Memorable flights

[kwmoore]

I thought I'd start a thread in which members can describe their really inspiring or memorable flights. I described one in the "From the Old YahooGroups" forum. Here's another, one of the best I've enjoyed:

Sunday August 26, 2001 may well have been the most spectacular sightseeing I have ever experienced from an airplane. This was the 2nd day of a two-week flying trip with my older son Matthew just before he went off to college (he's now a sales engineer at Google--where has the time gone??). After departing Cedar City Utah at daybreak, our waypoints were Colorado City (AZC), Bryce Canyon (BCE), Escalante (1L7), Hanksville (HVE), Monticello (U43), Blanding (BDG), Monument Valley, Page (PGA), the Grand Canyon east VFR corridor, and Sedona (SEZ). WX was severe VFR with nary a trace of monsoon thunderstorms or cumulus buildups, but HOT. This luck would largely hold throughout the trip.

We left the motel at 6:00 am just as the sky was just beginning to brighten in the east. I made Matthew promise he would stay
awake this time, as he had slept through the entire previous day's flight from PAO to Cedar City! He grunted assent and we preflighted and loaded up by flashlight. Official sunrise--as the GNS430 almanac flies--occurred just as we were taxiing out for takeoff on rwy 20. The air was already warm and DA was more than 7000 feet, but we lifted off effortlessly and climbed to 11,500 on a southerly heading. As we rounded Zion from northwest to southeast the rising sun ignited the massifs in a blaze of cream, yellow, orange, and red; the valley floor remained in shadow. The formations, so grandiose from the ground,
seemed far less imposing from ~4000 feet agl.

Bryce was somehow less impressive from the air than from the canyon rim. Though striking and colorful, the intricate detail of the formations is not well appreciated from 2000+ feet agl. We provided Center with the BCE altimeter setting from ASOS--they did not have access to it!--and headed east. The geography of south-central UT is startling. While we were not surprised by having to climb to 11,500 or 12,500 to transit passes in the Sierras or
Rockies, here we found we could if we chose cruise at 11,500, a mere few hundred feet above LEVEL GROUND that stretched for miles. The terraced plateaus that form central UT and northern AZ are at their highest here.

Between 1L7 and HVE we descended to 9500 to enjoy the intricate formations and color of Capitol Reef and Canyonlands National Parks. Over Canyonlands
we decided to cut the corner of the flightplan and head S/SW directly for Monument Valley. This leg saw us descend past two steps of the plateau staircase, with accompanying changes in vegetation and coloration. Initially at 9500 we were once again only a few hundred feet above terrain but by about 25 northeast of Monument Valley we were comfortably above the landscape at 8500. Monument Valley is stunning, the pictures I posted in the 8367E album speak for themselves I think. Small plane is the ONLY way to see this place.

We climbed to 10,500 and flew down Lake Powell to PGA for fuel and
water. Next was the VFR corridor over Grand Canyon. This was simple, we just entered the north and south corridor waypoint lat/longs into the 430 and used them in the flightplan. At the required altitude of 10,500 we were at least 3500 feet above and comfortably within gliding distance of the rim. The canyon is too vast to take in visually. Looking downward one lacks visual
references for the brain to calibrate that one is more than 8000 feet above the river. Nonetheless the formations and color were breathtaking.

We departed the canyon area on a southeast heading and overflew Sunset Craters north of Flagstaff. The day was beginning to warm and spouts of thermal turbulence interrupted what had been a smooth ride. We landed at Sedona and were in the airport restaurant ordering lunch before noon, reflecting on the spectacle we had been privileged to witness during the preceding few hours. A good thing too, as the temperature was on the way up to 106!

How fortunate we all are to be able to enjoy sights such as this from our 260se's!

That is inspiring . Thanks!
I wanna do that!!!!
It would be quite a trip from South Carolina, but worth it.

[kwmoore]

Ooops, a vague memory prompted me to search the forums and I realized that this has been posted before in an earlier thread more than three years ago.

Click here to read several other members' posts, and add your own!