Chrysalis

Arty flying the Oregon coast.

In my previous article “Arty’s 2009 Ultimate Ultralight Adventure” [7 February 2009] I announced my friend’s marathon flight from Sandy, Oregon, to Lakeland, Florida, and back. Check out her blog and SPOT for her latest news and location. Arty called me this morning and although back home today packing, she’ll drive back to her plane and resume the trip. Confused? Here’s why her flight plan changed:

“I think most, but perhaps not all of you know that I’m about to take off on a mega-flight in my Drifter, flying from Sandy Oregon to Sun n Fun, round trip. Randy Simpson, a good friend and Carrera pilot will be making the flight with me, and lots of other pilots are chiming in about joining us for part of the flight.

“We are scheduled to leave Sunday, March 30. I was in my hangar yesterday, (Thursday) getting packed, when another pilot stopped by and pointed out that the weather forecast was for rain starting Friday night and continuing non-stop until next Tuesday or Wednesday. That’s what I was afraid of when I first began planning this flight – not being able to get out of northwestern Oregon during March or even early April.

“I looked out at the perfect blue sky and thought: “Right now is great flying weather.” I’m a great believer in taking advantage of the moment. So I called Norm and asked: “Honey, could you skip your meeting tonight and drive down to Lebanon and pick me up?” When he asked what the heck I was talking about, I explained that if I left right away and flew south to Lebanon – about 70 miles – I’d be pretty much out of the forecast rain storms. Since I had a work commitment on Friday that I absolutely couldn’t walk away from, I figured that I’d leave the Drifter at the Lebanon State Airport, come home, work on Friday, and then he could drive me back to Lebanon on Sunday so I could get on with the flight. Norm, bless his heart, is used to my shenanigans. He said he’d meet me down there.

“So – I had a great flight yesterday. Lots of clouds but a high ceiling so not to worry. More than 20 miles visibility. Calm air. It’s really peaceful flying by myself, and I enjoyed loafing along at 50-55 mph.

“I decided to fly strictly by pilotage instead of using my GPS, just to brush up on my ability to follow a sectional. It was great fun, but not a real test since I’m so very familiar with the area. I also turned on my SPOT tracker so that when I got home I could look up my track during the flight. (It works perfectly! I’ve now got a link to my SPOT tracking on my blog.)

“The FBO owners at Lebanon are absolutely wonderful. They have the first-ever S-LSA Hornet, which they want to use for flight instruction. They live right there at the FBO and the entire FBO looks more like a home than a business office.

“So Norm met me in Lebanon, we came home, I worked today (Friday,) will use tomorrow to finish packing and do miscellaneous other things at home, and will begin the 2nd leg of my flight on Sunday!!!”

Have a safe flight, Arty!