Like the previous morning’s, the beauty of the landscape was fantastic and I was eager to get in the air as soon as possible. I was also excited that Miller might be able to fly alongside me in his Cub down through the valley.
I’m sure the rest of the team were a little weary after the previous long difficult day. I think I was still in adrenaline and Go Mode. I knew we were still on an uphill battle with the weather until we were somewhere through Texas and even then we needed to stay on the crest of the wave to pull this off in the 14 days we had announced to the public. What no one outside my team knew, was that I had set a personal goal of just 10 days.
We hadn’t been able to get a briefing from Dave due to the lack of cell phone coverage. Miller also wasn’t able to get his cub started, but his local area knowledge to get down through the valley safely was exceptionally helpful.
This was going to be a short field take-off due to the direction of the wind. I elected for no Flight Deck and less fuel, just enough to get back to an airport near Interstate 10 about an hour away. Like other launches, it wasn’t without its risk and the tense moments didn’t let the team down. The good news was I pulled it off and once again, you will have to wait for the documentary to catch the thrill.
The flight was cool and pleasant. For the first time, things began to feel like I was getting into a routine. Before long I made my turn to cross the mountains with a straight line to my destination.
Upon landing the first of many good surprise meetups occurred. Walking to the fuel tanker to set my gear down I was approached by a man who asked ‘Are You, Harley’. He went on to explain how he had read about me on Facebook and looked up my route late that night. He had decided to meet me at one of the LZs and got lucky to have picked the one I would be stopping at. While waiting for the crew to arrive and refuel we exchanged stories. I’m embarrassed to say that as I write this I can’t remember his name but below is a picture we took.
After refueling, he tagged along for a couple of miles and I continued my journey 172 miles in just over 3 hours on what was an absolutely beautiful day and landed at Las Cruces Int. Airport (LRU). It was clear and we were riding the wave.
Given we were not far from El Paso I hoped Anthony Vella would show up. Sadly he didn’t and as you will soon hear, my team got to spend time with him while I was making speed. This refueling stop took a little longer than expected. I needed a little time to warm up, take a leak and eat some food and it gave some time for Tom and Cynthia to arrive, who had their own adventure that morning. We refer to it as the Syrup Incident!
As it turned out, Cynthia hadn’t made sure the fridge door had properly latched and as a result, it opened allowing the contents to be flung all around the camper as they traveled down the rough dirt road I had forced them up the night before. Their fuel stop had also turned into a clean-up job. It was one of a few things the team kept from me along the way so as not to distract or worry me from the focus of the trip.
The Big Flight
Now almost 3 pm, I finally launched after multiple blown launches and climbed up through the bumpy air before it finally settled down. I followed my usual pattern of a slow ascent conserving fuel and gradually gaining altitude and looking for the big wind Dave had told me I would find if I would be willing to go to Flight Level 10 (10, 000 feet).
The ground Race had begun
The crew had not been able to keep up with me all day
The team meanwhile met up with Anthony Vella and quickly realized they weren’t going to catch me as I was already reaching speeds of 60-70 miles an hour ground speed and they had a longer distance to drive than I had to fly. So they left me hanging in the air (literally) and exchanged stories and laughs for a little longer before finally getting going to see where I would land.
As for me, as I saw my ground speed build, I kept climbing to see it continue to rise and it wasn’t long before I was over 70 mph and heading for 80 mph and was looking to lengthen my route to get further than we had planned. This was once again a risky strategy as I once again was over remote rugged terrain far away from help or for the crew to get me.
Ridding the wave I finally reached 12, 444 feet and was doing almost 90 mph. But now I had another problem. I was running out of daylight.
Per the FAA 103 rules I must land by the end of civil twilight / 30 mins after sunset. It was also a requirement to be eligible for the FAI record to follow all Federal Aviation regulations and therefore didn’t wish to be disqualified by breaking the rules.
Though I had more than another hour of fuel and expected to be able to cover another 80 miles I had to get on the ground and didn’t have much time to do it. I made a course change and headed for a little LZ next to I-10 that I had scouted in the planning as a checkpoint, an alternative place to land in an emergency. Now just minutes away from the end of daylight I began my descent.
Dude, we were freaking out because we could see you hadn’t started descending
Greg anthony harris
As it turned out the ground grew and Dave Wert had exchanged messages and there was some concern that I had become hypoxic (oxygen-starved) from more than an hour above 12, 000 feet where oxygen is needed for pilots flying unpressurized aircraft.
I continued my descent and began some rapid spirals to lose as much altitude as possible before finally leveling out to get the sense of the best direction to land in the fairly strong winds. It was already too dark and difficult to make out some of the natural terrain to help me.
In the end, I had a perfect landing exactly on my LZ seconds before the end of civil twilight and proceeded to wait the hour or so in the pitch black for the team to arrive. Shrugging their shoulders, we laughed over what was the ride of my Paramotor life and then went about the usual routine of Post Flight Checks, Fueling, Cooking, and Eating Dinner before quickly heading to get some shut-eye for what was looking like another interesting day to come. Oh, and it included me denting the hoop even more.
