Greeley to Ogden UT
On Wednesday, I said goodbye to Lee and flew the leg from Greeley, CO to Ogden UT (379 nm, 2.6 hrs).
Before I left while fueling a pilot in a Varieze stopped by to get some fuel with the most audacious EZ I have every seen. It was definitely a pimp mobile with blue fur material everywhere!
Flying IFR, one definitely needs O2 as the IFR airways MEA is 16,000 ft. The trip to SLC was definitely better than when I flew Pat’s plane to LA and was almost had an accident due to icing. The scenery was just beautiful!
All was good until I landed and found I had lost over 1200 psi in the cylinder because of a broken 0 ring on the fitting… shit I am now down to less than 500 psi.
The flight was over desolate land, with very sparse towns. I have to hand it to the cowboys of old as it would been quite a haul to travel between towns on a horse over dry land with sage brush without water for very great distances. Overall, it was VFR conditions, with almost no head wind.
After meeting Rick Irwin at the FBO I taxied over to his hanger to check out his bird and put mine up for the night. Rick and I spent about an hour hitting local shops to find a tiny O ring for my O2 system (which we finally found) and his A&P buddy Stewart filled my bottle for me. He used a “Oxygen Intensifier”…?? It is an O2 pump which pumps low pressure O2 up to 2,200 psi using an air compressor to power it. I never heard of such a thing, and after checking it out on the net I want to build one.
Rick’s cozy 4 is MOST unusual. Its 4” wider, with infinity gear, forward opening canopy, blended winglets, impeccable workmanship, he is going to make a one of a kind strake design with a 300 hp rotary engine. Talk about taking on a development project! Two other cozy 4 builders stopped by to check my bird out and head over to Rick’s house for dinner. I guess they are rotary crazy in UT as the two other builders are both going to the rotary route.
Diner was hosted by Rick at his house with a bunch of local builders and it was back to the hanger to give a ride to a local Longez builder (Chris) who has been building and never seen or flown in an EZ.
We went up just a the sun was setting, the air was smooth, I put on some nice music and he just loved the flight. What a motivator for him to complete his project.
What a beautiful sunset over the Great Salt Lake….
After landing and a very long taxi my brakes failed. Shit whats up now? I have experienced brake fade, but this was different. Both peddle went to the floor and I had nothing. Hum that was strange. The wheel pants were VERY hot and were removed to check damage and to let everything cool. I have SS lines from the master cylinder to the slave, and the only thing I could determine is that possibly the lines got hot enough to boil the fluid because after cooling, the brakes worked normally. With brake fade, you apply pressure, the brakes act normally but you don’t stop. This time, the was no stopping and I could pump away at the brakes and the peddles went to the floor like I had no fluid. Strange. After I took the wheel pants off and everything cooled off the breaks worked perfectly.
Had a great sleep and goodbyes it is off to Boise. Thanks Rick for your help and hospitality!
