bmurrish wrote:Did a little backcountry mountain flying today. Here is a shot of Twin Lakes near Leadvillle, CO. Not the greatest of quality, but what do you expect from a cell phone.

Good photo...only problem is your avatar should have me in the back and not Clint!

Saturday I was going to head for the hills but the weather sucked. Instead I went to Ontario and bought some fuel and looked around at the old jets that decorate the airport. I gotta be honest, that airport has a eerie feeling...cool but kinda creepy. Then I went to Vale to check it out then back to Nampa.

Nizina& Tadpole & bnurrish:
All cool pictures!
Saturday flew to the Barnstormer at GXY for breakfast. Met a freind with a supercat and we flew back to SNY....terribly smooth flying.
tadpole & bmurrish...have either of you visited the museum at Pueblo?
Some nice Saturday a few of are planning a trip down there.
HC

hicountry wrote:Nizina& Tadpole & bnurrish:
tadpole & bmurrish...have either of you visited the museum at Pueblo?
Some nice Saturday a few of are planning a trip down there.
HC

I've been to the museum, I don't recall Bmurrish making it there though. The day I went I got socked in with fog and he got out IFR while I waited until I could get SVFR out.

We both go to PUB quite a bit, awesome food at the Spitfire Grill at the airport. Let us know when you're headed down, we might come join you.

Note, PUB approach isn't anymore. They got shut down and Denver runs it. It's weird to take off from COS and get Denver Approach to go to PUB now...they hand you off to the PUB tower.

hicountry wrote:Nizina& Tadpole & bnurrish:
All cool pictures!
Saturday flew to the Barnstormer at GXY for breakfast. Met a freind with a supercat and we flew back to SNY....terribly smooth flying.
tadpole & bmurrish...have either of you visited the museum at Pueblo?
Some nice Saturday a few of are planning a trip down there.
HC

Hi HC, yes I have been to the museum, but it was about 9 years ago. It is pretty neat to check out at least once. The Spitfire ahs some pretty decent food. They serve a pretty mean breakfast burrito smoothered in green chili, or if you're brave, you can attempt to finish their biscuit and gravy plate.

Tadpole, Colorado Springs approach actually tells you to contact Pueblo approach, not Denver approach. Yes the controller is sitting in Denver, but he is dedicated to the Pueblo area.

bmurrish wrote:Tadpole, Colorado Springs approach actually tells you to contact Pueblo approach, not Denver approach. Yes the controller is sitting in Denver, but he is dedicated to the Pueblo area.

The AF/D says Denver Approach, not Pueblo Approach for the naming. Could be with the switch, there's 2 names for it now.

Tadpole wrote:From yesterday...

I was with my jump team down just south of Memphis. I controlled the C-130 with my 6 jumpers on board for the pregame show at the Ole Miss Game. Then I brought in a 2-ship of F-16s for two passes over the stadium.

Afterwards a friend picked me up in his Cherokee and took me over to another airport in MS to meet another friend with his Swift. I got to fly that around awhile and then went to that guys grass strip and switched over to his Starduster Too for some open cockpit flying. I was taking in all the flying unique airplanes that I didn't take any in-flight pics though, here's what I got.

The Swift


The Starduster Too

You must have been with Jim Cunningham...I have not seen him in a while...how did you like Jim Rice's toys? His brother Rick Rice is one of the fellows that taught me to fly tailwheels. That whole bunch of fellows are responsible for my tailwheel addiction...which reminds me, I need to get back over there and visit with them in the near future.

On Friday I helped out some friends by being an observer in a moose survey. We spent 6 hours in a supercub, flying 2-1/2 mile grid lines, and tight circles over every group of moose we saw. The observer's job is to spot the moose, classify them by age and sex, and mark the location by GPS.

Truth is, the pilot had twenty eight thousand hours doing this type of work, surveying polar bear dens, geese, moose, wolves, and many other species around Alaska. My role was pretty superfluous, but once in a while I'd manage to spot a group of moose moments before he did.

The big thrill, besides seeing moose, sheep, a bear on a moose carcass, caribou, and a coyote, was getting to be along for the ride. The plane was a 165 Hp Supercub on Don Sheldon's former wheel skis, with 61 gallons useable. All of the flying was under 500 AGL, sometimes much lower. By the nature of the work, we spent a high portion of the time in steep bank angles, but I don't think he ever let the ball get a millimeter out of center.

It's tempting to count the time in the logbook, but debatable since the rear seat had the controls removed. Great time, anyway!

-DP

p.s. Forgot to mention that one of the check boxes on the survey form read: "Survey quality affected due to observer falling asleep" I can see how it might happen!

A friend and I went up Friday and did a little site seeing it was great weather in the mid 70s. I air was crisp a little wind but not bad at all. We flew from Chandler (CHD) to Goodyear (GYR). Flew right by Phoenix International Raceway and could see all the NASCAR Sprint Cup guys practicing for the race that day it was fun to see.

