Flight Log 19-Jun-10b

This is a return flight from Louisville, KY with a diversion to Vandalia, IL to avoid weather.

Lexington Approach handed me off to Louisville Approach. When I checked in with them, they told me to report airport in sight. I acknowledged. I was 20+ miles from the airport. I couldn't see it yet but picked out where I thought it was by about 15 miles out. I was sure by 10 so called and Approach told me to contact Tower. I acknowledged and switched frequencies.

I had the the weather. It was reporting wind varible at 6, runway 24 in use. Since my heading was 280, I figured I would get a left base for 24.

When I called Tower and reported 10 to the east, he cleared me for a straight in for 24. I acknowledged and turned right a little to get better lined up for a straight in.

There were 4 other planes in the area, 2 taking off, 1 on right base and 1 15 miles out. Tower told me to fly direct for the numbers and I would be number 2. I acknowledged, looked for the number 1 plane, and headed for the runway.

I had planned on doing 2 touch and gos before landing but with all the traffic I decided just to land and worry about it later.

As I was starting my turn off, Tower cleared us off at juliet (where I was headed) and asked where we wanted to go. I told him we were headed to Executive (I could see it ahead and to the left). He cleared us off juliet to the ramp, stay the same frequency. I acknowledged and headed in.

While we were wondering where to park, a lineman came out and directed me to park right in front of the building. I taxied in and shutdown.

Paul headed inside while I told the lineman to fuel the plane and talked with a guy that walked over and wanted to look at the plane.

Paul wondered if we had enough oil and checked. He thought we could use a quart. When asked what kind, we didn't know. It could be 15/50 or 20/50. Paul tried calling back to Spirit to find out. It took a few minutes to get an answer but when he did, it was 20/50. While he put the oil in the plane, I paid.

He had checked the weather while I was outside and was concerned about the storms that had been over Kansas City. Now they were headed for St Louis.

We decided to skip my other 2 planned stops and head directly back to see if we could beat the weather.

It is 235.8 miles direct from Bowman Field (LOU) back to Spirit (SUS). Since we would be going against the wind on the way back, I figured it would take about 2 hours to get back. We might beat the storms.

Since one of us had always been with the plane or always had it in sight, we didn't do a full pre-flight.

While I got in and got set up, Paul checked the fuel caps and made sure they were on and tight. It hadn't sat long enough for any water in the fuel to settle to the bottom so it wasn't worth checking the wing tanks.

It took two tries to get the engine started. The first time I closed the mixture too soon and didn't give it enough fuel. The second time it started and we were good to go.

I called Ground and said we were at Executive with Papa, ready to taxi for departure to the west. I was surprised when they asked if I wanted radar following. I had just been expecting to be cleared to runway 24 via Alpha.

I stumbled and then responded yes. He said to let him know when I was ready to copy.

He told me to fly an Initial Heading of 220, maintain vfr at 2,500, contact Louisville Tower on 124.2, squawk 4024.

I read back initial heading 220, maintain vfr, 124.2, 4024. He responded and repeated, maintain vfr at 2,500. I repeated maintain vfr at 2,500 back to him and he said readback correct. He told me to taxi to runwy 24 via Alpha. I acknowledged with taxi to 24 via Alpha and headed for the runway.

I stopped at the hold short line and did my runup to check the engine. Everything checked out and I called Tower to say I was at 24, ready to depart.

Tower cleared me for takeoff. I acknowledged cleared off 24, applied power, and started my takeoff roll.

I climbed up to 1,100 feet (about 600 feet above the ground) before turning slightly left to 220 degrees.

I called Louisville Tower, calling them Louisville Approach. They responded anyway and told me to turn to 090. I acknowledged and turned left. My on-course heading to Spirit was about 94 degrees so this was almost straight home.

Tower handed me off to Louisville Departure. They told me to stay north of the runway and I acknowledged and made a slight turn to the right, a heading of about 85 degrees.

When I was past the runways, Departure gave me a new frequency, I acknowledged and switched.

