Flight to Oshkosh 2012

[dmarti32]

Congrats.

[Waveflyer]

Marvellous achievement. I hope we get treated to the full story.

[G-BLEW]

Thanks for all of the support, it meant a lot to all of us. There will of course be a little story in the magazine and a few pictures posted here tomorrow.

Ian

[Rob L]

It's stunning that you got home so quick; well done for a very safe journey.

[AndyR]

Amazing adventure. Look forward to hearing all the details

[Colonel Panic]

Amazing adventure. Look forward to hearing all the details

+1

[G-BLEW]

The October issue of the magazine will have a full report, but for the time being here's a summary and probably way too many photos!

Oshkosh 2012


Although the original plan started seven months ago, there was a lot of work done during the last seven days



The C182 went up to Wick on Sunday and was joined by the TB20 and Baron on Monday morning. I wouldn't like to write promotional copy for the town of Wick, but Andrew Bruce at Far North was very helpful and a mine of information


It was good to see Iceland


Sustenance provided in part by a donation of Rude Health beetroot bars, thanks Nick


We had to be at FL120 before heading out over Greenland


The small spot is 'Sob Story' one of the Dew-Line radar sites


The good weather continued and we had a visual approach into Sondrestrom Fjord


All safely in Greenland, left to right Me, Jonathan, Henry, Graham, Justin and John


The approach into Iqaluit, somewhere that would be harder to sell than Wick



Due to some weather we ended up spending the night at Kuujjuaq, a town that made Iqaluit look like Cannes


Not everywhere has avgas available, so it is worth checking ahead


I guess there are some trust issues in Schefferville


We had a welcome night in North Bay and enjoyed internet access and mobile phone signals. Leaving here we went to the USA


We chose St Clair County to clear customs and immigration into the US. This involved filling out an online eAPIS form. The aircraft got the Geiger counter treatment and were visited by sniffer dogs

We spent a couple of days in Cincinnati, visiting good friends and Sporty's, and checking over the aircraft


TB20 proved to be an excellent aeroplane for this kind of flying being both reasonably fast and frugal


Not the most direct route, but flying along Chicago's shoreline seemed like a good idea


Oshkosh and the Brown Arch, the fact that we'd all flown in from the UK didn't really sink in


The 75th anniversary of the Piper Cub, of which there were hundreds


The week was busy and the heat brutal to start with, but before long we had to head for home


We thought we'd take a look at Niagara Falls on the way back, a restricted area meant viewing from a distance


Erm, due to an issue with Canadian customs on Sunday we ended up flying into Toronto International to clear into Canada, $160


Next stop La Grande Riviere, weather for our arrival was, well pants.


There's a whole lot of not very much in Canada



We were surprised to see the bay at Iqaluit had filled with ice due a southern wind


We took off from Iqaluit for Sondrestrom at 4.15am - it was a long, long day.




Greenland looked stunning, I must go back one day and spend some more time exploring


Heading over iceland on the last long overwater leg


We were held at the Erskine Bridge during the Glasgow transit, we only did three orbits but it felt frustrating


The weather over the last few miles was less than kind, but a great bunch turned out to welcome us back


Safely back at the strip and enjoying the rain

We all flew slightly different routes, and certainly flew different speeds but for the C182 the numbers look like this…

8736.5nm which took 71 hours and 34 minutes

More pics, more words and more stories in the October issue

[Waveflyer]

Thanks Ian, it will be interesting to read the full story. Shame you missed our summer

[Janie]

I heard from an Oshkosh regular that the temperature was often around 100F there. Not for the first time, but definitely not the norm and very oppressive at that. He thought the numbers were down, although the people can still be measured in the hundreds of thousands. I might be able to get hold of some statistics on that.

[Dave W]

... and probably way too many photos!

Not possible - especially given some of the stunners you've posted.

What a magnificent experience - and that was just me following you all! I was using the Delorme to track you on the final legs, which was an error since it showed you still in Stornoway when I was toying with the idea of welcoming you back into Wilts.

Looking forward to the write-up. Welcome home.

[Charles Hunt]

Welcome back, love that final pic!!

[Steven Day]

Quite marvellous - what a ride.

So, come on then, 72 hours it may well have been, but how much go juice? And how many first class tickets could you have bought instead (I know it's not the point, but it's always a laugh!).

And after all that way, parked up all proud at the sunshine at Osh, didn't just a little bit of you wish (for once) that you had a 'G' painted on the side of the old girl, so people simply knew by looking what you had achieved?

I love the last pic too - Wiltshire, almost the most hostile place in the northern hemisphere!

[G-BLEW]

So, come on then, 72 hours it may well have been, but how much go juice? And how many first class tickets could you have bought instead (I know it's not the point, but it's always a laugh!).

Still doing the sums, but probably averaged 45lph. Some of the fuel was quite cheap. I reckon that I had one of the best first class flights anyway.

And after all that way, parked up all proud at the sunshine at Osh, didn't just a little bit of you wish (for once) that you had a 'G' painted on the side of the old girl, so people simply knew by looking what you had achieved?

I know what you mean. However, when I bought EW she was on a G reg and had it still been on that reg I very much doubt that I would still be flying it. With an N on the side I have been able to upgrade the avionics, make a bunch of other improvements and of course fly IFR legally. I have also found a great engineer who is more than happy for me to be as involved as I like in the maintenance of the aircraft. Thanks to the N reg I've been able to enjoy adventures to much of Europe plus Russia, Tunisia, Svalbard and now Canada and the US. I don't mind the anonymity in the USA

I love the last pic too - Wiltshire, almost the most hostile place in the northern hemisphere!

It was interesting that the shortest and quickest leg had some of the worst weather.

Ian

[Tim Dawson]

I love the Greenland pics. I've always been fascinated by that place; some of it looks pretty much like bits of dartmoor which I find strangely comforting. Of course most of it doesn't look like that at all, but still.

[Jenny]

It was interesting that the shortest and quickest leg had some of the worst weather.

At least it will have washed all the bubbly off your cowl

Jenny