Mt Whitney, highest point in the 48 states.

31 May 2012

Flying from Lone Pine, California.

Mt Whitney (14,505ft) is only about 100 miles from Death valley (-282ft).

Some really gruelling steep passes in between.

The view of the east side of the Sierra Nevada Mts. from Lone Pine airfield.

I don't know if that's the top of Mt Whitney, but it sure is high.

Lone Pine airfield.

This canal takes the water from the Owens River all the way to Los Angeles.
The water would have supplied Owens Lake in the background.
The theft of the water caused a fierce battle between the local farmers and the city.
Of course the big city money won......
The story of this project is here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Aqueduct

So this is the lake now.....

Mono Lake, California

31 May 2012

Flying from Lee Vining airfield.

Mono Lake

The streaky clouds are old contrails from all the jet traffic.

Cinder cones and crater.

There's a row of these cinder cones,
where the moving earth's surface passed over a 'hot spot'.

The east side of Yosemite Park.

On approach to Lee Vining airstrip, right next to the lake.

Camped at Lee Vining.

Lake Tahoe, California

3 June 2012

Flying from Carson City, Nevada

This is as close as I could fly to Lake Tahoe,
because very strong winds coming over those mountains across the lake
made  treacherous turbulence all the way over here.
You can see patches on the lake where the rotors extended down to lake level.

Flying at 10,000 ft here, with snow below, so very cold in this open cockpit.

Intensive farming with spectacular scenery.

This is the Walmart store where I camped for the night.

The weather forecast was for raging winds for the next several days, so figured I might as well spend that time on the road instead of just sitting around restless.  I really wanted to fly Monument Valley before it got too hot out there, so started out for the long haul across to there while the wind blew.

Click on 'Older Posts' to continue.

Monument Valley, and Gooseneck Canyons, Utah

6 June 2012

Flying from Gouldings Airstrip, Monument Valley, UT.

On the road central Utah.

Approach to Monument Valley

Ready to fly tomorrow morning.

Dawn at Monument Valley.

The resort with the view.

The Navajo owners request flight level 1500ft above the ground,
and I respected that, this time.

Mormon church and school at Monument Valley.
Very neat and tidy of course....

The 'Mexican Hat' just north of Monument Valley

The 'Gooseneck Canyons', north of Monument Valley.

The road to the edge.

Check your brakes.

Looks like a Buddhist stupa....

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.....