Departure cleared me to turn to on-course heading and to climb and maintain 4,500. I acknowledged, started up, and turned back on a direct course home.

When I reached 4,500 feet, there was a layer of clouds just above us. Departure cleared us to climb, altitude pilot's discression. I acknowledged and climbed up going under one cloud and then up and over another. With the clouds a little taller than I thought, I climbed up to 8,500 feet before leveling off. On the ground it was 87 degrees, up here is was 58.

Louisville Departure handed us off to Evanville Approach. I checked in with them, reporting at 8,500.

Since we were flying mid-day, I hadn't wanted to stop for a late lunch or an early dinner, so I had brought along snacks. Paul and I drank water and ate pretzels, apple bites, and cheese sticks.

We flew along looking at the clouds. Below us, they were puffy and spread out. Ahead of us you could just make out the storm clouds building.

As we flew along we decided to descend down to 6,500 in the hope of having less headwind and gaining a little speed. I called and let Evansville know. We picked up a few knots, but not much.

A little before we reached the Wabash River that separates Illinois from Indiana, Paul decided to call Flight Watch and get an update on the weather.

He dialed in 122.00 and called them saying we were near Huntingburg, listening on 122.00.

They came back and asked our location. Paul told them we were near Huntingburg (HNB). They acknowledged and said go ahead. Paul told them we wanted to know if we could get an update on the weather moving into St Louis.

He said there were Thunderstorms within 10 miles of Spirit. 35 miles wide, moving east at 35 knots.
     1.5 inch hail, 60 knots winds reported.
     At Spirit, few clouds at 4,000, overcast at 22,000.
     Wind from 320 @ 15 gusting 25.
     To the west, Thuderstorms and rain, 3,500 broken, 8,000 overcast.

He said we could fly towards Decatur, IL, then over to Burlington, IA, and try to come in behind it. This would have been 377 miles rather than the 175 to go direct.

Paul and I decided we didn't want to take his suggestion. It would be almost 3 hours. Rather than that we decided we would land short and wait for the storm to pass over.

Since Paul is instrument rated, we could file an IFR flight plan and fly back in the clouds once the heavy rain was past.

We talked about where to go. We talked about pushing on to Centralia (ENL) or Mount Vernon (MVN) before finally deciding on turning northwest and heading for Vandalia. We figured by being a little north, the storm would pass by us to the south and we could get behind it faster.

By now we were 4 miles past the Samsville VOR. I turned and headed for Vandalia 55 miles away.

I called Kansas City Approach and let them know we were diverting to Vandalia to avoid the weather.

We watched the clouds building off our left and listened to skydivers at Vandalia, Carmi, and somewhere else.

When we were about 10 miles from Vandalia, I reported the airport in sight and Center said there was no other traffic between us and the airport, frequency changed approved, have a good day.

I acknowledged and switched, calling Vandalia, reporting our position and saying we would be landing on runway 27. The winds were reporting 260 at 4.

The jump plane was already down and though we looked, we never saw any skydivers.

We were looking for a parking space with tie down ropes to hold the plane if the winds were as strong as reported, or even less.

There was one spot with ropes, but it only had 2. The right wing and tail. We took it.

While I got my times, Paul tied down the plane and went and checked out the building. You had to use the CTAF code to open the door. Inside there was a nice little lounge with a computer screen showing the current local weather.

There was a mouse, but no keyboard. You could see the current local information, but you couldn't look beyond that.

Paul used his new phone and checked the weather. The storm was still coming but was off a ways.

We waited around a few minutes then decided to try to get to Litchfield. Paul said there would be more there if we had to wait a while and that would put us a little more to the north and hopefully the storm would pass us sooner.

This time we did only minor checks of the plane before starting. We had seen a few other people around one of the buildings, but no one had come anywhere near our plane.

I reported back taxiing on runway 27 before entering the runway. I taxied down, turned about, got lined up, reported taking off, runway 27 and with full power, was up in the air again.