went into mackey bar for breakfast sunday morning. the people there were very friendly & the breakfast was outstanding. they will be doing breakfast thursday thru sunday & would like a phone call ahead of time.
their number is 209-608-5132
we are very happy they have decided to open for breakfast, especially after the loss of big creek.
park on the downstream end.

kelly rosser

If you haven't been to Mackay Bar before here is a video I took of my first visit. It shows the parking area on the south end of the runway. The recommended landing is down stream. This video also shows you that you have to make a left turn on short final.

Great owners. Great food. Great place.

Be careful of the sprinklers on the river side of the runway. They are hard to see.

I agree..... great place.

Tim

Rob that is a great overhead shot of Mackay Bar. When was that taken?

skybobb wrote:Rob that is a great overhead shot of Mackay Bar. When was that taken?

Last Friday 7-31-09

Just curious, Rob, did you take off up stream or down? I know they recommend a upstream takeoff, but I did a down stream. I didn't have any trouble, but since there was so much traffic the day I was there I thought it would be safer to take off down stream and get away from the rest of the planes. Bob

skybobb wrote:Just curious, Rob, did you take off up stream or down? I know they recommend a upstream takeoff, but I did a down stream. I didn't have any trouble, but since there was so much traffic the day I was there I thought it would be safer to take off down stream and get away from the rest of the planes. Bob

I landed and took off by the lodge going away from it. That is upstream. I can take off or land either direction.

Rob

Hey Skybobb, that was me following you in that morning. Hey Mark, did you catch the audio too?

This was my first time in there as well. After breakfast, we watched a few planes takeoff in both directions. When it was my turn, we took off to the south. Shortly there after we were at Chamberlain and spoke with a couple of guys that took off right after me to the north. When I heard they were taking off to the north, I openly asked over the radio if I was missing something, but didn't get a reply. On the ground at Chamberlain they told me that they had been told to take off to the north, but in hindsight thought the south departure would have been better. I don't know, watching the other aircraft takeoff to the north didn't give me a warm, fuzzy feeling. Knowing that the aircraft I had watched takeoff to the north had more performance then me, I elected the south departure. I also new that there was a clearing along the river to the south of the strip as well as two strips not far away in that direction. We took off and had no problem going south. I felt better about it, for me anyway.

So, those of you with more experience in and out of there, I'd like to hear your take on it. Thanks in advance. Great little place and it was a beautiful morning on that day.

Hey Skybobb,

I just listened to the audio again. Were you in that shiney 182 with no paint job that had the older gentleman with you that you said would probably be his last time in there? I saw your pictures and think I recognized you. If so, I was the one that took the video of you all out by the planes before you left. If that was you, I wish I had known who you were so we could have put screen names with the faces.

Mackey bar is one of my favorites. We went missed the first time around. I didnt see the runway until it was going past my wingtip. Skybobb, I cant believe that we didnt recognize each other. Great video. Corey, Thanks again for leading the way over there. After we left Mackey, we went over to Wilson Bar. There was a guy there from Mackey bar that flys the 206 that is parked at mackey. He was looking over the wrecked maule at wilson. I asked him about which way to go in and out. He said they land downstream and take off upstream. Communication with landing and take-off traffic would be very critical, not unlike many other places in the back country.

Yes, that was me in the 182 without paint. I was giving a couple of 80+ year olds a ride in for breakfast. Benny has pancretic cancer and this might just be his last flight. Mark I am sorry I didn't recognize you as we had met at Big Creek shortly a while back. I didn't know who was on the radio, but it was good to hear everyone trying to figure out where they were and what they were doing. I almost didn't have time to get my announcement in,that I was about to land at Mackay Bar.

skymaule wrote:Mackey bar is one of my favorites. We went missed the first time around. I didnt see the runway until it was going past my wingtip. Skybobb, I cant believe that we didnt recognize each other. Great video. Corey, Thanks again for leading the way over there. After we left Mackey, we went over to Wilson Bar. There was a guy there from Mackey bar that flys the 206 that is parked at mackey. He was looking over the wrecked maule at wilson. I asked him about which way to go in and out. He said they land downstream and take off upstream. Communication with landing and take-off traffic would be very critical, not unlike many other places in the back country.

Read that as "Being his guinea pig"!

Seriously, though, I was glad to hook up with you and hope to do it again in the future. I was a tad high too but it worked out well. I got a chuckle out of the audio on Skybobb's video right around 2:13 when someone said, "Is that the strip?" About that time I was thinking, "Oh! There it is." First time in it has a tendancy to sneak up on you a little. Very nice place and good eats.

behindpropellers wrote:Be careful of the sprinklers on the river side of the runway. They are hard to see.

I agree..... great place.

Tim

Very true. We watched a 185 pull into position to takeoff North and have to shut down to get out and move a piece of pipe that he unknowingly rolled his left wheel right up on the end of.

My hope was that the video might help someone in the future kind of know what the landing looks like from a pilots view. I looked at someone's video before this first landing I did. I wish I had of gotten the takeoff, but I failed to get the camera started. But, as someone told me if I am going to screw up it would be better to screw up on the video than the flying. True!

Very true again. I got our departure on video taking off to the south. You can see it on the JC Fly-in trip report/video thread.

Grassstrippilot wrote:Very true again. I got our departure on video taking off to the south. You can see it on the JC Fly-in trip report/video thread.

Some nice videos, I enjoyed them. I remember your plane parked right next to mine at Mackay Bar.