AvidFlyer wrote:I'm out guys duty calls I'll be Backcountry flying the hills of Afghanistan this weekend. Hopefully we can get together again before the snow flies. Thanks for stepping up and making this happen Kevin!!

Thanks for your service Joey!

If only this was the next weekend! I'll be getting back from my 4 month deployment and of course have to take Vacation back in cali.....3-4 months and I'll be living in CA again. I'll have to show ya'll what a Mooney can do!
edit:....it'll take more runway! haha!

Kev - where are we meeting on the field? I plan on arrival by 7am, gas up, then ready to go!

Making a straight in for 28 allowed from Incline area?

My hanger...C 7...very easy to find. Park in front of the EAA building. We will brief in my hanger at 730 prior for all involved. The weekend is looking good!

So who is planning on going up friday night? Or are most people flying up saturday morning?

Rob, We haven't met yet, but I'll be up there on Friday afternoon.

Great, looking forward to meeting you. I won't be up until later in the afternoon though.

Friday night will be tough for me as I have two trips to the desert that day. Camp ground by the glider port is good to go or my hanger for you guys!

Will be ready to fire on Saturday morning. We need to do a briefing on the circuit at 730 in my hanger. Looking forward to seeing you.

Looks like we have some guys coming from the Supercub forum, skywagon forum and of course the best forum here.

Kevin

mountainmatt wrote:

AvidFlyer wrote:I'm out guys duty calls I'll be Backcountry flying the hills of Afghanistan this weekend. Hopefully we can get together again before the snow flies. Thanks for stepping up and making this happen Kevin!!

Thanks for your service Joey!

Roger that!!!!!

So we have:

-Group parking at the glider port...(that means a 60 second walk to your airplane)
-A group camp site reserved with fire pit (wood is $8 for a bundle) starting Friday night if you choose. Saturday night as well.
-Use of the BBQ Saturday night at the glider port...Will be kinda cool..they are having a function as well.
-A very COLD keg of beer (Sierra Nevada)
-Meat and Fish provided Saturday night with greens of some sort -(just bring a plate and fork and glass for beer)
-Fuel in Truckee is $5.20
-Your a 2 minute walk from some pretty good fishing and swimming if you choose from the camp site (Martis Lake Reservoir)
-Any questions?
-we just need more planes now!!!

Would love to have you!

Kevin

Sounds awesome Kevin, thanks for setting everything up. I'll bring a few bundles of fire wood that I didn't burn last time I was camping. Is it ok if we store some of our gear in your hangar while we are out flying during the day? I'd rather not leave it unattended in the tent.

Awsome Kev- yeah it would be great if we could dump sone gear in you hangar Saturday am as won't be able to set up camp before fly out.

You guys can count on dumping gear at the hanger no problem. If you need the camp site for Friday its open. I just have the Reno Rib cook off to go to with family that night.

Will be at the hanger at 7am on Saturday for certain. Just let me know if your inbound for Friday and I can leave you guys a car to get into the big city of Truckee with. Friday nights are fun!

Kevin

I am new to the forum, and am planning to fly up on Saturday afternoon to camp and meet a few of the people that I have been reading about for so long. Unfortunately, neither I nor my wheel-pantied 172 are ready for the strips on Kevin's circuits. I know that everyone is trying to stay as light as possible, but would anyone flying on Sunday morning be willing to exchange a ride to an enthusiastic newbie for avgas? See you Saturday.

MCH

kevin , thanks for the updates and keeping everyone informed. even some of us nosedraggers are are going to come. see ya fri.nite.

Park by the 19 numbers and come have a beer. Planes are arriving and the beer is cold! It's going to be a fun weekend!

I plan on arriving around 7

Don't drink all that beer!! Kev- can I bring anything??

See y'all in the morning!

First trip report... my take on the Sierra / Nor Cal Fly In.

Today I went to a mini fly-in with some of the guys from Backcountrypilot.org. We met up at Truckee airport (KTRK) and departed from there to take a tour of some of the local off airport spots one of the members lands at. As all pilot stories start out, I got up at O-dark-30 and drove out to the airport to get my plane ready. It just started getting light at 6am as I departed and turned north into the Sierra Nevada mountains.

