Unixpeople

Overview
I’m a Canadian who has been living in California for about 12 years. I still go back to Ontario, Canada a few times per year to visit. For several years I’ve toyed with the idea of flying my Cessna 172 back to Ontario from California. I seriously considered it last Christmas, but I left the planning too late and decided it was better to just fly commercially. Of course, its impossible to justify the flight financially as the cost of the fuel alone was enought to fly two or three people on an commercial flight.
In addition, the time committment was enormous – The jeppesen lo-level planning chart says Its about 1800 nautical miles from San Francisco to Detroit. I figured I would average about 120 knotts Eastbound and 100 knots Westbound.
For those of you who are pilots you know this was not about practicality – It was an adventure. An accomplishment.

The aircraft was N733KK, a 1977 Cessna 172 Superhawk (180HP conversion) equipped with a garmin 430, an MX-300 comm/nav unit, a DME and an ADF (which may seem insignificant, but read on…)

Pre-flight planning
I used the jeppesen lo-level planning chart to try to find a route that would keep me off the dotted lines – I’d like to fly at 11500 or less Eastbound and 10500 or less Westbound.

I also needed to make sure I had printed copies of the following documents:
-Radio License
-Insurance
-POH
-Weight and Balance
-Registration
-Air Worthiness
-Medical, Pilot License and Passport

The route I decided on was:
Byron, Linden, Hangtown, Squaw, Mustang, Lovelock, Battle Mountain,
Bullion, Wells, Lucin, Ogden, Fort Bridger, Rock Springs, Cherokee, Medecine Bow, Scottsbluff, Alliance, Ainsworth, O’Neil, Sioux City, Fort Dodge, Waterloo, Dubuque, Janesville, Badger, Muskegon, Pontiac,
Salem, Windsor.

So, the first thing I needed to do was order charts. I used the
Sporty’s website to order the required charts:
San Francisco, Klamath Falls, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Omaha, Chicago,
Detroit, Toronto. The Toronto chart was a Canadian chart – a VNC
(VFR Navigation Chart). This is the equivalent of a sectional in the US.
Canada has VTA (VFR Terminal Area) which is the equivalent of a
Termainl Area Chart in the US.

In addition, I ordered the complete set of AFDs for the US. I neglected to order the CFS – Canada Flight Supplement and the IFR approach charts for Canada.

In hind-site, I should have purchased the IFR charts for all airports on my route as well as the Garmin 430 data for the entire US and Canada.
My Jeppesen GPS data subscription is for the Western United States only. I made a conscious decision not to purchase the upgrade for the GPS data. I learned to fly on steam gauges and I figured it would be a good refresher.

I knew I could fly between 4.5 and 5 hours on a full tank of fuel and I planned on being able to average about 120 knots Ground Speed on the East-bound trip. Based on this, I was able to plan out where my
fuel stops would be. For each of the fuel stops, I wrote the relevant information on a yellow sticky and stuck it on the sectional near the point of landing. The information that I find I like to have handy
is Airport Elevation, Runway information (#, length, TPA, and traffic direction), frequencies (ATIS, Tower or CTAF, Ground, and Departure). In addition, I printed out an IFR approach chart for each of the airports where I would be landing.

Weight and Balance
My wife decided to load me up with a couple large bags of clothes to take back to Canada for her. In addition, I had two sets of golf clubs, a tool box, my suitcase, some spare parts and oil, a sleeping bag and tent and a bunch of food and drinks as well as my flight bag and laptop. I weighed each bag and pre-packed the plane the night before. When I got home, I ran the weight and balance and found that it was slightly outside the allowed range. The weight was fine – it was the CG that was a off.
I shifted the golf clubs from the most rear baggage compartment, and
replaced them with some lighter things. That got me into the right range, but then I ran it again without the fuel (for landing) and I was again out of spec. I moved the toolbox and spare parts up to
the floor of the back seat and that got me into the right range for landing.

Self-imposed Limitations
————————
No night flight in areas with terrain elevation above 8000′.
No hard IMC in mountainous areas.

