Flying out west in N1715D

[hilltop170]

You guys may (or may not) have noticed my absence in the last few weeks. I had made plans to go to Las Vegas on Southwest Airlines for a long weekend to watch my nephew fly his last two airshows as the Air Force West Coast A-10 Demonstration Pilot at the Aviation Nation 2009 Airshow. What transpired was not planned but turned out to be a great trip out west in the 170.

A week before the airshow, I called my buddy from Alaska just to shoot the breeze and found out he was going to Green River, Utah to hunt big horn sheep in the Book Cliffs that run from Green River to Grand Junction, Colorado. He had a permit for a ram. I told him if I had known about his trip, I would have gone with him. He said, "Well, come on out". I thought just a minute and said "Alright, why not!" That was at 2:30 in the afternoon. I cancelled my Southwest tickets and was heading west at 3:30 in 1715D.

That evening I flew to Brownfield, Texas and landed right at dark thirty. A very nice guy who lives in a house at the airport loaned me the courtesy car to go into town for dinner. That night I slept in my sleeping bag on the couch in the terminal building. Next morning was fog to the ground until 10:00am when it lifted to about 500' and unlimited vis. I departed for Santa Fe, the next fuel stop. It turned beautiful at the New Mexico border and stayed clear to Santa Fe and on to Moab, Utah. Flying over the Utah canyonlands again was refreshing. It was late afternoon and the sandstone landscape lit up like neon.

My buddy drove down from Green River and picked me up at CNY and we had a steak and went to bed early. Next morning we were hunting at daylight about 25 miles east of town. For the next three days we hunted sheep all over the Book Cliffs and saw many huge mule deer and about 150 big horn sheep. He never saw one big enough to kill. He's more selective than I am.

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It was time to head towards Las Vegas so I flew back thru the canyonlands, down across Lake Powell, and into Page, Arizona for the night. It was another beautiful flight across the desert with bumpy and strong headwinds.

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Next morning it was raining hard at Page of all places. I didn't think they got any rain there looking at the level of Lake Powell. When a break in the cells passed overhead, I departed for Las Vegas. I dodged rain and snow cells all the way across the north side of the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead. I had wanted to fly the VFR corridors across Grand Canyon but the weather was down below the rim in the canyon so going north was the only way thru. Even then, I had to deviate and backtrack a couple of times but it was never close. It took 2.5 hours to fly 200sm but I finally made it to Hoover Dam and Boulder City at 4:30 pm.

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Saturday and Sunday was spent on the flight line at Nellis with my nephew, his youngest brother who flies F-16s, and their wives. The weather was great, the flying was awesome, and it was a weekend to remember forever.

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[hilltop170]

Monday morning was clear and cool again and I headed down to Tucson to hang out with my nephew for a few days and go along with him as he finished up training his replacement demo pilot. It was a lot of fun watching the show another couple of times even though it wasn't my nephew doing the flying.

Tuesday was spent at the Pima Air Museum and included a tour of the Davis Monthan "Bone Yard" where surplus military aircraft go to be stored for future deployment or destruction if they are obsolete. Very interesting place.

When I was a kid, my parents used to take my brother and I to the old Amon Carter/Greater Southwest Airport which was due south of the current DFW Airport. There was a B-36 on static display there that was the last one off the assembly line at Convair in Ft. Worth. It was open on weekends for kids to play in and we spent hours going all over that B-36 and riding the trolley between the forward and rear cabins past the bomb bay.

In the 1970s a museum group was put together to get the B-36 flying again and had the R4360s up and running when the Air Force put a stop to it. Seems the A.F. had sold the plane to the City of Ft. Worth for $1.00 with the stipulation it would never fly again. The plane was dismantled and disappeared for years. I was shocked and pleased to find the "City of Ft. Worth" had been re-assembled and on display at the Pima Museum. It is still a huge airplane.

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Thursday morning was clear again and I headed back toward Grand Prairie, Texas as my nephew flew his C-180 west toward Gila Bend to observe his replacement's last training flight before having to fly the show for the Base Commander. I listened to the demo flight on their discrete freq as I flew east. I had to deviate around the Homeland Security tethered radar blimp south of Deming, NM. I was at 11,500' and it was above me. Stopped for fuel in Seminole, Texas then continued on to Grand Prairie and landed about an hour after dark.

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Saturday morning was IFR with low clouds in Dallas. It would be a good day to see how well -15D would behave in IMC as the weather was low in the DFW area but would improve as we went south. We flew IFR on top back to Fredericksburg from Grand Prairie at 6000'. The cloud tops were at 4000' so it was a nice flight on top in the sunshine. By the time we got to Llano, the clouds were starting to break up and it was clear by Fredericksburg.

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It had been a great shake-down flight for the plane since it came out of restoration. I added one quart of oil in almost 25 hours and nothing had gone wrong with the plane. It had flown anywhere from 100'agl over the desert to 11,500'msl from Tucson to Grand Prairie in good weather and bad. The longest leg was 497 stat. mi. in 4.5hr and there was 8.7gal left in the tanks after landing. In 2571stat. mi., 1715D averaged 104mph and used 6.8gph. Average gas price was $4.12/gal.

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[170C]

Richard, sounds like you had a fantastic trip. Boy, that is what is nice about flying your own plane! I will have to share some "City of Ft Worth" B-36 stories with you the next time we get to visit. We am planning to leave Tuesday AM for Centenniel apt (APA)/Denver to visit daughter, son-in-law & grandsons. Hoping for good VFR weather. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

[GAHorn]

POKEY!
While at Centennial.. BE CERTAIN to stop at Denver Jet Center and buy fuel, and get the coupon for dinner upstairs at the restaurant. That is simply the BEST AIRPORT RESTAURANT in the entire Western U.S.! And the prices are great even without the coupon.

I had the BEST Ceasar salad, with Rack of Lamb (really succulent), new-potatoes and French-cut beans, hot bread and butter for less than $6 (yes...SIX DOLLARS) when accompanied by the $10 coupon the FBO gave me for purchasing fuel there last week. It ordinarily would have cost me $16. Eat there! (and enjoy the nice, quiet, professional pianist who plays all the old classics while you dine.)

[futr_alaskaflyer]

Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, late fall is about the only time Page gets any rain to speak of, other than the occasional monsoon in August (most of which never reaches the ground <g>)

My old stomping grounds. I lived in the Lake Powell area from 2000-2005 and made it my business to visit Moab seasonally for several years before that. There are pluses and minuses to everywhere but sometimes I do miss it. Started my flying there too.

[DWood]

Richard:
What a great adventure and thanks for sharing it with us.
Dan

[canav8]

Richard, it is sad I missed you in Boulder City. I was there and also at Aviation Nation. Your Nephew put on a good show. Doug