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Thread: A brief flying trip to Utah

  1. #1

    A brief flying trip to Utah

    I post this Trip Report in the "General Discussion" because it is not quite in line with the usual Utah threads.

    I did some flying around Utah in May 2016. Not as much as I had hoped, because of weather. I was hoping to fly to Sandthrax, Happy Canyon, and No.1 on my list: Mineral Canyon airstrip.

    Some may remember that I was obliged to leave my Taylorcraft in Oregon during a US tour last September, due to a small technical issue when the engine lost oil pressure.

    April 2016 saw the repairs complete (major overhaul of the engine) so in May 2016 I took a flight from the UK to Oregon to take it back to its home in Illinois.


    Below is the planned trip:


    My general plan was to spend a day or two in the Pacific North West visiting friends before heading south and east to southern Utah (which I visit quite often by road and foot). My fellow Taylorcraft pilots Mike and Mark were intending to join me in Utah, flying from the midwest, but their departure is delayed by extensive thunderstorms and tornados in "Tornado Alley".

    Below are the storms affecting my friends departure from the Midwest



    Flying into Portland Oregon, from London UK, I drove to Prineville, dropping in on the Erickson Aircraft Collection in Madras on the way. All except one aircraft are airworthy.


    (above: Grumman Duck)




    I collected my Taylorcraft on the 6th May. I am very grateful to David, Erik and the whole of EAA Chapter 617 for their help and hospitality.

    Taking off from Prineville, I head north to route along the Columbia River Gorge between Oregon and Washington. I met up with a fellow Taylorcraft owner David in Kelso, before an overnight stop with a flying family we all met last year on a private strip in the foothills of the Cascades.

    I then route to the Pacific coast (to dip my toes, so to speak, in the ocean) before spending some time with another Taylorcraft owner, Mark.

    I get a weather delay in Lebanon, Oregon, right under the Cascade range, for a night because of low cloud, but early doors the next morning sees me climb the Cascade escarpment to 8500 feet to reach the high desert plateau.


    (above: the Three Sisters Wilderness Area)

    From there, I have tailwinds all the way south to the California border at Lakeview, and east across Nevada to Wendover in Utah, just east of the Great Salt Lake. Groundspeed averaged 120mph, with stretches of 140mph at times. It was a bit of a Nantucket sleigh ride at times!

    The winds were blowing 30kts at Wendover, so I was grateful to find a hangar available:


    (above: WWII wooden B29 hangar at Wendover)

    The next day I brave the Salt Lake City airspace (and the water crossings) to Ogden to visit Tim, who is a knowledgeable Taylorcraft owner with one of the most comprehensive workshops I have seen! I spend many hours at the Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill AFB.


    (above: Great Salt Lake with the Rockies in the far distance)



    While at Hill AFB, Justin comes to visit; I have not seen him since a Bogleyfest in Moab in 2008 or thereabouts!


    Then to Mesquite, Nevada, visiting Peter & Vicki (more Taylorcraft owners!), waiting to see how the midwest contingent do battling the storms in Kansas and Oklahoma


    (above: the red Wingate sandstone of southern Utah)


    Weather issues meant that I in Mesquite and my buddy Mike from the midwest were stuck for more days than expected, but on Monday 16th, I managed to get away from Mesquite.

    My route took me initially north into Arizona and Utah, past the mesa-top runway and sled track at Hurricane. The US military did a lot of ejection seat trials here.


    (above: Hurricane sled track and runway)



    (above: Slot canyons in Indian territory)


    Passing back into Arizona and on approach to Page, I fly over the dam that holds back Lake Powell.


    (above: Glen Canyon dam)


    At Page, I discovered the world's repository of airworthy Stationairs...I counted 34.



    The scenery around here is stunning:


    Mind you, so was some of the weather!

