Hello from Phoenix

[arizonarotors]

Hi,
I am in the process of buying Carl Houghten's Gobosh 700X from it's current owner. I hope to finish the purchase on about 10 August and ferry the airplane from Pennsylvania to the Phoenix area a couple of days later.
I anticipate taking my time and flying the 1900 miles in 3 days or so. If it takes twice as long it's no big deal.

I don't really have any reservations about the airplane. The relatively small fuel tank will be of no concern once I get the airplane home and during the ferry flight home I'm never more than a couple of hundred miles between airports if I need to refuel more often. I've accepted that the airplane has a composite fuel tank so I will probably be limited to 100LL and the attendant 25 hour oil changes. That doesn't bother me much. The airplane I just sold (O320 powered Hatz Classic) had the oil changed every 25 hours during the 10 years I flew the aircraft, and that was an 8 quart oil change.

I have engaged the services of a DAR who has agreed to shepherd me through changing the Airworthiness certificate from SLSA to ELSA as soon as I get the airplane to Phoenix. I am trying to track down an LSA inspection course. I'm hoping someone on this forum can give me some contact info.

Aero AT SP ZOO contacted me today to assure me that technical support and spare parts will be available.

I'm looking at the weather patterns across the country and see most days are flyable. I may be shut down for weather for a few days enroute, but probably not.

The 1900 mile flight is a little daunting to an old guy (73) but the 10, or so, 200 mile cross country flights are fine.

Oddly, even though I have a fair amount of experience, it will seem weird at first, flying with the stick in my left hand and the throttle in my right. Pretty much every stick equipped aircraft I have flown is flown with the stick in the right hand. I realize essentially every yoke equipped airplane I have flown has been with the yoke in my left hand and the throttle in my right. Just a different feeling I guess. The aircraft I am buying only has the center mounted throttle.

Up until April I was a DPE and used to give roughly 300 practical tests a year. I'm looking forward to just enjoying flying for fun for a while.

Jim

[JimParker256]

On the left-hand stick and right-hand throttle... I flew helicopters for 8 years and 1500 hours (right hand stick). The only other "stick" airplane I've flown was a Citabria (right hand stick). So I was slightly worried that the left-hand stick in the RANS S-6 would be challenging. I needn't have worried. Five minutes into the flight, I was no longer thinking about the stick at all. I actually like it better, because I'm strongly right-handed, and it's easier for me to use the right hand to tune radios, accurately tap the EFB, etc.

As to your long cross-country, I think you're exactly right in the way you're approaching that 1800 mile trip as just a series of individual 200-mile cross-countries. Each requires the entire gamut of planning and enroute decision-making about fuel, weather, etc. The old saying "Man plans, and God laughs," is very much applicable to long distance cross country flights in relatively slow VFR planes.

I brought my "new-to-me" RANS S-6 Coyote II home to McKinney, TX (NE of Dallas) from West Desert Airpark (UT9, near Salt Lake City), which is only about half as far as you're going. I started with a great 2-day plan, with each fuel stop carefully selected based on fuel prices and expected cruise endurance with a healthy 1-hour reserve... Each leg of the flight was mapped out and saved as a separate flight plan in my EFB. I was READY! LOL

When all was said and done, I had actually landed at only two airports that I had planned in my route: the first fuel stop, and my final destination. All the rest of my planning had to be altered... Between fighting 30-40 mph headwinds (from the surface to the oxygen altitudes), and trying to plan to stay within the crosswind limitations resulting from those gusty winds at almost all of the airports I had originally selected, there was a lot of "swizzling" of the plan to fit the real-world situation.

Turns out that 105-mph cruise speed with 30-35 knot headwinds makes for slower (and somewhat shorter – and bumpier) flights. I even wound up spending the night 100 miles SW of Albuquerque because of an "isolated thunderstorm" that turned into a giant stationary storm that lasted well into the night. It finally cleared up (beautiful night sky in New Mexico) around 10 PM... Of course, by the next morning, a front had moved in, so I got to catch up on my reading in the hotel (Covid restrictions had everything else shut down).

The next day, I took off before dawn to try to beat the gusty winds to my first destination. It didn't work, and I had to pick another airport a bit farther on. That's when I was really glad for my 1-hour reserve planning. I landed with 45-minutes of fuel, but I would not have liked to be in that same situation with only the legal reserves, then flying on that reserve for 15 minutes...

Anyway, good luck on your flight! Mine was a fun adventure, and the unplanned overnight in New Mexico gave me the chance to meet a wonderful airport manager. He first helped me tie the plane down, then just before the storm hit, he arranged for me to be able to hangar the plane overnight (a friend he knew was out of town for the week), then took me to the hotel (crew car already on loan to another flight crew). The next day, he and his wife brought me the crew car at my hotel, dropping it off so I wouldn't be stuck at the hotel all day. What a great guy!

[travelgreg]

I just saw this post and am wondering if you can help me out. I have a SLSA and want (need) to change its classification to ELSA. I am having no luck finding a DAR-T with the appropriate endorse (157) to complete this transaction. You mention you have found one. I am in Indiana and it seemns there are non in the state. The FAA office in Indianpolis advised me to look in other states.
If you could give me contact info for the person who is helpi
ng (or helped) you I would greatly appreciate it.

Pilot Renegade Falcon LS vs.2.0

Greg Hess
Bloomington, IN
812-345-1880
[email protected]

[Warmi]

Try this search …

https://designee.faa.gov/designeeLocator

Select DAR-T , 157 authorization type and state - I found only one in Indiana but several in IL.

[3Dreaming]

I just saw this post and am wondering if you can help me out. I have a SLSA and want (need) to change its classification to ELSA. I am having no luck finding a DAR-T with the appropriate endorse (157) to complete this transaction. You mention you have found one. I am in Indiana and it seemns there are non in the state. The FAA office in Indianpolis advised me to look in other states.
If you could give me contact info for the person who is helpi
ng (or helped) you I would greatly appreciate it.

Pilot Renegade Falcon LS vs.2.0

Greg Hess
Bloomington, IN
812-345-1880
[email protected]

If the FSDO does not have one in their area of coverage I think they are required to come out. They might also be able to extend that code privilege to a DAR-T within the FSDO to do your inspection. In my past dealings with the Indianapolis FSDO they have been hard to deal with, but my sample size is pretty small. I work with the Springfield IL office. There are a few in Illinois, but nothing close to Bloomington. If you have everything in order you might be able to fly to one of their locations and do the change there. Just remember to take all of your new placards.