During the 22 days we spent out in the South West, just to mention a few things we have encountered; Scorpions, Coyotes, Speechless girls, Helicopter owners, World record high temperatures, A near death Jeep Safari experience, People with larger than life personalities, Saguaro Cactus' over 30ft tall, Water Fountains up to 562 ft and blocked fuel tanks!
My aim for this post is to keep things short and simple and to give you an overall summary of the days events and hopefully by the end will have a nice collection of memorable times.
Arrival
Well we arrived at Phoenix safely and on time from Heathrow. Surprisingly enough, I can also say the same for my case! The flight on the soon to become extinct 747 from the BA fleet, was OK, the main issues being the lack of leg room, with temperatures beyond that of our destination and being more tightly packed than a piece of furniture from Ikea! After our 20 minute bus journey at 7pm, we arrive at the 'Hire Car Terminal' and receive our 'cheapest option economy car':
13/06/2013
Jetlag! I forgot what it feels like waking up at 3am for the first few mornings! For the best part of the morning we were doing ground school with cool guy Trevor, and signing our lives away constantly on dotted lines. After being overwhelmed with the heat and the performance characteristics of the aircraft, come 11am, we were both in separate aircraft having are initial checkouts, in 44 degrees heat, myself having a flat battery that lead us to starting the Lycoming engine with external power. Myself with Trevor and being slightly envious of Pas, having a very glamorous young blonde lady to show off his flying skills to!
In the afternoon, the glamour was far from over! After driving 20 miles north to Scottsdale for our 'foreign licence conversion' appointment, we entered Suite 101, which clearly stated 'conversions' on the entrance. Well after a good 15 minutes of explaining to this time, a very attractive young brunette, what we had come to do, showing her the confirmation of our 'FAA appointment', she went off for assistance, returning with someone who could have stood in for Keira Knightly! After confusion from all involved, we were told we were in the wrong building and the 'FAA' conversion center was across the car park! It did cross our minds we were featuring in an episode of 'Beadles About', but reality kicked in, we were actually in a Beauty and Tanning place! I don't know what they were converting but it most defiantly wasn't pilot licences!
The evening was ended with a great BBQ with our housemates and an uninvited belated Bark Scorpion! x4 12oz steaks, 6 Cumberland Sausages, Mediterranean Vegetables with a crate of Samual Adams for just $11 each!
14/06/2013
Another successful flight to the practice area, handling the aircraft in various configurations and recoveries. This of course is a refresher to our PPL flying but is a formality that Chandler require from us. Ever heard the saying:
'A 'good' landing is one you can walk away from. A 'great' landing is one after which they can use the plane again'
Well that morning, Pas returned having done a 'good' landing. Not such a successful flight, having been airborne for a matter of minutes, when both himself and the Instructor confirm a rough running engine, forcing an immediate landing on the opposite parallel runway! A very good experience at such an early stage of Pas' flying career and witnessing amazing piloting from the Instructor installed trust and showed just how alert a pilot needs to be after take off. The cause being one of the 4 cylinders (160hp) had blown making the climb almost impossible! Performance is everything! If you don't nail your airspeed or lean the mixture inch perfect, its the matter of performing or not performing.In the afternoon, we were met by a Guardian Angel who went by the name of 'Bob', a British Airways first Officer who had come for a day out (31 years young) to the air club and we spent the whole afternoon with him and must have talked about everything! He is long haul on the 747 and just biked from Mesa to Chandler. (He told us a funny time when he was walking here from one town to the other and the cops pulled over and said what the hell you doing...know one walks out here get in and we will drop you off! He told us a wealth of information, (He lives in Denmark and commutes into Heathrow hub, many BA pilots live around the world (the captain he is flying with on this trip lives here in phoenix arizona and works 1 month on 1 month off and commutes back and to the UK to work his flights then comes back). Anyway, Bob kindly sorted out much cheaper car hire for us with his 'BA mate rates' discount! That evening we drove back to Phoenix Sky Harbor to collect our second car - Another free upgrade for being British :-)
17/06/2013
Today, I had an insight of the feeling the pilot's had back in the 90s, landing and taking off on USS Midway during Operation Desert Storm! - SEDONA Mountain Checkout! Situated on a plateau within Red Rock Valley, with 6000ft elevation and a 3.5% sloping runway features an aircraft carrier both from distance and on take off! Mixture nearly fully leaned with climb rates of around 200 fpm with two on-board.
