PA-11 Ferry Trip: KBVU to ID22

After reading Barry’s Excellent Adventure, Ernie Hansen asked to share his adventure ferrying a PA-11 March 31, 2024; Easter Sunday Flew Alaska Airlines to Las Vegas NV. Then took an UBER with Steve to Boulder City NV to spend the night in the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Best Western.

April 1, 2024; Monday

John Bacon picked me up at 0630 at the hotel. We chatted on the way to Boulder City Airport to check out Terry McCartney’s new to him PA11 clone. After unplugging the battery maintainer and doing a thorough pre-flight inspection, topping off the fuel, I was ready to depart KBVU enroute to Spirit Lake, Idaho…a 2 day adventure.

I chose a route that would keep me out of the highest terrain and over some airports enroute. This required me to fly NE before going more North. The weather was forecasted to be mostly sunny at my departure point, becoming overcast with snow showers as I proceeded through Utah.

I departed over part of Lake Mead and saw Hoover Dam. Proceeding toward St. George, UT, I noticed the radio was almost unusable due to noise that followed the power setting, probably alternator noise. I used my handheld the remainder of the day. I continued in mostly sunny skies, toward St. George where I took a more Northerly route toward Cedar City, UT. Approaching Cedar City, the weather was deteriorating and I decided to land and get fuel so I could calculate the fuel burn for future flight planning purposes…5 gal./hr. Many snow showers were in the vicinity with a forecast for improvement, so I decided to wait and let the showers move out of the area. After about 1.5 hours, I departed, headed to Bolinder Field, Tooele Valley Airport, near Salt Lake City. There were many snow showers in this area of otherwise good weather. This 2.6 hours leg was flown staying out of the shower which were heavy with poor visibility and keeping an “out” toward good weather always in mind. Arriving at Bolinder Airport, I wanted to top off the fuel before crossing the Great Salt Lake. Big sign…no 100LL available. No NOTAM. My next, nearest airport was Burley Muni at Burley Idaho 2.0 hours. This would be 4.6 hours before I could get fuel. A calculation said I would have used 23 gal., leaving me a healthy reserve, so I departed Bolinder. I was almost immediately over the Great Salt Lake. Winds this entire day were not favorable…head winds at this time were 20+ mph on the nose. This made for a LONG crossing over water. I saw groundspeeds of 68 mph, slower than most cars on the interstate! I may have been going slow, but I could go in a straight line! I arrived at Burley Muni at 1840…a long day. 6.4 hours flying (tack time) and 10:40 hours elapsed time. Aside from the 1.5 hours on the ground in Cedar City and the brief time at Bolinder Airport, I was airborne. Took a taxi with Holly to the Budget Hotel.

April 2, 2024; Tuesday

I awoke to clear skies, as forecasted! Still had headwinds to Pendelton, OR, but not as strong. I arrived at the airport before the FBO opened for fuel. I was going to take this opportunity to look the plane over, organize the cockpit, then fuel an depart. To my surprise, I couldn’t get the outside door entry to work to release the door. After trying to open the door numerous times I got desperate and looked for an alternative way to access the cockpit. I decided the Lexan side windows were the easiest to replace so I scratched a small opening in the plastic window with a screwdriver. Lexan is hard as nails! Met a mechanic of Life Flight, Ron, who gave me a hacksaw blade and came to help. His attempts to get the outside latch to work were a failure, vindicating me for putting a hole in Terry’s airplane! A slot in the Lexan and a small hook provided by Ron did the trick and the door opened. After thanking Ron profusely and saying goodbye I attempted to depart…the plane would not start. The battery did not have enough energy. Finding the FBO mechanic/owner, Kevin, we towed the plane to his facility and charged the battery to full capacity. The volt meter now showed 2 volts higher and as I was to learn, the radio worked perfectly. The voltage stayed at the higher mark all day. So much for my plan for an early departure. Off Burley Muni at 1015 for a 3.7 hours leg to Pendleton OR, my last stop before reaching my destination. Weather was beautiful and the flight via Boise was uneventful…just the way I like it. Fueled at Pendleton and departed for ID22. 1.7 hours later I was greeted by Terry and Beth McCartney at their beautiful grass field in Spirit Lake ID.