Planning a trip

Got myself a 6 month break (sabbatical) coming up in the next year or so.

I want to do plenty of flying so rather than do a coast to coast I figured
on trying to fly and land in each State/county in the contiguous US.

Living in Europe, I would probable buy a plane, fly it for the duration and
sell it when done.

Welcome any thoughts on best plane for the mission, best time of year /
route to capitalise on the weather re most flyable days.

Speed is not a major requirement but with mountains to negotiate performance
could be an issue unless the mountains can be neutralised.

Would also want to rig up a TV camera to record the trip. That would be
covered by someone else as it would be necessary to have camera remote
controls on near control column, yoke.

S Green

In article , S Green
wrote:

Welcome any thoughts on best plane for the mission, best time of year /
route to capitalise on the weather re most flyable days.

Aviat Husky, Maule or Super Cub.
Put all your gear in it, go where ever you want.
Taildragger gives you prop clearance on rough strips.

Got myself a 6 month break (sabbatical) coming up in the next year or so.

Sounds like a cool trip, but I think you're going to need to provide us with
more information in order to help you out. (Are you multi-engine rated?
Instrument? What price range? Etc.)

More important, however, is this: How do you manage to get a "6 month"
vacation!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" writes:

More important, however, is this: How do you manage to get a "6 month"
vacation!

Well, he said "sabbatical". I'm most familiar with that in the
academic context; a professor often has the option of taking a year at
1/2 or 2/3 pay after 7 years of work (or 6 months somewhat earlier).

And it's not actually supposed to be vacation, it's for further
professional development or research. I spent two years, 8 years
apart, living in Zurich because my father took his first two
sabbaticals there. (Also his third, later, but I stayed in the US in
college that time.)

I've also seen some businesses offering various kind of sabbatical
schemes, no two the same, and none the same as the academic one.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Photos: dd-b.lighthunters.net Snapshots: www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:sGyLb.7045$I06.48895@attbi_s01...
Got myself a 6 month break (sabbatical) coming up in the next year or
so.

Sounds like a cool trip, but I think you're going to need to provide us
with
more information in order to help you out. (Are you multi-engine rated?
Instrument? What price range? Etc.)

More important, however, is this: How do you manage to get a "6 month"
vacation!


Well there been a load of useful feedback thanks a lot everybody. I thought
I would answer a few of the questions raised.


Well, in my job I get 5 weeks vacation a year, trouble is I only get round
to taking 4. I have agreed with my employer to bank the other week. For the
last 6 years I have been doing that, so I have 6 weeks banked.

Add my normal holiday and that gives me 11 weeks. The other 13 or so weeks I
will take as unpaid leave as I get a sort of pension.

I have a simple private certificate with taildragger endorsement. I was
looking at spending up to $25,000 on the plane and maybe another $30,000 as
expenses for the trip. It only needs 2 seats but needs to be able to carry a
bit of luggage. Mainly camping gear. Most likely a taildragger for getting
into those rough strips.

Need radio and transponder though for the odd venture into class B airports
just because you can.

I am hoping to be able to sell the plane at the end for pretty much what I
paid but it needs to be straight forward to operate. That is most problems
can be fixed by the pilot. Having said that spare parts should be
available even in the most out of the way places and so if there is
something beyond the pilot for fixing, then any airplane engineer should
find it a breeze.

I have a friend in Arizona who knows nothing about planes but as he is a US
resident, he is legally entitled to own a plane. So to avoid a Delaware
trust company he will be the main owner.

My schedule is - well there is none. None of this "well its Monday so I need
to be in Rapids City etc.,etc."

Working to a schedule organised by the hour day after day for a living is
not how I am going to enjoy my passion.

Each moment and person I meet is to be savoured like a good wine or cigar.

I once was flying from Brackett to Palm Springs and decided to drop into
Banning which was on the way.

Came across a couple of old guys sitting outside the front of what I
suppose is the airport building. Grabbed a cup of coffee and a doughnut and
we started talking as you do.

Turned out that one had been stationed at Rhoose, Cardiff during the war and
the other had been at Burtonwood, Warrington at the same time. ( I worked in
Warrington at the time)

It just so happened that I had an approach plate for Cardiff in my kneeboard
folder. Well we talked for so long, I missed out on completing the trip to
Palm Springs and returned to Brackett.

Not bothered I missed Palm Springs, but really pleased I met two guys who I
had something in common with way out there.

They made my day special, I hope I made their day more interesting too.

I hope that does not sound too prissy but that's what the trip is about. I
have been thinking about it for a few years now and promising myself that I
would do it.