The flying in the USA requires flight plans to be made and you can only be 1 hour after your stated time of departure and 30 minutes after your stated estimated time of arrival (or 15 minutes as we found out!). During the flight planning stage. you have to phone a 'briefer' and state your flight plan over phone in which then you receive an appropriate briefing that concerns your flight only. As tempting as it is to add 10-15 minutes onto the flight plan arrival time, you could be out in the desert or in mountains for a very long time getting de-hydrated or tracked by a mountain lion whilst ATC still think you are happily flying so its always best to give actual flight times. Of course, all this couldn't have been done without are $15 Trackphone, with $30 credit giving us 240 minutes which lasted our entire stay!
As for the evening, we headed out to Texas Grill, a great typical American cuisine, where I became intoxicated from the portion of 'fall off the bone' ribs.
19/06/2013
What an awesome day! Having left much later than we scheduled due to a technical issue with the stall warner, we were airborne from Chandler by 9am. Having spent a few more days than expected completing checkouts, we calculated that we now needed 3 hours 30 minutes EACH per day to be on track to reach our 50 hour goal. Cruising at 8500ft and reaching Lake Havasu 2 hours later in 43 degrees heat, we were marshelled and greeted by a great guy from the FBO on a golf buggy who fueled us up ready for a quick 10 minute turn around for then myself to fly us back to Chandler. Yes, 10 minutes, gave us a short time to stretch the legs, glance over at the lake and use the toilet. Taking another 2 hours to get back would take us to 1300, giving us time for a quick bite to eat at Chandler then to get a further 1 hour 20 minutes flying EACH in the afternoon, having to be back by 1730 when the flight school closed. You can see how the slightest delay on any of the days would jeperdise our whole 50 hour intention!
After experiencing the award winning Cobb salad at the Hanger Cafe, we are soon in the air and on our way to Ryan Field - just outside of Tuscon, 1 hour 15 minutes south of Chandler. The route flew us adjacent to Pinal Airpark Boneyard, most of the aircraft their belonging to Northwest.
'Houston we have a problem...We can not get the door open'.
After having parked up at Ryan Field with the intention of a brief stretch of legs and drink, we were instead 'trapped' inside the confined cockpit of our aircraft with a jammed door that would not open. The airport and in result, the radio, was very quiet (not to much embarrassment then if we had to call for assistance). After roughly 10 minutes, Seconds away from calling for backup, Pas managed to open 'our captor' which made the definition of 'relieved' un-describable! Chocks on at Chandler at 17:28, having covered 500nm with 6 hours 10 minutes resulted in a successful day.The evening took us to a great place close to home, Charlestons, a great American place in my opinion. We both had steak chicken in a creamy mustard sauce with honey carrots and the same again for breakfast the following morning!
20/06/2013
Armed with a crew car and 1 hour of time 'down route', lunch at Sherman's Deli and Bakery in Palm Springs did not fail to satisfy both our appetites! This place was voted the 'Best Sandwich In The Valley' award and that it was!
Palm Springs was recently named one of the top ten most 'stress free' airports to fly into! Maybe from a passengers perspective but I can also see the truth in this statement. We were making our approach from the South, over the Salton Sea then heading North up the valley whilst in contact with 'Approach'. We were only handed over to 'Tower' I would say 4nm out with the last instruction from Approach being to 'expect runway 31Left' Upon contact, we were given 31Right by a very laid back voice who then asked us which handling agent we were using. With a brief look at each other in the cockpit in a state of minor confusion how that had slipped our mind when flying into a significant airport, we asked what are available options were. At this point, it was like being on a game show with 50/50 choosing between Signature and Atlantic. It would have been something to have known before departing that our handling agent would have a wide selection of drinks, cookies and cakes, popcorn, shower facilities, crew car and a free flask for completing a questionnaire waiting for us upon our arrival, but to take a gamble on a 2nm final for this place, named Signature, felt twice as good! The consequence of this, which draws this story to a conclusion was the ever so calming voice replying, 'Roger No Problem Sir, in that case cleared to land 31Left!
