User:Cub Driver

From WWR

Greetings Anon! Have you ever wondered what it's like to fly in a cub?

Yesterday started out warm and sunny with no wind. Grady and I piled our survival gear in the airplane and headed east through the mountains toward Eureka for a burger. It's and old roadhouse on the east side of the Talkeetna mountains easy enough to find. Follow the Matanuska River to the glacier at the end, hang a left through Tahneta Pass and look for a small diner and gas station just past the last mountain. There are a couple of cleared mud holes that serve as a landing strip, choose the one that looks best.

We flew over the airport at a couple of hundred feet the first time to inspect the airport layout and to let the guy on the four-wheeler know we were there. Next pass at 20 feet was to inspect the surface of the mud in preparation for landing, and then we made our landing. The undersides of the wings and the tail feathers are all muddy now, but that's normal for super cubs.

Grady packed in the Eureka Burger, the headline burger on the menu, I had the battered halibut and fries, then back to the plane. The plane labored into the air with the extra load, but we were off. The return flight was pretty, but more-or-less uneventful. With little to do but dodge mountains and take photos, your mind begins to wander.

For example, in cruise, the engine runs at 2,400 rpm. That equates to 144,000 revolutions per hour and 432,000 revolutions on our three-hour round trip. That was and easy calculation that only took about a mile to figure out.

Traveling at an average of about 85 miles per hour, we traveled about 255 miles in those three hours. If you have time on your hands, you can multiply 255 miles by 5,280 feet per mile in your head. I always do the math from left to right in my head despite how our current educational system teaches us. For example, 200 times 5,280 is easy, 2 time 528 is 1,056 and tack on the three zeros for 1,056,000. Next, multiply 5,280 by 50: 5,000 times 5 is 25,000, 200 times 5 is 1,000 and 80 time 5 is 400. Add these up for 26,400 and tack on the extra zero for 264,000, add that to the 1,056,000 gives 1,320,000 feet. Add the last 5 times the 5,280 gives the 26,400 added to the previous sum gives 1,346,400 feet in 255 miles.

If you still aren't back to your home airport, you can divide the 1,346,400 feet by 432,000 revolutions. The math may seem insurmountable while you're flying an airplane, but it is really quite easy. First, guess. Divide each number by 1,000 to get rid of the zeros at the end, then it easy to see that 432 is about 1/3 of 1,346. Thee times 432 is 1,296, subtract that from 1,346, the remainder is 50, which is slightly less than 1/8, or about 0.12. So, the plane moves forward 3.12 feet per one revolution of the propeller; or 37.4 inches. Since I have two blades on the propeller, a single blade passes through the air about every 18-3/4 inches.

Now wasn't that worth a flight to Eureka and back? If you have any problems you want to work out, go for a ride in a Super Cub!

Hexaba is one of the few Wheaties who has dared to ride in the plane with me. Her recount of the adventure is here.

For more photos, please visit my my photo gallery.

For other images related to flying see the The Flying page

Letter to my daughter Caitlin

My daughter participated in a program designed to teach kids about the dangers of drinking and driving called, " Every 15 Minutes." During the program, she was tapped as having been killed in an alcohol related accident. My job...to write a letter to her, "Every 15 minutes someone dies in an alcohol related traffic accident; today you were killed, "I never had the chance..."

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#	Song	Artist	Image	Album	Length	Played count	Last Played	Overall	You	Tags	Single Request
1	Lying Next To You	Mae Robertson		Meet The Sun Halfway	3:26	3	Apr 4th, 2008	6 votes	You have to login to give your opinion about songs.	Folk pop / Violin / Love gone right / Peaceful / Romantic / Slow / Solo vocalist / Acoustic / Band
2	Colorado	Bill Nash		Runs With Scissors	5:41	5	Apr 16th, 2008	6 votes	You have to login to give your opinion about songs.
3	Leonardo Davinci	Chelsea Berry		Live Roadhouse Bootleg	3:59	136	Apr 14th, 2008	37 votes	You have to login to give your opinion about songs.	Singer-songwriter / Girl with guitar / Live / Acoustic guitar / Science / Solo vocalist / Acoustic / Leonardo da vinci / Physics
				Total Time	13:06

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