestion and populated areas - a term interestingly enough not defined by the FAA). So I flew west until I was clear of White Eagle, and then I pointed the Kitfox right for DPA on the GPS. Darn; another obstacle. Just North of Eola Road and New York there is a HUGH antenna on the west side of Eola. I spotted it well ahead and made sure I was well East. I was flying at 2000 MSL and I swear that it wouldn't have been much below me if I hadn't spotted it.
As I approached DPA from the South I changed to the ATIS frequency (124.8) and listened to arrival information "Tango". (FYI, I think the ATIS also gave departure information, but I was not paying much attention to that stuff at the time; I had to land). So I quickly switched over to the tower on 120.9 and listened for a few moments. "Alright, it's my time," I thought. After practicing what I was going to say several times in my head (I had gone over the proper "lingo" that we learned in the ground school training materials, and I even wrote it down on paper - just in case), I squeezed the PTT and said "DuPage Tower, Kitfox Ultralight 8 Southeast, landing, with Tango."
Whew... I did it. Now I listened. You see, if they don't respond to your call, you don't have permission to enter the Class D airspace and you have to hang out beyond the 5 miles until you are given the OK. But since I had telephoned ahead, they were not surprised and promptly responded: "Kitfox Ultralight, DuPage Tower, what's your call sign?" I thought for a moment. Don't they know that I'm an Ultralight? I don't have N-numbers to use as a call sign. I certainly didn't want to insult them, so I politely said, "DuPage Tower, Kitfox Ultralight, I don't have N numbers - I'm an Ultralight." They came back: "Kitfox Ultralight, DuPage Tower, OK we'll just refer to you as Kitfox Ultralight" (Note: the EAA has a UL registration program where they will assign something other than an N-number to your UL. I'm thinking it would have been less confusing for the controllers to just refer to me with a number, since that's what they are use to).
I now had permission to enter the airspace and I continued to fly toward DPA. At about 5 miles, the controllers came on and said "Kitfox Ultralight, what is your position and altitude?" I said "5 miles Southeast at two one hundred." They quickly came back and said "You've got company at one nine hundred at 6". Crap, some speedy airplane behind me! I certainly could not see him; could he see me? At about 4 miles, something seemed to be wrong. I had a visual of the airport, but it was off to my RIGHT! Crap, I was Southwest of the airport... What was going on? My GPS said DPA was ahead and to my left... Well, your eyes don't lie. Yep, that was DuPage Airport ahead and on my right. "DuPage Tower, Kitfox Ultralight, correction 4 miles Southwest". At least the fast plane behind me was no longer a problem. It wasn't there because I wasn't where the tower thought I was. But, did I have company that I didn't know about? (FYI, my error was in assuming that the GPS "DPA" designation was the airport. It actually was the DuPage VOR. I was told after I landed that all airports start with a K - lesson learned).
The radio crackled: "Kitfox Ultralight, DuPage Tower report at 1 mile." They knew I was very slow; no need to give me clearance too soon. DuPage airport has several runways: 2L, 2R, 20L, 20R, 10, 28, 15, 33, and on and on. I knew guys were landing on 2L and on 10. 2L was in my sights. At a claimed 1 mile (really more like 2 miles, but I was worried about waiting until the last minute for the controller to tell me what I needed to do), I said "Kitfox Ultralight 1 mile Southeast". "Kitfox Ultralight, DuPage Tower, left base 2 Left, clear to land" came the reply. I said "Kitfox Ultralight, left base 2 left, clear to land, roger." So I made a right turn, waited until I was directly out from 2 Left, and then checked for any straight-in guys on final. The coast was clear! I turned left and lined my white and red-checkered Kitfox up with 2 left and proceeded to land.
I knew I was high, but Hell, I had 7,570 feet runway in front of me. What an awesome sight! I pulled the power back and brought the plane down with 20 degrees of flaps. Winds were from 36 at 10 - no problem here. I put my baby on the numbers in a full stall at 25 ASI and greased the landing. I knew I had all the tower guys watching. As soon as I landed (to the tower guys my landing must have taken forever - remember they are used to those corporate jets that land at 160 mph+/-), they said "Kitfox exit at next intersection and stay with me." Wow, I'm getting "special" treatment. Man I hope that's not a bad sign! All I could think was they were going to divert me to some remote place where an FAA guy would be meeting me. (By the way, if you look at an aerial view of DuPage and look at runway 2 Left, I think I turned off at the very first intersection; the one you would enter from to depart on 2 Left. Needless to say I had a very short roll).
I was now off the runway and I knew enough to head towards the tower. But no word from "my Guy." Where did he go? Should I proceed on, or stop? Oh no, I was coming to the next intersection. "I think I should turn left. Yep that will take me to the tarmac." I thought I had better stop and not proceed until I was given clearance (something else I learned from my ground school training). So I said "Kitfox Ultralight request clearance to taxi to tower." They came back: "Kitfox Ultralight, you should be on ground at 121.8." What did I do wrong? "My Guy" hung me out to dry. So quickly I turned my ICOM to 121.8 and said "Kitfox Ultralight on Whiskey request clearance to tower." No response. Screw this; the coast was clear, there were no oncoming big birds in my way, so I made a hard left and proceeded on to park under the tower. I never did hear from the "ground guy".
As I made the final right turn to head toward the tower I could see two guys getting out of golf carts next to a big corporate jet at the end of a long line of airplanes parked in the "front row." They were doing all the official airport hand waving (signaling). I think they were "talking" to me. Crap, I just knew it was those FAA guys I had feared coming to get me. I parked, hit the kill switch and got out of the plane. Brother - I'd better have a good story to tell these guys...
To be continued...
Editor's Note:
Bill's fears about "those FAA Guys" were well-founded. Bill narrowly escaped bodily injury during a skirmish on the tarmac at KDPA, but his Kitfox was not so lucky. Fleeing for his life, Bill's ride was clipped by an undisclosed Homeland Security-prompted particle weapon. Fortunately, his highly-polished powder-coated muffler deflected most of the beam's energy, and suffered only a broken weld.
(Photo courtesy of Kevin Bertorelli)
Where to Now?