On our return to Chandler, we decided, like the flight out, to do 30 minutes Touch and Go's at Blythe. There is more about Blythe on the 'Airport Hit List' link, but all that is relevant to state here is it is in the middle of no where! This makes what happened later that day almost unbelievable!
As we were back at Chandler 2 hours later, about to return home, we met a lovely couple who seemed to be having some problems with their transport arrangement to Scottsdale. After finding out that they were delivering a Helicopter they owned to a company based at Chandler, and had just flown in from 'Blythe', they were so amazed when they found out we were the two British Guys at Blythe in the peak heat doing touch and go's who they heard on the radio making 'blind calls'! He recalled saying to his wife as they were sat on the ground at Blythe after re-fueling;
'Who the hell comes to the unheard Blythe to do Touch and Go's'?
So there we were, unintentionally re-united at Chandler at the end of another challenging day, with an offer we couldn't refuse...To take them both to Scottsdale with all their golf equipment and to then join them for drinks and food in the Marriott Hotel where they were staying as a thank you! Being still in our 'flying gear', with salt that had diffused onto our tops, we decided to take them up on the offer. We had an absolutely memorable evening sharing some great stories and photos, which was very much appreciated!
21/06/2013
Click to go to site: Pima Air And Space Museum
Before flying due South to Tuscon, we both decided to favor our wallets and opt for the 'low budget' handling agent as opposed to the premium 'Atlantic Aviation'. The handling fee costing $60, we were soon onto our 4th hire car of the trip, on route to the Museum, driving past the large Empannage's of the B52 Stratofortress and the B29 Superfortress that made the perimeter fence look out of place!
Arriving at the Pima Air and Space Museum at Tuscon International after an uneventful flight at 12:00, we had 3 hours 30 minutes to cover the 80 acres, with 300 aircraft within the museum and the 4400 aircraft at rest in the boneyard for either long term storage, short term storage or used to sell as whole or parts. Within the museum we were absolutely speechless! From the B-720B cockpit featured in the classic film, Airplane!, to the F14 Tomcat featured in the film, Top Gun. The Lockheed-049 Constellation operated by Trans World Airlines to it's biggest competitor, the Douglas DC-7, requested by American Airlines. From the C54 serving in the Cold War to the B52 Stratofortress and B17 Flying Fortress in service during 1941.
The beginning of the modern jet era was also not forgotten, with Sud Aviation's Caravelle, entering service in 1959, the first jet airline produced outside of England after the decommissioned Comet.
A 1 hour tour around the world famous 309th AMARG 'boneyard' was a truly unforgettable experience! Returning from the coach journey around the boneyard at 15:00, we just had time to snap away at the record breaking SR71 Blackbird before driving back to the airport to get airborne back to Chandler.
Chocks Away! Another enjoyable flight home, now knowing that when I get given the departure instruction...'Route to A Mountain', this does not mean I have a choice between Mica Mountain or Mount Lemmon for example, it means route to a mountain that has the letter 'A' painted on the side! haha. Having covered Pima Air museum in 2 hours, (which we were told takes on average around 5 hours) and having a tour of the Boneyard was another attraction ticked off the bucket list!
Landing back at Chandler spot on 17:30, to a scorching 43 degrees, felt surprisingly more refreshing than the heat we had just experienced in the vast boneyards of Tuscon! Now having now done 9 hours (each) in the past 3 days, we were on track, needing now 2 hours 50 minutes each day to achieve the 50 hours planned. Gone midnight, we finish off planning tomorrows itinerary, a flight into Page Municipal Airport, which serves East Grand Canyon, named Marbel Canyon. (Not the main attraction) but still spectacular scenery. The 295 miles will take us approximately 2 hours 45, and due to the all to familiar nature of the terrain, Pas who will be flying the return leg, will depart with approximately half tanks to clear the mountains and head to Wimslow, (1 hour South of Page), where we will 'wet the tanks' to get us back home.
(Make a mental note here on how straight forward this plan to refuel on the way home, appears to be, as the next story I am about to write will be quite the opposite!)
This successful day submitted to long-term memory, we head off to get around 6 hours sleep before another long day to follow.
23/06/2014
Well what an eventful few days! Yesterday morning delivered a splendid 'scenicfull' flight, leaving Phoenix to the North, routing East past Fountain Hills, home to the 2nd biggest fountain in the world, launching up to 506ft!
