I elected to Rent a 172 from the Flight School where I did my Instrument rating last year. 9904V is a 430W equipped M model with Powerflow exhaust and climb prop. It's their best performer on the ramp. Not a speed demon but we had no problem getting up to 10.5 with my wife, 5 year old, and our gear.
We took off out of Nut Tree in Vacaville,CA at about 630am for what I though was going to be about 2 hrs 20 min enroute. After going North around Minden to stay out of the taller stuff and South around the restricted areas and Cold Springs fireTFR it ended up being just over 3 hours and 250NM. Conditions were pretty crummy. I stayed down at 9500 because my wife does not do well with high altitude flying. We were right in the smoke all the way. Between the smoke and the sun in our eyes forward vis was crap. I was up with Radar and despite being in legal VFR conditions I stayed on instruments most of the way. I suspect this deterred a few people from coming. I would not have been comfortable flying in those conditions in my plane with no attitude source. We arrived just before 10 and I got to experience my first landing at 5700 MSL in a Cessna. I kept up my speed up and accepted a long landing on the 6000ft newly paved strip.
Once we arrived I parked between the Wilgabeast and a Lear Jet only to find that the tie down rings on the new ramp are about 40 feet apart and totally unusuable for a normal sized airplane. Joe what's up with that?? I moved our plane over into the dirt off the side of new ramp and tied it down with my own tie downs.
Lots of great activities went on through out the day and it was great to hook up with old friends and visit. The STOL competition and other competitions were a hoot to watch. You guys make that stuff look WAY too easy especially at 5700 MSL with temps pushing 100F. If anyone remembers a good temp they heard from the AWOS sat afternoon post it so I can calculate the actual DA. Just guessing that it was pushing 9K and those guys were still getting off the ground super short.
Lunch was provided by the Lions club and was as awesome as I remember from 2012 and for $10 a plate it was more than worth it for what they fed us. After that I seemed to keep finding myself in line at the little yellow camper for cold beverages. $2 for a Sierra Nevada!!
As the sun went down Pops did the awards ceremony. My favorite went to the couple who got the best Fly-by award. If you look at the pics you can probably figure out which jet....I mean plane won that one. We finished off the night around the campfire.
We got a fairly early start on Sunday as we needed to stop for fuel in Yerington and I had to have the rental back by noon. It sounded like there was Bfast available for those who stuck around. The vis was MUCH better on Sunday and we had a nice cruise home over Lake Tahoe after a quick fuel stop in Yerington. Total flight time was 6.3 hrs. The bill was a little painful but I can't complain considering this was my only big trip of the summer because I've been swamped with DC-10 training since Jan.
I'd like to personally thank Joe Pops Dory and Teresa for opening up their airport for us and also the Austin Lions club and the rest of the volunteers who made this happen. If you have never been I would put it on your list of places to go for sure. Good people, fun flying, great food, and always a memorable trip. Always difficult to pick which pictures to upload to photobucket and post but here's something anyways.
Early morning Sierra Crossing is always breathtaking
Rental plane and camp
Bring a Lear to a Backcountry Fly-in? Yes because they can!
Joe Dory, Steve Henry, and Mike Creek
Cessna Row
She was purty
The patented Dory Grin
Pops getting ready for bowling
Joey Dory and Steve Henry in the same plane together with a bowling ball. What could possibly go wrong??
After the fun flying Hal Stockman spent till dark flying every last kid and woman there that would go. Way to go Hal you made some memories for sure!!
The Lions club camper/bar
I need some pointers from Brent Beck!
Wally and Cory
The man the myth the legend
Cory showing off his hardware
