Erie, Pennsylvania

The test flight today was successful. Following the recommendations of the manufacturer of the new cylinders, I used an unusual take-off procedure that involved using minimal power to accelerate to 40 mph and then full power from there to take off. Once in the air, I needed to push the nose down and accelerate to 80 mph and climb slowly. This allowed maximum air over the cylinders, which was important since the engine is air-cooled and new cylinders must not be allowed to overheat.

I climbed to 4500' and circled Mount Hawley airport for an hour, with the permission of air traffic control, since the much large Peoria Regional airport was only a few miles away. After an hour, I descended very slowly (to avoid cooling the engine too quickly) and then landed back at Mount Hawley so the mechanic could check the engine to make sure everything looked ok. After 45 minutes, he gave it his blessing and said I was good to go. A quick final check of the weather, topping off the fuel tanks and I was off. I flew two hours east to Van Wert County airport in Ohio, just over the border form Indiana.

I stopped there and landed on their grass runway, which was aligned with the south wind. The nice gentleman who came out to fuel the airplane turned out to be the airport manager. He said "Nice short field landing!". That was awfully nice to hear but I thought I kind of botched it since I came in slightly faster than I normally do on grass and bounced it a little on the landing.

I got fuel and started to look for someplace to stay the night, since it was clear that I wasn't going to make it home tonight. I called Marriott and looked for a hotel around the NW PA/western NY region and found availability in Erie, PA. That was about two hours away from Van Wert, so it was just about perfect. I booked the room, hopped in the plane and got going. As I was flying away, the manager radioed "Thanks for coming. Stop by again." Pilots are friendly people. :)

Getting to Erie meant flying through some busy airspace near Cleveland. A direct route would have carried me farther out over Lake Erie than I wanted to be, so I let air traffic control know that I was going to adjust my route to parallel the shore. As I got closer to the main airport at Cleveland, they vectored me out over the lake but not far enough to be a concern, since I was flying at 7500'.

It was starting to get dark as I got to Erie, which is an airport with a working control tower. The controller seemed like a very nice guy, who was helpful and pleasant and directed me to the FBO, where a helicopter had just landed. A young man came out to fuel the helicopter and 70L and then put the plane in the hangar for the night. I chatted briefly with the helicopter pilot while waiting for a cab.

Tomorrow, I'll make my way home to Glens Falls and thus will end my first long cross-country flight with 70L. :-)