The Trip
——–
C83 -> Wendover, UT
I got up in the morning and called for a flight briefing.
This leg started out pretty well. I got away at 5:15am local time. I contacted ATC and asked
for flight following. When approaching South Lake Tahoe, ATC asked me if I was aware of the TFR over South Lake. This was the day when Lake Tahoe was being plagued by forest fires. I had not been told about the TFR during my briefing. Thank-you ATC!
Three hours and 45 minutes later, I landed at Wendover. I refueled at Wendover and called for a weather briefing for the next leg. I had also dipped my tanks before departing and then when I arrived
in Wendover. I wanted an accurate fuel burn number. I was flying at 60% power at 11500′ and my burn was 8.2 gallons per hour. If I don’t include the climb, its 8 gph
This is 1.2 gph above what the performance charts for my plane say.
Doesn’t surprise me as the 180 HP conversion addendum says “performance: no change”, but I never believed it. I have to admit, when doing the flght planning, my biggest concern was the mountainous
terrain. If you have a look at all the sectionals connected together, you’ll find that there is a lot of “brown” areas between here and Nebraska. While flying, however, I noticed that, for the
most part, there are a lot of places where one could perform an emergency landing. Lots of deserted roads and flats.

Wendover, UT -> Laramie, WY 16:45Z – 20:00Z
On the lo-altitude chart, I had actually planned to fly via Medicine Bow to Scottsbluff for this fuel stop, but once I looked at the Sectional, I realized there was almost 200 miles without an airport with fuel
between Wells and Scottsbluff, so I chose to fly a little south to Laramie. I should have re-checked the lo-altitude chart, however, as on the way to Laramie from Cherokee, the terrain rises VERY high –
I actually climbed to 13500 and was only 500 AGL or so. I landed at Laramie – elevation 7286 and fueled up.
I called for a flight briefing and it was excellent again. The winds aloft were very favorable.
The temperature was 32 C and the density altitude was 10700. I was on the very last box on the takeoff distance chart – almost 4000′ (not including the headwind). It was at this point where I realized
that figuring out what timezone I was in and converting to zulu time was becoming onerous, so I set my watch to zulu time.

Laramie, WY -> Sioux City, IA
During this leg, I noticed that the suction guage was actually just below the green arc. Watched the DG and the AI pretty close.
After a time, however, the suction guage made it back into the green. It was on this leg when I hit my best ground speed of the trip – at one point the GPS indicated a groundspeed of 150 knots. I noticed that my oil temperature goes quite high (bordering on the red) on the climb out.
I enriched the mixture, and used a shallower climb angle but the temperature didn’t drop until I got to cruise. Flying through Utah, ATC called out traffic to me, “733kk, traffic at your 12 O’clock.
16 miles. 500′ below you, heading 090.” My heading was 270. I’m not used to ATC calling out traffic that far away, but then it became apparent on the next call to the traffic that was approaching me.
“Mustang leader, traffic at your 12 O’clock 12 miles, heading 270, flight restricted above you at 11500.” Those F-16s went by me at about 300 knots.
The FBO at Sioux City is open 24 hours which is nice. I landed at 7:30PM local time and
had to make a decision whether to press on or stay for a while and rest. They had a nice pilot lounge with a couch, so I decided to stay and sleep for a few hours.

Sioux City, IA -> Dubuque, IA
Around 2am, I called for a flight briefing.
My next planned stop was Kenosha, WI but the briefer told me the Kenosha area was IFR with fog and low ceilings which were forcast to get lower. I only had one approach chart printed out for Kenosha – I didn’t have any other charts for an alternate in the vicinity and there was not a printer
available to be able to print them from AOPA. My GPS data would go as far as Iowa, but I would be on steam guages in Wisconsin. After much consideration, I decided to continue on, and fly until the
weather started to get poor. This turned out to be a pretty good decision. I picked up flight following and when approaching each of my check points with a good airport (one with fuel), I would ask ATC for the weather at the next airport. I figured if the weather was poor further on, I’d just stop at the one I was approaching. Finally, I set down in Dubuque. I really noticed the apparent non-equivalent fuel burn between the left and right tank on this leg. The gauge for the left tank was showing 1/2 and the right seemed to be still pegged at full. I switched to the right tank to make sure I wouldn’t have any issues and it ran fine.

