KCMI to KIGQ to KCMI -- 1.6 hrs

Today we flew up to see Gert. Gert fell down about a week ago and has been hospitalized. She's doing well. The flight up was a quickie. When we departed Champaign, winds at the surface were 180@16, gusting to 24. It made for a pretty short takeoff roll. Once we were cleared on course with the wind at our tail, we enjoyed 140 knot ground speeds during the climbout.

I was trying to remember what I'd read about the best way to exploit a big tailwind during climb. As I recalled, the advice was to climb aggressively to altitude since the tailwind is helping you compensate for the relatively low indicated airspeed you experience at Vy. Conversely if you're climbing out with a stiff headwind, you want to use a shallower climb rate to maximize ground speed.

Once level at 5,500, I leaned for 75% best power and let her rip. Initially we enjoyed a 174 knot ground speed. The wind vector was showing 178@30 knots and the air data computer showed the true airspeed fluctuating between 148 and 151. I ended up slowing down a little, though, due to turbulence.

It was a little rough. The farmers have all harvested their fields making them ideal thermal generators. This makes flying on a warm, sunny afternoon a little bumpy. I reported continuous light-to-moderate chop to Chicago Center who was providing flight following.

Once in the pattern for runway 18 at Lansing, we were still cooking along in the downwind with a 130 knot groundspeed. It made the turn to base a little interesting. Even anticipating the higher than normal groundspeed, and using a steeper bank angle, we still got pushed out an extra mile or so on final before I could get the right ground track established. The AWOS reported winds were 180@16 gusting to 26. Even carrying about 10 extra knots on final, I still had to jockey the throttle a little to stay on glideslope.

The trip back, while much slower, was much smoother. The 30 knot wind that had got us up there so quickly (40 minutes) was now in our face. Thankfully, though, the sun was on its way down and the bump machine wasn't nearly as active. I elected to save a little fuel and set the power for 65% lean of peak.

Champaign approach set us up for runway 18 and it was a smooth approach all the way to touchdown. All said and done it took about 55 minutes to get home. Not too shabby considering the headwind and the fact my TAS was 13 knots slower than if I'd used Best Power.