Day 2 on our Journey from Torrance California to Alaska in a Robinson R22 18 May 2010

We woke up to nice weather, sunny with just a breeze. As they say, chamber of commerce weather. It was about 6:30am (Pacific Time) and time to get ready for another day of flying the little R22 helicopter north. I was hoping today would be a nice day and so far it was looking good outside. We went down and grabbed some continental breakfast the hotel provided and then checked out. We called Honeycutt Aviation at the airport where we parked the helicopter for the night and they were kind enough to come out and give us a ride back to the airport. I started the preflight and everything looked good except for the main rotor gearbox (transmission) fluid level.

R22 Main Rotor Gearbox Oil: Full, No Leaks

It should be full with no leaks like the photo above. We had no gearbox oil showing which meant it was low. Not good. The thing is we had the same problem with it when we picked it up at the Robinson Factory. The mechanics at the factory brought out more fluid and filled it up to the line before we left Torrance the day before, and the gearbox showed full at each fuel stop. For some reason this morning it was low again and not showing in the site glass. We couldn't see any leaks anywhere, and it's not normal for it to use up oil. Unlike an automobile engine, the main rotor transmission (gearbox) oil does not get used up, so if the level is going down over time there is probably a leak. That would not be typical: usually there is no leak and you never have to add oil. But this happened over night, which is out of the ordinary. We called Keith the owner at Alpine Air Alaska, he suggests we fly it to Redding, California where there is a service center for Robinsons. He felt there was enough oil to get us that far. Okay, that's easy for you to say. So we are off to Redding, and I’m hyper aware of any subtle changes in the helicopter’s performance, but nothing goes wrong and we get there in one piece. We call for fuel and let the fluid levels settle before we check them again. Strangely enough the main rotor gearbox oil level is full again. I've never seen this happen on any other R22 that I fly, this is strange. So we press on and the rest of the day the oil level in the site glass shows normal. We did pay close attention to the main rotor transmission chip and temperature detector lights for anything that may be going wrong. This phenomena happened each morning, the gearbox oil level would indicate low until after the first leg, then the oil would show normal again. This was the only abnormal anomaly that occurred with niner niner five zero seven on our whole trip. After a couple days I stopped worrying about it. So you're probably wondering what they did about the main rotor gearbox oil when we made it back to Alaska. Simple, they filled her to the brim and from what I hear she's fine now. Bizarre...

At Redding we make a decision to stay east of the Cascades. From the weather reports, and what we could see as we got closer to the Cascade Mountains, we take note that they are definitely loaded with clouds and bad weather on the west side. So we headed north hooked a right around Mount Shasta and then on to Klamath Falls, Oregon. Staying east of the Cascades would help us to avoid the bad weather. I was a little disappointed, mainly because I was hoping to follow the coast, but you do what you have to in order to get the helicopter from point A to B. It's sunny and we have a tail wind, it's always good to have a tail wind! The leg to Klamath Falls was pretty uneventful, except for the the terrain, we notice the elevation levels in general are getting higher, upwards to three and four thousand feet. The elevation is 4100 feet at Klamath Falls, but the little R22 does fine. I should note here that having an older aviation chart to navigate by bit us in the butt when it came to calling the tower. The old chart said the tower frequency was 118.3, no answer, after several tries someone came on the air and told us the new frequency was 133.975, thanks for that, but now I'm feeling a little stupid for having an old chart. We land, call for fuel on the Unicom frequency, 122.95. It's also time to get all the bugs off the windshield from flying through California. There's a lot of activity here; F-15's from the local Guard unit are flying sorties and apparently having exercises. One F-15 comes in drops his hook and catches the barrier. Fire trucks and emergency responder vehicles speed out to meet the F-15. Nothing is wrong, it's just an exercise, a practice drill, interesting to watch.

F-15 Strike Eagle

F-15 taxing behind our R22, Klamath Falls

We also notice, and on the other end of aviation's time spectrum, a B-17 bomber on the ramp just north of us. It's a real operating B-17. We can't resist and walk over to take a closer look. We see they are offering rides for 350 bucks and tours inside the bomber for something like 18 bucks. We don't have the time or money so we just look from the outside and take a few pictures, it was sure an awesome bomber to see up close. Feared by the Germans during WWII.