Cruising along at 10,500ft, to ensure clearance over the peaks of Payson and Sedona (Red Rock Valley), yet still 2000ft below Humphrey's Peak, (The highest peak within the Arizona state, 10 miles North of Flagstaff and more importantly, about 10 miles West of our intended track)!
We soon were paralleling the transparent line which marked the edge of the Grand Canyon highly restricted airspace to our left, and passing Monument Valley to our distant right. Picking up the Colorado River leading into Lake Powell, we started our shallow descent at about 500 feet per minute taking us about 20 minutes to loose the 10,500ft. We touched down uneventfully on the Northerly runway at Page Municipal, leaving 1 hour for lunch, spent in a nice Italian restaurant sharing a pizza!
We left Page, bound for Wimslow, with just less than half a tank of fuel, somewhere in the region of 18 US Gallons, to have in exchange satisfactory climb performance. With Pas at the controls, we flew South East for 120 miles, taking us just over 1 hour and arriving at our 'gas station' with 55 minutes of fuel remaining, around 8 US gallons. With conditions gusting up to 25 knots, which did result in 1 go-around, minus another 7 minutes fuel, after that, a text book landing into some challenging conditions stopped the sweat pouring!
So this is where the story I guess turns from a 'realistic' day out into that of a classic Fiction. We taxied over to the 'Self Serve' fuel pumps, being restricted by time and to save a bit of cash for doing it ourselves. I certainly see where the desert gets it's name from, this place was deserted! After we worked out the operation of the payment display, we were ready to 'commence fueling'.
Lots of pictures to come.......
Applying Pressure, no fuel came to our disposal. The end of the pump had what we now know was a fuel cap. At the time, it did not resemble a fuel cap as it wasn't attached in the usual manor, it appeared to be just a rubber end fitted around the metal nozzle, with a hole in the end for the fuel to come out of. Minutes passed and as Pas went off to find 'human life' I had another go at getting it to work. This time not only did the cap come shooting off, but also catapulted off the fuselage and into the right fuel tank! After what must of resembled a poverty stricken starving Kingfisher looking for any sign of a fish without any presence, I came to realization that this now known 'rubber cap' had floated in the bit of fuel left, down to the wing route!
There we were, in a large area of barren land, with an unusable aircraft (for the time being) with limited resources and a dead battery in our cell phone due to the heat!
We eventually found 'Human Life' within the building and explained our problem, realizing that the solution of fishing it out was an un-achievable suggestion. We were told that the nearest engineer was located in Flagstaff, about 1 hour away and would cost a fortune for the labor to drain the fuel tank. The time was now 16:30L and 'our lifeline' was closing up at 16:45L! Staying calm and collective was desirable and demonstrated in very small amounts!
After Cancelling the Flight Plan, we were on the phone to Chandler who re-assured us both that getting this problem sorted on a Saturday night was defiantly unlikely. As the evening approached, Pas had sorted the accommodation, the Quality Inn Hotel (which we later discovered was an ironic name during our 1 night stay). Finding any transport to get to this remote hotel proved difficult, with the only taxi service in town (which consisted of 1 family car) being in use! Kindly, the driver's daughter was available to come for us in her own car! Other than that, there was no other way of getting to the hotel! N7308C was securely parked for the night.
The journey began with a nice 'welcome to our town chat' which went something along the lines of:
'Yes, this place is quite remote alright, it only has a population of 4000 people and 10% of those are ex-prisoners as it is a re-rehabilitation town'
Still, part of the journey took us on the historic route 66 which if something was to be admired till now, that was defiantly it.
Arriving at the one and only 'Quality Inn Hotel', featured such entrance of that by Pierce Brosnan, James Bond in the beginning of Die Another Day, only for us, they were fully booked!
To be continued........
Landing back at Chandler spot on 17:30, to a scorching 43 degrees, felt surprisingly more refreshing than the heat we had just experienced in the vast boneyards of Tuscon! Now having now done 9 hours (each) in the past 3 days, we were on track, needing now 2 hours 50 minutes each day to achieve the 50 hours planned. Gone midnight, we finish off planning tomorrows itinerary, a flight into Page Municipal Airport, which serves East Grand Canyon, named Marbel Canyon. (Not the main attraction) but still spectacular scenery. The 295 miles will take us approximately 2 hours 45, and due to the all to familiar nature of the terrain, Pas who will be flying the return leg, will depart with approximately half tanks to clear the mountains and head to Wimslow, (1 hour South of Page), where we will 'wet the tanks' to get us back home.
