Air Race Classic! Going home

Sunday morning was mass exodus. Sort of. We had a 7 hour flight ahead of us so we wanted to get going early. We packed up the plane and headed north. There were a few storms in the area but we picked a route that we could weave through. I flew the leg since I was IFR current. We landed in Huntsville, AL but unfortunately got a flat tire while landing. We were able to taxi off the runway but still shut one down (thankfully they had two parallel runways). It took about 30 minutes for the tug to get to where we were to pull the plane back to the FBO for maintenance since it only goes about 5 mph. We had the mechanic come in and fix the tire for us (I got to help him). And then after about 2-3 hours we were off again headed north.

Flying buddies!

We planned on flying to Columbus, IN but just as we were passing Louisville, KY we heard a beeping noise. What's that?? It was the carbon monoxide alarm. hmm that's weird. Immediately we got fresh air flowing and decided to divert to Jeffersonville, IN (one of the race stops). We landed there for fuel and checked if the alarm batteries were good, but in the mean time it had stopped beeping. Ok, so we'll keep going home. We jumped in the plane after a preflight, started it normally and then got a wiff of smoke - sweet smelling. "Do you smell that? Shut her down!" I recognized the smell as solder and knew we had an alternator failure or something in the wiring had gone bad (we had previously noticed feedback from the alternator in our headsets). So I guess we're not flying then.

We tied down the airplane and got help from the people working there. Of course, it was Sunday late afternoon, so the mechanic was not going to come out and everything is closed. I called my "2nd parents" the Hamiltons, and they were able to give us a ride to the main airport in Louisville where we could rent a car. Maggie had decided that she had to get home so we just got a rental car and drove anther 6 hours. We got home around 3 AM in the morning and the plane was in Jeffersonville, IN.

Taken in Kalamazoo

If everything had gone to plan we would have come in at the end of the SMAT fly in/ fair and it would have been a cool home coming but alas. The next day we got on the horn with the mechanic and thankfully he could get the parts from Louisville and fixed it. Maggie went down later that week to pick up the plane and get it home.

Thankfully we didn't have any issues during the race but they all happened on the way home.

What an adventure!

Taken in Fairhope- storms rolling in.

 Stay tuned for more blogs on tailwheel adventures, charters, and other adventures!


Fly with Christ,
Helen