Key West Trip 2008

[Birddog]

On November 28, 2008 my Son Mark and I flew in my Series 6 Kitfox from our home base in Warrenton, Virginia to Key West, Florida for a few days in the warm Sunny South. It was colder than usual in Virginia at that time and we looked forward to some warmer temperatures. We were accompanied by two of my pilot friends in their Piper Cherokee. We had two fuel stops along our route south at Orangeburg, NC (OGB) and Brunswick, GA (SSI) with a nights stopover at Fort Pierce, FL (FPR). Heads winds and poor visibility (light rain and 1200 foot ceilings) in the Savanna, GA area extended our flight time beyond daylight hours resulting in a night landing at Fort Pierce. I do have landing and taxi lights, but the panel lighting was inadequate. Mark, holding a flashlight on the panel instruments, eliminated a lot of the unknown.

The next morning we all took off for the last non stop leg to Key West, flying low over the long chain of the Florida Keys. We entered the Keys over Key Largo, then the six islands of Islamorada, Marathon, Big Pine Key, and finally Key West. Key West is the most southern point in the Contiguous U.S.A., only 90 miles from Cuba. Another point of fact; in 2002 I flew to Point Barrow, Alaska which happens to be the most northern point of land in the U.S.A. Our friends later said we flew very close to a large tethered balloon which we never saw. The winds must have blown it well over its restricted area shown on the charts. If you are not looking right at it, it is hard to see. The Key West International Airport (EYW) is so close to the Key West Naval Air Station that the two airspaces overlap. The Navy Tower does not like general aviation aircraft to penetrate their airspace, so give it a wide berth. Staying at the Key West International Airport is not cheap with 100LL at $5.74 a gallon and nightly tie downs at $30.00. If you purchase fuel they reduce the tie down fee to $15.00 per night. What can you do, it’s the only place in town.

Key West is basically a tourist town with sport fishing, swimming, water sports of all kinds, many museum’s, tours and historic forts. There are plenty of good places to eat and drink and shop along the waterfront and Duval Street the main drag in town. We had originally planned to spend only two days at Key West, but the weather there forced us to lay over another day. Not a bad place to spend some extra time.

Our morning departure on 12/3/08 had to be a hurried one due to a soon to be west to east weather front rolling in over the Key’s. Since the Key’s basically run more west to east than south to north, we would be flying almost parallel to the front trying to out race it to the Florida mainland. Our goal was to get to the Florida mainland before the front overtook us. There are far more airports on the mainland that on the Keys, providing a lot more places to land if IMC conditions prevailed. It did get marginal once we were over the mainland with ceilings between 1200 and 1000 feet and visibility 3 to 5 miles. The only reason we landed at Okeechobee, FL (OBE) was because the Cherokee had a rough running engine. The visibility had improved by this time and we continued going north to Fernandina Beach, FL for fuel. As we continued northward and approached Orangeburg, NC (OGB), it became obvious we were not going to make it to our home base in Warrenton, VA (HWY) before dark. We would do the last 3 + hour leg the next day with better weather. Although the fuel at Orangeburg was $4.98 a gallon, they put us in a hanger for the night and provided a brand new courtesy car, both at no cost. They also directed us to a new hotel in town that gave a discount to pilots landing at the airport.

Early the next morning we arrived at the airport to see frost on all the airplanes parked outside. The hanger kept the Kitfox nice and dry. The last leg to Warrenton was clear skies and a wonderful tailwind. We sometimes saw a ground speed of 140 kts. It was cold at Warrenton when we landed and appreciated the cabin heater on the last leg. This was my second trip to Key West. Back in 2003 I took my Daughter Diane there for three days. Attached are some pictures we took along our way.
--
John King
Kitfox Series 6
Warrenton, VA

[DesertFox4]

John, Thanks for the great trip write up. Glad you had a fun and safe trip. Appreciate the photos. It's been 35 years since I visited Key West. I imagine Key West has changed little in that time. Key West was beautiful as I recall. A very slow paced life style. Great sunsets.
I used to dream of warm places like that this time of year when I lived in S.Minnesota and it was 20 below zero in January. As I type this I'm looking at palm trees, 75 degrees and not a breath of air moving. Severe clear blue skies and I'm quite sure no snow drifts blocking the hangar door. Should be another great weekend for Kitfoxing in Arizona. Wish you were all here.

[RandyL]

John, thanks for the trip report, just the thing to keep us motivated in the middle of the winter! How about a pic of your Kitfox though?

[Birddog]

Originally Posted by RandyL

John, thanks for the trip report, just the thing to keep us motivated in the middle of the winter! How about a pic of your Kitfox though?

Randy, below are three pictures of my Series 6 Kitfox. The first was taken on the way to my second trip to Alaska in 2002. I just had just completed my 40 hours on the plane. The second picture was at Moosehead Lake in Maine during a very cold February in 2006. I landed on the frozen lake with tires and wheel pants. The third picture is a view of the interior.
--
John
Warrenton, VA

[Rich W]

John, Very nice looking airplane. I have never landed on ice before and was curious what the landing was like and maneuvering around on it.

