The excitement at the Gila Bend Auxiliary Airforce Airport created a situation where we needed to regroup and come up with a plan to keep moving with the weather.
Over some lunch at the Gila Bend Space Age Restaurant, I explained everything that had happened. We then had an opportunity to straighten my hoop a little and break down Greg & Cynthia’s paramotors (which they had picked up the night before) so they could be stowed inside my truck and safe from the elements.
As the winds began to subside (a little) we made our way to a farm field, making sure that we were backtracking and well out of the Air Force’s airspace. It turned out to be a challenging reverse launch that took several tries before I finally got airborne, but with a significant cravat which fortunately after several pumps of the break came out and quickly enabled me to begin climbing.
Passing by the Gila Municipal airport I was now clear of the airspace and well on my way at 5000 feet. Not long after I was slowly approached and buzzed in a friendly fly-by of two F35 fighter jets who were slightly lower than me. It was kind of a friendly nudge to remind me to stay away from their airspace.
As if things weren’t exciting enough,
it hadn’t ended yet.
An hour later I had reached Arizola, a critical point in my route before crossing an area I had considered to be the most difficult during the planning. I had chosen a route that was shorter than an alternative but also kept me well clear of the Tucson airspace. The challenge was that if I went down or ran out of fuel it would be very difficult for the team to get around Mount Lemmon and Mica Mountain. It would most certainly result in many hours of delay. To make matters worse, these were some of the highest ranges to cross.
Shortly before diverging from Interstate 10 my motor began to die, then surge and repeated over and over again. I wasn’t sure what was causing the problem. Was it too rich, or was my engine about to seize, or was the carburetor clogged up with some dirt?
As I progressed further and further away from the interstate I grew more concerned and later became quite scared that my engine would quit and I would have to make an emergency landing in some very rough terrain alongside the mountains.
I decided to try flying a little lower and see if that would make a difference. It did and the problem reduced substantially but wasn’t entirely gone. I remained tense. Deviating slightly from my course lengthened the distance I had to travel, but gave more options to land in the event of an engine out, and perhaps I could reach an airport. Reaching ETP (Equal-Time Point) and knowing my team was already heading around the southern end of Tucson I pressed on.
Eventually, I cleared the first range of mountains. At this point, I realized I didn’t have enough fuel or power to cross over the next range of mountains. Once again I changed course in the hope I could make it down the valley to come out on I10 or be close enough to the team so they could get to me. Making matters worse, the sun was getting low and I was running out of daylight.
Using Foreflight I started looking for alternative airports and scanned the ground as I began my descent. I also sent out a quick text to Ray but wasn’t sure it got through given the remote area. As my fuel reached critical levels I found two dirt landing strips. One on high ground and the other on low ground that didn’t look as good.
Shortly after, I quickly landed on the 25ft wide runway and no sooner had I unbuckled, my motor was out of fuel and the motor died. I had no cell phone signal, the radios were out of range. I was glad to have the inReach and was able to use the satellite device to get a message out to the team that I had landed safely and where my location was.
I proceeded up to a hanger and set my equipment down before heading up to the house. Nobody answered. Waiting, I exchanged text messages with the team who were more than an hour away. Making their way through difficult winding dirt roads, the radio eventually lit up letting me know they were nearby.
After tense moments and a treacherous driveway to the airfield, the team finally arrived.
Be sure to watch the documentary to see the events and the work that went late into the night
Miller’s Place as it affectionately became known turned out to be a sanctuary for us that night. With the arrival of my team, Miller came out from his house to see what all the commotion was about. After hearing about my adventure, he quickly extended an invitation to stay the night and launch in the morning.
I also learned that my camper had broken a leaf-spring mount on one of the axles. It turned out Miller also had a welding machine and offered to let us use it to make a repair.
We quickly set up camp and the team jumped into action to begin all the work that was necessary to keep the expedition going. Cynthia cooked, Ray began to look at the Paramotor engine, Tom started charging all the gear and I began to get jacks under the camper so we could weld while Greg continued to document before getting a tour of Miller’s hanger where he had a gorgeous yellow cub.
Miller even went on to extend accommodation which Greg and Cynthia later took advantage of to have a break from my snoring.
The work went on late into the night and the camper got repaired. The engine turned out to be fine after removing and inspecting the head. After increasing the fuel to oil ratio and fine-tuning the carburetor we also added a breathing tube to the large fuel tank so we looked good to go.
Ray is a jack of all trades. He has incredible skills that can fix or improvise almost anything. You can’t do this type of expedition without a guy like that on your team.
Harley Milne – Pilot
Join us tomorrow for Day 3.
