KCMI to KIJX to KCMI - 1.5 hours

Last flight we checked out the Beardstown, IL airport under the assumption I would drop Laurie off there for her women's retreat weekend. After talking it over with the folks who would be picking her up we decided a better plan would be to drop her off at Jacksonville, IL a little to south.

Weather had been sketchy the days previous to the flight and was still on the iffy side the day of. Skies were still overcast and it was a little blustery on the ground. Provided the ceiling was high enough and no major precipitation was in the area, I was comfortable with making the decision to fly. The only other factor to think about was temps aloft. It's right about this time of year that pilots sometimes find themselves surprised by ice in the clouds.

About 4:00 that afternoon I checked weather one more time before heading to the airport. Radar looked free of any precipitation and the METARs for airports along the route told roughly the same story--few clouds at 4,000, more at around 4,800 and solid overcast at 6,000. I opted to file for 4,000 on the way out and 5,000 on the way back. It's a short trip so it was kind of pointless to burn alot of gas getting to higher altitudes. Especially the altitudes necessary to get above the clouds. According to area forecasts that was about 8,000.

When we got to the hangar I noticed four F-18s (it was impossible to miss them actually) on the University ramp. When the line guys arrived to gas me up I asked where the jets came from and why they were here. He said they'd come from a couple of bases in the south to do a flyover during the national anthem at the Michigan vs. Illinois game. Considering it was going to be a nationally televised game, I guess it made sense. I bet the pilots were all alumni of either of the two schools. I think both have pretty strong Navy ROTC programs.

As we lined up on 22 for takeoff, winds were about 270@12. The temps were cooler than they had been in recent flights too. You could really feel the difference in engine performance. There was an even stronger sense of acceleration on the takeoff roll. On the climb out, Departure told me to maintain runway heading for a bit because of some IFR traffic landing at Monticello to the west. I opted to use the delay to shorten our time to climb up to 4,000. This is where the effect of the cooler temps could really be noticed. I was holding a solid 800 - 1000 feet per minute climb all the way up. She was climbing like a homesick angel. Kind of exhilarating after those hot, humid days of summer when you were lucky to see anything over 500 fpm.

Eventually we got our turn on course and were on our way. The wind vector on the PFD showed winds right in our face at about 28 knots. It was going to take a little longer than planned to get there. I'd estimated that it would be a 45 min. flight, but looking at the ETA generated by the GPS it was probably going to be more like an hour or a little less. So, I turned the plane over to George (the autopilot) and settled in to enjoy the flight. At 4,000, well below the overcast, visibility was excellent. And since it was about dusk, lights were coming on in the towns that passed us below. That's always a neat time to fly.

By the time we began our approach into IJX, it was dark. I canceled my IFR flight plan with Springfield Approach. Before clearing me off frequency, the helpful controller had already pulled up my return flight plan and told me to give him a call airborne or on the ground outlet they have in Jacksonville when I was ready to head back.

Winds at Jacksonville were straight out of the west giving me the option of either 22 or 31. I opted for 31 because the crosswind was 10 degrees less. Considering this was my first time landing at Jacksonville, and it was night, the less crosswind correction on final meant more to me than the shorter taxi to the ramp we would've had landing on 22.

Because the winds were a little gusty, I carried about 5 extra knots on final. Consequently our landing roll out was a little longer. Oh yeah--I noticed on the chart for the airport it indicated the possibility of deer being on the airport, so I was also on the lookout for Bambi as we rolled down the runway.

We pulled up to the ramp where Laurie's ride was waiting. I unloaded, kissed her goodbye and climbed right back into the plane. It was about a 10 minute stop which made me apprehensive about hot starts. This time I decided maybe it was cool enough and I hadn't been sitting long enough for the fuel in the injector feeds to vaporize. I decided to try a normal start with the boost pump on, but without the prime. Voila! She fired right up. Let's hope that holds true in the future.

I was excited about the flight back because I'd be cruising at a higher altitude which meant slightly higher true airspeeds. This combined with the strong winds that would now be working with me instead of against me gave me hope of a quick flight home. I was not disappointed. As I turned on course during climb out, I glanced down at the ground speed. I was already doing 143 knots. It was indeed going to be a quick flight.

Leveling out at 5,000 I set the power so I had 2500 prop rpms. Using a best power mixture setting this resulted in about 25" manifold pressure and 79% in the power indicator. But more importantly, it resulted in a 151 knot true airspeed and . . . wait for it . . . 180 knot ground speed. I was cooking along at over 200 mph over the ground. Like pilot author Stephen Coonts says in the Cannibal Queen, and I paraphrase, "Tailwinds are like a smile from a beautiful woman. You don't get them that often but when you do it makes your day like nothing else."

I was moving along so fast that Springfield Approach had handed me off to Champaign and I was only 10 minutes into the flight. "Woo hoo!", was about all that was going through my head. Just a little west of Monticello, Approach had me descend to 4,000. I kept the power on as I descended pushing the TAS up to 162 knots and the ground speed to 193. The little devil in me was whispering, "C'mon go for 200", but the airplane owner in me was going "For what purpose other than to unnecessarily strain the airframe?" I listened to the owner angel. I probably would've still been in the green on the airspeed indicator but hitting some turbulence at that speed probably wouldn't be very good. I contented myself with 193.

Even setting up for the downwind for 32R at Champaign, with the indicated airspeed showing just 110 knots I was still showing a 130+ knot ground speed. Turning onto final, ground speed went way down. Winds were reported at 280@12 but they felt stronger. Gusty too. I had to make a couple of pretty significant power changes to stay on glideslope. Taxing back it felt like I had to use more directional control that I should with 12 knots of wind to keep from weather vaning into the wind. I'm guessing winds were more like 15 to 18. I checked the elapsed flight time. 36 minutes. Not bad. Not bad at all.

As I taxied back to the hangar I went by the F-18s sitting on the ramp. In the daylight they looked fast, sleek, cool. But as I passed by them in the dark, I couldn't get over how ominous they looked in their dark, non-reflective ghost gray paint. I had much the same sensation once on a night flight over California's central valley. I was flying over Lemoore NAS and the Hornet drivers were flying circuits. Practicing night landing I guess. It was a full moon and I was in a tiny Cessna 150 at 5,000 feet. As I passed over I would occasionally catch glimpses of the F-18s flying under me. They looked like circling sharks.

Both then and now, I thought about how it must suck to have one of those things hunting you in the dark. For some reason it also made me think of the great empires of history past. But that's a blog for another forum.