LSXC Update #6 (August 2)

On Aug. 12, 2002 Steve flew our D-fly tug from Edinburg (site of the new LSXC) back to Hearne, Texas (home of AAS). The flight covered 320 miles. He left Edinburg at 8:15 am and arrived in Hearne at 5:25 pm - a total of 9 hrs. 10 min.

Steve's account of his flight from Edinburg to Hearne:

Several days prior to the flight I made some modifications to the D-fly to prepare it for the journey. Like an old farm horse, the old D-fly had never been more than a few miles from an airport. I needed to speed it up a bit and increase its fuel capacity. I did fly with Bubba Goodman one day during the LSXC, flying with him for about 20 miles on course. I strapped an extra 6 gallons of gas into the back seat just in case. This allowed me to stay with Bubba longer and made the flight back less nervous. On the way back I selected a nice cow pasture to land in (no cows were around) to make the fuel transfer. Turns out cow pastures are not good landing areas, no matter how good they look from the air. Good thing the D-fly has such a robust landing gear. I would remember this on the flight back to Hearne.

Increasing the fuel capacity for the longer journey was fairly straight forward. I installed a platform that extended from the rear seat that allowed room for 2 five gallon fuel tanks. I fixed the fuel line so I could draw gas from them simultaneously. I also carried 2 additional six gallon tanks in the back seat to use when I had exhausted the 10 gallons in the primary tanks (the maximum amount allowed under our operating exemptions). I would land and transfer fuel. You can see a picture of the D-fly (click here) ready to go.

To speed the plane up I first attempted to raise the flaperons (ailerons that are adjustable). With the ailerons set parallel to the chord of the wing the D-fly became a different airplane. Moving the center of pressure forward caused too many problems with the handling and trim of of the plane, so I moved them back to the orginial position. After removing the towing mirrors, the tail boom, and cleaning up as much as possible, the cruise speed was still only 35 to 38 mph. Oh well, with a little tailwind cruising at 50 mph wouldn't be that bad. There was lots of country I'd been itching to take a close look at. What better way to see Texas than to be cruising along at 500' at 50 mph!!

We were at the airport before sun-up, but getting all the vehicles and trailers ready for the caravan back took some time. Gaye was driving the Toyota truck, Fred was in his van hauling the travel trailer, and Jan was in our van hauling the D-fly trailer. My wheels finally left the tarmac at 8:15 am. Flying over to the coast was relaxing and dreamlike. The air was so smooth, the D-fly actually felt strange. I felt small vibrations and aerodynamic flutters I had never noticed before. Flying into the rising sun was bright and serene. As I passed Hwy. 77, I entered no-man's land. I could begin to make out the Laguna Madre Seashore ahead. Early morning development (click here for photo) made the scene even more surreal. I realized that an engine failure now might mean days of getting out. But, I had a surival kit, lots of water, radios, and of course a fully charged cell phone on board. Life was good!

The plan was to fly up the coast along the Padre Island National Seashore to Mustang Beach Airport. As I crossed the Intercoastal Waterway (click here for photo) and flew over the Laguna Madre, I could see that the coastline would be just as desolate as the terrain I had just traversed. Descending to 50' agl I flew north along the coast with the GPS showing 50+ mph. The scenery was epic! The National Seashore was very clean. I was suprised (relieved) to find people camping (click here for photo) every couple of miles along the beach. The miles clicked away and much too soon I was over Mustang Island. I landed on the beach (click here for photo) to enjoy some cold water and phone the caravan group to see how they were doing (we hoped to meet in Victoria). After a brief stop I continued north to Port Aransas (click here for photo). The traffic at Mustang Beach Airport was light, but having an aircraft radio to talk to traffic allowed for an uneventful landing. After tying down, I walked several blocks to the Circle K to "refuel". An island local provided a ride back (much appreciated since the 6 gallon gas cans were now much heavier) and I prepared to head north and explore St. Joseph's Island. After crossing the jetties at Port Aransas, I flew 10 miles down the deserted stretch of Texas coastline. The interesting beach debris included all types of marker bouys, appliances, driftwood, artifacts, and even several ski boats (click here for photo). The inlets on the bay side were boiling with fish as I flew over them at 10-15' inspecting the packed sand for a possible beach landing and even though the terrain looked good, I remembered the landings in the cow field. There is no access to St. Joseph's Island except by boat or private airstrip (click here for photo), so landing there just didn't seem like a good idea at the time. I do plan another trip to this section of the Texas coast.

After St. Joseph's Island I flew across the bay to Rockport. From there it was up Hwy. 35. As I approached Victoria, I encountered the first seabreaze rain shower. I would struggle to outrun these conditions the rest of the way to Hearne. I flew west of Victoria on my way to Haletsvilles where I would refuel. About 10 miles north of Victoria I spotted an abandonded airstrip that provided a much needed break. After landing (click here for photo) I called Gaye on the cell phone. Amazingly the caravan was 20 miles north of Victoria, only 10 miles away. They pulled over at a roadside park and just before Schulenburg we were reunited! It was great fun to travel down Hwy. 77 together. Our speeds were very evenly matched and it was fun to have someone to chat with. By the time we got to LaGrange things were changing fast. The rest of the flight proved to be very interesting....stay tuned for more details on the last leg into Hearne, dodging thunderstorms!

The journey continues:

It looked like the seabreeze showers were quickly pushing inland from the southeast (Houston area). To the south and east of Hwy. 77, there were wide spread rain showers. The air was getting rowdy. The GPS would show 62 mph to 40 mph. It as fun changing altitudes and picking lines through the development to try and get the best groundspeed. I'd gotten a little wet a couple of times, but the course line to Hearne looked pretty descent. Trying to outrun showers at 50 mph is like swimming upstream--it just doesn't seem like you're making any progress. But the showers were staying east and my route was mostly north so things were safe. There were also good airports along the way that provided safe landing areas if things got dangerous. Unfortunately, the battery in the digital camera had expired, so there are no pictures to go along with this part of the story. The end of the flight was so rowdy I doubt if I would have felt like taking pictures. I did manage to get some good footage on the digital video camera (tug cam) of the early part of the flight along the coast. The tripod arrangement, mounted at the nose of the D-fly, produces some very steady aerial shots when the conditions are smooth. But I had gotten kind of carried away and shot up all the remaining tape while flying to Mustang Beach. Oh well, I needed to concentrate on the flying anyway.

As the caravan wound down into the Colorado River basin at LaGrange I quickly got ahead of them. I had to fly west of the Hwy. to avoid rain, but a little outflow helped me get to Giddings quickly. I circled here, trying to get in radio contact with the caravan, but they were too far behind. As I circled near Giddings, I was joined by a group of buzzards. They were coring very strong lift, but the D-fly wasn't nimble enough to keep up. Finally, I had found strong lift in Central Texas this year. Only problem, it was in an area that was overdeveloping. Time to exit stage left. I flew out of Giddings over Dimebox and connected with Hwy. 21 north of Caldwell. From there the route took me over Hwy. 36 up to Milano (at Hwy. 79). I flew through some very strong cores. As I approached the Brazos River Valley I could see rain all the way from College Station to just south of Hearne. It was a race, but as it turned out the rain stayed just east of me as I squeezed my way into Hearne. When I got on the ground and got the D-fly in the hanger the entire area was overdeveloped, yet no rain at the airport! What a flight. Gaye wants to do a return trip to St. Joseph's Island and do some camping there. Maybe this Fall -- anyone want to join us?