We did it!

From the right seat

The phase of this project I was most looking forward to is the one we’re in now—when the airplane is out of the shop and needs to be ferried to events where we’ll show it off to members (and the future owner!). I knew the airplane’s arrival to OSH would include challenges—long cross-countries always do. The flying would be the straightforward part; the weather and any unexpected delays were the factors keeping me up at night.

I anticipated the two most challenging and highest risk legs would be our departure out of Falcon Field and contending with the surrounding mountains and mountain weather—we’d need to depart early in the morning. I have mountain flying experience, but the second you underestimate the Rockies is when you’re well and truly cooked. And as far as Oshkosh, I’d flown in once before, but had not done the Fisk arrival. This would be a huge undertaking.

Taking an airplane right out of maintenance introduces a higher-than-average possibility of an issue, so we’d make each stop at a field with services. We’d keep our legs around three hours or less. But on long flights like this, with a time limit and an expectation from others (my boss, the association, the public), the mental game is the hardest part. For the airplane to make it to the show, we needed to make it by Sunday. With all these factors in mind, we met up in Arizona the Tuesday before AirVenture with plans to depart Wednesday morning.

We did not depart Wednesday morning. A few small squawks plus the intense Arizona heat and building storms near Albuquerque meant it made more sense to try the following day. Thankfully, on Thursday everything aligned, and we set off bright and early for New Mexico.

The airplane performed admirably the entire trip, except for when it threw an alternator belt about an hour and a half from Oshkosh near Waterloo, Iowa. Waterloo was an easy diversion—we didn’t even have to backtrack. The fancy Garmin moving map made it easy to find a field with maintenance, too.

There were times on this trip where the two of us had to lean on each other.

While I am once a CFI, always a CFI, there were times on this trip where the two of us had to lean on each other. The key to a trip like this is not to avoid those high-stress moments—it’s to make sure you don’t have them at the same time. For me, the next couple of hours were by far the hardest of the trip. Once on the ground, I began to mentally catastrophize the situation. This unplanned stop could throw off the entire show. I called colleagues Dave Hirschman and Dave Roy for maintenance advice while discussing, palms sweating, if I should prepare to fly the Nordo approach into OSH (they both said no), and feeling literally sick with the possibility that after all that flying, and all that work, all the hours that went into the resto-mod by a team of enthusiastic vendors, the airplane not might make it to the show. This was my job; I’m the CFI, I’m the PIC. This delay felt like failure. But, as Hirschman pointed out, and what I also already knew, is that this is just GA.

With the airplane fixed just a couple hours later, we set off for OSH. During the Fisk arrival, I was the pilot flying and Niki the pilot monitoring, which was a good division of work. It was a surprisingly straightforward event. I’d been expecting the kind of horror stories you hear about—getting sent back, the approach starting at Endeavor Bridge, holds, go-arounds, chaos. But it was simple, and we had great timing, getting a few airplanes ahead of a big flight of seven, plus having the north/south runways switch direction.

From a personal and professional perspective, the trip was a success. We made it there on time with no serious issues. And from a CFI’s perspective, I’m so proud of Niki for branching well outside her comfort zone and completing what would be a challenging trip for anyone. We earn our pilot certificate and we’re allowed to fly anywhere in the United States, but so many people don’t. I hope this adventure has broadened her horizons—and inspired you to broaden yours—and I hope she feels more confident than she did before the trip. Like everyone who goes to OSH, I feel a renewed love of aviation, and can’t wait to show this airplane off in the months to come.

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From the left seat

By Niki Britton

I’m a fairly low time pilot (about 400 hours) who has never flown general aviation outside my home state of California. Most of my time is in my family’s Cessna 182, with some Cessna 177, 172, and Cirrus SR20 time. My typical flights usually consist of unadventurous trips around the patch, chill flights around the San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California wine country, and family flights south to San Luis Obispo.

I’m a homebody and I like it that way, but I also knew my home-centricity wasn’t exactly taking me out of my comfort zone or helping me grow as an aviator. So, when it was announced that AOPA’s next sweepstakes aircraft was a Cessna 182, I jumped at the opportunity to co-manage the Sweeps with fellow content producer and CFI Alicia Herron.

As EAA’s AirVenture got closer, the nerves began to set in. At the time I was chalking it up to being concerned about getting the aircraft’s avionics and annual finished on time, but when the maintenance was complete and the day came to take off on the long journey, my nerves remained the same. Thankfully I had Alicia as my CFI and co-pilot. Having an experienced cross-country pilot by my side really built my confidence. Based at an airport that sits just 281 feet above sea level, I have no mountain flying and very little high-density-altitude experience, so the first leg was a challenging learning experience for me. And as luck would have it, we experienced nearly no turbulence as we cruised at 9,500 feet msl over the Rockies.

