The alarm went off extra early. I eagerly rose and dressed. Today was the start of the biggest trip of my life so far. Our goal: fly from Mississippi to Maine and back again, all in the Luscombe. Lars had also stirred and we gathered our camping gear and clothes together and loaded up in the truck. It was still dark outside as we made our way to Ocean Springs Airport.
This was Lars’s first time seeing ‘903 and he was enthralled. I had a few maintenance to-dos to complete and got to work. Lars took off the hubcaps and we checked to make sure that the hub nuts I had installed the afternoon before were still tight. Thankfully, they were still snug.
This was Lars’s first time seeing ‘903 and he was enthralled. I had a few maintenance to-dos to complete and got to work. Lars took off the hubcaps and we checked to make sure that the hub nuts I had installed the afternoon before were still tight. Thankfully, they were still snug.
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| Final Checks Complete |
We managed to cram most of
our essentials into the minuscule aft baggage compartment of the Luscombe and then
pulled the airplane out for fuel. By this point, the sun was up, bright, and
hot. Sweat was already building on my brow. The Continental initially took some
encouragement to start but soon it smoothly purred along as we back-taxied out
for departure.
Remember that I said we had
gotten most of our stuff into the
baggage compartment? Well, Lars had his hands full with our lunch box and his camera
case as we departed. Once we were airborne I took one of the bags in my lap and
we retraced the tracks I had made to the west the last few days as we headed
for our first stop of the trip, Shade Tree. Leaving the Gulfport Delta to the
north, we noticed that the intercom started to act up. The right-side button was
sticking which was messing up not only the intercom, but also the integral
radio.
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| A Tight Fit with Everything Aboard |
I told Mr. Danny our issue
with the intercom and he found some contact cleaner which did the trick on our
PTT intercom. It never caused another problem. We watched a Stearman and RV-12
depart then headed out ourselves, bound for my glider club, the Coastal Soaring
Association in Elsanor, Alabama.
We headed back for the coast and then turned east. I pointed out Ocean Springs, Pascagoula, and Mobile as we
followed the shoreline. As we neared Mobile Bay, I pushed the little Luscombe’s
nose down towards the water and then south. We headed over to Dauphin Island at
low level and came up just enough to join a left base for a touch and go at Denton Airport's peninsula runway.
On the upwind, we passed over
the south shore of Dauphin Island and once again pointed the nose eastward. We
followed the barrier islands along the east side of the bay and then climbed up enough to make it over land toward Elsanor. The gliders were already up in
flocks around the area and were struggling to hear our transmissions so we
waited a few minutes before cautiously joining the pattern for a landing on the
upsloping runway 27.
My airspeed and pattern were
all wrong and I initiated a go-around at about mid-field. Elsanor is only 2,400
ft long and the trees at the end rushed underneath a bit too close for comfort. We stayed in the pattern and I
got the energy down enough to make a proper landing. Nobody on the ground
complained and agreed that the go-around was the right decision.
Eric, my buddy from school,
had agreed to meet us for a ride in the glider and the Luscombe. Both Lars and
Eric went up in the front seat of our club’s Grob 103 with me flying from the
backseat. They both thoroughly enjoyed the ride. We then switched to the
Luscombe and both Jefferson and Evelyn, our two favorite kids at the
Gliderport, went for a spin.
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| '903 Enjoying the Sun at Elsanor |
Since Elsanor is fairly
short and we were heavy with baggage, we decided to offload all of our stuff
into Eric’s car and he agreed to meet us over at Foley Airport about ten miles
away. I beat Eric and Lars there by a few minutes and got the airplane gassed
up and tied down.
We broke for lunch and had a
great pizza at a local Italian restaurant. Eric drove us back to the airport
and we said our goodbyes. Foley is one of the Navy’s contracted locations for pilot flight screening. Some very jealous pilots-to-be watched us pack the
Luscombe and depart.
We started our great trek
north with our first stop for the night planned at Center-Piedmont Airport. I
had called the airport manager the day before and he kindly granted our request
to camp and use their showers. With only fourteen gallons in a full tank, the
Luscombe is not exactly a long-distance cross-country machine. Our fuel got us
to Prattville, Alabama, just west of Montgomery. The coastal plain was business as
usual for me and it wasn’t until we departed Prattville that we started to
notice the terrain.
We stayed low and set course
for the valley which runs from Anniston up to Center-Piedmont. Not long after
takeoff, I realized we were going to pass right over the Coosa River. It clicked
right then and there to both of us that this trip wasn’t simply about the destination—it
was truly about the journey itself. As soon as we got to the Coosa, we dropped
down some more and followed the river for forty miles.
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| The Coosa |
The rolling hills around us
started to turn into low ridges, valleys, and mountains. We turned northeast,
leaving the Coosa behind, and followed a valley to the town of Talladega before
heading on to Anniston. Talladega’s famous racetrack passed a few miles off our
left wing. Soon we were over Anniston, where my dad had worked for six years. We
then continued up the valley towards even more familiar terrain.
My old hometown of Jacksonville
and a flood of sweet memories swept into view but something wasn’t right. Many
roofs throughout the town were bright blue. It all came back to me and I
remembered the recent tornado which has swept through the town. We circled in
somber silence observing the destruction left behind. I saw my old house and
many other familiar landmarks. We continued on, enjoying the sights and smells
of this familiar valley so impressed on my childhood memory.
The airport came into view
and we joined the pattern and landed. The sun was almost gone but we refueled,
used the bathroom and I hopped back into the airplane for a few laps in the
pattern for Lars’s camera. We set up camp by the main hangar, took showers, and ate dinner out of the lunch box.
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| Sunset in Piedmont |
Sleep came quickly despite
the continued adventure which awaited us at sunrise.
5R2-MS82-4R9-1AL4-5R4-1A9-PYP,
7.0 Hours, 8 Landings
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