Dubuque, IA -> Windsor, ON 1115Z – 1430Z
I fueled up and contacted Canada Customs at 888 CAN PASS. I also had to file a flight plan. When I set off, there was quite a lot of haze. I climbed above the haze and all was well. Crossing lake Michigan is one of those things that can be a little disconcerting. Essentially, there is a 40 minute period of time where, should the engine fail, I’m going to get wet. Clearing customs in Windsor was pretty easy. I taxied to the customs building and shutdown. A customs officer walked out and examined my documents and gave me a number that said I had cleared.

All was well except that Canada uses some different terminology. The “control zone” is the area around the airport. Also, when you talk to the tower, you refer to them as “terminal”.
When you land at an airport in Canada, they automatically close your flight plan. I stopped at the FBO and while I was there, I was chatting with them about my trip. The guy suggested I get a copy
of the Canada Flight Supplement (which is like our AFDs and covers every airport in Canada). They didn’t have any current ones, but they had one that was a couple months old, so they gave me that one.
Fuel is pretty expensive in Canada – I paid $1.60 per litre == $6US per gallon.

Windsor, ON -> Leamington, ON
-8 minutes of flight time.
-landed right traffic to runway 19

Leamington, ON -> Rockcliff, ON 1330Z -1630Z
I’ve done this drive in a car many times. Usually its about 8 hours of time. The flight was 3 hours. That is really nice. The hand-offs for flight following aren’t as nice as they are in the US. It seems that I had to tell each controller where I was going.
The flight briefing number is 888 WX BRIEF and the briefing was very similar to what we get here. They used the term CB a lot which is cumulonimbus. Filing is slightly different. They open your flight plan automatically at the time-off you specify. So, unlike here, if you file, then don’t make the flight, you have to call them to cancel it. Also, the type codes are different. /A doesn’t
exist. You can just tell them what you have. Although I was a /G,
I didn’t have data, so I filed as a /S/D/C which means standard (VOR and ADF) + DME + mode C transponder.

Rockcliff, ON -> Sightseeing tour
Flying in Ottawa is kind of like flying in the Washington ADIZ. You are supposed to have a transponder code when you take off. I called 800 GET CODE and got one.

Rockcliff, ON -> Markham, ON (Near Toronto)
I was concerned that my flight to Markham would need to be IFR, so I went ahead and picked up the book of Approach charts for the route. As it turns out ADF approaches are still alive and well in Canada.
Its the most common type of approach there. I guess because of the distance between VORS, NDBs are an economical way to do things.
My flight to Markham was pretty quick, but this is where my unfamiliarity of flying in Canada got me. When landing in Markham, a guy from the ground asked, “do you have prior permission to land here?” I said, “um, no”. Anyway, he had me land, then he came out and showed me in the CFS where
it said PPR which means Prior Permission Required. The owner of this “aerodrome” is apparently a hard-ass, but they called and asked him if I could stay the night. After much checking, he agreed. My family, (who were already in Toronto), picked me up and the next day we went to the hockey hall of fame.

Markham, ON -> Buttonville, ON 1940Z – 1948Z
The Markham airport was closed when I tried to depart, but luckily a guy named Ken was there who purported to be the guy I should pay. So, I handed Ken my $10 and took off. First stop was Buttonville to get fuel.

Buttonville -> Carp, ON (CYRP) 2020Z – 2200Z
I fueled up, then took off for Carp. 1.5 hours later, I was on the ground.

Carp, ON -> Leamington, ON (CLM2) IFR 1500 EDT – 1830 EDT
I payed my $35 tie-down fee ($7.50 per night), filled up and departed IFR for Leamington. I picked up my clearance and it was completely different from what I filed. The gave me a much more Northern route. Was in IMC for a little of it, but mostly just flew on top of a broken layer during the trip.