B-17 Flying Fortress

               The B-17 we saw in Klamath Falls

After refueling, cleaning the bugs off the bubble and doing a little site seeing we get in, start up, and get the main rotors up to operating speed. We then contact the tower and ask for a departure to the north from our present position. We are told to stand-by as F-15s are on their way in to land. After a few minutes we were given clearance and depart to the north, always north.

On our way to Madras, Oregon

We were on our way to Madras, Oregon. Not that we had this planned, but where we ended up based on the need for fuel. In fact, except for Canada where we didn't have much of a choice, our stops were not planned at all, except that we were generally heading to Oroville, Washington and overall basically heading north, these fuel stops were on the way, or at the end of each day where we simply ended up. We literally took it hour by hour. Why Oroville? Because this is where we had to, actually where we decided to cross the border and coordinate with US and Canadian Customs. I'll explain more about that when we get there. So, we head north and have a pretty good tail wind with some gusting, I believe something like 25 knots or so along this route of travel. I start feeling some strange forces on the helicopter when the winds are gusting from behind. It's not something I've ever really dealt with before in training. What happens is the gust from the rear wants to lift the nose of the helicopter, I have to fight these pressures by pushing forward on the cyclic and pulling up on the collective during these sudden gusts from the rear. After a few hours of this they become second nature to handle. There's something else about the little R22 that I never thought about during training, there is no hydraulics, it's direct linkage. So I'm feeling all the flight pressures all day long and this starts to wear on me, I have to learn to hold the controls in such a way that it doesn't strain my wrists. I also sat on the left side the whole trip in order to get used to the instructor's seat. Did I mention my butt was hurting? Hey, it's the price we pay to have fun!

How do helicopter controls work?

We eventually make it to Madras Oregon just north of Bend still fighting 20 knot winds, gusts, and turbulence, but they are tail winds so I'm happy about that and not complaining, we land to refuel. It's a pretty barren place, high desert and kind of brown, sage brush country. It sure feels good to get out and stretch. The wind is kind of hot and dry, again I'm not complaining because the winters are long here in Alaska and the warmth felt good. We refueled and took a bathroom break and we were ready for one more leg. We never knew exactly where we would end up each night. This night it turned out to be Wenatchee, Washington, apple country, a beautiful high desert little city near the Columbia River. I felt comfortable and wouldn't mind living there some day. We found a Comfort Inn and they sent out a taxi/shuttle for us. A little trick we learned; if you call the hotel and they send the taxi you don't have to pay for it, they are a service to the hotel. If we called the taxi we'd have to pay for it. I did not know that. The taxi driver was kind enough to explain to us how the whole system worked. The lady behind the desk was extremely courteous, it appears they make chocolate chip cookies each night but they had just run out. Darn, I guess we looked disappointed because about 15 minutes later there was a knock at the door, she had made a fresh batch of cookies just for us. Thank you for the cookies! We then found a nice little place to eat near the hotel called Prospector Pies. I ordered myself a hamburger and fries, one of the best burgers I've had in awhile. I would definitely go back. After that meal I was ready to hit the sack after flying the helicopter for 7.2 hours. The thing is you have to constantly fly a helicopter and concentrate every second which is mentally draining. An airplane can be trimmed out and will more or less fly itself. Let’s just say my landings were getting a little sloppy by the end of the day.

Me and the K-MAX, Wenatchee, WA

Hobbs schedule for the day:

Yuba County Airport, Marysville, CA (KMYV) - Redding Municipal Airport, CA (KRDD) 1.4 hours

Redding Municipal Airport, CA (KRDD) - Kingsley Field, Klamath Falls, OR (KLMT) 1.7 hours

Kingsley Field, Klamath Falls, OR (KLMT) - Madras Airport, OR (S33) 2.0 hours

Madras Airport, OR (S33) - Pangborn Memorial Airport, Wenatchee, WA (KEAT) 2.1 hours

Total 7.2 hours 515 NM's