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Madrid to Oshkosh

Daily Update

July 28, 1998

A Day Of Planning in Beijing

"Water started to come down again. Water wasn’t necessary in the airplane. Would I need some, opening the door was enough!"

Michel calls to tell us that he has traveled (by bus) to Beijing to the Russian Consulate in order to renew his visa. While on the bus back to Tianjin, he writes about his experiences on the trip from Wuhan.

Although in an upbeat mood, Michel knows that his goal of getting to Oshkosh while the AirVenture 98 is happening is in jeopardy (thank you Vietnam). He may fly to Alaska, hop on a commercial flight to Wisconsin and visit with his friends there before returning to his flight.

Or, he may decide to keep on going and get to Oshkosh late. But as we have always said, it is the journey, not the destination. Already, Michel has flown farther and endured more hardships than any Kitfox pilot has.

July 27, 1998

Message from Michel

I checked everything in the Kitfox, and was surprised about the black color of the fuel at the bottom of the gascolator. I drained all the tanks.

I did manage to place some of the presents everywhere in the Kitfox. I was feeling well, but too tired. Plenty of people came to visit the aircraft and I told everybody good bye and "tsie tsie" ( thank you).

The take off was nice, but the ceiling was very low. I was afraid not being able to have enough altitude to over-fly those stone shark teeth standing in front of me. Fortunately layer was not thick, and after a circling in small thermal, I was over that layer, free of everything. I had 588 nm ahead to Wuhan.

Now I was flying between two cloud layers, and a kind of sad as I was not being able to see the landscape. The very long legs and huge estimates that many controllers didn’t believe didn’t help.

"ECYOY, confirm the estimate 0324?"

"Charlie Charlie!"

Few minutes later….

"ECYOY , may I have again your estimate to next point?"

"Revised estimate is 0323!"

"0323? Confirm 0323?"

"Affirmative!"

That was a never ending story! Now cloud layers are trying to meet together…and they do! Water started to come down again. Water wasn’t necessary in the airplane. Would I need some, opening the door was enough!

The food was good and spicy. It was easy to follow the instructions on the container. Problem was to understand them! I finally ate crunchy noodles with spicy cold water. I was going to survive!

I shot a GPS approach at Wuhan. Then, I was parked between two China made twin engine aircraft. Again, attacked by plenty of people, and again, what nice people. First thing I was told was to have dinner with them. I agreed immediately!

Six trips to the gas station, using my 20 liters floor tank as container, and a spark plugs change, readied the craft for next day.

The dinner was excellent. What a pity to have my stomach smaller after so many days not eating very much. Hotel was also good, so I fully enjoyed my stay. Problem was again the very short night: about six hours, with one hour and half break in the middle to write the reports for you.

So, again, I was exhausted!

This report is being written in the bus from Beijing to Tianjin!

Michel's in-flight meal! Unfortunately, this was not served by a smiling flight attendant. This "cup-a-noodles" was mixed with the rain water right outside the door and eaten cold. All the while Michel navigated IFR in the other soup that was right outside the window.

ECYOY on the ramp at Nanning. Everywhere Michel goes, he attracts attention. Nanning was a "good" stop. They did not charge him landing fees!

More lunch! This time the setting is a bit more comfortable than the cockpit of a bouncing Kitfox at 10,000 feet.