Ron Schreck and His RV-8 Have Very Long Day

0

“After seventeen hours and six minutes of flying time I touched down at all 110 airports (109 public plus one private) and averaged a landing every nine and a half minutes,” Ron Schreck wrote of his journey to each public-use airport in North Carolina on July 4. Schreck said the total distance (minus a few wide patterns) was 1,991 nm, throughout which he managed an average 116 knots in his RV-8, “Miss Izzy.” That doesn’t include the two hours he spent at Currituck County airport waiting for the sun to come up so he could begin his assault on the state’s non-lighted fields (Schreck began his journey just after midnight) or time spent during four trips to the pump for avgas. Schreck said challenges included inoperative runway lights and short (1,400 foot) grass strips “with huge trees at both ends” and meandering ground-bound flocks of geese. Fortunately, he didn’t have to actually land, just touch and go.

Schreck found support along the way from fellow pilots who waved from hangars and even one supportive gentleman who picked up the tab for avgas so that Schreck wouldn’t have to wait for his credit card to go through. Total time for the endurance marathon was 19 hours 51 minutes. Average distance between airports was 65.4 nm. He began in the first minute of the Fourth of July and finished at 8:09 p.m. “It was a great trip,” said Schreck.

LEAVE A REPLY