I've seen videos of approaching Hidden Splendor through a narrow, twisty canyon. I've never been there but I've been wondering why a pilot wouldn't just do a descending spiral down to the airstrip. Kind of like what you might do if the engine quit 3000 feet above the airport. Any ideas?
John

When you go there and see it for yourself you will understand. If you land in the opposite direction, you will not have to come down the canyon. The canyon is wide enough for your wings and is very dramatic. I have videos.

Flyer

Do you mean that you can't spiral down?
John

I'd never heard of Hidden Splendor airstrip (I don't get out much), so I looked it up on Google Earth. It's got a 1000 ft deep canyon to the south that can best be described as an overhand knot. And, now I know why someone would fly through the canyon: because they can!

38.5686, -110.9573

Hey Z, I tried to embed a googlemap per the instructions in the googlemap tooltip, but it only showed a map of the entire U.S. Whazzupwidat?

[googlemap]http://maps.google.com/[email protected],-110.9573&t=p&z=14[/googlemap]

flyer wrote:The canyon is wide enough for your wings and is very dramatic. I have videos.

That doesn't help us any. Post them!!!

Here's a taste of it. You can come in from the north and circle, but more fun from the south.

kevbert wrote:I'd never heard of Hidden Splendor airstrip (I don't get out much), so I looked it up on Google Earth. It's got a 1000 ft deep canyon to the south that can best be described as an overhand knot. And, now I know why someone would fly through the canyon: because they can!

38.5686, -110.9573

Hey Z, I tried to embed a googlemap per the instructions in the googlemap tooltip, but it only showed a map of the entire U.S. Whazzupwidat?

Kevbert..haven't been to Hidden Splendor..yet! I think the approach from the south is tighter than Mineral Canyon from the videos I've seen (Jim Clark) but it was a little intimidating dropping down into the canyon on the approach from the south into MC and it was wide! Pictures just don't do that country justice! I watch the videos I've made and the sensation of doing that just doesn't show up in the video! It is a little unerving flying where the terrain is above you.
HC

I found one flying the canyon, however he stayed quite high and cut out most of the big loop at the beginning. It's the same way I'd do it, but I'd like to see a cub going down low and slow. I'll give him bonus points for the Carl Orff, though!

Flying down the canyon is the most fun way to approach. The canyon widens as you are descending. It is not as difficult as it looks on video. It allows a right turn to the runway end. It is very tight at that end if you are thinking of a normal base or a spiraling approach.

The whole valley is not a problem either if you want to land in the opposite direction. A go around would be interesting but can be done if you make a tight turn or have enough power to climb up thru the canyon.

It does make a great video. I cannot post it since I am on dial up.

Be careful out there.

Flyer

d

SE6601KF wrote:The SUWA and other "Sliver Lipper" types don't want you to land there...

Better go enjoy it whilst you can- http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... icago-way/

I would think the circling approach would have you doing tighter and tighter spirals, concentrating on the canyon walls instead of the runway. Perhaps an XAir would be slow enough to minimize that. I flew over Segars' Hole and circled a few times above the Hidden Splendor airstrip and it made me uncomfortable in the tight confines and I stayed above the rim. I also tried to find the spring (from above) that hippies use for a hot tub in the narrow canyon leading to the strip but decided to leave that for a ground visit. The canyon is wide enough to safely fly in for an approach.

Be safe.

kevbert wrote:38.5686, -110.9573

Hey Z, I tried to embed a googlemap per the instructions in the googlemap tooltip, but it only showed a map of the entire U.S. Whazzupwidat?

I had to do some tweaking of the maps URL, but I got it to work. Edit your own post to see the syntax. I also update the How-To thread near the bottom.

62L
I forgot about those hot springs . If you or anyone else has some coordinates for them, I would like to know them. I would like to check them out.
Gary

Thanks for all the replies. I guess the canyon it is. The videos made the canyon look like it would require very steep turns in a confined space.
John

Kevbert - Your comment about the Cherokee flyer who made the video you posted, about him staying "quite high", makes me wonder what your definition of "low" would be

There was a whole lotta terrain above his aircraft for most of his canyon approach!

