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Destination - Unknown
My trip started as a normal flight on Monday, March 22, with a temperature of 14 degrees. After packing 22 pts. of oil and jump starting the engine, I was wheels-up at 7a.m. Having a range of 50 miles, my first land stop was Wausau. Because of the tail wind, I made it 90 miles to Waupaca. At this point, the temperature at 4000 ft was only 12 degrees. After re-fueling, I was now headed for the Watertown airport with an increased tail wind of 27 mph. I re-fueled there and took off for Poplar Grove, IL. where I made my third cross-wind landing of the day. I departed for DeKalb, where upon making my last cross-wind for the day, my left, rear, gear collapsed. Decided upon by my nerves, I called it a day and tried to find a ride to Chicago.
The following morning I departed from DeKalb and arrived at Popular Creek where I found a nine knot wind. I followed my arrival path back, but didn’t stop in Watertown because I had enough fuel. I called Dodge County on radio and was informed that the surface winds were nineteen knots and gusting to twenty nine knots! Turning into the wind, I worried when my GPS ground speed dropped to 8 mph. I flared for landing and immediately started to be pulled backwards. I responded by giving it gas and finally landed doing sixty mph. After a wild taxi to the gas pumps, the attendant rushed out and chucked the plane. We had started to re-fuel when the plane took off by itself. We ran like hell to chase it down! After an adventurous ordeal, I spent the night in a hotel.
With a 6 a.m. departure, I was headed to Waupaca. However, due to the 13 knot head-wind, I was forced to land in an open-water lake to re-fuel. After more turbulence and a 16 knot wind, I made a cross-wind landing at Waupaca. From Waupaca to Wausau, I experienced a 13 knot wind, even more turbulence, and another re-fueling, this time on a frozen lake. At 10a.m., I called it a day and called home, requesting a ride. But my adventure wasn’t over yet.
On Thursday I flew from Wausau with more turbulence and a 9 knot wind to my home in Tomahawk. I hugged the ground and yelled "I’m Alive!" Am I glad I took the trip? Yes. Would I do it again? No... Well, maybe... |