Campbell Field - Copperhill, TN in N95901

Ever just wanted to fly in one direction until you reach the last of the gas? Oughta be fun! But then I’m not sure of the outcome??

My destination was to be Copperhill, TN, Campbell Field, 1A3. In the foothills of the Smokies. This would have been my first trip to this airport. Autumn should be the time to visit a mountain airport what with the pretty colors and all.

Leaving from home the weather was great. Clear blue and twenty-two. Well, maybe fifteen. Heading NE, GPS on, course locked in, Map in hand.

Near Gadsden, AL a sea of clouds began to cover the valleys. A massive river of fog flowing down the valleys looks very solid and thick. Mountain tops & antennas are all that is visible. Beautiful but not VFR friendly. This must have been what a glacier looked like many millennium ago. Minus the antennas of course.

Gadsden airport (KGAD) is not visible, neither is the town or the Coosa river. There’s a few holes in the fog. Wonder if I can see the airport through one. Nope, that’s the top of a ridge.

I'm inclined to follow along the top of Lookout Mountain. Comfortable in the knowledge that there are plenty of emergency landing areas available. Certainly such a warm and pretty sunrise will burn off the fog before I reach my limits. Incidentally, my limits are: enough gas to get to a known place to land. Factoring in wind speed, direction, etc. (Gas. Not Fuel. Car Gas.)

So now I'm happily chugging along over a mountain top with plenty of gas and time. Drooonnnnneeeing on, feet on floor, hands in lap, enjoying the ride and the view. Trees on top of the ridges are beginning to take on fall colors.

Lookout Mountain is typical of the small mountains in North Alabama. Long direction is NE/SW. The mountain edges are higher than the middle, making for lots of home places right on the edge of the bluffs.

There’s Little River Canyon below. Quote from NPS.GOV, “Little River is unique because it flows for most of its length atop Lookout Mountain in northeast Alabama.” Lovely waterfalls - swift water for the kayakers. Summertime you have to dodge the swimmers. Cold water - nobody swimming now. Canyon Mouth is a great place for picnickers. Several points along the rim road are overlooks the ground-bound folks can use to see the sights. (and I have)

Look! Take note! Fort Payne (4a9), usually fogged in on a morning like this, is perfectly visible from my 4500 ft msl vantage point. There's me a place to land for fuel if the need arises. Fort Payne has a breakfast every 5^th Saturday. Come one, come all.

Nothing visible on the SE side of the mtn, tho. Should be about even with Weiss Lake. There’s the Flying ‘J’. Private strip.

Listening to the Rome, GA frequency I hear several aircraft call for a traffic advisory. No landing there! ASOS reporting 1 mi. & 300 ft ceiling. And Rome had an airshow scheduled today. Rome has a hamburger joint on the field. Gathering place for the flying crowd on Saturdays.

No worry, beautiful sunlight where I am, fog's gonna burn off soon.

Look at that! I can see the mountain at Rock City. Must still be 50 miles away. I don't really want to invade Chattanooga's airspace so I bend the ailerons enough to turn the airplane to the right a few degrees. Now I'm getting over that cloud layer. No land visible except when I strain to look to the rear.

Wow! The only hard objects I can see are antennas poking up through the clouds. Checking the sectional shows those must be near Lafayette, GA (9a5) There's a good place to visit on the Saturday's they serve BBQ. Not today though. Not visible.

Humm. Those antennas are 1308 msl, and only 258 ft tall. That ridge they are on is still below cloud level. I shudder a bit thinking what would happen should that droning noise out front suddenly stop.

I must be in a temperature inversion layer. Haze is visible way out on the horizon and it's about 60 degrees temp. at my altitude. Maybe 40 below.  Perfect recipe for low-level clouds.

Still listening to the Rome frequency. A few aircraft are doing ILS.