    (above: in an updraft)


    My route took me through Monument Valley:




    Roads became a welcome sight, because they give some comfort of other humans nearby in the sparsely-populated desert:



    And so on to New Mexico, which was greener and wetter than I expected, but they have had a lot of thunderstorms here in the last few weeks:



    And after three fuel stops and 7.5 flying hours I land in Tucumcari where I finally meet up with Mike from Illinois. The whole day has been another rough-and-tumble ride with 30kt tailwinds, turbulence and thermals.



    (above: not a bad ground speed and RoC for a 95mph aeroplane!)



    (above: Tucumcari)


    Tuesday 17th saw Mike and I depart northbound (sort of parallel with the eastern side of the Rockies). Our plan was to reach northern Colorado and head east through Nebraska and then east to Illinois, so as to avoid further tears & bloodshed.

    (above: fuel & breakfast stop: Lamar, CO)


    The whole area of NE New Mexico, SE Colorado and the associated bounding parts of Texas & Oklahoma are beef raising country. The cattle are ranch-born to adulthood, but are finally fattened for market in huge ugly pens, enough to put you off beef.



    (above: beef cattle)


    We overnight at Fort Morgan, CO. A small airfield to serve a vast farming community in the supply of crop-spraying services. We kipped in the pilot's lounge (as is our wont).


    (Above: Fort Morgan)


    We now find ourselves in the envious position of not being in a hurry at all, so we decide to take some scenic diversions before continuing east. First stop Fort Collins, CO, then Laramie, Wyoming.


    (Above: evidence of recent rains; floods at 7500MSL near Laramie)



    (Above: one point for the aircraft type, three points for identifying the purpose of the anterior proboscis)


    (Above: Laramie)


    Eastbound next, and a climb to 9500MSL to clear the aptly-named Pilot Hill just east of Laramie before descending past Cheyenne, at a more sensible 5000 feet or so, and on to Nebraska.





    (Above: Nebraska farmland)

    Wednesday evening saw us at North Platte for the night, in good company. One of the few north-south runways in the area and a 30kt southerly saw all sorts dropping in here for the night.


    (Above: North Platte and a 1929 Travel Air as company)


    We spent the following morning (Weds 18th) doing some tourist stuff in North Platte. The place is famous for the largest "hump yard" (ooeer missus) in the US. Basically they receive trans-continental trains and divide up those train cars for onward distribution. The mile-long train of cars are raised on a gradual hump and each car (or cars) is then uncoupled and routed under gravity down the other slope to its new siding & engine.



    (above: North Platte hump yard)


    We also had a play in Cody Park Railroad Museum on the 4-6-6-4 Challenger locomotive.



    Later the same day we flew north-east to Yangton, right on the Missouri, up and down which Lewis & Clark explored between 1803 & 1806. The country between our two airports was a lot more rolling and green than I expected; perhaps it's Kansas and not Nebraska that is covered in corn & wheat fields.






    (above: Missouri River)


    Next day saw us meet up with our friend Jim (who came on the September tour last year) and two other Taylorcraft owners for a five-ship flight to Independence Iowa for lunch:



    And yesterday Mike & I returned to Dacy. It's taken 7 months for my Taylorcraft to return "home", but the engine performed impeccably.


    (Above: a summary of the route flown)


    A few statistics:
    Hours flown: 50 appx, 32 airfields, 11 States
    Miles: 5000 appx

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  4. #2
    Wow, great scenery! Hey it was good to see you for a bit too, thanks for stopping by. So I take it from the second to last photo, that your friends were finally able to meet up with you?

  5. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Sombeech View Post
    Wow, great scenery! Hey it was good to see you for a bit too, thanks for stopping by. So I take it from the second to last photo, that your friends were finally able to meet up with you?
    They were: But only Mike made it, and only as far as New Mexico...the others we only met up with in northern Iowa.

    This unfortunately means I will have to keep the aeroplane a little longer to do Utah again properly

    Rob

  6. Likes Sombeech, BruteForce liked this post

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