Moab, Utah

June 2012

Flying from Moab Airport, Utah.

Moab Airfield, canyons nearby.

Moab town, nestled in this wild country.
That's the remains of a uranium processing plant in foreground,
in the process of being hauled away for safer keeping.

Canyonlands National Park

Canyons and more canyons.

That's Mineral Canyon airstrip down by the river.

On approach.

What a perfect fly-in camping strip, with the river right alongside.

After take-off follow the valley to gain altitude.

How's that for a road!
Probably just a walking track.
But what an adventure to build it!

Rafters camped in a canyon.

Oil drilling in the midst.

Strange rock formations

And more strange formations.

...............................................

At Moab I had two instances of fouled spark plugs......  First I've ever had in about 1200 hrs of flying with these 447 two-stokes.  In each case it was a small chip of carbon that had lodged across the points.  When I removed the heads, there was way too much hard, flaky carbon in there.....  I had been convinced by an experienced flier in New Mexico, that Blue Max brand oil was the one to use, but now I wasn't satisfied.  So I ordered a case of Pennzoil, which has a pretty good record of satisfaction with Rotax users.  Luckily both of those plug fouling instances showed up on start-up just before take-off, so no safety issue, but it sure left an impression in my mind when flying over the canyons.....

Engine Out!

The Part 103 category limits fuel to only 5 gallons, which is about 1 hr 40 min endurance for this engine at cruise speed.  That really limits range because you must also allow for the possibility of an unexpected 20 mph headwind on the way home.  That's just what happened to me at Moab, using up my reserve, then a high speed jet was on approach to be in circuit at the same time as I was going to be there, so I held off until he was down.  By then I was running on fumes, and on downwind it ran dry and suddenly quit.....  Fortunately I was high and close in, as I always do in an ultralight, so it was no problem to turn onto the runway and do a dead-stick landing, a really perfect greaser right at an intersection so I could roll out and clear the runway for another incoming aircraft....  The airport manager heard my engine-out call, and saw the very steep descending turn onto the runway, and assumed a spin, so came rushing over, expecting the worst, only to find all OK, and me just pushing the aircraft onto the grass...

That limited range was going to be an ongoing problem for the sort of exploring that I wanted to do.  Turned out that a standard Walmart jerry can fitted perfectly behind the seat, right at the CofG.  I also installed an electric transfer pump into the original tank, which then gave me an endurance of over three hours, just what I needed.  I try to obey regulations whenever possible, but when regulations are contrary to safety, I will do what I know to be best for safety.....

On another landing at Moab, the aircraft darted to the left as soon as the mains touched down, no way to hold it.  Turned out I had a completely flat tire!  Must have picked up a thorn somewhere.  Those ultralight tires are pretty thin at best, and these had worn even thinner very quickly flying off asphalt.  It turned there was an alignment reason for that, as will be told later...  I had very nearly landed at that remote Mineral Canyon airstrip on this flight, but lucky I didn't this time.  Would have swerved into the bushes along that narrow strip, and been difficult to arrange repairs out there......  

So two embarrassing incidents at Moab airfield, so unfortunately it confirms to the minds of GA flyers that ultralights are treacherous toys.....  Very embarrassing.....

Salt Lake City, Utah

Jul 1, 2012

Flying from Brigham City, Utah.

Brigham City, 

Undoubtedly impressive!

Intensive agriculture right into the suburbs, the Morman way.

They even manage to grow crops out in this salt pan....

Salt evaporation pans.

This is a railway causeway across the middle of  the Great Salt Lake.
It prevents free circulation of the water, so the right side is far more salty than the left.

..................................


This '91 Ford van with a 302 engine was a good camper, and OK for towing in flat country,
but was struggling up all those high passes in the mountains,
and there are a lot of BIG mountains in that part of the USA....

So, in Salt Lake City I traded up to this 1999 Ford F250 with a 7.3 litre turbo diesel.
It also had a Banks power chip and exhaust brake,
so ideal for towing up any mountain.

