Diversion to Coffeyville

After two solid days of low IFR in Oklahoma things improved, and there were clear skies up there for a change. With that sunny outlook I decided to head north to (or at least toward) Kansas City. The weather briefing before the flight indicated very low visibility (1/16 of a mile in fog), but the forecast suggested that things might improve by the time I got there, at least enough to make a normal ILS approach. I didn't mind finishing the flight with pop-up IFR, but definitely wanted an out if conditions deteriorated, or the forecast wasn't as planned. It was good that I did.

So, after a leisurely and late breakfast I headed out to the airport and fired up Six-Five-Mike, and departed with clear skies and 9 knot winds from the south, and turned north toward Kansas City, some 271 nautical miles away. Departure time was 13:07 CST. A little before 2:PM I checked in with Oklahoma Flight Service Station and got an updated weather report for Kansas City. FSS said the fog was still "terrible" around KMCI and that a report from the tower was lots of commercial traffic making missed approaches, though a few were getting in.

The fog extended east from Emporia to Whiteman AFB to the south, but she noted that almost all the airports more than 100 NM south were reporting VFR conditions. Airmet Sierra showed how optimistic was the initial forecast - low ceilings below 1000 and visibility less than 3 miles with conditions continuing beyond 21Z and through 03 zulu. It was time to activate plan B!

I tuned in the CNU VOR and changed heading to Chanute, KS, a pretty good ways off course, but still generally in the right direction. The only problem with a diversion was that after conditions improved, I would probably need more fuel to continue the flight. About 35 miles from CNU I called FSS again and got them to check with the airport, and discovered that they did have some fuel but their pumps were damaged. She said there were several airports to the south of Chanute that did have fuel.

Diversion #2 - headed to Coffeyville, KS - KCFV - with fuel and an NDB on the field! Easy breezy - just tune in and point the plane. Twenty minutes later at 14:41 local I was on the ground in Coffeyville. Hopefully conditions will improve tomorrow - it's just the way weather is - Truman and Evans suffered most of their delays because of weather, and I know it will get better. Here's the report and forecast from NOAA:

KMCI 182153Z 06006KT 1/16SM R19R/3500VP6000FT FG OVC001 03/03 A2990 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 1/4 SLP130 T00330033

KMCI 182202Z 1822/1918 05006KT 1/4SM FG VV001
TEMPO 1822/1824 1/2SM FG OVC001
FM190200 08005KT 1/4SM FG VV001

I estimate distance covered with all the turns to be about 173 NM, so that put my ground speed average at 110 knots - pretty good for this old bird, though it sure came at a cost - for this leg 65M burned 100 lbs of fuel in 1:34 for about 9.5 gallons per hour.