Hey, look up there! some big hills poking through the fog. Check the GPS, I'm over Dalton (DNN). Tune in AWOS, 1.5 mi, 400 ft. ceiling. Still thick. Those hills are inviting but I'm not sure just how far away they are. Visual distances are deceiving under these conditions. Plenty of fuel so I continue on.

Indicated airspeed 94mph, GPS reporting ground speed 99, making good time but gotta watch that. Tailwind now means headwind going back. What's my fuel level? How long have I been flying? All is still ok if I need to turn back.

Reached the mountains. Whoa! they are just about as high as I am. There's a lookout tower so I must be approaching the Cohutta Wilderness Area, part of the Chattahoochee National Forest. Sectional shows those mountains to be 4005 ft msl. No wonder they are close. Lots of fall colors. Some brilliant yellows. Reds are sorta brown but lots of green yet so I’m just a bit early in the season.

Not much farther to Campbell (1a3).

Oh, me! On the other side of this mountain there is still nothing but fog. Check the sectional for the altitude at Cooperhill. Only 1793! Those clouds below look as solid as ever and must be at 2000 ft.

Decision made, snap a few pictures and turn around. Wonder if anyone is in that lookout tower?........

Now, what does my compass heading need to be? Check GPS, reverse course. Well, look there! not a spec of land in sight! Engine don't fail me now!

I read all these stories about how an engine will run rough over water. I'm here to tell you it does the same on top! I must have counted every power stroke on the little Continental.

Remember the ground speed indicated about a 7 mph tailwind a while ago? Don't really need that now that I've reversed course. Think a minute, I'm now flying in a westerly direction so I need to either climb or descend a thousand feet. Easy decision, the clouds aren’t moving and I don't need to burn more fuel, so I push over to 3500 msl. Good choice - no headwind. Indicated speed and GPS speed are identical (92mph). We'll make it.

Plenty of time for thinking, getting paranoid. Or maybe already there. What if the fog has climbed over lookout mountain? What if the Fort Payne airport is now socked in? Quickly calculate my fuel burn.............. Plenty to get home but I think I will reduce the throttle anyway. Oh, yes, I have a spare GPS in the baggage box.

Good sight ahead. Lookout mountain is rising out of the clouds. I'm on my way home.

Still listening to Rome radio & ASOS, still no aircraft landing there. I heard a report later that the clouds didn't lift until after noon. Not much of an airshow, too bad.

There's the Flying 'M' ranch. There's Fort Payne. There's the new grass strip at Keener, there's the Gadsden airport. Whoops! there's an airguard chopper headed my way. One of them double-bladed jobs. No conflict, He's headed to drop some troopers out over the field.

Occasionally a C130 will fly over my house about 500 ft agl, sneak between Chandler mountain and Blount mountain, turn south around the north-east end of the mountain and kick out a trooper over the Gadsden airport. They will do this on the blackest night with all lights out!!!!

The troopers will walk up to the FBO and wait on the aircraft to pick them up. Sometimes it’s a C17. Sometimes a C5. Always fun to swap stories with them and the pilots.

There's Chandler Mountain; tomato pickers out in force today. That's where I spent some of my growing up years. Nothing like trying to get your hands clean after a day of picking green tomatoes. Maybe even a ripe tomato battle sometime during the day!

Horse Pens Forty is on the southwest end of Chandler Mountain. Known world-wide amongst the Bouldering crowd.

Time to descend into my field. Check to see if the neighbor's goats have jumped the fence again. Or if another neighbor left the hay-bailer in the middle of the runway. Nope. Squeaker landing and I'm home. 3.5 hour very nice flight. Rest of day to reflect and work on the honey-do lists.

Non-flyers just don't know!!!!!!!

You folks reading this expecting an emergency landing or at least a moral to the story??

One of the things I don’t do is regret that I didn’t make it to my destination. I had fun, enjoyed the flight & the Taylorcraft and there will always be another chance as long as we fly SAFELY.

Enjoy!

Larry Tillery

N95901