The TermiteSeptember 12, 2015, 9:06am
Well, Labor Day Monday was a pretty good success.
Met up with a couple of friends in their light stuff; a Kolb Firestar and a Quicksilver GT400. We left L66 and flew over to HEZ, "crop dusting and aerial inspecting" the agricultural fields along the way. The corn has been harvested, the cotton will be next.
At HEZ we joinedup with another friend who was flying a C-150, and we borrowed the airport courtesy car to go eat lunch. Lunch was BBQ, at the Pigout Inn.
Afterwards, we drove back to the airport and just kinda "hung out", letting our meals settle and seeing all the improvements the new airport manager is starting.
Keith decided we didn't need to return to L66 just yet, so he came up with another plan, one that our buddy in the Cessna declined to join. We topped off our tanks, left HEZ, crossed back over the Mississippi River, and headed down the western levee to the south. Coming up on the Three Rivers Complex, we circled for a bit looking at it, then flew along the Achafalaya River till we got to Simmsport, where we landed at another aquaintainces's place.....he has two nice intersecting grass strips. He offered us water and Gatoraid(it was hot, and we were thirsty), and some more fuel. We took him up on all of it.
He showed us his newest "toy".....a brand new Calidus gyrocopter he recently completed and is flying off the 40 hrs after the A/W inspection. He fired it up and demonstrated it for us. It's a cool toy, and suprisingly fast: VNE is 120mph, with a max cruise of 95-100mph.
We thanked him for drinks and fuel, and took off. He escorted us for a few miles, then turned back as he was getting a bit low on fuel. We headed north past MKV, then jumped back over into Louisiana Delta Plantation Farms again, down on the deck. We spotted a few nice whitetail bucks in the plantation hunting areas; one was a really fine 8-point that any hunter would gladly take.
We crossed the diversion canal, flew up it, then dove down into Catahoula Lake. The lake is down quite a bit, with lots of fairly smooth dry areas.....and we couldn't resist, so we landed to chat at another friend who had been out in his airboat. The lake bed was not quite as smooth as it looked from the air, but we managed not to break anything or leave important parts behind.
Flew around for a while looking things over, then climbed up to altitude and headed back. I broke off and headed to ESF, while the rest headed to L66. I landed at ESF, put Charlene in the hanger, and drove over to L66 for dinner and debriefing.
My Hobbs meter was showing a bit over 5 hrs run time for the day, and we "ballparked" the total distance at around 300 miles.
All in all, a pretty good Labor Day celebration.
Met up with a couple of friends in their light stuff; a Kolb Firestar and a Quicksilver GT400. We left L66 and flew over to HEZ, "crop dusting and aerial inspecting" the agricultural fields along the way. The corn has been harvested, the cotton will be next.
At HEZ we joinedup with another friend who was flying a C-150, and we borrowed the airport courtesy car to go eat lunch. Lunch was BBQ, at the Pigout Inn.
Afterwards, we drove back to the airport and just kinda "hung out", letting our meals settle and seeing all the improvements the new airport manager is starting.
Keith decided we didn't need to return to L66 just yet, so he came up with another plan, one that our buddy in the Cessna declined to join. We topped off our tanks, left HEZ, crossed back over the Mississippi River, and headed down the western levee to the south. Coming up on the Three Rivers Complex, we circled for a bit looking at it, then flew along the Achafalaya River till we got to Simmsport, where we landed at another aquaintainces's place.....he has two nice intersecting grass strips. He offered us water and Gatoraid(it was hot, and we were thirsty), and some more fuel. We took him up on all of it.
He showed us his newest "toy".....a brand new Calidus gyrocopter he recently completed and is flying off the 40 hrs after the A/W inspection. He fired it up and demonstrated it for us. It's a cool toy, and suprisingly fast: VNE is 120mph, with a max cruise of 95-100mph.
We thanked him for drinks and fuel, and took off. He escorted us for a few miles, then turned back as he was getting a bit low on fuel. We headed north past MKV, then jumped back over into Louisiana Delta Plantation Farms again, down on the deck. We spotted a few nice whitetail bucks in the plantation hunting areas; one was a really fine 8-point that any hunter would gladly take.
We crossed the diversion canal, flew up it, then dove down into Catahoula Lake. The lake is down quite a bit, with lots of fairly smooth dry areas.....and we couldn't resist, so we landed to chat at another friend who had been out in his airboat. The lake bed was not quite as smooth as it looked from the air, but we managed not to break anything or leave important parts behind.
Flew around for a while looking things over, then climbed up to altitude and headed back. I broke off and headed to ESF, while the rest headed to L66. I landed at ESF, put Charlene in the hanger, and drove over to L66 for dinner and debriefing.
My Hobbs meter was showing a bit over 5 hrs run time for the day, and we "ballparked" the total distance at around 300 miles.
All in all, a pretty good Labor Day celebration.