(Make a mental note here on how straight forward this plan to refuel on the way home, appears to be, as the next story I am about to write will be quite the opposite!)
This successful day submitted to long-term memory, we head off to get around 6 hours sleep before another long day to follow.
23/06/2014
Well what an eventful few days! Yesterday morning delivered a splendid 'scenicfull' flight, leaving Phoenix to the North, routing East past Fountain Hills, home to the 2nd biggest fountain in the world, launching up to 506ft!
We soon were paralleling the transparent line which marked the edge of the Grand Canyon highly restricted airspace to our left, and passing Monument Valley to our distant right. Picking up the Colorado River leading into Lake Powell, we started our shallow descent at about 500 feet per minute taking us about 20 minutes to loose the 10,500ft. We touched down uneventfully on the Northerly runway at Page Municipal, leaving 1 hour for lunch, spent in a nice Italian restaurant sharing a pizza!
Another 1 of our combined 198 successful landings during our 21 days!
We left Page, bound for Wimslow, with just less than half a tank of fuel, somewhere in the region of 18 US Gallons, to have in exchange satisfactory climb performance. With Pas at the controls, we flew South East for 120 miles, taking us just over 1 hour and arriving at our 'gas station' with 55 minutes of fuel remaining, around 8 US gallons. With conditions gusting up to 25 knots, which did result in 1 go-around, minus another 7 minutes fuel, after that, a text book landing into some challenging conditions stopped the sweat pouring!
So this is where the story I guess turns from a 'realistic' day out into that of a classic Fiction. We taxied over to the 'Self Serve' fuel pumps, being restricted by time and to save a bit of cash for doing it ourselves. I certainly see where the desert gets it's name from, this place was deserted! After we worked out the operation of the payment display, we were ready to 'commence fueling'.
Lots of pictures to come.......
Applying Pressure, no fuel came to our disposal. The end of the pump had what we now know was a fuel cap. At the time, it did not resemble a fuel cap as it wasn't attached in the usual manor, it appeared to be just a rubber end fitted around the metal nozzle, with a hole in the end for the fuel to come out of. Minutes passed and as Pas went off to find 'human life' I had another go at getting it to work. This time not only did the cap come shooting off, but also catapulted off the fuselage and into the right fuel tank! After what must of resembled a poverty stricken starving Kingfisher looking for any sign of a fish without any presence, I came to realization that this now known 'rubber cap' had floated in the bit of fuel left, down to the wing route!
There we were, in a large area of barren land, with an unusable aircraft (for the time being) with limited resources and a dead battery in our cell phone due to the heat!
We eventually found 'Human Life' within the building and explained our problem, realizing that the solution of fishing it out was an un-achievable suggestion. We were told that the nearest engineer was located in Flagstaff, about 1 hour away and would cost a fortune for the labor to drain the fuel tank. The time was now 16:30L and 'our lifeline' was closing up at 16:45L! Staying calm and collective was desirable and demonstrated in very small amounts!
After Cancelling the Flight Plan, we were on the phone to Chandler who re-assured us both that getting this problem sorted on a Saturday night was defiantly unlikely. As the evening approached, Pas had sorted the accommodation, the Quality Inn Hotel (which we later discovered was an ironic name during our 1 night stay). Finding any transport to get to this remote hotel proved difficult, with the only taxi service in town (which consisted of 1 family car) being in use! Kindly, the driver's daughter was available to come for us in her own car! Other than that, there was no other way of getting to the hotel! N7308C was securely parked for the night.
The journey began with a nice 'welcome to our town chat' which went something along the lines of:
'Yes, this place is quite remote alright, it only has a population of 4000 people and 10% of those are ex-prisoners as it is a re-rehabilitation town'
Still, part of the journey took us on the historic route 66 which if something was to be admired till now, that was defiantly it.
Arriving at the one and only 'Quality Inn Hotel', featured such entrance of that by Pierce Brosnan, James Bond in the beginning of Die Another Day, only for us, they were fully booked!
To be continued........
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