Mission: Fly Across America #1 - Day 1

Jacob Coby

• 4 min read

Hey All!

As many of you may have heard, Mike, Simon, Jon, & I have been planning a trip to Fly Across America.

The goal is simple: Dip our toes in the Pacific ocean, see some great sights along the way (Lake Powell, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Hoover Dam, Oceanside CA, Pima Air & Space Museum, and the Titan Missile Museum), while having fun flying a whole lot in Jon & Mike’s Van’s RV-6/6A.

  •  Canyon
  • Hoover Dam
  • Lake Mead
  • Lake Powell
  • Monument Valley
  • Oceanside, CA
  • Aircraft “Boneyard” in Tucson (Davis Monathan AFB)
  • Ship Rock

Today was a very successful Day #1.
Follow along with us via our SPOT tracker points by going here.

  • Departure fuel stop at KLQK (Pickens, SC)
    Departure fuel stop at KLQK (Pickens, SC)
  • Departing WNC
    Departing WNC
  • Mike & Jon
    Mike & Jon in 7EW
  • First Fuel Stop in Carlisle, AR (4M3)
  • Flooded river near Little Rock, AR. Notice the buildings that are covered by the river.
    Flooded river near Little Rock, AR. Notice the buildings that are covered by the river.
  • Framed.
    Framed.
  • Started to close in on us while flying on top of clouds, so we chose the hole pictured here to spiral down thru the clouds.
    Started to close in on us while flying on top of clouds, so we chose the hole pictured here to spiral down thru the clouds.
  • Circling descent below the clouds…Mike & Simon are a white dot, middle bottom of frame.
    Circling descent below the clouds…Mike & Simon are a white dot, middle bottom of frame.
  • Fuel stop and flight planning at KLAW (Lawton, OK)
    Fuel stop and flight planning at KLAW (Lawton, OK)
  • About to depart as a two ship from KLAW
    About to depart as a two ship from KLAW
  • Lawton, OK
  • Safely arrived and tying down in strong winds at KLBB (Lubbock, TX)
    Safely arrived and tying down in strong winds at KLBB (Lubbock, TX)
  • Tied down and tucked in for the evening!
    Tied down and tucked in for the evening!

The flight plan looked something like this the night before we left (copy & paste into Skyvector/Foreflight/etc if desired):

0A7  4M3  KFDR  KSAF  5V5  UT25  3714N11032W  3702N11123W  KPGA  L41  3619N11156W  3619N11207W  VPGCF 3610N11243W  3608N11316W  3543N11320W  3547N11339W  3607N11357W  3601N11420W  3601N11444W  KBVU  JOTNU  KOKB  KCXL  AZ06  E63  KTUS  KDNA  E11  F44  KCRT  KGAD  0A7

Original Flight Plan

We just finished our first day of the trip, and we ended up deviating a bit due to the weather, namely convective sigmets and high winds coming up from the south. Our actual route ended up being the following:

0A7 KLQK 4M3 KLAW KLBB

While enroute from 4M3 to KFDR, the cloud cover was deteriorating quickly so we took openings in the overcast down and diverted to KLAW. At KLAW, we reviewed all the weather and decided that it made the most sense to fly the route backwards, choosing to fly the sourthern route first while the weather on the northern part passed through. Thus, we ended our day in Lubbock, Texas.

Actual stops on Day 1
Weather Prog Chart that shows the fronts that we were contending with. Strong winds didn’t help either.

Pretty great first day…we were able to accomplish nearly 11 hours of flying and around 987nm! We are all pretty exhausted and were happy to get to the hotel and have a good dinner. I’m falling asleep here typing this, so its time to get to bed!

Tomorrow the plan is to fly from KLBB (Lubbock, TX) to KTUS (Tucson, AZ) to visit the Titan Missile Museum, and the PIMA Air & Space museum (likely to be done Wednesday morning).

Click to continue on to Day 2 of our adventure!

Happy flying!

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