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electricflyer
12-03-2014, 08:37 PM
This is from a trip we made out west in 2012. Didn't have an RV back then. Tried to stay off of Interstate highways as much as possible. From GA through Al, MS, corner of Arkansas, southern MO, central KS, to Arches NP, Bryce Canyon, Zion NP, North Rim of the Grand Canyon, down to Phoenix and then cross country back though NM, TX, LA, MS, and AL.

The best part of the trip was this! I always wanted a ride in a open cockpit so this was it. This Biplane is a totally rebuilt 1940 Waco, small engine so not aerobatic. Owned by Steve Mathis, W0JOV. He also has a Piper for family transport, to go to diner in Denver. He said he would take me for a ride if I ever got to Montrose, but no one knows where Montrose is. I told him I knew where it was because I have a nephew that lives there, as it turns out Steve know the nephews wife. Steve is a lawyer and my nephews wife is a law clerk at a competing law firm and he said he talks to her at least nearly every week. So, the offer is open to any ham he talks to, he said I was the first one to take the ride. He is usually in the low portion (extra) of 20M when on the air.

We made 3 consecutive trips out west, 2010, 2011, 2012, each time a different route going west, similar route coming back, except in 2012 when we stayed off of the interstates. Got a speeding ticket in NM where the 2 lanes have a 70mph speed limit but drop to 35mph in the little one block long towns with all the building boarded up. Hard to drop that much in speed without wanting get out and walk beside the car. The message is, on the back roads of NM watch out for the sheriff hiding in those little towns. Every little town seemed to have one.

Beautiful scenery, Black Canyon NP just east of Montrose, CO, then to Arches, Bryce Canyon, and Zion NP

NN5I
12-04-2014, 09:31 AM
That is one beautiful airplane. I've never flown a Waco, or even sat in one, but have flown other open biplanes and several different aerobatic airplanes. Being aerobatic or not, for an airplane, has little to do with the engine and everything to do with the airframe. There are Cessna 152s (the smallest Cessna) that are aerobatic, and even aerobatic sailplanes with no engines at all. Conversely, many very powerful WW2 fighters had significant aerobatic restrictions (in the P-51D Mustang, for example,snap-rolls are prohibited; inverted flight is limited to 10 seconds because the engine loses oil pressure, very expensive). Other fighters had other significant limitations. MIGs in Korea never dived because they would become unrecoverable at dive speeds that were easy for an F-86. And so forth.

Open cockpits can be amazingly cold, even in summer in Florida. All you've got to do is climb, and you can get as cold as you want or can stand.

Bill Baxter
03-24-2022, 12:51 PM
Congrats of getting off the Interstates, much more pleasant drive.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison is fantastic. Recommended for everyone to visit.

Bill N1XRB