Groundspeed: 155 kts
Ali and I flew up to visit our friends in St. Albert yesterday evening. We had planned to leave between 4pm and 5pm local time but we were running behind. And that was okay anyway since Mother Nature was playing havoc with us anyway. Up until 1730h or so, the weather around Calgary was completely socked in. But then, like magic, the sky cleared and our only issue was a small pocket of cloud around the Red Deer (CYQF) area.
By the time we arrived at the flying club, did the walk around and packed our luggage, it was 1855h when we started up. Our wheels up time was 1906h; a mere two hours behind our scheduled time, which actually worked out okay as it would allow me to stay night current. As we climbed up to 6500 feet, the small, rolling hills below our route started to fill with misty-like fog, which made for a scenic start to the flight.
As we leveled off and our climbing power was transferred to cruise speed, our groundspeed increased to 125 knots, thanks to a forecast wind of 180 @ 25 Kts. Abeam Red Deer to the west, the wispy fog and low broken cloud began to dissipated leaving a clear route for the rest of the trip. We watched a Peace Air aircraft descend and pass below us and although both of us were talking to Red Deer Radio, it weird to have another aircraft so randomly close when there’s so much space above the ground. But it was good reinforcement for my ‘all lights, all the time’ policy.
Shortly after passing Pigeon Lake (22 nautical miles south-west of CYEG), our ground speed picked up and was averaging 140 knots (+/- 5 kts), which to date is the fastest cruise to date I’ve achieved in CFC’s 25-year-old Warriors. And neither of the PA-28s have wheel pants or any of the other goodies that help achieve a faster cruise. And the best was yet to come, because as we approached Villeneuve (CZVL) and left 6500 feet for 5000, I achieved yet another new speed record. With the RPM just in the green and in a 500 fpm descent, we were able to hit a peak groundspeed of 155 knots. Amazing. More so considering that the PA-28-161 has a fixed-pitch propeller driven by a 160 hp engine. And while the handbook says that you should get 112 kts TAS, I’ve always found it to be more like 105 kts.
We were cleared direct to a right-hand base for runway 08, which made for an interesting crosswind final approach. But in the last 100 feet the wind became calm and we landed with ease, a mere 1 hour and 19 minutes after our take off from Springbank.
Sat, 25 Mar 2006 23:38 Posted in Flying