The guy who made that video posts a bunch of his stuff on http://www.shortfield.com as well as his own website and You-Tube. I take heart from the fact that if he can do that stuff in his Cherokee 140/160, then maybe some day I can learn how to fly my Cherokee 180 well enough to see some of those airstrips myself.

Nobody in any of those videos above was down on the deck where they belonged.

For in the canyon, go here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4790

Gump

GumpAir wrote:Nobody in any of those videos above was down on the deck where they belonged.

For in the canyon, go here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4790

Gump

LOL I knew a few posts into this thread that someone would reference that video. Good one.

I'm the Cherokee guy who did the video. (I'm also the guy who typed a lengthy, well-thought-out, carefully edited three paragraphs only to have the browser kill the window the mouse wasn't pointing at, so I'm typing this again, and probably will make mistakes I didn't make the first time. Phooey!)

I flew through the canyon below its walls the whole way. I took a shortcut over the mini-mesa on the second, right turn as my instructor LaVar instructed me to do. I was a bit low on short final on the landing in the video. (My passenger on that landing said he didn't feel claustrophobic until we entered the lower canyon part of the approach.) Coming in the other way, Runway 16, is downhill and the runway is short enough at 1800 feet that uphill and downhill matter to me. What the pictures http://the-adam.com/stuff/~6ug/view.htm#85 don't show is that taking off uphill on Runway 34 encounters rising terrain, breathtakingly beautiful terrain, but rising nonetheless. On occasion I've had to duck into the river canyon while I gained altitude going north from Hidden Splendor.



Why do we go into places like Hidden Splendor? Why do dogs like their private parts? Because we can! Also because this is an incredibly beautiful place to be. Last visit I stopped and ran http://home.the-adam.com/stuff/~719/view.htm#69 a few miles and met some campers who drive long, hilly, bumpy dirt roads to experience this place.

Like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_Tollbooth Norman Juster's Milo, I'm finding back-country strips in my own Phoenix (KDVT) neighborhood, but Utah's back country is the most beautiful and wonderful I've seen, maybe the best there is.

Hey, Adam! Now that you've checked in on this thread, let me compliment you on your videos AND your Cherokee flying.

As a fellow Cherokee pilot, I guess I'm supposed to have tailwheel envy However, I don't! At least, not whenever there's a strong X-wind blowing! With all due respect (and there's a lot that's due!) to the taildragger flyers who predominate in the backcountry flying world, flying is fun no matter which end is "down". In any event, there may be some airstrips where a Cherokee can't or shouldn't go, but you've shown that we're not just for the paving.

By the way, how did you get your video-cam mounted on the right wingtip? Did that require a FSDO field approval or an STC? Or, should I not be asking that question?

Anyway, keep posting your videos - they're great!

skypony wrote:I've been wondering why a pilot wouldn't just do a descending spiral down to the airstrip.

Depending on your skill level and your airplane's performance you could do a spiraling approach but it would be more difficult than approaching through the canyon. We usually approach through the canyon because for most people it is the easiest way to do it. The airstrip itself slopes uphill to the north and it is surrounded by rising terrain and cliffs. The river passes the runway and heads downstream through the canyon. To the south, through the canyon, is lowering terrain. When you check a topo map of the area you will see that you can take off downhill and follow the river through the canyon with out gaining any altitude. The other option is to takeoff uphill to the north and then out climb the terrain that rises surprisingly fast to the north. Your approach choices are similar, you can land to the south heading towards the canyon which will allow a long straight in approach but it will be a steeper than normal approach to get down to the runway from the higher terrain and you will be landing downhill. Or if you approach through the canyon you can chose a more normal approach profile and land up hill on the airstrip letting gravity slow you down. You can land up hill to the north or depart downhill to the south and still avoid flying through the canyon but it requires much steeper, low level turns and a higher degree of skill than it does to fly through the canyon.

As others have mentioned be sure to check for runway obstructions. I've personally had obstructions on the runway there twice in the past (many large rocks and a porta-potty) and have talked to people about many other instances where things have been blocking the runway including cars and tents.

I've tried it many ways and dozens of times in a C-206 and a Maule and have determined that most of the time the safest way to get my family there and back is by flying through the canyon on both approach and departure. If the conditions are not pretty good I don't go because landing short or long or being a few feet from center-line in the wrong spot could be fatal.