The journey as it was .

The mission was to quit work, go travelling through China and South America, learn to fly my trike over summer in Australia, then export the Australian made aircraft to the USA and plan a mission there. Certainly eventually I would have to go back to work, the plan was to look for work over in the USA as we flew. Also, it the back of my mind I knew the baby story was creeping into Anna-klara and my life, and I though it best to live this dream before we had a young one. Well it happened

A baby is born

It seem to work out, 9 months later was back at work with an amazing array of experience in the fun bag ! The flying across the USA with Anna-klara in our trike together was the bee knee's of it all. We were pinching ourselves as we flew around feeling free, with no fixed agenda, no destination and no jobs to think about. The USA is extremely well set up for flying, with many smaller airports/private airstrips with really good facilities. The flying community are so friendly and so people go out of there way to help you. WE had everything we needed along the way, the best bit was we had time to stop and here the stories and met other local pilot. Often we would have the change to go on a local tour on the ground and in the air, experience many other aircraft and forms of aviations.


One our first landing we where met by a report who wanted to know all the details of the journey.

The reporter's report

We did not have any firm plans other than to fly down the Mississippi to New Orleans from Chicago. I did not have a job at that stage in the US and did not have a fixed base. We had our aircraft and sleeping bag, clothes, laptop and a few spares and that was us.Basically the plans were to make it up as we went along and that is what made it so relaxing and extentedour feeling of freedom.(Free in the land of the free ?) The report written outlined a trip across to the West Coast. It turned out the wind was blowing us toward the East Coast and Florida. With a strong flying community who reached out to us, we headed down Florida way and then found ourselves flying up the East Coast.




Above is the actual flight path. It turned out to be over 3500 miles which worked out about 70 hours with our wheels off the desk in a little trike and a trusty GPS to navigate with. The whole trip got better and better as we sunk into life in and out of low traffic airports, relaxing further and further, spellbound with what we were experiencing. The rhythm of the road is as it is in the air. We soon became accustomed to flying into airports, finding the facilities we needed,( bed , shower, weather information, internet, fuel and in most cases a courtesy car to get into town for food) and setting down with a local over a beer to share stories. Sometimes these necessities would find us! The flying experience during the day put us on high that was often sustained in the evening as we were seeing life on the ground from up close too.

This blog goes into these details. It was written to encourage everyone to take that step towards that adventure they dream of. It also was aget tool at the time to link up with local pilot as we flew. It worked and will serve as a record and a reminder to us of what we were :-) !!!!!

The whole experience strengthened Anna Klara and my relationship. We lived this adventure out together, work as a team in the air and on the ground to pull off the business end of the trip like finding best next landing spot given the weather and refuelling requirements. The most amazing experience and bonding experiences were on the occasions we got ourselves into serious danger in the air and needed to worked together to come through unscathed. Things do get kaotic when the weather turns or the expected becomes the unexpected. WE worked together to over come these and lived to tell the tale.


It would not be the trip it was without these"specially bonding" moments of danger yet for the most part the time together in the cockpit was spent chatting or just gazing at the amazing US countryside passing underneath us. We would chat about the people we meet at the last landing spot , with the conversation getting more intense the further South we fly !!! (dame crazy Southerners make interesting conversation). A lot of the time was also spent silent in the air as we took in the landscape. It was not hard to be simply awestruck but what we were seeing and having the absolutely privilege to experience. As we flew in and out of places, we made sure we did the right things by the locals, this form of adventure across a country in a ultra light aircraft seemed a hidden secret that knowbody else had discovered.It is a little secret and I feel privileged that you can share this little dream of ours and able to see and feel what we did. Never doubt your imagination!

Highlights

So the highlight section is hard as I could talk forever and there also seem to be something on any given day on the trip that was gave us a thrill. Don't forget we where foreigner in a strange place..some of the towns we flew into where quite remote and strange places.This add to the adventure and made us realise the extremes of the USA. One country many people and many divisions.

As we flew South from Chicago things became even more interesting.The highlight across the trip where in order of there appearance where:

Landing in a farmer's field

The fight in Paris

Danger on the ground

Flying in the eagle

Landing on the beach- the dream

Almost eating the trees at Buddy's RV park

Engine issues and the fantastic forced landing spot

All these are fanastistic but it was often the simply things that made being alive and flying so memorable. Cross-country flying was knew to us both , the biggest thrill, buzz an highlight for me overall was the lifestyle of living with the weather.yes been a weatherman !!! ? In real life, I am not in a position to live by the weathered on a daily basis.Living by the weather put me in touch for nature and myself/ourselves.With any worries and with having a job 7 month behind me at that stage, I was in a position to get ot know myself again after 10 years in a career.

It was fanastic to be a homeless , jobless pilot on an adventure without a destination or end date.anna kalra was right into that too and it made for a fun time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How high did you usually fly ?

