April 1993 - American Bonanza Society

Tailwinds the big winner. \Ve won the Fresno leg by a small
margin but remained second overall.
Fresno to Frederick The 1,987-mile Fresno-Frederick leg
was made nonstop while almost everyone else stopped for
fuel, and in spite of a big 360 turn to clear the Sierras, en
route thunderstonns, and induction icing near Ch icago, we
won the leg by 0:11:03 over DoLibleEagleand 0:30:00 over
Tailwinds, putting us back in first overalJ by 0:11:13.
Palle! of Bob \f/ab!'s 1987 F33A Bonanza.
surrounded by a cmmbling infrastructure. I believe tha.t the
resourcefulness bred of years in tllis system will enable them
to overcome their current problems and emerge as a firstrate
economy.
Moscow to Irkutsk The 2,517 NM Moscow-Irkutsk run
was one of ollr best legs, bur also rhe most difficult. This was
our first takeoff wid, full fuel, but with 17,000 feet of
Ravenskoe runway we had no problems. At Fl6300 (20,670
feet), Steve experienced hypoxia because he was turning lip
my oxygen flow instead of his own, and then about nine
hours into the flight, I began having a ltitude problems, with
burning eyes, painfully-dry nasal passages and hypelventilation.
As if this were not enough, number [wo cylinder went
lean with the CHT going over red line, making it necessary
[0 reduce power and richen the lTlD.'ture. Despite tllis, high
altitude tailwinds and OUf ability to go nonstop-while most
other competitors were forced to refuel at Omsk---enabled
us to win that leg by 0:34:00 over the Malibu, Ai,. Lany, and
0:49:23 over Tailwinds.
Irkutsk to Yakutsk After clearing a panially-plugged injec­
[Or, we depalled on the lrkutsk-Yakutsk leg where strong
headwinds brought us a sixth place finish, 0: 19:33 behind
Tailwinds. In YakUlsk we spent two nigh15 on a riveriXlat on
the Lena River, and enjoyed some sightseeing and a terrific
picnic with a cololful group of Yakutsk natives.
Yakutsk to Anadyr The 1,425 mile Yakursk-Anadyr leg
was flown in good weather at our altitude while Tailwinds
was nmning imo icing below us, and we increased our
overall lead to 1:17:50 while winning this leg. Double Eagle,
a 310 flown by Harlon Hain and Paul Hamer, remained third
overall, 1 :35:30 back.
Anadyr to Nome The off-race leg to Nome was flown with
the midnight sun on our left and Double Eagle on our wing.
The Eagle stayed on our wing thorugh an NDB instnJment
approach to minimullls at Norne. Harlan, a fOnller
SR-71 pilot, was in the left seat.
Nome to Victoria to Fresno Big-time headwinds on the
.:\lome to Victoria leg erased our over one-hour lead, with
Frederick to Goose to Godthab The leg to Goose was
damage control, with light headwinds, and after the off-race
leg to Godthab, Greenland, we were ahead overall by only
two minutes.
Godthab has only 3,100 feet of runway, so we strippc'd
everything movable out of the ~Iirplane and with a forecast
of good tailwinds, o ff-loaded some fuel. We depalted with
12 knots of wind down the runway for the 2,300-mile nonstop
flight to Cannes, France.
Godthab to Cannes and a win! In itially we showed a
negative fuel reselve but as tailwinds as high as 75 knots
fiUed in, things began to look good, and we made Cannes
in 10:13 at an average of 230 knots.
This fmal leg gave us the overall win by 1 :05: 19 over
Tailwinds and 1 :16:50 over Double Eagle. Hots Liglle, a
Cheyenne III flown by Bruno Keppeler, won the ttuloine class.
A festive awards ceremony and au revoir to our many
new friends marked the end of an experience of a lifetime.
-Bob If/abl, ABS 25360, Rochester, YY.
For particIpation In the first Round-th.,.World Air Race,
Wahl'. 1987 F33A Bonanza had the following equipment:
RiteCraft Turbonormalizing System
lQO.galion "Dolly's Daughters" wing tanks
Osbome tip tank fuel system
Beryl D'Shannon gap seals
115 cu. ft. builHn oxygen system
Icol11-725 HF Transceiver
King KFC 200 Right Director
KNS 80 Nav System
King KX 155
KY 196 Com
KT 76A Transponder
KR 87 ADF
Insight GEM
WX 10 Stormscope
Shad in Fuel Computer
Argus 7000
Garmin GPS (since replaced by Magellan Skynav 5000)
Electric Attitude Gyro
Aitecom intercom with digital voice recorder
Telex ANR headsets
SarSat emergency locator beacon
Spare portable GPS
Editors note. A more detailed account of this race will be
eanied in ABS Fabulous Higbts, which is scheduled to be
published in late summer.
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AMERICAN BONANZA SOCIETY, APRIL 1993
PAGE 3198