From North to South - Trip Summary

The pace of the journey down from Chicago to New Orleans was constant but un-strenuous. We where only once held up by the weather. The aviation community provided all that we needed and more than we would even have expected. Everyday was different and presented new challenges. As a pilot I was challenged on many occasions and constantly found myself managing and minimizing risk. It was amazing dropping in on random towns along the Mississippi and beyond, according to odd factors such as runway directions, facilities and atmospheric conditions,for example. Where ever we landed we where confronted with something different that we had no pre-requisite of, we just landed there because we needed to or wanted to.

The journey across the USA north to south basically got in the pace of a morning flight for 1-1.5 hrs, arrive at airport, relax, jump in the courtesy car, eat lunch, tour town, fill up gas, come back to terminal, snooze, then fly in the afternoon to our next destination. As we got further south the local's would be increasingly amused that we had flown our little aircraft from Chicago. In the rural south there was definitely a reticence and an initial barrier to cross. The rural southern seem to be on there guard at first. After all we were foreigners in an alien aircraft!!! (or more correctly aliens in a foreign aircraft). They were really friendly, once they established what we were doing there !

Some of the things we saw and heard on this leg amazed, shocked and/or stunned us. Unfortunately we are often not in a situation where we can easily pull out the camera and start recording, (like when we where hauled in to the sheriff car in Mississippi),without breaking the flow of conversation or ruining the situation. I guess these moments belong to the traveler yet we share these as best we can in written form below.



The Actual Route and Basic Stats from North to South

10 days, 850 Nautical Miles, 18 hour of flight,300 liter of petrol (79 gallons)

Click to enlarge map.

Day 10 - Britney land - by Anna Klara

You won't believe it but Britney is just a normal girl!!!!

Landing at the McComb airport - which incorporates the county that tops the list for the most young single mothers in the States, was rather entertaining. The minute we stepped inside the pilots lounge, Mr McComb - the very outspoken airport manager, a retired Vietnam veteran - had more stories than Jesus to tell us. We sat back and listened and then were made to listen some more. We don't know what happened with that day but it was all a bunch of fun.
(Photo taken of photo at terminal building)

Everywhere we go we learn something new. Whether it is useful or not is a different story. This time it was all about Britney Spears. How Mr McComb has had to fight off outrageous papparazzis and how Mr McComb blaintly asked Britney why she kissed Madonna at the awards.
- Well you see Mr McComb (she still calls him Mr despite her fame) it wasn't me, Madonna lipp locked me.......... as you do!
When Britney landed at Mr McCombs airport following this event she had to hitch as her mum did not approve of such behavior....... we all have a mother!

We also learned what he thought about those damn yankies from up north and how to treat trespassers. Mr McComb had quite some distinct opinions which he wasn't shy to share with us. Though our stop offs we met many ex -force personnel. A distinct advantage given many had served with Australian soldier while on tour and would often have a memorable story to tell about some crazy Aussie in a bar in Saigon for example.

Day 9 - No where to land

After we took off from Vicksburg we soon found ourselves in low level cloud. The decision was made to fly above the cloud in much better visability and away from the high rise communication mast that are prevalent in the USA. It is alway a little errily flying with no sight of land in and aircraft with basic instruments. I alway kept sight of a hole as we flew and had to eventually excise the option as the cloud just became thicker and thicker.
A steep bank controlled spiral dive got us threw the last remaining hole in the clouds and back into relatively low viability and mild mechanical turbulence. The joys of VFR cross country flying.

Below is a 20 second video of diving through the cloud hole. Click on the play button below,(you may have to click it twice to get it started) Should play instantly if you have broadband.Enjoy !

We we arrived at Natchez to be greeted by another ground controller this time with much less enthusiasm than the last ground controller how gave us the full salut.

Life on the road - too hot to sit in the car even at night. Anna-Klara stealing bandwidth and you though Swede's were pretty straight ah !!

Day 8 - Riding the Batmobile

We were glad to be out of last nights hell hole and happy to be landing at VICKSBURG TALLULAH. We where given the royal treatment with one of the ground staff waving us in to our parking spot like the they do for the big jet liners. It did make us laugh but like the professional team we are ,we pretended it was normal !!! :-)

The staff were extra helpful and welcoming. We had wireless internet, air conditioning, tv and the usually big pilot lounge. We were offered the BATMOBILE for a courtesy car. This van was something special and became the cruisemobile for rides into town for lunch, petrol and to try and find Pennzoil air cooled 2 stroke oil (do you think we could anywhere?). We even slept in the Batmobile before we took off the next morning.

