Steve and I got up early and headed out to the airport with all our bags, ready to go just in case BOB’s oil leak was found and fixed. All day we were out there staring at the weather, staring at the airplane, trying to come up with a plan. We were going to go, we weren’t going to go, we’re probably not going to go. If we don’t get off the ground by noon we won’t make it to Lakeland. If we leave by 3 we can make it to Georgia. Not going to make it, not going to make it, next plan. Weather is terrible in Georgia tomorrow and terrible in Indiana tomorrow so now we’re missing Wednesday and Thursday too. But if we can get out of Indiana today, we can keep flying tomorrow once the weather burns off. I am going to short-cut this, but ALL DAY was spent staring at stops, weather, making plans, me and Morgan both.
Meanwhile, Steve, Jon, Justin, Brennan, they all worked on finding the leaks and fixing them. They found several issues, but by 4 pm we were just getting it leak tested and run on the ground. Looked okay, cowled it up, flew it for 30 min to test it. Looked okay, and now we were down to the last 45 minutes we had, to make a final plan. If we didn’t get out of there by 5:30 pm, we weren’t going to make it to Tennessee by dark, and we’re not allowed to fly after dark. We had to add oil to the plane, top it off, load it up, get in, get fired up, and we taxied out at 5:30 pm.
The flight itself was uneventful. We flew over Norris Lake where Morgan and I have both been, and over the mountains down there. Very pretty, but I wanted both engines to keep running. Sunset was like 8 pm, and we were scheduled to arrive at 8:10 pm. That meant it would be after legal sunset, but not actually dark yet. And that’s exactly what happened. We landed at Knoxville just before it got actually dark. Runway lights were up, airplane lights were on, it was still light enough, but another 5 minutes and it would have been dark. So that went about as well as can be expected.
I had called the FBO on my cell phone through my headset on Bluetooth to let them know we were coming, what we were, and that we would be unable to be towed after we parked, so asked to be put somewhere out of the way. They had someone come out and park us around the side, and they came out and looked it over and were fascinated by it, so that was fun.
Then I got on the Hilton app and reserved three rooms for us. The FBO called the hotel and they came and picked us up in the hotel van, and we checked in, got dinner at Cooper’s, the restaurant downstairs, and in bed around 10:30 pm.
Long day, like I said, mostly planning and waiting and not knowing what was going to happen at any given time all day long. Going or not going or where weather was good or not. But we made it out of Indiana, and into Tennessee, and very glad.
Tomorrow the current plan is to meet for breakfast at 8:30, take our time, go out to the airport, fuel up, oil up, and possibly leave around noon. By the time we get to Georgia at 2, the fog should have burned off. We’re going to stop there and get gas again, and then we’re going to run for Lakeland. We should arrive at 5:30 pm, which is when the airspace should open back up after the airshow is over (1-5:30 pm). And finally we will have made it. Then it’ll be days of giving rides in 93 degree temps and 90% humidity. ;)
We’re all beat. But we made it. :)
Some sunset flights headed down to Knoxville
Mountains ahead
Mountains/sunset
Jacksboro, TN. Hiiiii!
Mountains of TN
BOB on the ramp at Knoxville
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