It was still as glass this morning as I climbed into the foothills. I tuned my radio to the predetermined frequency and radioed to see if Emmet, another Backcountrypilot.org guy and fellow Rans Clan member, was airborne yet. He responded that he was going to fly by some friends that were camping and then he’d fly up to Truckee. I held my northbound course for another hour watching the sun rise over the peaks to the east. Soon the pristine waters of Lake Tahoe were on my right and as I crested one more peak Truckee slid into view.





I made a crosswind entry to runway 19 and made a greaser. I know, weird huh? I taxied to the south side of the field and found the other guys. I fueled up and show up for the briefing which was just finishing. Kevin, (AKTahoe on Backcountrypilot.org) gave me a quick rundown of the plan. In a nutshell it was tune to 124.20 and follow everybody. Roger that. I got back in my plane and followed the other guys to runway 01. It was really cool to see 6 taildraggers all taking off one right after the other into the crisp blue Sierra skies.





Being low man on the totem pole I pulled into the rear of the loose gaggle of planes. We first flew past a sweet strip next to one of the three reservoirs (I think it was Stampede) near Truckee. Kevin then took us to a strip he calls Mile-Hi and a Half (or was it Mile and a Half-Hi, don’t remember now.) He gave us a quick rundown on how to make the approach. That is definitely not a strip for beginners like me. I circled over and thought to myself, “Yeah, mmm, hmmm. That’s nice. Next!”

We then flew down into the valley north of Truckee to a strip called Totem. This was my favorite. It was really smooth and long and I made a dang fine landing there WITH EVERYONE WATCHING. This was my first time taking this airplane off-runway! Kevin gave us the rundown on the strip and a brief history before some of the guys went to land at Totem 2 which is about 1/2 mile to the SW. The two runways basically make an L shape. I hung around at Totem 1 and talked to one of the guys (John in the tricycle with big tires?) I finally took off and circled over head to take a look at Totem 2. Kevin said I could make it in there and he was right. I just felt that there was no need to get too ambitious on the first off airport landings I had made in my new plane.






Next we flew over to a strip called Bumpy Barn. Kevin recommended this strip only to those with big tires and more experience. Point taken, I’ll just look at it from the air. From here it was about a 2 minute flight to our next landing spot at a strip called The Ranch. I was able to make it in there with no issues by following Kevin’s guidance, “land past the patch of green, stay to the right, there’s a gully on the left.” This strip was a little rougher than Totem but still manageable. My landing wasn’t quite as good but everyone was too busy to notice (I hope.) I was the second plane down this time and when I turned to park I saw 3 other planes taxiing behind me! These guys are good!



The Ranch is by far the more picturesque of the first strips the group hit today. Kevin explained that it’s for sale so if you really want a beautiful home with an airstrip in beautiful country, Kevin can point you in the right direction. Some of the guys departed to go back and land at Bumpy Barn. I decided to try to shoot another landing at The Ranch and taxied out to take off. The take off changed my mind about landing again! For the reason why you have to understand that my plane has a solid tailwheel which has very poor shock absorption qualities. I also have spring steel landing gear and we all know what springs do right? So I start my take off roll and everything is looking good and then I hit a small bump and bounce into the air. I’m not going fast enough to fly so I come back down and bounce a couple more times. Then I hit another bump and up I go and down I go. Then I hit a third bump and this was big enough to throw me so far skyward such that I didn’t touch down again.

I checked the clock and found that it was time for me to head back. I radioed the group and told them that I had to depart the area and they wished me well.

If at all possible you must come to Truckee and let Kevin take you on one of his circuits. He is very knowledgeable about this area and is a great tour guide. I really wish I could have stayed longer. Thanks again Kevin for a great introduction to the Truckee area. I’m going to brush up and I will definitely be back for the camp out next time!



There are a few more pictures on my blog posting of this trip. You can see them here: http://airprayer.net
You can also see my Spot GPS Messenger track of the trip here: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0HrtlSyl3ynThznO2mQli5bKoUA7mtSZx


I was only able to go for half of one day. I can't wait to see Emmet's pictures! Let's see 'em Emmet!