We went for a local flight later that morning to go visit the local Ultralight field. On the way back we watched the cropdusters from what seem like way above at 500ft. We watched this pilot go right under low level power lines in his pursuit of excellence in spraying.

The girls from the local Cessna service centre let us put MR P out of the sun in a huge cold hangar. All was set and we headed down to the local Casino.

It is amazing what facilities there are, and how easy accessible they are to pilot.
People in aviation special, there is still a trust in the community that allows fantastic good will to be given and received.

Day 7- Good town good cops. Bad town bad cops

With a beautiful fly day expected and many an air mile planned we started this day early.
Slim flew with us in his trike from his home strip for the first 15 NM of the leg. We said goodbye via the radio and thanked him for his help and hospitality. We where all alone again in a beautiful blue sky with so much space around us. Anna-Klara was in the back using the laptop to navigate and play mp3 music through the aircrafts intercom. The air was so smooth I was able to let go of the control bar and steer using the wind resistant on the front wheel as I turned it with my feet.

This was a perfect day flying. It was so calm and beautiful and every one else was at work!!! It is times like this that we would just set up there in the sky and count our blessings. The dream was coming even more alive for us.
(Photo courtesy of Slim, click to enlarge)



(Photo of catfish ponds Mississippi Delta)

We flew for a 1.5 hours to land at a deserted airport by Water Valley, Mississippi. With no access to town we flew out of there quick smart, due south, to an x airforce base with 3 huge runways. At first there was a lot of heated discussion with Miss Navigator in the back seat who insisted we where at the right airport. We were, but I did not expect an airfield the size of London's Heathrow Airport. The little mosquito landed and taxied to the terminal. Time to chill.

That afternoon after a trip to town, we flew on for the best flight of the trip so far. In 32 degree c (90 F)we flew onto the Mississippi delta and were gifted by some very accommodating thermal there saw us circle up 500 Ft per minute letting us see even more landscape and cooling us off as we rose higher.
As we approached our destination airport Lake Providence we were beginning to be hit by a storm front some 4 MN off. I pulled on some speed and we clear the rough air.

On our final approach we where cut off from underneath by a crop duster ! 200ft separated us. God is good !!!
I circled to allow his vertex turbulence to settle and landed. He apoligised and said he did not see me. They don't use the radio out here we said ! Not a close one but close enough !


Danger on the ground !

Once we had tied down MR P we grabbed a ride into town with one of the crop duster pilots. We grabbed a beer and then some food and headed back to the airport on foot which seemed pretty normal to us but not to the local sheriff. Apparently this was not just your average local town and we were fair game for the murderers, rapists and robbers particularly as foreigners. The sheriff himself made us get in his big disgusting oversize truck.

The sheriff himself was huge and overweight. His attitude to us changed once he realised we were not necessarily vagrants but travellers just passing through.
The craziest thing to us was one of his first questions was "are you carrying guns?". When we got into the car our uneasiness with sheriff himself was not abaited when he put the car into gear and the doors locked. (Modern American cars do this automatically, but we're not used to this). He then called on the radio that he had two on board, it was like we had just been arrested. He dropped us off the airport and promised to step up patrols around us that night.

Not 5 minutes had gone by before the first cop car started shying its lights on us.
After circling around for a while, the cop drove up to us and began telling us town tales. He was very concerned when we told him we were sleeping by the aircraft that night and proceeded to shine his torch into the bushes looking for "cold blooded predators" as he called them. The whole situation was unbelievable, and rattled us a fair bit. He told us the main cause of a lot of the current violence in this town was due to hurricane Katrina.

"when that hurricane came through it blew all of the shit from there all over the country".

The night we spend there was the most uneasy night I have ever spent anywhere. We learnt when we got to the next town that the National Guard had been called in to Lake Providence recently to restore order. This experience amazed us as usually crime is only bad in big cities around the world, not in small country towns. You live and you learn I guess.

Day 6 - Big bad Slim

The mission today was to make it to Slim's Lambert home strip. The weather was quite settled all day, which allowed for a late start and flying all day. We stopped off in Savannah Tennessee after 2 hours in the air and had catfish for lunch. (We were in catfish country the local told us). After lunch we flew to find Slim's magnificent airstrip. We landed at about 2pm right in the heat of the day with a few thermals popping off.


Slim, a giant of a man, with a big heart more than happy to provide some vital mechanical support as we swapped triking stories. My 582 was running rich and always had since berth. Slim showed me the trick of lowering the clip in the carbs to lean it out a bit. It worked wonders, with a saving on fuel economy of 2 liter (1/2 a gallon) and hour. We also cleaned the plugs and re-oiled the oil filter. It was nice to have access to a full set of tools and some good advice.


