Ordered a new car in Houston (got it for a steal) and had an instructor pilot fly with me and a friend to drop us off and take the plane back then made a 2000 mile road trip back with a friend to LA. We went Houston –> Austin –> Oklahoma City –> Santa Fe –> Utah –>Las Vegas –> LA. Wild trip in a wild car. It involved planes, some significant gains and a car.
The trip started with some eventful memories. We had planned the first leg to be KVNY to E98 (Benson Municipal), a small airport with some cheap fuel. We landed and the guy that was supposed to be there to fill the plane up was AWOL. We had did some quick calculations and looked for an alternative airport, luckily there was one just 9 min away (we were in the middle of the desert). So there was a chance we weren’t getting off the ground with the reserves we had available unless there was a close by airport.
Beautiful day but the thermals caused some issues with winds, so the landing was one of the trickier ones that I’ve done. We landed with about 45 min reserve which is the Cirrus specified and suggested minimum. We didn’t have much room to the FAA 30 min reserve (we had like 15 min radius to find another airport). Luckily, there was one just 9 min away and after calling to confirm they’d be there, we took off!
Middle of nowhere (Benson Municipal airport)
No Fuel here……
So after doing the calculations, we took off to the nearby Chochise airport where we had another incident, the lady there wasn’t wearing her hearing aid and we told her fill it to tabs (airport slang for filling it up to a specific marker that allocates 60 gallons of 92 total). We were over weight at full and we couldn’t take off if it was above 60. Well, she filled it to full and we had to milk the plane… There was no way for us to take off. Luckily the instructor knew how to milk the plane. She ended up giving us a refund on the unused fuel and we took off towards Houston shortly after. All told the trip took about 6.5 hours of flying.
Milking 345PK
Enroute to Houston..the final leg!
The pick up. Beautiful! Such a ridiculous car, almost embarrassing but whatever, it’s a childhood dream so why the fuck not. We got it for under value due to a guy not being able to close on it and I took that opportunity to acquire the car. I can literally sell it for a profit in a year.
We left Houston for Austin during a literal rainstorm. Along the way, we stopped at a small Texas town and had some Mexican food. I don’t think I fit in there, got stared at hard by five pretty burly guys. After checking the market, it was time to leave…
On our way to Austin…listening to some Heaven Shall Burn for the boys..