Hello everybody,

my wife Martina and I are from Germany, where we operate 152s and 172s out of a sloping 1800 ft. turf airfield.
We received some mountain flying instruction in the Alps, read the book 'Flying The Mountains' and also fly paragliders since quite a few years, so that we are generally familiar with the topics density altitude, thermal activities and wind systems in the mountains.
We however never landed on an airfield on the buttom of a steep valley before.

My wife an I will be in the US during late March. Besides of skiing in South Lake Tahoe, we will rent a 172 with 180 hp from a flight school at the Petaluma airport near San Francisco.

We are now wondering, whether there are any backcountry airstrips which are suitable for beginner backcountry pilots and which are usually free of snow by late March?
What about Johnson Bar or Big Creek?
Or, should we instead stay away from all backcountry airstrips and get some proper training first?

We already rented from the same flight school a year ago. If I remember the rental agreement correctly, landing on turf was not prohibited.

Oliver

Lots of cool places to fly near Petaluma, most are private dirt strips though and places the flight school probably won't want you flying to. A nice beginner strip in the area is Gravely Valley 1Q5, it sits on the north side of a lake and is surrounded by mountains and hills. It is an easy strip though, 4000ft long and dirt, no problem for a 180hp 172. And its only about 35 minutes North of Petaluma. Snow shouldn't be a problem, its only at 1900ft. Johnson Creek and the other Idaho strips are over 500miles away and snow might be an issue in March.

Gravelly Valley

Weather systems that time of year are a real challenge. Like Rob said, there is too much snow, generally speaking to land at Idaho or Montana backcountry strips. The exception would be Hells Canyon at Big Bar or a few of the others. Crossing the Sierra Mountains and then another 400 miles of x-country across some very remote areas in March can be done, but only if the weather is very good VFR. On average that will only be 30% of the time or less that time of year. You could easily be stranded somewhere for a week waiting out the weather.

As another option, consider flying to the desert area of southern California and Arizona. Death Valley (Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells, Chicken Strip) can be great flying that time of year and other spots as well. Others on this site with more knowledge of that area may chime in on places to go, but that is the direction I try to fly in March. It can get windy in that region, but it is warmer and drier.

Guden Abend Oliver, If you can land off airport, which I doubt with any rental, you are limited by time to the Western side of the sierra Mts. or maybe a few strips in the desert on the east side, like Chicken strip but your rental FBO probably won't allow it... anyway if you just want to land on dirt or turf go to Columbia and land on the east west turf runway.. Columbia is a restored gold mining town that caters to tourists and is within walking distance of the airport... Idaho is a long way off for a day trip, and the easy strips in the canyons are snow covered...

In 2011, Johnson Creek was first clear of snow on April 22, and in 2012, it was April 4. Big Creek is higher altitude and would melt even later. The lower altitude strips in California would be a better plan.

Best wishes!

California, Arizona are beautiful that time of year. Some of my favorites are Red Creek Az. North of Scottsdale. For sure The Chicken Strip in Death Valley, Ca. L90 Ocotillo Ca. Like Butch said Columbia, Ca. O22.

There is a ton of great stuff down there.

Cheers...Rob

Hello everybody,

And thank you very much for your most helpful replies.
I however just figured, that I, at least partially, stole your time by asking the questions had: I was wrong about the surfaces we are allowed to land on. The flight school told me that we are limited to asphalt and concrete.

Good to know though, that the weather in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming might still be unpredictable in March - we therefore dropped our plans to fly to the Yellowstone NP. No big deal, as it probably would have still been closed or in winter operation by the end of March.

We will have the plane for 7 full days and will therefore be charged a minimum of 21 hours. This allows us to make a nice round trip or a combination of a few day trips and a flight with one or two overnight stays.

We already flew to the Monument and the Death Valley 2 Years ago, but it would still be nice to go there again. Same with the Grand Canyon. Bryce Canyon would also be nice to see from the air.

I also had a look at Columbia, which appears to be an appealing option.
Other nice places I found are Kern Valley L05, Grand Canyon Bar 10 1Z1 and Ruth T42.
I am confident that there are some other nice airfields worth flying to, just for the fun it.

What we are looking for are not too easy approaches and / or beautiful sceneries and / or attractions like museums, a nice restaurant or a place to stay for the night.

Cheers,

Oliver

If you're going as far as the Grand Canyon, you might as well stop here also.

http://planesoffame.org/index.php?page= ... z-location

Hafast wrote:If you're going as far as the Grand Canyon, you might as well stop here also.

http://planesoffame.org/index.php?page= ... z-location

This looks great! Thank you very much.