After that we went for a fly over some magnificent tiger country and had to get back before a storm approached! Both our trikes had Airborne Cruz Wings. The extra weight of two up had me flying about 2 knot faster than Slim's Apex Cross-5X base with the lighter 503.

Slim's mate Dale took me for a ride in he's 1946 Cessna 140. This aircraft is a fully restored Tail Dragger. I had never been in a tail dragger before and was very excited. It amazes me how little aircraft have changed fundamentally in all these years. At the end of this short clip we fly over Dale's house and he shows me his short airstrip in his front yard !! Apparently Dale gets on fine with his neighbour's !! Check this out.

(The following clip should play instantly with broadband. Just click on the play button twice.)

Day 5 - Stranded in Paris

Stranded in Paris

After a fair bit of early morning rain, the skies cleared out enough for take off from Paris. We loaded up the trike and took off heading south. After only 4 Nm the cloud base dropped right over us and forced us to return. Visibility was dangerously low.

Our return was spotted by one of the local ultra light pilots who can over from the other side of the field and ask us what was up. The old pilots name was Joel and he was quite a character. We sat around talking for the rest of the afternoon about flying in Alaska, flying around prisoners, his job working for the sheriff spotting marijuana crops and crop-dusting in ultralights. Joels Quicksilver Ultralight was set up and used for crop-dusting.

Joel owned a fuel truck with MOGAS, so he went home to get it and when he came back to the airport we top up MR P’s tank ready for the next break in the weather. Joel, being head of the local pilot association, also arranged for us to sleep in the Terminal building and drove us down to the shop to get some food for the night. It was a fantastic afternoon, it was great to be stranded in Paris. Like most people in aviation and, Joel was genuinely happy to be of help.

Day 4 - Flying to Paris

20th May 2006
In the early hours of the morning the emergency helicopter returned from its mission. Sleeping out in the open
you tend to be on guard as a natural instinct, so a chopper is not going to have a hard time waking you up
especially when it land 150 ft from Trike and You ! I was concerned the rotor down draft would........ blow Mr P around and I was ready to spring up and hold him down if necessary. I am sure the chopper crew would have had a good laugh at a guy in a panic holding down his aircraft with just his underpants on but there was no wind from the chopper at all. I don’t get it.

Just after first light we were off. We had to skip the invite to “the fly in” up North and fly South. The primary GPS failed about 30 minutes into the flight so we got out the back up. No problem. By the time we had booted up the second GPS we where in site of another random airport we could have landed at. We decided to push on to Paris, yes Paris, Tennessee and landed there in nil wind after breaking back down though the inversion layer which saw a 20 knot cross wind 800 ft off the deck.
The Airport Terminal opened at 8am. We scammed the courtesy car and went into town for breakfast after checking emails in the Pilot,s lounge. The folks are real friendly yet a little guarded at first compared to further up North.


GET A HAIRCUT WATCH A FIGHT !

It was haircut time and what better way to hear about life in a small country town in Tennessee than going to the hairdresser. The hairdresser girls where really friendly and invited us to a country dance that evening. We could not miss out on this cultural experience.
The local country club was the venue where we met our hairdresser host, Chaunda, who introduced us to her boyfriend, Matt, a cool calm fellow. We chatted for a while until Matt offered to buy a round of drinks. While at the bar Chaunda’s X husband punched Matt. (as you seemingly do !!). After a scuffle at the bar, Matt asked him outside and waited at the exit door. Mr X- husband then came running across the room towards Matt and a fairly decent fight broke out at the door. Chaunda was calm and wasn’t getting involved at all which we found really strange. She stood away and calmly told us about small town politics as her boyfriend and x husband slugged it out.
Here is some footage of our hosts getting kicked out of the party. What a strange night.

Day 3 - Meeting the Farmer

Early enough in the morning we pulled Mr P out of the hangar and packed him up ready to fly down the Mississippi River, something I had wanted to do for a long time, this was the DREAM. We took off and flew over the river and enjoy the scenary and many barges along the way. We had fun playing with the inversion layer (cold air on the ground trapped by warm air above it) . The temperature difference was distinct at 800 ft. If it began to get a little cold we would climb up to the warm air and vice versa.Quite funny as usually it is colder the higher you go. Lots of fun.

Quarry spotted with load of working barges.




















Here is a short video showing part of our flight down the river set to music. Enjoy ! It's a nice feeling of freedom, just the two of us out there alone, flying down one of the world great big dirty rivers. !!