We made 3 landings that land and they were probably some of the worst landings I've made in a long time. I've been flying a Champ the last 2 weeks working on my TW and the warrior we were in I must have just double guess myself, but just didn't come out smooth. More practice I guess. I like the Champ much better.

lowflybye wrote:You must have been with Jim Cunningham...I have not seen him in a while...how did you like Jim Rice's toys? His brother Rick Rice is one of the fellows that taught me to fly tailwheels. That whole bunch of fellows are responsible for my tailwheel addiction...which reminds me, I need to get back over there and visit with them in the near future.

Nope, I didn't get to meet Cunningham, I was with Jim Rice, those are his planes. Wayne Pierce picked me up at Oxford and flew me up to OLV where Jim Rice flew in with the Swift and we went and played with that and the biplane. Rick was out flying the RV-4 so I didn't get to meet him either. Great people down there for sure. Jim Rice has offered to teach me how to fly the J-3 when they get one of the two back up and flying. Can't get my TW endorsement with him since he's not a CFI, but it'll sure save me some bucks in the end and I sure like the idea of flying a J-3.

I had a really beautiful time tonight flying around by the light of the full moon on snow.

All my regular strips are unlit, so my night flying is pretty limited. Once in a while, all the necessary conditions fall in my lap, though: Full moon, no clouds, fresh snow, not too bitterly cold, reasonably calm, and the family has gone off to town for a few days and left me to come up with my own entertainment!

Tonight hit the jackpot. The moon was so bright that I could easily see colors, just standing outdoors. At one point I actually lowered the visor to cut it's brightness. Temps were a balmy +15 F, and the snow came early and often this year, for a change.

Flew a bunch of T&Gs at my home strip and a nearby one, and then just wandered about the valley, rivers and foothills for a while, savoring it.

One other important detail- filing a pre-apology with my neighbor for the late-night noise disturbance!

-DP

Today I finally built the cabin heater I had designed in my head a while back. It is very simple design that takes hot air off the fan cooled Rotax engine in my Kitfox. It worked well. No controls except, on for the winter, and off for the summer. A couple more pictures are in my photo album. I'm still struggling with how to post more than one picture in a post.

Here's Mt. Stewart between the wing struts.


Well I guess I even forgot how to post one picture, see my gallery for pictures.

fixed it for you(you left off the http://)

Fantastic flying today CAVU, no turbulence and no wind...in Nevada! I departed Minden and flew past Dayton and Silver Springs and up to Fernley Tiger field, landing on the dirt strip. Next stop Fallon Muni, did a touch and go. All the MOA's and restricted airspace were cold so I flew straight to Austin where I visited with Coyote Ugly and saw his awesome Cub. I guess Austin is the only actual airport that Joe lands on! From there I flew low level south along the beautiful Reese Valley and then past historic Ione to Gabbs, landing on the dirt once again. Then it was low flight over the Gabbs valley, Schurz, Yerington, Sunrise Pass and onto dirt runway 30R at Minden. 3.4 hours hobbs. Best flying day in a long time; woulda been perfect if I had seen a bear feeding on a moose carcass along the way.

Gabbs Playa


Wingman


Pilot Cone near Rawhyde Mine

Flew the Citabria from Front Range, CO to Platte Valley (grass strip), Erie, Boulder, Longmont and back to FTG. Awesome flight.

Did a little flying around the SNY area...a few 360's, a couple of power on stalls, and a short field landing winds gusting to 20knots.
bmurrish stated:
Flew the Citabria from Front Range, CO to Platte Valley (grass strip), Erie, Boulder, Longmont and back to FTG. Awesome flight.

Did you fuel at Platte Valley? They have the cheapest fuel around...$3.83 the last I heard.
HC

Hi HC, I just did a quick touch and go on rwy 27 and didn't stop. Looks like a neat little airport. Rwy 27 is very interesting. 2500' Turf with some sort of storage tank and poles about 200' from the touch down followed by hangars sitting only about 75' just to the right of the touch down, and then a paved taxiway that runs across it about 1/4 of the way down. Definitely fun doing a wheel landing.

Had gusty winds here today too. Need to make up to SNY for a Cabella's visit soon.

Flew the RV-4 from Oakdale, CA to Reno, NV to deliver it to the new owner. He's tickled pink but I'm having the usual seller's remorse. I'm consoling myself with the fact that now I can get that backcountry plane I've been wanting. Here's a few pictures from climbing over the Sierras.

svanarts wrote:Flew the RV-4 from Oakdale, CA to Reno, NV to deliver it to the new owner.

Scott, what a bittersweet flight that must've been! I'll look out for your old plane on this side of the hill. Happy airplane shopping and good luck finding just the right one.

Here's where I went on my days off.

<object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2301705&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2301705&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/2301705">KTTD to KUDD</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user715121">Rob Burson</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.