Mostly we flew as low as we could safely fly. Generally we would fly about 1000ft to 1500ft above the ground to allow us to view life in the USA. Going up high is generally colder and you see less detail.
Trike are great viewing platforms as they fly relative slow, you can easily circle around a pack of sharks or dolphin or a house fire on the ground or more challenging is catching thermals.

How fast did you fly ?

The speed of the trike across the ground depends on the wind, it is usually either with you or against you!! The trike flys at about 50 knots. (55 miles or 92 km/h). With a strong tail wind you can see a ground speed of 70 knots with a headwind you can be moving at just 30 knots across the ground. (trucks overtake you it is reallly embarassing ! ). Generally we were able to avoid flying into a headwind as we had no real destination on a given day. WE would either head a different direction or spend less time in the air.

In generally aircraft spend 2/3 of there airtime in headwind as opposed to tailwind. It took us a while to work out why this would be the case but it make sense.


Where did you sleep at night?

Over the 40 days we spent 3 nights in hotels, about 15 nights sleeping at the airfield , either sleeping under the wing or in the airport lounge, clubhouse or somewhere else suitable. (back of the courtesy car/van). The rest of the time we where put up in fellow pilots houses or just curious onlookers how saw to us having a place to sleep, sometimes a real bed and shower for the night. So many great people.

Do you use a radio to talk to other aircraft and towers?

Our trike was fitted out with a good radio. This allowed us to do the usually call sign and radio call procedure while operating in controlled airspace. The radio was handy as it allow us to listen into the recored weather at the next landing as well. Knowing the weather and the wind is vital for survival in an ULTRA-light aircraft !


Did you ever get into trouble and thought that there might be tears when the flying stoped ?

A couple of times we where in serious trouble and fearing that it was all going to end in tears. The first time was on Day 3 when we had to land on a farmer's field by the Mississippi River. SEE DAY 3.

The second time we almost ran out of runway and almost ended up in the trees with a costly bill.

You live and you learn. Ah
At the time these little "events" where happening I was just hoping we would make it down alive and in one piece. Destroying the aircraft was a price I was more than willing to pay as long as we survived.


They say at these times "it is better been on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground" Great advice , ah !!!


How did you navigate?

Anna-Klara was the navigator in the back seat of the Trike. She had a laptop on her lap that had Aeronautical charts that told us about airspaces etc. The laptop was connecting to a GPS device via Bluetooth. The laptop have a battery life of two -three hours and we have the ability to plug it in onboard, but never had to.


How much fuel can you carry? What is the range of the trike?

The trike takes 70 litres or 18 US gallons to fill it. This allows for about 4 hours running to dry with the engine we where running. Of course we never ran the tank dry but we got close once and resort to landing in a field? !

The range of the trike between fuel stops is about 180 Nautical miles, realistically.

Little Zac

Zacy tree at 12 weeks














Zacy tree at 3 weeks below

Conceived in Chicago and born in the UK, little Zac had already lived in 3 homes before we was born. His vagrant parents had taken him across the Atlantic and put him in the trusted care of the NHS health service of Great Britain. He survived and is now prospering not far from a great town called "Swindon" in pretty little village called Bourton.

Zac was born on the 4th of August at 9:10pm at night. This was Zac's Australian Great Grandmothers birthday and also Zac's Swedish Grandfathers named day in Sweden. (in Sweden every day of the year has a name day, the 4th of August was "Arne day" the name of Zac late Grandfather who dies of cancer some 2 years ago). We feel they where both meddlingly in our affairs from above and happy to have Zac arrive to us on this significant date.

So ZAC Arne DE HENNIN it was and as Anna-Klara and I are discovering, will be for some time to come. We love our little man and happy for him to disturb the peace!
Firstly here are some shot of the little fella, and below is a little video of him.(no not the birth)



Zac and Papa




Here a little clip of Zacy giving greesy looks to his PAPA. We where accusing him of doing a poo poo in his pants. I reckon he told be to shoosh ( watch is finger go up to his mouth) and then gave we a dirty looks.......but I might just be a over zealous Dad's how think his child is amazing......you be the judge !!!

Day 40 - A new home

8 am and we were in a big truck with our much loved aircraft in the back bounding for our new home. Over the mountains it rained and rained. This was weather that would have ended up on our potential flight path up the East Coast. That helped ease the pain I was feeling from having to end our journey and go back to business!!

We were on the mission to get to Chicago, drop the trike off at its new home at Cushing Airfield and leg it out of there. We slept in the back of the Truck that night and woke early to finish the trip back to Cushing.

The arrival back at Cushing Airfield, Chicago represented to us the full circle on an amazing trip across the USA covering many states, climates and smiling friendly people. It would take a few weeks to understand what we had accomplished and to really set it.

Out of respect we immediately unpacked the trike, assembled it and all three of us went for a fly ! Anna-Klara, MR P and me where all together again where we felt we belonged!! It was strange just doing a circle and landing at the same airfield!!