Once again beautiful airplane,

Rich W.

[Birddog]

Originally Posted by Rich W

John, Very nice looking airplane. I have never landed on ice before and was curious what the landing was like and maneuvering around on it.

Once again beautiful airplane,

Rich W.

Rich,

February 2006 at Moosehead Lake, Maine was the first time I landed on ice. I had no skies for my Series 6 Kitfox. However, I was accompanied by a friend in his Champ who had done it before. This can only be done safely without skies if the snow pack on the ice is not deep. In this instance the wind blew off most of the snow. In some instances it was bare ice. The toughest part of landing is being able to establish your position above the surface prior to touchdown. There is very little definition on the surface of lake ice or snow to judge by (a whiteout). If you are close to shore, a tree line or something on the ground like snowmobiles, people or a fish house, that helps. Otherwise, just get as slow and low as possible (near stall) and put it in a three point. If done right, she will eventually slowly settle on to the surface and you won’t feel a thing. No noise or squeak of the tires, where the only sound is the idling prop.

No need to worry about a cross wind, just head into the wind after looking at the trees. That is assuming the lake is big enough. Once on the surface, do not touch the brakes and the rudder will have little effect at this speed. You effectively have no steering while in motion. Then kill the prop, otherwise you will taxi forever. An idling prop still has enough thrust to keep the plane moving since the friction on the tires due ice is almost zero. Hard packed snow will help slow you down, but there was none when we landed (almost all ice). Once stopped, you can restart the engine and gain steering control with the tailwheel. Then taxi slowly to turn the airplane around.

We landed at a large lodge that had lots of vacationers riding around in snowmobiles, ice fishing in the open and in ice houses on the lake. When landing we had to make sure none of the aforementioned were in our chosen runway. Snowmobiles and ice fishing houses are easy to spot before landing, but the ice fishing holes cannot be seen until too late. Pick your runway and hope for the best (see picture). The picture shows my old Model IV Kitfox with shies. One “CAUTION”; never land an airplane in the area where a river dumps into an ice covered lake. Rivers don’t always completely freeze over due to moving currents. When the moving current dumps into the lake the lake ice at that point will not be as thick as the rest of the lake and may not support your aircraft (see picture). It happens a lot with snowmobile’ers who often drown.

Takeoffs are much easier. Head into the wind, full throttle, use rudder when needed, but no brakes. After my first landing and takeoff I felt like an expert. We knew the owner of the Birches Lodge who was also a pilot. He flew with us in his ski equipped Super Cub and we all had a ball flying the lakes for 4 days. At one point we landed on the lake at the town of Greenville, Maine, taxied up to a restaurant on the waterfront and had a nice lunch.(see picture).

If you would like to give this a try on a cold winters day, fly up to Moosehead Lake in Maine and contact John Willard of the Birches Resort Lodge. It is an all year around resort and John will show you all about flying the lakes (see picture). Checkout his web site at: http://www.birches.com/
--
John King
Warrenton, VA

[Rich W]

John, Thanks for your narrative describing the ice adventure. Both that and the lake area flying there look like a tremedous amount of fun. For the last 30 years all my flying has been airline flying so I have not done any of this type of flying in years. It brings back memories of how much fun it was when I first learned to fly. I really enjoy the accounts of trips and flying experiences of all the Kitfox owners when written about here. My thanks to you and all the others for sharing your adventures with all of us here.

And more great pictures also.

Rich W.

[RandyL]

John, thanks for the pics, beautiful plane! Would you consider writing a few words about it for KOTM? We'd all love to hear more about it. Further info here.

[Bryan]

Great trip report and writeup. It is just amazing what these little planes are capable of. John I remember many years ago you were experimenting with your prop. What are you running now and are you happy with it?

[Birddog]

Originally Posted by Bryan

Great trip report and writeup. It is just amazing what these little planes are capable of. John I remember many years ago you were experimenting with your prop. What are you running now and are you happy with it?

Bryan:

After I returned from the Alaska trip in 2002 I installed a 3 bladed hydraulic controlled in flight adjustable propeller hub designed by Proplink. The blades were manufactured by Warp Drive. Since it was a new design I spent some time getting the bugs out, and in the end it worked wonderful. It increased my cruise speed by 15 mph and made landings a much more smoother. The manufacturer was not selling enough to make a profit, so they stopped producing them. I was very disappointed since I was well satisified with the performance. After a few hundred hours it ceased to vary the pitch during flight. It needed periodic maintenance, but I was unable to obtain parts like seals, etc.

I therefore went back to the PowerFin 3 bladded ground adjustable prop I used during the Alaska trip. I miss the performance of the variable pitch that the Proplink offered.
--
John
Warrenton, VA