KCMI to K24 to KCMI - 3.5 hours

Last Tuesday we received word that my father's cousin Royce passed away suddenly from a heart attack. Dad asked me to fly he and Luke down to Kentucky for the funeral on Thursday.

We departed late Wednesday afternoon under gorgeous blue skies and some of the best weather I've seen all year. Temps were in the high 60's and winds were light from the NW. Coupled with the green of spring, it just doesn't get much better than that in Central Illinois. Winds aloft were also smiling upon us. The forecast for our cruising altitude called for 20 to 30 knot winds from the NW -- right on our tail.

With dad, Luke and myself, plus our overnight bags, we were at max gross takeoff weight with just 40 gallons of fuel. Plenty for our trip, especially with the tailwind. If memory serves the DUAT online flight planning tool predicted a 1 hour 36 minute flight. Since we were maxed out I opted for a full-length takeoff on runway 32R. I probably would've had enough runway for a Bravo intersection takeoff, but knowing my climb rate was going to be a little less, I decided more climb time over the runway was better.

Once at altitude and on course we enjoyed consistent ground speeds in the 165 to 175 knot range. And the trip computer was showing an estimated time enroute of 1 hour 36 mintues--exactly what Duat had predicted. It's always great "when a plan comes together." Because of the clear skies we had a fantastic view from horizon to horizon the entire flight. Earth greened up even more the further south we went.

On our arrival at K24, the AWOS was reporting winds light and favoring runway 17. I made an upwind entry and flew over the runway, banking over the ramp to see if our ride was there. The landing was a satisfying squeaker, but I noticed during the transition into the flare that pitch forces were much lighter than I was used to. Usually my CG is slightly forward when it's just Laurie and I. But with the extra passenger in back (who, without divulging any secrets, is roughly the same weight as me)the CG was much closer to center. I made a mental note to remember that on the return trip.

Thursday, the visitation and funeral had concluded by about noon. As we prepared to head to the airport I used my iPod Touch to grab some bandwidth from the neighbors and check the weather. To my surprise, the weather that wasn't really expected in CMI until the following day looked to be only a few hours away based on the rash of storm echoes that were massing on the west side of the Mississippi. I yelled at dad and Luke to pick up the pace. We needed to depart soon. I had no idea of the speed or direction of the cells I saw, but I knew if they forced us to widen our route to the east to deviate around them, fuel was going to become an issue.

The winds that had been so good to us just a day before were going to be right on our nose if I chose my usual return VFR cruising altitude of 6,500 feet. Those headwinds coupled with the fact that it was a warmer day than before and our climb rate was going to be even more sluggish meant any required weather deviation from our relatively direct route could result in a fairly tight fuel situation.

Since the object was to get back, not get back fast, I opted to save a little fuel in climb and cruise by flying lower at 4,500 feet. Strangely the winds were significantly lighter at this altitude than just 2,000 feet above and they were variable meaning I had a chance at a tailwind during some portion of the flight. To further maximize our deviation flexibility I decided to use economy power which, while about 10 knots slower, saved me almost 3.5 gallons per hour in my fuel burn.

As predicted, climb out after takeoff with the higher temperature (and at the higher field elevation of K24) was diminished. I waited a little longer to retract the flaps as a result. In hindsight I probably should have sucked them up sooner and reduced drag, but I didn't relish experiencing that initial reduction in climb rate after flap retraction as low as I was. It wasn't too low, just low enough to induce a little pucker factor.

Once we reached altitude and everything was squared away for the cruise phase, I engaged the autopilot and checked weather. The radar echoes didn't seem to have moved much from the time I checked weather on the ground. According to Nexrad, the only weather that appeared to be on a collision course with our destination was still over St. Louis and poking along at a mere 19 knots. No deviation was going to be necessary. I thought about pushing the throttle and mixture back up to the best power setting but decided not to out of deference to my fuel bill. Besides, we weren't in as big a hurry to get back anyway and I could use the extra 20 minutes or so that it would tack onto our flight time in my log book.

Arriving in Champaign's airspace were told to make straight in for runway 32R. We were also asked to keep our speed up until 5 miles from the airport so we could get out of the way of a Flightstar jet that was arriving behind us. I pushed the throttles up to best power and put the nose down, holding about a 160 knot ground speed all the way to the prescribed 5-mile limit.

Once again, as I rounded out in the flare for landing I could feel how much lighter the required pitch forces were. I had to really force myself to use lighter control inputs to keep from accidentally popping back into the air out of ground effect. My patience was rewarded with that satisfying 'chirp' the tires make when you grease one on.

A quick glance at the timer on the transponder indicated a total flight time of 1 hour and 55 minutes. After putting the plane away and collecting our cars, dad, Luke and I headed to Esquire for some drinks. Always a great way to wrap up a flight.