By Jerry Rosie (USUA #A86096)

Greetings again, Ultralighters - and a very happy New Year to one and all! Yep, we made it through to the beginning of 2006 and have a bright new, untarnished year in which to excel. Also as a reminder, this is the last year in which folks transitioning to Light Sport Pilot can use their ultralight time toward the requirements for licensing. After 1 Jan 2007 you will need to satisfy the dual flight time requirement, and this could be relatively expensive. So, we'll have to "get with the program" and locate an examiner and pass our 'check ride'. All this is applicable unless USUA's petition to the FAA to extend the period for using our ultralight time is granted. With the current shortage of approved examiners, it is an urgent requirement that the time is extended.

Now it is time to rejoin Jeff Bean on his "Great Adventure". We last left Jeff, with his now repaired airplane, awaiting clearance from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to use a road for a runway. There appears to be a small break in the story here, as the next issue of the "Crowhopper Times" picks up with Jeff departing some airstrip at 0700 enroute to Amherst where he bought fuel, a muffin and coffee. After this bountiful breakfast, he crossed the Bay of Fundy at 3000 feet enroute to Sussex. A headwind reduced his ground speed to about 50 MPH so he had plenty of time to observe the beautiful scenery. It was a good thing that he had arranged for a friend to meet him with fuel at Sussex. The friend, in addition to providing fuel, provided the information that St. Stephens (his next planned stop)was having a seafood chowder flyin that day. With about an hour and a half of flight time to get to St. Stephens, Jeff figured that this was too good a deal to pass up and planned for lunch at that stop. Landing at St. Stephens to the applause of the crowd, and after talking with a local reporter about his airplane and his trip, Jeff was pleasantly surprised to find out that $10 would buy him a huge bowl of chowder, rolls, pie and coffee.

With airplane and pilot fully fueled, he departed for Eastport, and a flight down the coastline to a fuel stop at Bar Harbor. Traffic at Bar Harbor was a bit intimidating, so Jeff set his trike down on an inactive runway with a nice cross wind landing. (An advantage of flying an ultralight). Departing Bar Harbor, he headed for Wiscasset, Maine by way of the Brunswick Naval Air Station. In the vicinity of Brunswick, he noted a C-10 heading his way and executed a rapid descent and turned away from the base and its air activity. Landing at Wiscasset, he made use of the self-service fuel pumps and assessed his situation. By now he had been flying for about 10 hours and was getting a bit fatigued but was hoping to get to Limington, Maine before dark. Jeff called ahead to see if fuel would be available for him, but the guy he was counting on for fuel was at a flyin in another town so wouldn't be available. He departed anyway and used the spare four gallons of fuel he carried with him to refuel at Limington. While completing this task, he remembered that Sky Haven Airport, about 45 minutes away, had 24 hour fuel and decided to try to make it before dark. While fueling up at Sky Haven, the owner happened to come by and offer him the use of a courtesy car and directions to a local motel.

Here we will again pick up Jeff's narration. "I woke up early because I was anxious to get home. I was expecting clear skies, but there was a layer of clouds. I took off and headed for home only to find out that I had a headwind of 25-30 mph, and, with my gps registering 29 mph, it was going to take a lot longer to get home. After about a half hour I looked back at my gas tank and noticed that I was not going to have enough gas to make it to Fitchburg, so I decided to go to the airport at Hampton, NH. I punched Hampton into my GPS and headed there. My biggest fear happened, I got to where my GPS said the airport was, but I couldn't see it! I circled around and looked, but no airport to be found." After taking up a heading to return to Sky Haven, Jeff decided to try to make it to Plum Island, 35 minutes away where he made another cross wind landing and added 7 gallons of gas to his tanks.

Checking ahead, he found that conditions at his home field were pretty rough, but this close to home he decided to try it anyway. "It was pretty rock and roll-ish most of the way. It took one hour to get to Fitchburg. I can't tell you how excited I was when I could see Fitchburg airport. I landed around 10:30 AM and headed for home!"

And thus we complete Jeff Bean's "Great Adventure".

I will resist the temptation to comment on things that Jeff could have done differently, because it would not have been anywhere as interesting a story if everything had gone as planned. It does point up the flexibility of Ultralight flying and comments favorably on Jeff's flexibility in changing his plans when the situation requires it (even while in the air).

The shortest day of the year is now behind us, and in just a couple of months warm weather will be visiting all 50 states so we can get ready to return to the air. Now is the time when we can be replacing those items on our airplanes that need to be replaced and to tighten and tweak everything so we can make safe enjoyable flights at the earliest opportunity. Take good care now, and we'll see you again next month.

Those of you preparing for the Sport Pilot certificate might be interested in checking out www.preparetotest.com which has all of the FAA sport pilot test questions, and gives you an opportunity to take multiple practice tests in preparation for your written. There is a slight fee, but it is very reasonable - in the neighborhood of $4.95 for a 30 day subscription as I remember it.