Kingman

On October 15, 2006, My father-in-law, Leon Chamberlain and I began a cross country journey in a light sport aircraft, a Eurofox, departing from Bloomfield, Indiana, Shawnee Airfield (1I3) to Kingman, Arizona, (KIGM). Our journey was planned to consist of a series of legs from airport to airport generally southwest from Bloomfield into Texas then west below Amarillo, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico into Kingman.

Our first stop was at Sparta, Illinois (KSAR), 153 miles from Shawnee, course of 248 degrees. Our next planned stop was Houston, Missouri (M48) 136 miles from Sparta, course 246 degrees. When we overflew Houston we realized that there were no services available and that the town was too small to offer any services. Therefore, with the weather looking ominous we decided to continue southwest to the next airfield at Cabool (KTVB) some 15 miles southwest heading 204 degrees. It began to rain and the skies were darkening and lowering when we spotted Cabool. We approached straight in and landed in buffeting winds and rain. Alas, Cabool was even more desolate that Houston. There was no one around and the fuel pumps were locked (not self-service). I called several of the numbers on the buildings but some were no longer in service and no one answered the others! Aaaaaaaaaaaaack! The prospect of sleeping in a small plane in the rain and wind did not seem very appealing. A brief window in the weather to the southwest appeared and we decided to head to the next airport, Mountain Grove (1MO). From Cabool to Mountain Grove was 13 miles, heading 266 degrees. We did another straight in approach as the winds and rain were dictating a quick landing.

We were met at the airport by Lloyd Darter and Smudge, aka Topcat. Luckily, Lloyd, a veteran pilot, CFI, AP/AI, aerial agricultural spray pilot, and all around great guy made hangar space for the Eurofox and asked his wife Henrietta (Henny) to take us into town to the Mountain Grove Motel. This is a nice little motel that is clean and has a wonderful restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch. There is a Pizza Hut, KFC, steakhouse, and Walmart a short walk from the motel. It appeared that we were in town for awhile so nothing to do but hunker down, watch the World Series and the Weather channel.

Late Wednesday afternoon we heard a plane land. It was Jim Slusser and his wife in their RV 7A. They had just made it in during a window in the weather. They were headed East to the Carolinas. There was some clearing Wednesday afternoon, but not to the southwest, so we were still stuck in Mountain Grove. Since we were flying day VFR only we were stuck for another day. Oh, for some position lights!

The next morning showed some promise as the skies were lighter and the ground fog was less severe and the ceiling seemed to be rising! We called the AWOS at Monett M58), an airport 95 miles 262 degrees from Mountain Grove and it reported clear skies below 12,000'! Whoopee, we're off. As we approached Monett at 4,500' it was apparent the the skies were no longer clear and we were in the middle of the stuff. We opted to descend and see if we could make it to Monett, the GPS showed it was 10 miles ahead. We were at 2,500' with rising terrain and lowering ceiling when we decided to turn 180 degrees and head back until we could see openings above and climb so we could see what was ahead. We climbed to 10,500' and flew for a short distance over the clouds until we realized that it was solid as far as we could see to the southwest. Bummer, we turned around and started back to Mountain Grove.

Unfortunately, Thursday morning dawned gray, foggy, and cool. The ceiling was 500' (at best), so it appeared we would be spending another day in Mountain Grove. Our circle of new friends had grown quite large by now! Henny offered to take us over to Willow Springs airport (in her car) and visit the local EAA hangar. She is the current president of EAA South Central Ozarks Chapter 1218

I encourage you to click on the link and peruse the chapter website. It is a very active club with it's own hangar (really nice, new hangar) at the Willow Springs Municipal Airport. They are really promoting general aviation through the Young Eagles and other programs.

Friday morning dawned misty, cool, but showing some promise. The temperature was 34 degrees F and the dewpoint was 33 F. When we checked the weather at 0700 prior to departing to the airport. We rolled the Eurofox out and did a thorough preflight and waited for daylight. At 0800 we took off. The engine was surging on climbout. I pulled on the carburetor heat, turned left crosswind and then downwind to setup for landing. After landing we checked the engine and sure enough there was a tiny bit of frost still on the right (starboard) carburetor. This was my first experience with icing in a Rotax powered aircraft, the Bing constant velocity carburetors are not as susceptible to icing as some others are. After thoroughly checking the engine we started the engine and taxied out for takeoff. The engine performed perfectly as it did for the remainder of the trip.

This photo was taken Friday morning shortly after the second takeoff from Mountain Grove. Our next scheduled landing was Cleveland, Oklahoma at the Cleveland Municipal Airport (95F). In all honesty this is probably the worst airport I have landed at. There is a municipally owned golf course on either side of the runway. Golf carts were driving across the runway while we were on final! The taxiway and aircraft parking area were being dug up by a road grader and we were forced to pull off into the grass next to the runway. I walked to the FBO and asked about fuel, and was unceremoniously advised that they did not have any fuel at the airport. After a bathroom break (They did at least have a functioning bathroom!) we climbed back into the plane and headed to Guthrie, Oklahoma (KGOK), 61 miles, bearing 241 degrees.

According to the fellows at the FBO at Guthrie Municipal (KGOK) this is an A26. A light bomber developed towards the end of WW II. It has some beautiful nose art, but we were quite a distance from it and it really does not show up very well. (It was on the other side of the runway.) We landed at Guthrie in 18 knot crosswinds, gusting to 23. The Eurofox performed flawlessly using a wing low approach at 70 mph IAS with no flaps.

Our next scheduled stop and where we planned to overnight was Hereford, Texas (KHRS) 344 miles, bearing 255 degrees from KGOK. When we were on final we noticed that it stunk! Not the final, but the smell in the air! After landing it was worse and we were informed that the airport is downwind of the stockyard! Hereford is the beef capital of the world. The aroma was immediately overcome by the hospitality of the personnel at the airport. The were extremely helpful, courteous, and downright friendly. They advised us of the best hotels, restaurants, and furnished us with a T hangar and a courtesy car for the night for simply fueling the plane there! All they asked was that we return the courtesy car early in the morning and replace the fuel that we used in the car! Sort of made up for the Cleveland fiasco.

Climbout from Hereford heading 273 degrees, 131 miles to Santa Rosa, New Mexico (I58). We scheduled this stop as we to had climb from Santa Rosa 5,000' from field elevation of 4,790' over the mountains and our next scheduled landing was at Midway, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The airport at Santa Rosa has a lot of glider and ultralight activity, they were flying while we were there. The airport is Santa Rosa, Route 66 because part of the runway is the famous old Route 66 highway! Climbing over the mountain the air was smooth, I noticed our airspeed was 115 mph, but our GPS ground speed was a paltry 50 mph! Once were cleared the mountains we descended over the high plains and the winds were negligible. We decided in-flight to land at Moriarty, New Mexico (0E0) 78 miles 273 degrees from Santa Rosa, fuel and skip the next scheduled stop at Midway Airport and continue on to Winslow, Arizona (KINW) 344 miles, 273 degrees from Moriarty. At Winslow we re-fueled and flew directly to Kingman, Arizona (KIGM) 182 miles, bearing 276 degrees. We delivered the plane to its owner Werner Steinke and his CFI, King Sharp. The following pictures are of the flight from Santa Rosa, Route 66 to Kingman and at the Kingman airport.