Day 39 - On the hunt for a truck

Day 39 was “trying” to stay the leash. Ed came back and met us in the morning.
I explained our exit strategy and he was good enough to help us track down a suitable U – Haul truck and drove us to pick it up. It was not as easy as that. UHAUL had some surprises for us. To cut a long story short, UHAUL on the phone were telling us that International Drivers licences were fine for renting a truck, while the local agent was saying it wasn’t. We had to go to a different UHAUL agent to get a truck after much debate and time loss. We where stuck having to rent UHAUL because no other rental companies had any trucks left on a Friday afternoon. The plan just came off. Without a truck we would have had to leave the trike and fly out from Richmond to Chicago and pick the trike up later.

We picked the truck up and loaded the Trike that evening. Ed knew the local town manager and he came down to the airport and we lifted the trike base into the truck with no dramas. The wing went in and we tied him down properly. It was getting late and after saying our thanks and goodbye's to Ed we stayed our last night in the airport terminal and prepared to head out in the morning. The flying was over but we still had some interesting country to cover back to Chicago.

Day 38 - All good things comes to an end

A very early start had us taxi-ing out to the runway just on first light. With no other traffic around I did a radio call any way. To our surprise an emergency chopper called in stating it was crossing the field at low level on its way to drop causality off to the local hospital. It flashed by while we where on the ground. We lined up and took off carefully following the interstate while we monitored the engine. We climbed to about 3000 ft and worked together to keep safe.

The 3 hour flight went without a hitch. It was clear the issue was resolved, although extra caution would be taken in the next few hours to be sure. We flew over CREW airfields where we where meeting up with Ed a fellow triker who spent a lot of time flying in Cambodia. I cut the engine at about 2500 ft above the runway to practise a glide approach. At 1000 ft we entered the circuit pattern only to spot things moving on the runway. I turned the engine back on as it was not the time to play!!! It turned out to be the local municipality workers cutting the runway edges. We flew over their heads and landed much to their surprise.

We called up Ed who was about 1 hour away. I took the opportunity to do some further test flights by myself. All went well and it was nice to have growing confidence back in the old girl. It was also nice to fly on my own and do a few things that you wouldn’t do with another life on board.

Ed rocked up and we put the Trike in a spare hangar and headed up into the hills. Why? It was hot really hot and swimming in the hills was to bring great relieve. Ironically and strangely later that day on the way home we found a Thai restaurant in the middle of no-where. Yes the food was great, how else would they survive out there.

Ed took us back to town and put us up in one of the local hotels before he headed back to Richmond. That afternoon I received a call from the company that I had accepted a job with. They had the paper work ready and needed me to go back to Australia to start my US work visa process. It was time to make a break.
Lot went through me mind! This was an abrupt but necessary ending to our little adventures. The decision to either leave the trike there in Virginia and exit via JFK Airport or to truck it back to Chicago needed to be made. With lag times, ticket purchasing and the need to hangar my trike in a safe place we came up with a solution.

The cleanest move seemed to be to put the trike on a truck and go for it. . We decided to put Mr P in a UHAUL rental truck and to have tickets ready for us in Chicago to Sydney .We did the above although it hurt in theour hearts a little.

Day 37 - In a little pickle

It was time to leave John and the troops at Waxhall private airstrip. Even though I had test flown the trike sole and it was running fine after our fuel starvation issue, I was of course a little apprehensive to take another soul on board. We packed the trike and said our goodbyes. With nil wind we headed for the uphill end of the runway. After a 1 minute full power test on the ground, I released the brake and headed for the skies again. The climb out seemed to take forever, although all was normal. Anna-Klara put me on course for Burlington. It was nice to be in the air and the country was opening up. We flew over farms and small hills and over a fantastic dam.

Still keeping an eye on the engine instruments we flew up to 4000ft and right over a medium sized airfield. On the radio we heard a Private Corporate JET lining up on the runway way below us. The pilot called that he was taking off to the North, clear of us and we watch the JET from way above. It was amazing the climb rate. It was at our height within 2 minutes and gone completely out of sight not much longer after that. Such a great sight to observe from the sky.

We flew on and began our descent into Burlington airport. At 2000ft but not far from the airport we struck issues again. The EGT’s began to rise a little and we experience power loss not within glide distance. I eased the throttle and the EGT came back to normal. I called into the CTAF airport frequency, stating I had engine issues and could I jumped the queue to land. Other aircraft called back saying it was fine and wished us luck!!! Thanks guys!

We landed without issue and where left wondering what to do from here. Unfortunately it was a fairly busy corporate jet type airport where we landed. The airport manager was more of a money grabber than a true aviator a heart. Ironically we had landed at the most unfriendly airport where we needed help the most.

For the first time we felt like in A BIG HOLE. I rang the guys from Airborne and talked them through the issues. I also put out a post one the Trike Internet Groups EnginesUL. With some great ideas I attacked the most obvious part - first cleaning the fuel filter out -of its maintenance schedule. It was full of crap! It might just be that I picked up some dirty fuel. I cleaned the filter and checked a few other things. The test run went fine. We prepared to cautiously head out in the morning opting to stay in a hotel as there was not much love at that airport.