In the first part of this article by Terry Ward, published here last month, we chronicled the ten year construction process for Velocity N2XF. Now in Part 2 we follow N2XF's flight of over 12,000 miles from coast-to-coast around the United States in the completed Velocity. If you missed part one of this article start HERE.

Completing the construction of an 'experimental' Velocity over a ten year period was a unique and rewarding experience for Ron Marini and Bob Jackson (chronicled in Part I) -- one that challenged every aspect of their technical and interpersonal abilities. But airplanes are made to be flown, and the real tests for N2XF have followed since the initial test flight at X04 on October 19, 2008.

After completing the initial mandatory FAA air worthiness testing and more than a year (over 200 hours) of learning the aircraft and fully integrating, testing and correcting minor deficiencies in the design, N2XF was ready for more extensive 'real world' testing, in the form of an 'around-the-US' extended cross country evaluation.

“It wasn’t a test of the airplane other than durability,” says Jackson, adding that the trip was less about proving the airplane’s abilities than it was about proving a thing or two to family and friends, and again to ourselves.

“In our family holiday cards and emails, for years, I’d send a picture to show the progress of the plane’s construction,” he says, “But after a few years, I had to stop even talking about it, because it was embarrassing that after so many years, we still weren’t flying yet.”

For his first big full cross-country trip, Jackson put together an itinerary that would allow him to visit family, friends and old Navy buddies who happened to be located in some of the most scenic flying stretches of the country—places like Kansas City, Phoenix and Denver’s front range, the Grand Canyon, the California coast and Yosemite, Mt St Helens, Walla Walla and the Pacific Northwest, and Jackson Hole, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

“A satisfaction from the trip was getting to see all those great places from our own airplane, circle around a few times if I wanted to, and not just look down from high above if the airliner happened to go overhead,” says Jackson, “It was beneficial to show both family and friends that we actually finished the airplane and that it was performing like a dream come true.”

“Most stops met the 'fresh fish' rule of about two days,” he says, “I’d usually meet friends and go out to dinner the first night, then the next day we’d fly locally, often to someplace cool like Lake Tahoe, Mt Hood or Catalina Island before heading off for the next stop in the morning."

He recalls an unexpected detour that led to one of the prettiest flights of the trip. “I was in Phoenix, visiting a Navy friend, and we wanted to go to the Grand Canyon. However heavy thunderstorms nixed that, so we diverted instead to Flagstaff and Sedona. “I’d never seen Sedona before, and it turned out to be one of the best sights of the entire trip.”

When he finally made it to the Grand Canyon several days later during a 'sunrise solo' flight from Las Vegas, Jackson was treated to a glorious early morning view from the Henderson flight line looking out toward one of the most iconic landscapes in the world.

Santa Catalina island -- '26 miles across the sea' from Los Angeles

“Over the course of the six week adventure, what was most striking to me from an aviation point of view were the scenic wonders that are tucked in every corner of the nation,” he says, “It was striking and rewarding to see so many of them in such a short amount of time from the air and in my own airplane.”

A particularly poignant milestone came during a stop in San Francisco, where Jackson and Marini met for a two hour flight that took them from the Napa valley to Lake Tahoe, along the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, through the Yosemite valley and back to Santa Rosa.

“Ron is still working full time, so there was no way he could take off for the full trip” says Jackson, “That he was able to share in the trip out in a part of the country he knows so well was great for both of us.”

The men, it seems, are living up to the logo painted onto the tail fin of their plane and stitched into the leather seatbacks—a laid-back surfer-type figure with a glowing sun as a backdrop that was designed by Jackson’s son, Mike, who loves to surf.

“To Mike, the logo was somebody hanging ten on a surfboard, leaning back and riding the perfect wave,” says Jackson, “To us, instead of hanging ten surfing the sea, we were riding the air waves off toward the sunset of our lives--old guys with pot bellies, still catching the big waves in the sky!”

Two years now since N2XF's first flight, Marini and Jackson have logged over 400 hours of flight time and the plane has proven itself to be a reliable, comfortable, capable and strong performer.   A single (1275 NM) cross country leg home from Denver at 25,000 ft that consumed a little over 80 gallons of fuel during the 5.3 hour flight underscores their success in building a long distance, efficient cross country plane that is a joy to fly!

Watch video highlights from the six-week journey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK1UVR18ycg

 

About the Author

Terry Ward has written for a wide variety of publications including The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Travel Channel, Scuba Diving, Departures, Endless Vacation Magazine and various in-flight magazines.

She's on the road more often than not and speaks French, Spanish, German, Dutch and a little Arabic.

To read more of Terry's work click HERE.