Great story, great performance from your plane, and super photos! Definitely
inspiring for those of us still pluggin' away. It would be great to join you
there sometime. Thanks!
Ron
254R
On Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at 9:56 PM, Mike Davis <mike.davis@dcsol.com> wrote:
Posted for Ted Waltman
Slideshow: http://www.i1ci.com/Flying/Creede/index.html
Flew my Moose from Denver (field elevation 4,690') to Creede (field
elevation 8,680') in SW Colorado last weekend for an annual fly-in that a
buddy of mine sponsors. Put in full power at take off and left it at full
until I landed in Creede exactly 2 hours later. Went as high as 15,000' as
there are basically three groups of peaks over 14,000' high on the direct
route to Creede. Of course, I was on oxygen above 10,000' as per the regs.
I thought the visibility on the flight would be spectacular, as a strong
storm blew through before the trip. Alas, there was tremendous haze and a
strong smell of smoke at altitude. I assume this was from California fires.
Fuel burn averaged 13gph, with the Moose burning 11.3 gph at 15,000'. At
15,000' I was still able to get a 400'/min climb rate out of the Moose with
the M-14P engine. Had a 30 knot tailwind at times heading W (extremely
unusual). Due to a high 14,000'+ peak just outside of Creede, I stayed at
altitude until over the airport then did a series of circles letting down at
over 1,000' even with some power (to prevent cylinder shock cooling).
Flew over to a private strip (Morning Shadow) that evening in a buddy's 182
for dinner. Saw a lot of elk on the return flight but couldn't get pictures
as we were literally just a couple of hundred feet up and really moving to
let down into Creede.
Flight back was again up at altitudes approaching 15,000' though I did skit
through some passes so I didn't have to be that high for the whole trip.
Hazy again. Headwind going E that varied between 5 knots and 45 knots for
one section! Geesh, why do I get headwinds heading E on trips this year
(3rd time this has happened in '09)?
Moose performed well. Moose was definitely the coolest plane at the fly-in
by far. There were 26 people standing by the Moose while I warmed up the
engine before departing! Creede definitely has a very interesting
departure, with one having to pretty much execute a sharp L 180* turn right
after departing runway 25 to avoid rising terrain.
Great fun and wonderful folks in Creede! Highly recommended that you
attend the fall 2010 fly-in if you can make it.
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