Zane at McCAll just before he left for JC.


By sojorrn, shot with COOLPIX L1 at 2008-06-29

I talked to a fellow at the J/C fly-in that was involved with an aircraft salvage yard in Washington (I think). I had traded him a book for a 1/2 a C-182 door years ago. I would like to contact him for another deal. If anyone knows how to contact this fellow, please advise.

thanks, Galen

Just doing a little pre-planning, and was wondering where and when this summers fly-in might be....

Coyote Ugly wrote:Just doing a little pre-planning, and was wondering where and when this summers fly-in might be....

Hey Joe, it is pretty hard to beat JC. We talked about Smiley as a base camp. I'm for anywhere with fire. Showers are a nice touch. June is good because the forest fires aren't usually an issue then.

I know there are so many more.

Rob

RobBurson wrote:

Coyote Ugly wrote:Just doing a little pre-planning, and was wondering where and when this summers fly-in might be....

Hey Joe, it is pretty hard to beat JC. We talked about Smiley as a base camp. I'm for anywhere with fire. Showers are a nice touch. June is good because the forest fires aren't usually an issue then.

I know there are so many more.

Rob

Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Let me know Rob if you find the planner?

The Super Cub fly-in is at Johnson Creek, June 19-21... If BCP was the week before, or after, I'd just stay the week there and catch em both...

I sure as hell am thinkin about summer, and getting just a wee bit tired of this winter stuff.... A guy asked me once, "What the hell do you guys do there in Austin, Nevada all winter long???" "Well," I explaned, "Most of the year we F#*% and fish, but in the winter, it's just too damn cold ta fish...

I hope it is not the following weekend(June 26-28)....I'd be . It would be on my wife's b-day again and I don't want to make her hang out with you guys on her day....

Whee, if she really loved you, she would come with a smile on her face.

I vote for June as well and can't wait for it. I'm getting a littel weary of preheating in 20 degree weather.

This seems like a great fly-in to attend, any dates planned?

mountainmatt wrote:This seems like a great fly-in to attend, any dates planned?

June 26-28

whee wrote:

mountainmatt wrote:This seems like a great fly-in to attend, any dates planned?

June 26-28

Works for me, it's on the calender.

I can't make it this year, but I'm planning to attend JC in 2010. Can anyone explain what, besides altitude, makes this such a tricky strip? I've flown into McKinley Park (INR) several times and JC doesn't look that much worse to me.




Or Goldking


And it's a lot wider than my home strip


This one gets tricky if there's any wind too. They don't tell you that 20 is elevated 10 ft above the surrounding grass.


I don't want to sound cocky, and I don't have any experience dealing with high altitudes. I just don't want to skip it by being overly cautious, or crack up by being overly confident.

thanks.
Phil

Jr.CubBuilderuote wrote:I don't think it is tricky, but it does see"][qm to keep eating airplanes.
The high altitude means your true AS is a bit higher, the mountains are right next to you so things seem more confined than they really are. I think they combine to ever so slightly overload a pilots attention, then if he/she is slow to respond things stack up against them fast. There just isn't quite so much room for error.

Thanks, I can certainly understand that. The first few times I went in and out of Lakloey I was pretty nervous. The first time you drop down with trees on both sides is a lot scarier than it really is. Same for going into McKinley with a cliff beside you on downwind. By biggest concern with JC is getting out of there again with a stock 150. Especially if it's a wet year and the grass is really lush. I figure an extra 50% longer ground roll on take-off for grass or loose gravel surfaces.

Phil

Bear_Builder,

First I should say I have never been to JC myself...I have flown over it many times on my way to other places, it is just too busy for me. The difference I see in the pics you posted is the surrounding terrain. The pics you posted of other strips appear like there is some room around the strip, JC has tall mountains all around. Like I said I have never actually landed but I have been over the strip but down in the canyon. There is some room, you could fly a tight pattern if you wanted.

They mow and water the grass at JC so it won't matter much if it has been a wet year or not.

Bear_Builder wrote:

Jr.CubBuilderuote wrote:I don't think it is tricky, but it does see"][qm to keep eating airplanes.
The high altitude means your true AS is a bit higher, the mountains are right next to you so things seem more confined than they really are. I think they combine to ever so slightly overload a pilots attention, then if he/she is slow to respond things stack up against them fast. There just isn't quite so much room for error.

Thanks, I can certainly understand that. The first few times I went in and out of Lakloey I was pretty nervous. The first time you drop down with trees on both sides is a lot scarier than it really is. Same for going into McKinley with a cliff beside you on downwind. By biggest concern with JC is getting out of there again with a stock 150. Especially if it's a wet year and the grass is really lush. I figure an extra 50% longer ground roll on take-off for grass or loose gravel surfaces.

Phil

My first LDG at JC was a little high and fast last year...did a go around....I had landed at several other Back country strips previously with no real problem...I think it was the lift from heating on the east mountains in the late afternoon. Once I got used to the strip no problem. I am used to landing at SNY which is 4,300 ft and can have DA's of over 8,000ft but there are not many trees etc. to influence your approach. I think the best thing you can do is get real used to your machine in all kinds of configurations, turns, approaches, where it stalls, so flying it is second nature. Sometimes you may have to fly close to trees, hills, cliffs, etc so make a couple of passes or so to get familiar with your intended landing site...if it feels good do it, if not, come back some other day after some more practice. As far as rakeoffs......practice, practice, practice..know what kind of length you need for what weight you have, the performance of you machine, and what it will do at different DA's. I have had videos of me during different conditions so I can watch what I did and actually took a wheel out and measured my TO and LDG distances on pavement and grass for different DA's and weights..may sound like a lot of work but then you have a better idea.
Another thing is to fly with another plane of similar characteristics as yours into such a place as JC if they have been there before...a little guidance or a mountain instructor familiar with local conditions may be worth it's weight in gold.
HC

Whee hit the nail on the head. None of the strips you showed have ANY terrain around them. The strips themselves are not big (JC is a big runway), but they are pretty much out in the open, even PAIN. JC is, as whee noted, surrounded on all sides by pretty tall pieces of rock. So, to fly a pattern, you have to be down in the canyon, and it's not huge. It also isn't REAL tight, though, but it makes you think about such things. If you start your approach too high, and wind up down CLOSE to the strip, but not low enough to land, it's a LITTLE problematic, because of terrain. Not a huge deal, but it makes people nervous, and sometimes when they're nervous they don't make very good decisions.

JC is a nice strip, and isn't really all that challenging, but you will likely be operating at a pretty high density altitude, in a confined area. The DA widens the radius of turns, etc, etc...

MTV

Thanks for all the responses. I can't wait to check it out next year. I spend a lot of time playing around in the north end of the Alaska Range, especially up the Wood River canyon and St George Creek, though I haven't landed anywhere besides Goldking and McKinley. I'm hoping to land at the Denali Lodge strip on the upper wood this summer. So I'm pretty comfortable with terrain on all sides. And being in a stock 150, I always fly above steep valleys going upstream. Doesn't take much to out climb me at 5,000ft (despite what my VSI says). I'm also quite comfortable doing full flap, full slip approches over the tree tops. So I'd have to really be high not to make the runway. My old straight tail 150 slips like Citabria and with the barn doors down decends at about 45 degrees. Yee Haw! Lakloey has a 500 AGL pattern to stay under Ladd Field traffice, so tight patterns with 180 degree turn from downwind to final are normal for me too. So the density altitude concerns me far more than the confined space.

Thanks again.
Phil

I still go by AntiCub over at SC.org

Phil

That's the point.

Phil