Leamington, ON -> Sandusky, OH (SKY) 1730Z – 1753Z
Had to call customs to pre-arrange a time to arrive at an airport of entry. Another pilot in Leamington suggested Sandusky, OH. When I called customs, they mentioned that I needed a customs decal.
I had to hop online and purchase one ($27.50) and print out the receipt.
The flight was less than 15 minutes. Landed and taxied up to the customs area. Two gentlemen came out and I got out of the plane. Turns out these guys were from the FAA and they were performing random ramp checks. Just then a uniformed customs agent approached and he was angry that I had
exited the aircraft. I told him that I was sorry, but that I thought these guys were customs. Anyway, it was at this point that I realized I had left my wallet along with my pilot’s license sitting in Leamington.
What a nightmare. I had my passport, so I was able to clear customs, but the FAA was not happy. They told me I had to call Oklahoma and have them fax over a copy of my license. I got on the phone with Oklahoma and they said they would fax it, but it never arrived. The FAA folks said that if
I left without my license, it would be an enforcement. The strange thing is that they were able to confirm that I had a license, but they wouldn’t let me leave. The fax had to come from Oklahoma, too. The other option was to have my buddies in Leamington drive my license over. Although its a 15 minute flight, its a 3.5 hour drive, so I didn’t bother with that.
What I decided to do was to hop online and see if I could find confirmation of my license at the FAA website. Turns out this is quite easy to do. Just go to http://faa.gov, click on Licenses and Certificates, click on “Replace an Airman Certificate”, click on “Request a replacement certificate online”. Click on Login, enter your email address and password (or register if you haven’t done that yet. Finally, click on “Request Temporary Authority to Exercise Certificate Privileges”. You can choose whether they will fax or email the document to you – I chose email. I also ordered a second
copy of my pilot’s license which will forever live in my flight bag 😉

Sandusky -> Windsor
Filed my flight plan, and called Canada Customs and set off back to Windsor to clear customs and pickup my wallet. Once I landed, the same customs lady was there. I explained why I was back and she laughed and wished me a better day the next day.

Windsor -> Leamington
8 minute flight and I landed. My buddies wife was there to pick me up.
She brought me a cold beer which I desperately needed at this point 😉

Leamington -> Detroit City (DET)
Decided to clear customs in Detroit City the next day. This way if anything
was forgotten, it was only a short drive to get there. The flight was 25 minutes. I landed, taxied to the customs building and waited… and waited… about 30 minutes after I landed, the door opened and two
gentlemen asked me for all my documents which I provided. Shortly after, they cleared me to leave and I taxied to the FBO and fueled up – at $5.41 a gallon.

Detroit -> Dubuque, IA 1355Z – 1730Z
Called for a flight briefing. Things were pretty much clear for my next leg. I briefly considered detouring to Oshkosh but figured there wouldn’t be much to see when Airventure is not on.
Fueled up at Debuque, called for a briefing – and pressed on.

Dubuque -> O’Neil Nebraska 1830Z – 2220Z
Fueled up in O’Neil. I asked the guy what O’Neil was famous for. He kind of looked at me and said, “we have the highest Irish population in Nebraska”. Ok. I called for a briefing. Things were clear to Scottsbluff, but beyond that it was looking like a lot of Thunderstorms.

O’Neil -> Scottsbluff 2305Z – 0135Z
Temperature was 38C. Briefly considered taking off from their grass runway (but decided not to bother). After landing at Scottsbluff (Western Nebraska Regional), I fueled up and decided to rest a few hours in their pilot lounge before heading out (they had a nice lounge). Unfortunately, the FBO closed at 2000 and it was currently 1950. Sigh. I called for a briefing to figure out if I should continue on. The briefing was not positive, so I decide to get a hotel and a good steak and head out in the morning.

Scottsbluff -> Ogden, UT 1200Z – 1610Z
Salt Lake Radar was OOS, so I was on my own for an hour or so of this flight. Had a delicious breakfast – chicken-fried steak and eggs.

Ogden -> Reno, NV 1710Z – 2055Z
Fueled up at $5.71 per gallon. Nice pilot lounge here. Called for a flight briefing. There were TFRs all over the place for forest fires.

Reno -> Byron, CA (C83) 1410 PDT – 1545 PDT
Called Ground and they asked me which way I’d be heading over to Squaw. I hadn’t really chosen it, so I just decided to fly South until I had enough altitude to get over the mountains. I ended up having to circle a few times to get the altitude. The climb performance was horrible.

Lessons learned
Don’t take an unopened bag of fritos to altitude… I’m still picking them out of my plane.
Don’t plan to fly more than about 10 hours in a day. Its a fun trip to do in a 172 ONCE. But I wouldn’t try it again unless I had an aircraft capable of another 50 knots of airspeed.
Keep a spare license in your gear bag.
Flying the heading bug rather than the needle on your NAV unit really does make sense – especially when flying on old steam guages. I’d forgotten how much the needle wanders.