Cessna 150-150 Mighty Mouse

THE FLIGHT OF A LIFETIME

This is my very first attempt at blogging so I hope this flows smoothly and we can all enjoy it.

This week, we (my best friend, co-pilot and wife) will be flying from Northwest Arkansas to Anchorage, Alaska via American Airlines to pick up Cessna 63082...a Cessna 150.

This plane was nicknamed "Mighty Mouse" some time back as this is no ordinary, run of the mill Cessna 150.

This is a 150-150 which means the stock Continental, 100 horsepower engine was removed and then upgraded to the Lycoming O-320 with 150 horsepower.

Additionally, Mighty Mouse has the full Horton STOL kit installed and 39 gallon long range fuel tanks.

Another big plus with this conversion is the 160 gross weight increase.

Mighty Mouse is a 1976 model with about 2,500 hours total time on the airframe and a new, zero timed, Lycoming factory rebuilt engine.

Here's a picture of Mighty Mouse in Alaska.

Cindy and I will be flying with (following actually) our good friend Terry Dickinson from Big Lake, Alaska.

Terry has two planes. One is a Piper Super Cub (on floats this time of year) and the other is a Cessna 152 which is affectionately known as Mosquito or......"Skeeter" for short.

Terry has a need/desire to reposition Skeeter to his winter home in the desert of Nevada and we (Cindy and I) have a need to travel with a highly experienced bush pilot (who also just happens to be a CFI) from the Alaskan wilderness, through the Canadian Rockies and on home.

Our generic plan will have us crossing back into the lower 48 at Great Falls, Montana and at this point (probably) we'll separate where Terry will turn right to the southwest and head to Nevada and we'll turn left to the southeast and head to Arkansas.

Here's Mosquito (Skeeter) parked next to Mighty Mouse at Big Lake, AK

All three of us consider this to be the ultimate flying adventure of a lifetime and we'll do our best to document this trip for not only our enjoyment but yours as well.

Jim & Cindy

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Thursday, August 29, 2013

The weather hasn't been "bad" but it has been low and scuzzy, meaning low ceilings and visibilities.

This puts a damper on doing much flying but there was enough of a break so Terry could reposition his Super Cub from his slip in Anchorage to his home on Marion Lake where he wants to keep it while he's gone on this trip. He has a commercial flight back to Alaska from Las Vegas on September 25 so his Cub will remain here now until his return.

Cindy flew back with Terry while his wonder dog Bella sat in her lap. This was Cindy's first ever flight in a plane on floats and she fell in love with it.

I did caution her not to fall too deeply in love with this type of flying as it's not on our horizon.......we're stuck with tires on our planes and we'll always need "Terra Firma" for our kind of flying.

So, while Terry and Cindy are enjoying the scenic tour home over water, yours truly got to fly back to Marion Lake 18" off the ground via Terry's airport Subaru that he leaves at his slip for ground transportation whenever he goes to Anchorage. It's a 1.5 hour road trip versus 20 minutes via Super Cub.....which would you choose???

Mighty Mouse did not break ground today but the weather forecast for tomorrow is encouraging...we'll see.