Bill
Do you remember the details of Marks accident. If I remember right, he wasn't landing or taking off from the strip, but in the rea of it. Maybe heading to it, or flying past it?????

Mark wasn't landing at Red Creek, he just made a pass from the South to the North on his way to Payson. He was talking to a friend on the radio that had just landed in a Supercub, and then they all were going to meet a little while later for breakfast at Payson.

Hafast
Isn't it about time you came up north. Maybe the Caveman flyin next week????
Gary

I've been "up North" all summer. I've been in Alaska since the end of April and just got back to Phoenix two weeks ago. Unfortunately my 180 is still up there. I was supposted to leave last night to go and get it, but I canceled because the weather is supposed to be crap for the next week. Are you comming down for Copperstate?

Man
I guess when you go north,you REALLY GO NORTH . Sounds like fun.
No on the Copperstate. Same weekend as the Cavefeast
But, been thinkin about comin down to the Casino at Marricopa for the Mummies music night at the casino.

jomac wrote:i think it was james that said he did not like strips that could be access'd by trucks and etc...i did drop into red a couple of springs ago when headed home from dvt to ida...had an egt reading i did not like and landed to ck it out. when i circled the strip i could see other folks hanging out by the river, and they did walk up once i landed and shut down. as i was pulling my two top cowls, the 3 of them did look a little geasy, i must admit. turned out to be o.k. to talk to, but only after they may have noticed the exposed .45 in my cop-like belt...i really do like b/c strips that are true back-country, with not much other access. after they noticed the hardware, 2 of them went away and the other one borrowed me a leatherman to tighten a couple of things. turns out he was there for the weekend and they were headed back to phx that a.m....after i reattached the cowls, fired up and blasted off, all the while they seemed to watch...? kind of a weird place, for sure! guess i'm spoiled in IDAHO...

Red Creek is a whopping 15 minutes out of one of the largest cities in the nation... So what kind of back country experience were you really expecting? Having said that, good luck getting a truck into Red Creek! It is an all day affair in a quad or serious jeep, and not for the average weekend warrior 4wheeler... Also good luck finding a more pleasurable place to camp so close to so much... There are Kayakers on the river when it's up. And there are occasional quads etc. on the Red Creeck drainage (flying in every 2-3 weekends you might see 1-2 in a year). Since the strip isn't visible from either location, an airplane landing at RC usually draws attention from these folks, IF there are any around. Usually they are scurrying up onto the plateau to see the 'airplane wreck'. A shame a person has to be packing heat to feel secure amongst folks that just came to satisfy curiosity or offer help, I have never felt the need to 'carry' into red creek, but have hunted Deer, Quail and Javelina there. In fact I may camp there for the archery pig this spring... I moved away from phoenix a few years back, but still drop in on RC on occasion. I would recommend it to any reasonably capable pilot passing through in a reasonably capable machine.


Meat, I am leaving Flagstaff in a couple hrs for Willie, and then on to Yuma, I will drop in, anything in particular you wanted to know?

Take care, Rob

Hafast wrote:I've been "up North" all summer. I've been in Alaska since the end of April and just got back to Phoenix two weeks ago. Unfortunately my 180 is still up there. I was supposted to leave last night to go and get it, but I canceled because the weather is supposed to be crap for the next week. Are you comming down for Copperstate?

I'm planning to be in the DVT area to visit family the week of Thanksgiving.

Rob,

Thanks for the offer, mostly just interested to make sure the status hadn't changed as far as using it or that the mayor of chicago hadn't moved out west and put his backhoes to work on it.

Hi guys, not meaning any disrespect to Mark, or his family, or anyone here, but I'd like to correct something that has been repeated so often that it is assumed as true, This being that Mark died at Red Creek. Mark did not die at Red Creek, he only flew over it that morning on his way to Payson. I've spoken to an eye witness of the accident, who was on the Red Creek strip watching as Mark flew by, headed north op the canyon. In his own words, the airstrip had nothing to do with it. There are indeed plenty of aircraft bent at Red Creek, but there has never been so much as a serious injury, and accidents have diminished dramatically since the AZ Pilot's Association put out their safety brief in working with the district ranger. I don't mean that anyone here does this on purpose as we are just repeating what has been commonly believed, so please don't take this as an assault, it is not. We just don't need to give Red Creek a black eye it does not deserve. It is an airstrip that deserves respect, proper aircraft, and skill, but it is also perhaps the most visited backcountry airstrip in AZ. The last District Ranger we worked with stated that the aviation community had become one of the best groups she's had the pleasure of working with, and supported the continued use of the airstrip, promising to pass this along to the new, and current District Ranger..

There have been no updates to this thread for several years so I'm contributing a report.

Red Creek is my favorite local strip and I have made 20 visits there in the last 8 months. I like to hike, take photos, and enjoy the solitude. I have also done some work there, including repairing the windsock, filling holes, and trimming the shrubbery.

The July and August rains have washed out the runway center at the East end. The erosion is deep enough to be a significant hazard to a tail wheel and would probably remove a nose wheel. The damage extends about 50 feet West of the second set of stone threshold markers. Land past this area and no problem.

I went in there quite a few times last winter and into the spring, been too hot lately.
Tommy Thomason (I think that’s how he spells it) the manager at Cavecreek Airport is usually the guy who puts work partys together to go in and fix the strip. We used to go there every January 1st and clean the place up.

Do you mean the Skyranch at Carefree? Never heard of the Cave creek Airport.

Tommy is the manager at SkyRanch.

Sorry, meant to say Carefree.

More heavy rain and more washout. Deep center line gulley now extends about 75 feet West of the second set of threshold markers. As of 8/19/2021, landing 100 feet past the second set of threshold markers will avoid the most severe washout. Earlier wheel landings should still be ok as long as the tail is kept up.

Was in to red creek last weekend and can't report any improvement. Large washout down the middle of the strip along the first couple of hundred feet. The upper end is getting pretty soft and sandy. I spent a little time working on it but it's bigger than one guy and a few minutes. The hand tools are also pretty much falling apart and could all use new handles. I would put red creek in the marginal category for any nose wheel now. A tailwheel is still OK if you stay on task. Not particularly rough but maybe should land long

Wayne

Recent rain followed by cattle activity really chewed up some parts of the runway and the center parking area The worst area was about 2/3 down the runway towards the West end but, now it has dried out, not a big problem for most aircraft.

The deep washout at the East end is slowly filling in, partly because of work by visiting pilots, and partly because of rain and cattle breaking down the edges. I still prefer to touchdown just past it.