NOW NEED WE SAY MORE. I AM SURE WE CAN LET THE PICTURES TELL THE STORY OF THIS LITTLE ADVENTURE. (click on the photo to see bigger version)






WE took off from the farmer's paddock after the wind dropped right off and we flew South East onto Cairo Airport which was all but deserted. With light fading we set off to investigate a few other nearby airports. We eventually settling on a private airfield called West Kentucky. A local ultralight pilot ran us down to the gas station for fuel and FOOD !! We where starving after waiting out in the farmers field all day for the wind to bloody drop.

We slept on the tarmac that night as the Pilot's Lounge was being rebuilt. The local Rescue Helicopter based here took off just as we where falling asleep which made us laugh as we knew it likely would be back later to wake us up !!

Day 2 - 30 Nautical Miles to Ralph Jacob Airstrip

An early start to beat the high wind predicted later in the day. We got Airborne again at about 7:30 am and tracked South West to meet up with Ed a local triker who had kindly offered a place to stay and a place to hanger the Trike overnight. The little grass strip is located about 20 mile South of St Louis just off the Mississippi River. It was a challenge..... finding the strip even with a GPS. Anna Klara spotted it as I flew around and we then landed in light winds and lay down in the sun to warm up a little.

Ed gave me the lock code to sneak my trike in the shared Hangar. The owner of the place turned up later and ran us into town for lunch and petrol. Such friendly helping people these trikers (ultralight) bunch in the USA, just like the crew in Australia.

The party began with the arrival of BOB, one of ED’s mate, also a pilot. Quite a character, who turned out to be like ED, i.e. 40 – 50 years old still with the spirit of a teenager. Brilliant!!! Ed arrived with some beers and we lit the BBQ outside the old barn come hangar.

Check this out for a flying machine. GO BOB we love your work!!

Day 1 - It finally arrived

17th of May 2006

The day was a 5 o’clock start. Out to the airfield to meet our pre- prepare fully packed and fueled up Flying Machine. No wind on the ground and clear crisp blue skies, it was the beginning that we had hoped for. We said our goodbyes to our most helpful fellow triker friend, warmed up the engine and taxied out to the dew covered grass strip.

A little nervous but mostly excited, it was time to begin what we had planned to be a long and successful trip covering many miles across the USA. Destination unknown. With a final wave to the crowd we imagine was there to see us off, I flattened the little 2 stroke 582 engine and we began speeding down the grass strip.

With all our gear, 2 up with a full load of fuel off a wet grassy strip, it took what seemed forever to clear the ground.Finally we where in the air and with the help of a nice tailwind we had clicked over our first of mile of many. YEEERRRR HHHHHAAHHHHH the journey has finally begun.

STOP 1 DAY 1

We decided to land after about 80 minutes of flying for a stretch. I picked an airport from my GPS and we entered the circuit pattern and landed. The local pilots there came over and had a good laugh at what we where looking to do in such a small aircraft.

“Well today is coffee and donuts day upstairs” one of them announced in a big American accent, inviting and almost forcing us to come along.

---America where pilots fly their plane hundreds of miles for morning donuts---


STOP 2 DAY 1

We flew on. Grabbing the nice tailwind and heading south for the heat. Spotting a power station we flew around it. This is a requirement in the USA since 911. We ended up with an empty petrol tank at Greenville Airport, Illinois. With the wind now up to 20 knots we decided to stay the night there and see the town. This meant missing a BBQ that the pilots from Ralph Jacobs Field was warming up along with cold beers they promised were waitng for us. But that is triking sometimes. A cold front came through not some after came through with rain squalls attached so we felt we made the right decision not too push on.

It was game on in Greenville. I discovered that there is this courtesy car system in the USA for pilots to get into town. What a laugh!! Grabbing the keys I went to surprised Anna-Klara who was with the Trike and who became very excited when I turnup in our new found friend, BETTY.Here she is our saviour from hunger and gateway to adventure in Greenville.



















Driving into town for a meal we stopped off at the local cattle sales.Try talk faster than this guy and have a look at the young steer karate kick on the left hand corner of the screen. (click on play button, best with broadband and sound)



The manager of Greenville Airport was ever so helpful and friendly, letting us take a shower at his place and sleep in the pilot lounge at the airport that night. We made some Skype calls using the broadband internet access provided there. The Trike was in a nice cosy hanger out of the wind. We cooked up a nice warm meal in the kitchen-ette and watched relax back on the lounge/beds in front of the big screen TV. God bless America, heh !