42W in Oklahoma!

[Codeeno]

I had quite the adventure/experience building weekend with 42W.

I met some great people and the crew at West Woodard is AMAZING - plus super cheap 100LL!

Fri: KFTG - KOUN - Weather deviation - extra 30 mins of flying
Sat: KOUN - KWWR - Taking mom for her first flight in 42W
------ FYI Leaving battery switch on Friday night = bad.
------ Got to jump 42W - everything worked as expected. bonus!
Sat: KWWR - KOUN - Alt not charging.
------ Calls to COG folks, a local A&P and texts sent
------ I removed battery, put on charger, charged to full.
------ Scott L - thanks for the switch discussion that seems to be the culprit
------ Great flight back in to Norman
Sun: KOUN to KFTG - supposedly. However mother nature had other ideas
------ Pre-flight, after bad storms - find water in the right tank - drain water till all fuel flowing
------ Alternator worked - Scott L thanks again!!!!
------ Huge thunderstorms mushroom up - deviate WAY south and west (KDHT) (extra 2 hours of flight time)
------ Stop in KDHT for fuel, self service out of order, but find another pump after 4 phone calls.
------ KDHT to KFTG
------ Climb up to 12,500 - fly west to Cimarron to get where I can turn north and head home (still working around weather) -- BUMPY
------ Head into CO Springs area - go to turn on my wing tip lights for better visibility (it's now night time) - both bulbs decided that was a good time to burn out - they worked at KDHT!
------ Cleared into the Bravo at Denver - uneventful landing on 26 at KFTG

I got 13 hours in 3 days - but some really good experience and some great memories. Here is a picture of 42W on the KWWR ramp.

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[jukelemon]

Re: 42W in Oklahoma!

Nice!

 

[jciarolla]

Re: 42W in Oklahoma!

Nice trip summary.

Flying is always one big head game between man, machine and Mother Nature - but we love it.......aye!

 

[Bob7]

Re: 42W in Oklahoma!

Very good write up on the trip Dean. Sounds like some of the trips we took with our Commander early on with mechanical issues until we got most of the bugs worked out. Weather is another thing and all I can say is be very flexible, something I was not very good at early on but now understand very well.
Take care,
Bob

 

[mcgrathm]

Re: 42W in Oklahoma!

Dean,
Pretty cool.
About the battery, I learned a long time ago that if your battery is dead try and charge it before flying. A dead battery puts a lot of stress on the alternator and could damage it over time. As a kid with beat up cars to drive it would always happen. Trying to nurse a bad/dead battery next thing you know I was changing the alternator. Since then I’ve always kept the battery up and have yet changed another alternator.

 

[Codeeno]

Re: 42W in Oklahoma!

Nice trip summary.

Flying is always one big head game between man, machine and Mother Nature - but we love it.......aye!

We do love it - but - man sometimes you land and feel great and sometimes you land and feel wrung out like a dish rag. The trip down to KOUN - I felt great. Landing Sunday night at KFTG more dish rag LOL

Dean

 

[Codeeno]

Re: 42W in Oklahoma!

Very good write up on the trip Dean. Sounds like some of the trips we took with our Commander early on with mechanical issues until we got most of the bugs worked out. Weather is another thing and all I can say is be very flexible, something I was not very good at early on but now understand very well.
Take care,
Bob

Bob - you are so right on the flexibility part. When KC Center advised such a huge deviation to the South and West, I started looking for who had cheap fuel, runway alignment and winds - plus - do I want to just land and enjoy the hospitality of small town X.

My first choice to stop in was Raton, then I looked at the elevation, runway and winds and thought - it'd be a challenge and would add to the stress. Then Guymon - but it was right in front of me and I wanted to have more fuel available on the next leg. That left Dalhart and Dumas - plus a handful of others. Chose Dalhart - had 2 runways, 2 FBOs and courtesy car (if I chose to stay the night).

But you are right - not getting locked into a decision, being able to roll with it and modify a plan does help a lot!

Dean

 

[Codeeno]

Re: 42W in Oklahoma!

Dean,
Pretty cool.
About the battery, I learned a long time ago that if your battery is dead try and charge it before flying. A dead battery puts a lot of stress on the alternator and could damage it over time. As a kid with beat up cars to drive it would always happen. Trying to nurse a bad/dead battery next thing you know I was changing the alternator. Since then I’ve always kept the battery up and have yet changed another alternator.

Mike,

That's what the A/P in Woodward said - that perhaps the alternator tried to hard to charge the battery on the flight from Norman. In hindsight, with the dead battery in Norman, I could have pulled it out, put it on a charge for a few hours, then taken off.

I am wondering though if the alternator is unrelated to the battery. Because each time it wouldn't charge - if I played with the switch it would start charging. So my thinking is they are unrelated just occurred at the same time and I need to check out that split master switch.

Dean

 

[Second Officer Alex]

Re: 42W in Oklahoma!

I had quite the adventure/experience building weekend with 42W.
Fri: KFTG - KOUN - Weather deviation - extra 30 mins of flying

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Dean,
out of curiosity, how long did the FTG-OUN leg take you?

 

[Charlie]

Re: 42W in Oklahoma!

Dean,
out of curiosity, how long did the FTG-OUN leg take you?

FlightAware says 3 hours 19 minutes...... Curious to see what Dean has to say ....

 

[Codeeno]

Re: 42W in Oklahoma!

Charlie,

You are pretty spot on (or FlightAware - is aware) - I typically plan about 3.5 hours for the trip.

Dean