Over the phone I told her to meet me north of the stationary prefrontal weather system in Leesburg, FL, just north of Orlando, FL – a 5 hrs Uber drive from Fort Lauderdale. (she left her cars secured at home, the Uber was $275 – less than three air tickets for the return from Orlando…)

My airplane partners Matthew and Jim both generously agreed to accommodate my plans for the rescue mission.

I was airborne by 9:30a on Fri with an ETA of 6:15pm CDT in FL. – A long flight with two fuel stops.

I flight planned only to Houston Executive from home, knowing that I would have plenty of time to plan the remainder of the flight in the air. No TFRs (temporary flight restrictions) and perfect sunny weather all the way. The mission was a GO.

Equiped with cash, a spare tire, oil, credit cards, food (20 breakfast tacos from Rudy’s), lots of water and most importantly – an upbeat attitude I was ready to tackle this adventure.

I stopped for fuel in Pineville, MS (2L0) just east of Alexandria, and Cairo, FL (70J) after trying Quincy, FL first. In Quincy I was plane #13 in line for the gas pump. A group of air planes on a rally had just arrived to screw with my schedule. Instead of waiting for my turn at Quincy I took a picture of this surprising sight and pressed on to Cairo, 30NM out of the way on my way to Leesburg, FL – another 170 NM.

In Cairo (it’s slightly less busy than its African sister city) I was the only plane on the field. There I lost 45min due to a broken credit card reader at the gas pump and the attendant running into town for an errand. Life always throws you a curve ball, or two. In the end I had to pay cash to avoid loosing more time. It’s good to have options. Always.

I managed to reach Leesburg, FL by 6:45p CDT where my family was already waiting for me (I had received a text on my cell).

A 15-gusting-25 knots crosswind landing just 5 miles north of the stationary, yet active front was exciting with an intended single left wheel only touch-down (the other wheels touched down eventually, of course). It was the first time ever I heard a tower controller say: “landing not recommended at this time”. I considered the risk, but felt up to the task. Soon I was “cleared to land 13”. A quick “Grumman 2-5-Bravo, wind check” was answered with “Wind 060 with 15” – unchanged.  The landing turned out to be a non-issue. After touch down I got lazy, swallowed my pride and said “25B, unfamiliar, request progressive taxi to SunAir” the local FBO. This gets you turn-by-turn instructions to your parking position. Easy.

After a short 10min break I packed the luggage and family into the plane and we left no more than 30min after touch down. We would consider our options from the air.

Leesburg was a lucky pick on my part 11 hours prior: the stationary but active front sat 5 miles south of the field when I arrived. I couldn’t have flown further south for another mile – which is why I made a straight in landing on 13 from the north. (see pix with rainbow). Sometimes you need a little luck – and Uber to get out ;-).

We took off in light rain followed by two other planes on a rescue mission: a Piper Six and a Citation Jet (I took great pride in knowing that the Citation driver would spend more $$$ on the first hour out of Florida to his destination Illinois, than I would spend on the entire 1900NM TX-FL-TX flight).

My sister in law’s family settled in nicely (they had packed lightly) and we discussed options:

1) Fly 2 hours and set down for the night – no motels available, spend the night in an FBO and complete the flight the next day.

2) Fly into the night until we get ahead of the pack on I-10 and find a Motel for the night – somewhere west of Pensecola.

3) Use the perfect VMC night with no winds to push all the way through to Texas with an ETA of 3am.

We chose #3.

After climbing to altitude we all enjoyed a peaceful sunset at cruising altitude.

Settling in for the night, I was ready to do my two planned night fuel stops: Quincy, FL and Nachez, MS.

The kids fell asleep to sweet XM radio shortly after sunset and I resumed my piloting role. Soon everybody was fast asleep and our bird was droning on into the calm and cloudless full moon night. – Bliss.

The passengers slept through the second fuel stop while I enjoyed the calm and cool summer night during the stop with no engine humming. The runway and taxiway lighting at night set a calm mood. The aether was absolutely quiet. After refueling, climbing back to altitude I picked up flight following again: cheap insurance for traffic separation, for potential emergencies and against pilot fatigue. My task as pilot was reduced to monitoring the auto-pilot and switching tanks every 30 minutes. There was no other traffic at our altitude at this time of the night. I was entertained on frequency by airliners going to far away mostly European destinations (British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa).

We arrived back in Austin at 2:45am and I was cleared to land long on 17L from 40 miles out. I enjoyed being the only approaching plane handled by ATC at this time of the night. I never had to switch frequencies and could stay with “approach” on 119.0 all they way to our hangar – no tower, no ground – just one ATC guy bringing us home safely.

Flying in the US is the pinnacle of personal freedom. It amazes me each time I climb into the pilot seat just how many freedoms we enjoy. – A privilige indeed.

The plane flew like a champ, the fuel totalizer worked within 1gal of accuracy for remainding capacity, and the G396 setup with G430 and Stratus ADS-B receiver with Foreflight on an iPad worked beautifully.

I was doing 130kts all day and night long (there was no wind) and cylinder 3 temperatures stayed below 400F.

When I shut down the tach showed 14.7 hours, I had burned 132 gallons and 1 quart of oil. I could not have done it without the autopilot.

Efficiency: 9gph@130kts (at high cruising alt. with no wind) OR 1911NM/132gal= 16.3 mpg (statute miles) = 14.4 L/100km @ 130 kts average speed. These are stellar numbers for a 180hp airplane with a O-360 naturally aspirated carbureted four cylinder engine.

 The magic carpet still works.