Its time to do some planning. With $ so low against the ?uro I am going to
get 30% more for my money now than two years ago. First part of the plan is
to start buying $$$.

What are the rules about firearms. I think I should have a rifle when out in
the boondocks but are foreigners allowed to have them and what about taking
them across state boundaries.

If I need to be writing letters to get permits that better start now too,
Heaven knows what the bureaucrats will make of this.

Tourist visa too.

Dave wrote:

What are the rules about firearms. I think I should have a rifle when out in
the boondocks but are foreigners allowed to have them and what about taking
them across state boundaries.

In general, you can only purchase firearms in the State in which you reside. I
was told by a North Carolina dealer a few years ago that this is Federal law. That
basically means that you won't be able to buy one. Federal law is that you can
transport a properly packaged firearm anywhere you like in the States as long as
you can legally own it in both your origination point and your destination. Many
local authorities will arrest you anyway, if you happen to land in their area.
The States of Maryland and New Jersey are known for this, though Jersey mainly
gets alarmed about handguns. Practically speaking, if you had something like a
carbine in a good suitcase, nobody would know it was there.

Properly packaged means that the firearm is in a solidly built box or gun case,
is unloaded, and the box is locked. Ammunition must be stored separately. This
is typically the most restrictive and some States have more lenient storage
requirements when you are in their jurisdiction.

George Patterson
Great discoveries are not announced with "Eureka!". What's usually said is
"Hummmmm... That's interesting...."

In article ,
S Green wrote:

I want to do plenty of flying so rather than do a coast to coast I figured
on trying to fly and land in each State/county in the contiguous US.

I grew up in Indiana and I seem to recall it having 92 counties. So I
looked it up and there are 3141 counties in the US. That's almost 800
hours if you could manage to do each hop in 15 minutes...

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 10:48:54 -0000 "S Green" wrote:

Got myself a 6 month break (sabbatical) coming up in the next year or so.

I want to do plenty of flying so rather than do a coast to coast I figured
on trying to fly and land in each State/county in the contiguous US.


That would be difficult to do in a jet. There are a lot of counties in the US.

I also wonder if every county has a place to land.

The coast-to-coast is probably a more reasonable goal. With 6 months
you can pick a circuitous route for sure. Throw some camping in and
a few museums (accessible by plane of course).

Maybe even throw in a trip to Baja California.


R. Hubbell



Living in Europe, I would probable buy a plane, fly it for the duration and
sell it when done.

Welcome any thoughts on best plane for the mission, best time of year /
route to capitalise on the weather re most flyable days.

Speed is not a major requirement but with mountains to negotiate performance
could be an issue unless the mountains can be neutralised.

Would also want to rig up a TV camera to record the trip. That would be
covered by someone else as it would be necessary to have camera remote
controls on near control column, yoke.

S Green

Ben Jackson wrote:

I grew up in Indiana and I seem to recall it having 92 counties.

I grew up and still live in Indiana but I don't recall such things.

So I
looked it up and there are 3141 counties in the US.

I count 3226. 3102 in the conUS.
http://www.census.gov/geo/tigerline/app_a02.txt

That's not a good list though. I see some missing counties.
(Washabaugh, SD and Nansemond, VA)

"R. Hubbell" writes:

I also wonder if every county has a place to land.

I count 195 counties without airports, 652 without public airports.

--kyler

"S Green" wrote in message ...
Got myself a 6 month break (sabbatical) coming up in the next year or so.

I want to do plenty of flying so rather than do a coast to coast I figured
on trying to fly and land in each State/county in the contiguous US.

I considered doing that (landing in every state), but when it got
down to the details I realized that there would be a lot of
not-very-interesting flights involved. I had a 2 month sabbatical in
'99 and flew to Alaska. That trip was well worth the effort. In 2001
I took 2 yrs. off and spent the time flying to airshows, fly-ins,
aviation museums and other aviation related attractions around the
U.S. and Canada. I had a great time, but still didn't see everything.

Welcome any thoughts on best plane for the mission, best time of year /
route to capitalise on the weather re most flyable days.

If flying solo or with 1 other person, I'd recommend at least
something with 180 hp (Piper or Cessna) to negotiate the mountainous
regions. I have a 180 hp Cherokee and regularly fly into backcountry
airstrips in the Rocky Mountains during the summer months. A 150 hp
Super Cub would do nicely too.

Summer will generally get you the most flyable (and longer) days for
that kind of trip. You'll have to consider the higher density
altitudes out west, but you won't have to worry about winter storms
and low freezing levels (icing).

Have a great time!

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)