I opened the windows on the Clipper the other day and went for a late evening flight low and slow. I had the sunset over Smith Rock out one window and a full moon rising out the other. I may have even drug a tire or two. We're lucky to have flight in our lives.

The sunset:




And the moon:



CW

pokette wrote:

We have beach flying in SE Idaho too, but it's at 6K' and surrounded by arid mountains, but the water (Bear Lake) sure is blue!

I had a little company the other evening, a 185 on amphibs, the pilot claims to also fly some kind of fat tired modified crop duster all over and on the Utah mountains. Seems I may have seen some pictures of that beast somewhere. Blue sky and water and brown hills.

We came by land and sea with our airplanes to land on the beaches and the water at Bear lake Idaho, here are some pictures from the other day! Mountainflier

Mountainflier wrote:We came by land and sea with our airplanes to land on the beaches and the water at Bear lake Idaho, here are some pictures from the other day! Mountainflier

Solid work! Love Bear Lake in September-

OK so this wasn't today but I just got around to editing it.
Flight to the Caveman Fly-in.

A few pics of last nights dead stick soaring flight. For a total of 2.7 hrs flight time, I was prop stopped for 2.6, so total fuel burn for the flight was .09 GPH. That's economy I can live with, too bad I need the mountain and the wind to accomplish it! I took off and climbed up to 8200' from my 5400' strip and never exceeded 1900 prop rpm, then gained another 1K+ after shutdown where the ridge lift topped out at 9600 or so, comfortably above the 9240' highest peak. Just for the hell of it I texted a few people, along with pictures of the view (DEAD STICK, RIGHT NOW!) Pretty stupid but great fun

The Portnuef Range from afar, right about 5 K from the valley floor to the peak of Bonneville, this is the view I first saw as a wandering hang glider pilot just passing through the area, 35+ years I'm still here. The same viewpoint reversed, looking back down the valley floor, all that afternoon wind is funneled right up the ski area bowl, resulting in big, smoooth, lift. My place is just off camera to one side. The high point of the range, and where I hung out tracking back and forth and 360'ing, a great view in all directions and one I never tire of.


And from the day before, a steep little bump I call Mini Mile Hi, my second time landing there, some tree branchs complicate things, touchdown point is right where the shadow is, and yeah that took some planning to take the picture just right!

I took a friend of mine, Gary (he hosts the Hooked on Utah tv show on KUTV2 every Saturday) up this morning in the 170 to land at the airstrip at Scofield Reservoir. Didn't make it to the ground! All of Spanish Fork canyon was covered in low lying clouds, and the airstrip wasn't even viewable! Gary brought his new Garmin aera 796 with weather and I suppose we could have landed with the 3D vison and terrain avoidance, but we decided against it. That new garmin is pretty sweet, though. Here are a few pictures from the flight:

Flying up the canyon


River of clouds


I need some floats!


The airstrip is under the middle of these clouds towards the top of the image

I flew the 170 out to Nevada yesterday for a short TDY. I woke up early this morning and couldn't fall back asleep so I figured I would go flying since I didn't have to work till 9am. It's my birthday anyways so why not go have some fun! Too bad I didn't bring my good camera, the cell phone shots suck.

I found a nice beach to land on


A nice lake to "hydroplaning the wheels"


8800ft up on "Tailwheel Ridge" Last time I was in here both Russ and I got flat tailwheels getting out


The 170 handled it MUCH better this time with big tires, big prop, and Sportsman Stol kit. I barley got out of there last time but today was a piece of cake.

robw56 wrote:A nice lake to "hydroplaning the wheels"

And about as salty as ocean water. Make sure you hose stuff off real well when you're done.

Gump

Good thing I kept off the water then. Landing on the shore was enough fun anyways.

I lived there in Hawthorne for seven years. Some of the best flying, and best four-wheeling on the planet.

Gump

A couple more pics from yesterday...

It was a perfect eveining to fly


Thank god for bushwheels, this sand was soft


Gump is right, theres some good flying out here

Did you camp out on the back side of the lake? If so, how were the bugs?

There's about five coyotes live on that side, and they eat my ducks. I used to spend hours "herding" them into the water with the Cessna. They roll over onto their backs and bite at the tires as you go by. Mess with my ducks, and you get to go swimming!

Gump

No camping, I'm staying in town. I did see 2 coyotes out there though and may have done a little herding myself.

robw56 wrote:A couple more pics from yesterday...

It was a perfect eveining to fly

Way to get after it... Ole Charley is possibly one of the most photographed aircraft around here, quite a legacy that thing is going to have.

Hit another new spot this morning, this one at 8600ft.

Went and checked out some acreage that we are sorta thinking about buying, would easily fit a 2500ft runway


Took my daughter along


Bunch of new gravel bars are popping up along the river. Even found a couple I think the Luscombe can handle, would be even more if I had fat tires. Talked to a guy a while back that had a set of 31s collecting dust they were about worn out but still usable, maybe I should go ask if I could borrow them

Not even two years old and already hooked on airplanes.

Mineral Canyon is in excellent shape. Recently graded. A bit soft on the upstream end but smooth. Gnats were out in force. Should be a lot better after the first frost in a couple of weeks.

you can easily get a nice runway there!! Very cute kiddo! mine has only been up once, but handled it well, and cant wait to get the Tcraft going again and take her some more!

whee wrote:Went and checked out some acreage that we are sorta thinking about buying, would easily fit a 2500ft runway


Took my daughter along


Bunch of new gravel bars are popping up along the river. Even found a couple I think the Luscombe can handle, would be even more if I had fat tires. Talked to a guy a while back that had a set of 31s collecting dust they were about worn out but still usable, maybe I should go ask if I could borrow them

Not even two years old and already hooked on airplanes.

AMY JO HURLS

I had my second bout of airsickness this AM, by a passenger that is. A friends wife and I were cruising along for over an hour, doing of course lots of circling while looking at things below. Not glass air but not bumpy either. She mentioned it 10 minutes out from my strip, and I opened the air vents and the window and headed straight home. I never smelled (smelt?) anything so figured she had got better or held it like a man. Turns out she had done it like a lady, and had even thought in advance to bring a bag! NONE in the plane, which really was all I cared about.

Now here is the punch line: she and her husband then tell me, for the first time, "Oh yeah, Amy Jo gets sick all the times on airline flights, sometimes in the car unless she drives. She drives almost all the time as a result". Funny how they didn't mention that beforehand, and I have to give her credit for still wanting to go up, and she did have fun.... I guess she has just learned how to deal with it and still go places and do things and just put up with a little discomfort along the way. Tough chick really, and best of all she dealt with it neatly