Ron Lee
Well Known Member
Part 1 of 2
After my trips back east a hangar neighbor suggested going to the west coast. Although I had planned a neat trip to Catalina Island, Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, I settled on a quickie trip to Death Valley, Las Vegas and Monument Valley. Rick decided to go with me. One weather cancellation and we finally departed early on 13 January. I had checked Weathermeister.com and noticed airmets for IFR and mountain obscuration in the southwest Colorado and Utah areas. Page AZ was overcast but projected to improve. Las Vegas and Death Valley were good.
Rick departs from the Denver area and is overhead when I taxi out to the runway. The trip across the mountains is uneventful but fog in the Gunnison area would have made a precautionary landing iffy. As we crossed the Utah border we saw apparent clouds or similar in the distance that may have gone to the ground. We contact Flight Watch and got the same info for possible mountain obscuration as revealed by Weathermeister so it was correct ahead (not over our path in Colorado). They had no actual weather observations so we headed south. After a short while I looked at fueling options and without knowing exactly where we might finally get clear weather in our desired path, I got this funny feeling that it was not good to proceed. It does happen at times in other endeavors and usually my genetic makeup discounts the feeling. This time I acted on it, discussed it with Rick (he was thinking the same thing) and we both agreed to turn back and land at Blanding Utah to refuel and check the weather. In the picture below you will see that turnaround in the upper right part of the map.
Due to our early departure we did not have visible satellite imagery of our flight path. It is possible that having XM weather data might have helped but it also may have just meant a landing at Blanding without that wasted 100 plus mile diversion to the south. If someone knows of a website of historical weather pics that might help in post trip analysis.
On the ground in Blanding we decided to head west since the weather appeared to be marginal well into Arizona. Once airborne it was obvious that the situation had improved enough to safely continue. The following picture shows Lake Powell and the clouds that were closer to the ground earlier. In fact Navajo Mountain (between Monument valley and Page, AZ) was obscured on its eastern and possibly southern faces so that area was IFR.
This picture shows Rick as we approached the Lake Powell area. Somewhere on the way out Rick noted the importance of Oxygen to fly high. The terrain is not conducive to nice off-field landings and some areas have few roads. Cell phone coverage is probably non-existant which is why I carry a 406 MHz PLB and when flying alone use flight following.
As we approached Nevada we picked up flight following before contacting Las Vegas approach. We flew almost over Henderson Executive (KHND) so Rick could see and photograph Las Vegas to the north. We continued west over two more mountain ranges to get to Death Valley. The next picture is of the Badwater area which I think is the lowest in the USA.
This is my trusted airplane on the ramp at Furnace Creek (L06) at an altitude of –210 feet MSL.
The trip back to Henderson was uneventful except that I made a mistake talking to approach control. The guy I got was not helpful and only leads me to blow off contacting ATC to contribute to safe and orderly traffic flow. In fact, if I have to do it again in that area...maybe everywhere...I will just fly according to all approved and accepted VFR rules and not talk to ATC. It may have the effect of causing airliners to divert around me but when ATC wants to be rude and unhelpful to a GA pilot, I will quit playing nice.
Vegas was Vegas. It is not going to be a frequent repeat destination. Part two discusses the return trip.
After my trips back east a hangar neighbor suggested going to the west coast. Although I had planned a neat trip to Catalina Island, Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, I settled on a quickie trip to Death Valley, Las Vegas and Monument Valley. Rick decided to go with me. One weather cancellation and we finally departed early on 13 January. I had checked Weathermeister.com and noticed airmets for IFR and mountain obscuration in the southwest Colorado and Utah areas. Page AZ was overcast but projected to improve. Las Vegas and Death Valley were good.
Rick departs from the Denver area and is overhead when I taxi out to the runway. The trip across the mountains is uneventful but fog in the Gunnison area would have made a precautionary landing iffy. As we crossed the Utah border we saw apparent clouds or similar in the distance that may have gone to the ground. We contact Flight Watch and got the same info for possible mountain obscuration as revealed by Weathermeister so it was correct ahead (not over our path in Colorado). They had no actual weather observations so we headed south. After a short while I looked at fueling options and without knowing exactly where we might finally get clear weather in our desired path, I got this funny feeling that it was not good to proceed. It does happen at times in other endeavors and usually my genetic makeup discounts the feeling. This time I acted on it, discussed it with Rick (he was thinking the same thing) and we both agreed to turn back and land at Blanding Utah to refuel and check the weather. In the picture below you will see that turnaround in the upper right part of the map.
Due to our early departure we did not have visible satellite imagery of our flight path. It is possible that having XM weather data might have helped but it also may have just meant a landing at Blanding without that wasted 100 plus mile diversion to the south. If someone knows of a website of historical weather pics that might help in post trip analysis.
On the ground in Blanding we decided to head west since the weather appeared to be marginal well into Arizona. Once airborne it was obvious that the situation had improved enough to safely continue. The following picture shows Lake Powell and the clouds that were closer to the ground earlier. In fact Navajo Mountain (between Monument valley and Page, AZ) was obscured on its eastern and possibly southern faces so that area was IFR.
This picture shows Rick as we approached the Lake Powell area. Somewhere on the way out Rick noted the importance of Oxygen to fly high. The terrain is not conducive to nice off-field landings and some areas have few roads. Cell phone coverage is probably non-existant which is why I carry a 406 MHz PLB and when flying alone use flight following.
As we approached Nevada we picked up flight following before contacting Las Vegas approach. We flew almost over Henderson Executive (KHND) so Rick could see and photograph Las Vegas to the north. We continued west over two more mountain ranges to get to Death Valley. The next picture is of the Badwater area which I think is the lowest in the USA.
This is my trusted airplane on the ramp at Furnace Creek (L06) at an altitude of –210 feet MSL.
The trip back to Henderson was uneventful except that I made a mistake talking to approach control. The guy I got was not helpful and only leads me to blow off contacting ATC to contribute to safe and orderly traffic flow. In fact, if I have to do it again in that area...maybe everywhere...I will just fly according to all approved and accepted VFR rules and not talk to ATC. It may have the effect of causing airliners to divert around me but when ATC wants to be rude and unhelpful to a GA pilot, I will quit playing nice.
Vegas was Vegas. It is not going to be a frequent repeat destination. Part two discusses the return trip.
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