I’ve done long flights before, but typically those have been in my aircraft, which I know intimately. In this new-to-me classic straight-tail Cessna 182 that had just come out of the shop, and flying over a lot of new real estate, I was constantly scanning the instruments and listening intently to anything that could be amiss. This, I imagine, caused me more mental fatigue than I was used to, and I could feel it. I slept hard that first night.

In the morning the nerves had set in again; the stress and fatigue of the previous day, coupled with the idea of the Fisk arrival at AirVenture weighed heavily on me. But in the air once again, my nerves faded with every foot of altitude. Feeling good, Alicia and I engaged the autopilot, took turns taking the proverbial pilot selfie, and began discussing our planned arrival.

Six minutes later the alternator failed.

After cycling the alternator Off then On with no luck, we turned off our secondary radio and HSI, and let the tower at Waterloo know our intentions. I shot a quick text to Flite Instruments and avionics shop owner Matt Layton and by the time we landed, he had already briefed the mechanic at Livingston Aviation, and they were ready to get to work; it turned out the alternator had just thrown a belt.

A short time after crossing the Mississippi River into Wisconsin, it was time for the big arrival into the big show. Alicia at the helm and I with my eyes on the sky. We, almost a little too easily, merged into the conga line at the Green Lake Transition and received a smile-inducing “good rock” at Fisk. Once we were established on our downwind, the tower called our base and final and instructed us to land on the green dot, my favorite color.

This 13-hour adventure, all with the most perfect weather we could have asked for, took us over the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico, across the flat lands of the Oklahoma panhandle and Kansas, to the beautiful greenery of eastern Nebraska. From there, a surprise landing in Waterloo, Iowa, a city with one of the cutest downtowns I’ve seen, over the Mississippi River and into one of the busiest airports—at least for that week—in the world. All these landscapes, places, and friendly faces I may have never seen if not for the freedom, adventure, and accessibility that general aviation provides, and I can’t wait for my next adventure! Signing off a more confident pilot and cross-country adventurer.

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The route

Falcon Field (FFZ), Mesa, Arizona to Moriarty Municipal Airport (0E0), New Mexico

“Overall, day one went as smooth as possible. It was a grind, but an uneventful one. We had autopilot, significantly reducing our workload. We were flying in summer, so running out of daylight, even heading east, wasn’t a concern. The weather was perfect.”—Alicia

0E0 to Garden City Regional Airport (GCK), Kansas

“After meeting an enthusiastic AOPA member and taking his photo with the AOPA Sweepstakes 182 at Moriarty, we filled the aircraft tanks, emptied ours, and took off for Garden City, Kansas. This leg was probably the most mentally taxing for me as it was our second, nearly three-hour leg of the day with our last leg, about two and a half hours, still looming.” —Niki

GCK to Nebraska City Municipal Airport (AFK), Nebraska

“By leg three, Niki was feeling the suffering, and by the time we got to Nebraska City (home of Arbor Day, as I’m sure you knew already) for the night, we were both ready to be in a dark room in

silence. But this was the evening of the nationwide tech meltdown, and we had delays due to payment processing issues, a spilt-milk problem that we were both nearly at our limit for. We ate the world’s most delicious pretzels of all time at our overnight stop, the Lied Lodge, and chugged water after a day of tactical dehydration.” —Alicia

AFK to Waterloo Regional Airport (ALO), Iowa

“This wasn’t my first rodeo with a failed alternator, but this was an airplane with brand-new avionics while flying in unfamiliar territory, so I wasn’t completely unfazed. I texted Matt at Flite Instruments, and by the time we landed, the folks at Livingston Aviation at ALO knew we had an alternator failure.” —Niki

“We grabbed a courtesy car and had a quick and delicious lunch in neighboring Cedar Falls. Once back at the airport the airplane was ready to go and so were we. Big thanks to the amazing crew at Livingston for prioritizing us and getting us on our way to AirVenture so quickly!” —Alicia

ALO to OSH

“Alicia’s landing was smooth and nearly spot on. We then exited the runway onto the grass and celebrated with high-fives and cheers as we taxied toward Boeing Plaza.” —Niki

“Landing on the green dot (well, a few feet past if I’m being honest) felt the way I expected it to feel: deeply satisfying. We did it!” —Alicia