By Dallice Tylee
This is not a short story, but as stories go, it's a good one.
If you need a short story, you have come to the wrong blog today. :-)
Fresh out of annual with new shoulder belts, main gear tires and instrument overhauls, Bonanza 303B was test flown and ready to embark on her next adventure.
Christmas was approaching and the plan was to fly north of Longmont, over the mountains, past Telluride and Salt Lake City... Into Reno, NV. The day before the flight however, a weather briefing revealed freezing fog around Salt Lake and more cloud coverage that we would have liked. The decision to fly south, over Monarch Pass and out past Montrose to Canyonlands, was made. Our first fuel stop was Cedar City, UT.
The dawn was cold. A hole in the cloud ceiling upwind of runway 29 allowed us to climb above before heading south over Boulder.
Below us, I knew my friends and neighbors were waking to a cloudy day on December 23rd. I, on the other hand, smiled as I watched the sunrise on the part of the Flatirons protruding through the cloud layer.
It was gorgeous and peaceful. We were on our way to Reno!
Once into the mountains, the calm gave way to some mild-moderate turbulence. I quieted my stomach with coffee from the on board coffee pot while Mark flew us high over the peaks, through the passes, along the valleys and out into the blue day that lay to the west.
About 40 minutes out of Cedar City, a greasy splatter appeared suddenly on the windscreen. We looked at each other, thinking out loud the possibilities of where it may have come from. Bonanza 303B sounded normal, was flying well and oil pressure remained constant. No further splatters appeared.
20 miles out of Cedar City a bang was heard. From where? No idea, but it didn't sound good and I know we hadn't hit anything. Oil pressure still good. Plane still flying normally.
Mark made the decision to fly the approach high, just in case we lost power.. You know, so we could trade altitude for speed and glide right into Cedar City Regional Airport. On long final the rpms shot up to almost red line. The landing was uneventful though. Smooth, safe, right down the center line, We taxied over to the FBO then the fueling area, and shut her down. I made a beeline for the bathroom while Mark fueled and checked the plane for damage.
On my return, he informed me we were grounded and showed me the ball bearings and little pieces of torn metal that lay in a tray beneath the the ring gear for the propeller.
As Mark headed for the FBO, a guy arrived to tow us into place for tie down. Then another truck pulled up.
Out stepped Scott. As luck would have it, Mark's father had a good friend with a hangar/house at Cedar City Regional Airport! I had emailed Mark's father to say we were on the ground here and he had called his friend to stop by and visit... No-one knew at the time that we would be "visiting" quite a while.
An hour later we had a plan. Scott had offered to fly us to Reno in his gorgeous Bellanca and we were packed and taxiing out. Then the unexpected happened again. As Bellanca got a little too lean on taxi, her engine quit. It wouldn't restart. A new electrical issue appeared to have just surfaced and it thwarted Plan B for getting to Reno on December 23rd.
Plan C: Scott was going to trouble shoot the electrical stuff and we aimed for a Bellance departure the following morning. Mark, Scott and I rearranged his hangar so that he could now fit a Bonanza and a Bellanca in there. Awesome hangar... Super awesome and very generous pilot friend. Light was fading and it was time for dinner, research and plans for tomorrow to be formulated.
Yes... And a well deserved early night.
As the sun rose over Cedar City, Mark and I emerged from our warm and cozy conference room campsite. We learned that the Bellanca was still grounded and resumed the search for a rental car. After all, Reno was just a 7-8 hour drive and we could still make it for Xmas. :-)
Plan D was looking grim within the hour though. Every rental car agency I called had nothing. Not Cedar City, not St George (45 mins away) and not even Salt Lake City (3 hours away).
Seriously? Seriously!
I headed to the airport terminal to see if I could actually find a person to talk to. Enterprise was closed, but the Avis counter sported a sign that said open 8am -6pm. I had left them a message to call me, 2 hours ago. It was now 10:30am and I had seen an unused rental car parked in spot #2 outside the Avis sign. I was eager to secure it. I called the 1 800 number. Who was the least fortunate? Me for getting someone who clearly had no power or information to help us... or him, the call center guy who go me on the line, with my demands to know why the Avis employee had not yet shown up for work and request to rent a car that apparently was not coming up in their system?
After struggling to understand why I couldn't get any help and staying on hold more than 20 minutes, I hung up and decided to "help myself". Now on the other side of the Avis counter, I rifled through the drawers. Pen and paper was my initial target, but I'll admit that if I found keys to the midsized Chevy outside, this story may have ended differently. I left the tardy Avis employee a note to call me.
Plan E: Ok... now back at the hangar, Mark and Scott were dismantling the propeller and the Bonanza was looking less and less airworthy.
I set to work researching flights out of St George and back to Denver. As luck would have it (it's all relative) I found a flight leaving at 1:22pm, direct to Denver. Yes, it was after 11:30am and St George airport was a 45 minute drive away.
An hour and $500 later we were barreling down the highway towards St George. About that time, Avis called me back too. Yes, they had a car (I know!) and no, they couldn't rent it to me due to some system error.
Our flight to Denver was a whirlwind event. Ticket reservations were confirmed enroute, we cleared security and gate-checked our bags. Quite by chance and good fortune, had a few minutes to breathe before boarding after our United aircraft was a few minutes later in arriving.
We landed in Denver 90 minutes later. The flight was short and sweet. We diddled with our gadgets all the way home, critiquing the pilot and his skills as all good United passengers do. :-)
We had realized on the way to the airport we had issues once on the ground in Colorado again too. Mark left his hangar keys in Utah with the plane. His car was parked in his hangar in Longmont. His house keys were in said car. I had house keys too... but had left them with my car keys in his garage at his locked house!
Once again, friends to the rescue. I had a friend pick us up from the Park n Ride and drive us 20 mins out to Longmont. Marks renter left the door open at his house for us. Another guy used a spare key to the hangar to open that for us. By 6pm Mark was home, I was on my way back to Boulder, just two more stops before home. My golden retriever, Marley, was going to be picked up so I could spend Xmas with him after all. Then of course, I needed to replenish the refrigerator, which I had emptied in preparation for being away and the stores were all closed tomorrow for Xmas!
King Soopers let me in for a "quick shop" at 7:01pm after they technically closed at 7pm. I emerged victorious from the store with 3 bags of groceries 10 minutes later! :-)
I was home, unpacked, changed and over to my neighbors annual "open house on Christmas Eve" within 5 minutes. She handed me a glass of wine and a plate of much appreciated holiday food. My day was winding down just the way it was supposed to.
Everyone was safe, comfortable and happy. Adventure over... for now.
- Special thanks to Andrew Bobak, Bill Tenore, David Paule and a huge thank you to Scott Johnson.
