The day before the race started like any other. Weather between me and Dayton. There was a line of storms across northern Illinois that I was waiting out. A fast mover started in for Waupaca from the west and it was time to make a decision. I had to get out in front of that and land somewhere in northern Illinois. I propped it and hopped in planning to land somewhere between me and the rain.
My first waypoint was Dekalb IL. I got there and set up for a downwind and was getting ready to land. As I was in the pattern, I could see what the NEXRAD was saying was rain. It was great visibility between the cells. I saw an opening, flew through it and kept on going. Nice and easy. Another reason GPS improves the usefulness of a small plane.
I had made a bunch of changes this year. New prop, heads, exhaust, intake manifolds, fuel flow gauge and a 5.5 gallon aux tank behind the seat. I had tested the tank on the ground for flow and it flowed more than enough. I had done a test flight with 3 gallon in it to see how it changed the handling of the plane. I could tell that that CG had moved aft. It was more pitch sensitive, but not horrible.
I had planned on stopping at Kankakee to verify that I was getting fuel from the back tank. The fuel flow said I was burning 5 gallons per hour. I landed and was surprised to see that the back tank was not flowing at all in flight. Hmm. Low fuel in the front tanks and 5.5 gallons in the back put me at the rear of the CG limit. I had calculated this scenario and confirmed that it would be ok. Good thing, because I had to land that way. Still not terrible to land, but obviously it had a very aft CG. The fill up was confidence inspiring. The fuel flow gauge said I burned 7.2 gallons. The fuel truck said I had pumped 7.2 gallons. Awesome!
I fueled the main tanks up and waited for another line of showers to blow through. I saw an opening on radar and took off. I could easily see where the cells were and the GPS showed how they were moving and where the gaps were. It was an easy flight between the crud to Dayton.
I was a bit bummed to arrive at Dayton so late. Much of the fun of the race is the time you get to spend with other like minded pilots and their refined airplanes. Mark Lanford had made it there before me and was waiting with camera in hand when I landed.