But, anytime you have to deal with used car salesmen, that becomes an 'adventure' in itself, so I 'd put it off as long as I could.  I'm not smart enough to win in those dealings, so was dreading it.....  But finally decided that it would have to be done before the van got a hernia from all that hard work, and Salt Lake City would be as good a place as any.  SLC has a really good online classified service, with lots of vehicles listed, so started shopping.....  Found a 1999 F250 with manual transmission and only 162,892 miles for $7000, so went to have a look.

I wasn't satisfied with the usual test drive in the city cause I wanted to feel how it would handle real work on the road.  So the sales man agreed to letting me take up the pass over the Wasatch Mts, right next to the city.  Of course it just blasted up the range, running cool and easy.  But on the way down, the transmission gave a growl and locked into 4th gear.  I nursed it the rest of the way down, then in the city it gave an almighty CRUNCH and locked up altogether!  So the transmission was nothing but scrap metal now......  So I'm sure glad that I did this extra road test and had it fail now, rather than a week later after I'd paid in full and was out on the road somewhere.....  But his now provided a possible opportunity.....  The truck was generally in good condition and just what I wanted, and the engine sounded real good.  And this now put the salesman in an awkward situation because he now had a vehicle that he couldn't just patch up and dump in the auctions - he would have to spend serious money on it, and small car lots don't like to spend such money on vehicles......  So we made a deal whereby I'd buy it as is, at a price that I could have the best transmission shop in town install a new gearbox and clutch.  But all this took a couple of weeks of precious time that I could have been on the road....

Finally got on the road again, and curious to find out what the fuel mileage would be, so filled the tank and recorded the odometer at 163,892, and then drove to Boise ID.  Filled up again and had a look at the odometer, and it still read 163,892!  On the test drives I hadn't noticed that the numbers weren't turning over.....   The speedometer was working, but not the odometer, so the problem would be mechanical inside, and raised the suspicion that a gear had been stripped when someone was trying to wind back the odometer......  Then even more suspicious when I found an oil change sticker that was marked 293,xxx......  Then I noticed that the bill of sale actually stated 293,493 miles, even tho it had been advertised as 163,892 and the dealer never mentioned the difference....  Very cunning that guy; he protected himself by stating the true mileage on the paperwork, but managed to give the impression all through that it was much less....  So I can only conclude that he knew the odometer had been rolled back, and was probably done by his prep mechanic.....  But I guess that’s not a surprise when dealing with such car lots.....  Now I can see how cunning he was, in advertising it at a 300,000 mile price for a supposedly 160,000 mile vehicle – so he can’t be blamed for overcharging, but it makes for a quick sale....   But not all that bad, cause the price I paid was about right for a really tidy 293,000 mile truck, and that’s not worn out for those trucks.  Then I did another 20,000 miles up and down some very BIG mountains, across the country coast to coast, with no problems at all.  It never even noticed the trailer was on tow.....  A very enjoyable driving experience to have that much solid power!

Posted with Blogsy

Rock House, Oregon

25 June 2012

Flying from Rock House strip.
In the desert in SE Oregon.

Rock House is the homestead of Larry and Karen Cottrell.
Larry flies a FireStar with an HKS engine, and they host an annual fly-in of like-minded flyers.
They're the best hosts ever, and it's a great gathering in the desert.

The gathering of the flock at Rock House

Next day a front came through.
No flying today, just trying to stay tied to the ground.....

The Steens Mtns (9,733ft) nearby still have snow in July.

Flying in this little aircraft at over 10,000ft
Still going well.

It's great to be able to fly  the snow and still be able to glide to flat ground nearby.
Alvord Dry Lake Bed (4,500ft) in the background.

On the Alvord Lake Bed
A popular flying spot for ultralights.

Just after the fly-in this wild fire threatened.

Larry clearing a fire break with his homemade 'bulldozer'.

All alone after everyone else went home.

Ended up spending 2 1/2 weeks here.  

First week for the Fly-In, then working on the aircraft.

