To bring in the New Year, we met up with Allen & Noreen in their 170 and Gary from Hooked on Utah in his 182 to fly to another friend's private strip (Heiner Field WY60) in Afton, WY. During the summer this is a beautiful grass strip which he then plows to keep open during the winter time. We had a great time checking out a new house being built on the strip and visiting with new/old friends while the kids played in the snow.

After visiting his strip, we went to Afton for lunch. With it too cold for both courtesy cars to start (0 degrees F), we walked to the burger place/gas station only to find the burger place closed for the winter. So, the menu options consisted of whatever was in the convenience store: chimichangas, hot pockets, chips, drinks, and rolls that they had just made. Not the dining experience we had planned, but an adventure with friends anyway. We made it work. Back at the airport, we topped off with $4.99/gal gas which was the lowest I've paid in a long time! Then we had a great flight home doing a little loose formation and checking out some fog over Bear Lake. Family, friends, and flying...a great way to welcome the new year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Cool! Happy New Year!

Looks like a great day, nice work on the video.

Enjoyed it. That closing shot was a dandy!

Afton is a pretty short hop for me, so shoot me a PM if you ever want to hook up over there. Maybe we can talk Courierguy into flying over and joining us too.

WOW- you really got the video thing figured out. That last few minutes was incredible! good job

Very nice. Happy New Year!

Cary

We had a great time with Cory and family and Gary Winterton. Like Cory said, it was cold! Although the lunch was not what we were expecting, it wasn't bad with the company. The air was really smooth and made formation flying much easier and a lot of fun, especially over the low clouds over Bear Lake. Cory's video pretty much captures it all, but here are a few pictures we shot and a little video we shot of the landing.

The Heiner's Strip


Gary's 182 on the Left, Cory's 205 in the middle, and our 170b on the Right:


Cory flying formation with us:


There is a bump then a dip right by the new hangar/house, and the idea is to land on the downside slope of the dip, which really sticks you down on the ground. I usually just barely clip the top of the bump and then add a bit of power to float over the dip, but that day I finally nailed it on the downhill side. It's harder than it looks (that's what I tell myself, anyway) because there really isn't any markers for the bump or dip. It would probably be a piece of cake for most of you on here.



*Correction: At the end of the video I say that Cory bounced off the top of the bump. He didn't bounce apparently, he just landed on the top of the bump but stuck it down.

Nice!

Airplanes always fly so nice in that fat winter air....

So, I assume that's Mark Heiner's airstrip? I haven't seen Mark in a while.....gotta get down to Afton and visit. He and Verdean are great guys both.

MTV

That's a great video GSP!

mtv wrote:

So, I assume that's Mark Heiner's airstrip?

MTV

Negative, it's his brother Gaylon's strip.

Excellent video's!

What a beautiful day/area/strip/state......etc!!!!!!!

Missed you guys by a day! I had lunch around 2:00 on New Years Eve day there, it was either 2 or 4 degrees depending on what 'meter you looked at, cold anyway. Heggs, the sit down cafe about 1/4 mile N from the gas station convenience store, is the place I go, I have never found them closed. There's a ACE Hardware and a Shopko right there also, so a pretty handy stop for me for other stuff that has saved me driving into Poky (120+ mile round trip flight being more convenient then a 40 mile round trip drive of course). What I can't get there I can get in Blackfoot, where I have a Wally World and a great farm supply store, only 60 mile flight RT, and I get to check in with S-7 wizard Milloway.

The castle near the Heiner strip looks pretty good in the snow, pretty sure you can see the strip in one of these shots. I'm up for a get together there any time, usually Mark H. has a courtesy car there. When by myself I use the gate to the Husky plant (radio controlled, taxi right through ) and park out of the way at a auto repair place near them, that puts me real close to the above places mentioned. Several planes doing that may be a problem though, probably best to use (gasp) the regular parking place in front of the FBO.

bushpilot490 wrote:

mtv wrote:

So, I assume that's Mark Heiner's airstrip?

MTV

Negative, it's his brother Gaylon's strip.

E
Hmm,

There's a mess a them Heiners. Mark has told me about his home strip, but it sounded a little smaller.

Thanks for the info. I still need to get down there and say hello to folks.

MTV

In the last 10 years the area has really been discovered by others besides the old timers like the Heiners. There must be 5 to 7 grass strips (some look like strips to be, but no airplane seen there yet) now between Afton and Alpine, all with very high dollar homes, that real estate isn't cheap either. These are millionaires forced out of the Jackson area by the billionaires rumor has it That castle has it's own private road that leads down to it's own paved airstrip, where there is a hangar big enough for a G-IV. Same idea as my operation outside of Inkom, just a matter of scale.

Thanks everyone! It was a great day. Darin and Tom, we will have to remember to let you know when we are over there again. That would be fun. Nice pics of the castle too.

Nice video and pics Allen! What a great day! Thanks for the Disclaimer too!