Crossing Half The Country In One Flight

In 1984, I sold the 1975 Cessna 172 I had operated for nine years and acquired a 1978 Mooney 201. I immediately put the airplane to work on a multi-stop trip around the country, quickly discovering how efficient it was. On the last leg of that trip, from St. Petersburg, Fla. (KSPG) to Mansfield, Mass. (1B9), I flew the 1029 nm nonstop in 6.7 hours using 52.4 gallons of fuel. That’s an average of 154…

Editorial Staff

Thursday, October 30, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The author acquired a Mooney 201 in 1984, impressed by its efficiency for long, nonstop flights often exceeding six hours and 1000 nm.
For several years, these flights were routinely conducted at high altitudes (10,000-11,500+ feet) without supplemental oxygen.
After a particularly long flight at 12,000-12,500 feet resulted in a severe headache, the author realized they had exceeded physiological limits and increased risk.
This experience led the author to limit future long flights to under six hours or below 11,000 feet unless using supplemental oxygen, which they later acquired.

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As I recall (I wish my short-term memory was as good), I flew that trip IFR at 11,000 feet, even though the weather was good VMC, and my logbook says “slight tailwind.” I didn’t have any supplemental oxygen, and I don’t remember any adverse effects from that first-ever flight I made that was over six hours long.

Over the next three years, I made 11 additional nonstop flights of six hours or more. Five of these exceeded 1000 nm. I never landed with less than nine gallons remaining, which was more than an hour of cruise endurance. It was on the last of these trips that I recognized there were limits, and insidious risks, to such long flights at high altitude.

In July 1987, I flew nonstop from Fort Worth, Meacham Field (KFTW) to San Diego, Calif. (KSAN) The 1001-nm flight took 6.8 hours. Most of my previous long flights were flown at between 10,000 and 11,500 feet, but I remember this flight started out at 12,500 feet and I eventually picked up an IFR clearance and settled on 12,000 feet. I had no supplemental oxygen. I flew a little higher to ensure a nonstop trip. It was in smooth air under VMC conditions and it was routine—until about an hour after I landed. I then had a splitting headache that lasted for hours, despite a mega dose of aspirin.

It finally dawned on me that I had exceeded my physiological limits and I later realized I had greatly increased the risk on that particular flight. I did not make any more flights exceeding six hours and generally limited my cruise altitude to 11,000 feet or lower, unless using oxygen. I still conducted a number of flights of about 5-6 hours that exceeded 1000 nm, usually between Oklahoma City and Washington, D.C.

Later, after my base of operations shifted to New Mexico and Washington State, I acquired a portable oxygen system.