I never was happy with the C-box and big three blade prop that came on the aircraft.  The ratio was a whopping 3.47:1, and it had a free-wheeling clutch.  That clutch was really handy for easy starting, and the engine ran really smooth at idle.  But that big windmilling prop was tremendous drag on descent.  If the engine quit, the prop would continue to free-wheel and act like a giant air brake.  Which it did when the engine quit at Moab.  Glide ratio isn't great for the FireFly at the best of times, but then it must have been about 4:1.....  Nose almost straight down to be able to hold 55mph glide speed.....  That wouldn't be a real good situation if the engine quit over hostile terrain....  The three-blade prop also meant that I had to remove it each time to get the aircraft into the trailer.  The usual arrangement on these aircraft is a 2.47:1 B-box driving a two-blade prop.  I located a B-box for sale at Brigham City Utah, so drove back there and got it. 

It came off a wrecked Kolb FireStar, and it was really sobering to meet Kurt and see the damage that the crash had done to him and the aircraft.  He had three broken vertebrae in his neck, a badly smashed up leg, and concussion such that two months later he still couldn't stand up for more than 15 minutes.....  The cockpit was completely mangled, after the aircraft cartwheeled when one wingtip hit the ground, possibly due to a whirlwind.....  That image stuck in my mind for the rest of the trip......

Then I ordered a two-blade Kool prop, because I've had such good results with 3-blade Kool props on Rotax 912s engines.  Had to wait for it for much longer than forecast (Fedex delivers even way out there in the desert), and then found it to be unsuitable for this application.....  The blades were too wide and powerful for the 447 at this ratio, so had to be pitched far too fine to be efficient.  But couldn't delay any longer, so put the original gearbox and prop back on and hit the road again, after wasting more valuable time....

There's no trees out here for corner posts
so they do it this way.
Clever!

Click on 'Older Posts' to continue.

Homedale, Idaho

14 July 2012

Flying from Homedale airfield, Idaho.

I went to Homedale because I wanted to fly the canyons around the Owyhee River, particularly with my new Drift video camera.  But the wind blew a hot gale for several days, and then when I did get flying, the video camera refused to work....   It would start OK, but with the slightest bump it would turn itself off....  Flew many attempts, but each time when I got back found only a short video of the take-off.....  Really frustrating....  I very nearly threw the camera into the nearby river!  Never did get it working, and finally gave it away....  Couldn't easily send to the manufacturer for repairs because it's so hard to find a forwarding address when continually on the move.....

Landmark, Idaho

16 July 2012

Flying from Landmark airfield, Idaho.

I was trying to drive to the popular Johnson Creek airstrip in the mountains in central Idaho.

Nearly dark and getting close when I saw a sign 'Landmark Airfield'

right beside it was a sign that said, 'Johnson Creek'.

So I assumed this was it.

But when I got into it and looked around, it didn't suit the description of the Johnson Creek strip???

Finally realized that this is a different airstrip altogether, and the 'Johnson Creek' sign was just identifying the same creek, that flows past both airstrips, for the benefit of fishermen.....

Too late to move on again now, so settled down for the night.

Plenty of firewood and a safe place to set a fire.

So had the only campfire for the whole trip.

The rest of the trip was either in the desert with no wood at all, 

or in fire ban areas due to the dought.

Sure was good to sit by a fire again.

I have the luxury of a fire just about every night when touring Australia.

Australia has the best firewood in the world, 

and can nearly always find enough for a fire.

Note emergency ration of E&J brandy...

Set up next morning, intending to fly into Johnson Creek,
 but found too many miles of nothing but pine trees down there,
no safe place to ditch a little ultralight like this if the engine quit.
I'm an old pilot (2,300hrs) because I'm not too bold, I know when to turn back......

Sulphur Creek, Idaho

18 July 2012

Flying from Bruce Meadows, Idaho.

Unfortunately my SLR camera had a bad SD card at the time, so no photos of Bruce Meadows.

The airstrip is in a beautiful meadow, with elk grazing much of the time.

Trout streams nearby.

Sulphur Creek Station airstrip.
Unfortunately I don't have more photos of this place...
Only had my little pocket camera.

Sulphur Creek homestead.
This is a fly-in airstrip only, no road access
but it's very popular for it's fly-in breakfasts.
Nearly every morning several aircraft arrive for breakfast.

I found these two little log cabins near Bruce Meadows airstrip.
They appear to be about the same age,
but each is built with a different method of construction.

Different corner joints.

They have different roof construction.

There's certainly enough timber around to build such cabins.

This rain gauge is near the Bruce Meadows airstrip.