RV-10 N104XP - Scott Schmidt, Salt Lake City UT (KBTF)

ScottSchmidt · Jan 5, 2007

The first flight was October 14, 2006 after 2 years and 11 months of building a slow build RV-10. It is powered by an Aerosport (www.aerosportpower.com) IO-540 with one Lightspeed electronic ignition.

I am located in the Salt Lake City area and I have a hanger at Bountiful Skypark (KBTF).

The panel is all glass with a dual screen Chelton on the left and dual screen Grand Rapids on the right. It has a PS Engineering 8000B intercom, Garmin 430, Garmin SL-40, Garmin GTX330, and TruTrak Digiflight II VSGV autopilot. It has the AOA Pro, Trafficscope, and flip up DVD with screens in the back of the front seats for the rear passengers. The engine data is sent to both the Chelton and the Grand Rapids through the Grand Rapids EIS (Engine Information System). What a fun project but my wife and I are really enjoying the flying much more than the building. This is such a great Cross Country machine.

As for performance I typically cruise at 163- 170 knots TAS around 10,000 ft. My Grand Rapids typically shows 13 - 15 mpg cruising at 190 mph. Take off and climb out is great even with four people.

Van's has built an amazing aircraft that does everything.
Tim Olson has a great website if you are building and have questions.(but I'm sure you already know that) www.myrv10.com

I have posted some of our trips with the hopes you will post yours so we can all share in places to travel and enjoy our planes and meet new people.
Enjoy!

Where have we landed N104XP? (Updated Dec. 2009)

ScottSchmidt · Jan 5, 2007

RV-10 Building

Trips (continued)
Speedweek, Utah - September 2010
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=61560

Monument Valley and Lake Powell - October 2010
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=63956

Cabo San Lucas/Los Barriles Baja RV Trip - April 2011
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=72000

Thanksgiving 2011 - Hurricane UT, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Valle airport
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=80923

Moab and the Magnificent 7 Mountain Bike Ride - October 2012
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=92059

Bahamas in April 2013 - 4 RV-10's
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=101086

Thanksgiving Flight - Nov. 2013
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=107798

Santa Flight - Dec 10, 2013
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=107862

2016 Trips in one report
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=145336

Maintenance on the RV-10

Tires / Brakes at 230 hours
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?p=149271#post149271

Idea for lights for the ceiling
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?p=149281#post149281

Worn Oil Return Lines
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=64394

Rudder Stops Modification
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=45564&highlight=RV-10

Front Axle Replacement
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=38336&highlight=RV-10

Videos

Shortest Trip Report and Flight in the RV-10 (Grassy Meadows to Hurricane, UT - Dec. 2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2AIC4fTUl8
(Be sure to watch in the higher quality mode)

Mojave Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4hlslhKxrI&fmt=18

I would highly recommend the quick build kit if the budget allows. We received the first kit November 3rd, 2003 and the quick build was still a ways out before we could get one. But building isn't hard just time consuming. The tail is really fun to build but I wish I didn't have to do the gas tanks they were a little more time consuming. People always ask if the fiberglass top and doors were difficult. Nothing is really too difficult just time consuming. If you want it to come out nice you just need to be very patient and take your time. You put the plane together 2 or 3 times before finally assembly. I think we took to the top on and off more than a dozen times before we were happy with the fit and the doors were even worse.

I kept track of build time up to 2200 hours and then stopped during the filling sanding and painting. I estimate that it took around 3000 hours to build. But that includes all the wiring as well. I bought the panel from Aerocrafters at Lancair. They did the cut out and silk-screening but they were going to be at least 6 months to a year before they could wire it. It took me about a month to get it all wired.

I had the seats covered locally and bought the carpet and side panels from Flightline Interior. I am currently working on the headliner and glare shield upholstery.

The paint colors can be found here - http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=83849&postcount=20

ScottSchmidt · Jan 5, 2007

RV_7A · Jan 5, 2007

Congratulations and Nice paint job!
Smart dog too!

-Jeff

ScottSchmidt · Jan 5, 2007

Day of first flight

ScottSchmidt · Jan 5, 2007

Transition training and first flight

Here is a write up I did on transition training and my first flight.

Transition Training
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=5265
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=7182

First Flight
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=11795

Transition training in OR. with Mike Seager

Rotation on first flight

Touchdown on first flight

ScottSchmidt · Jan 6, 2007

Virtual Hanger

Since this is my virtual hanger here are some shots of some cool bikes I have at the hanger for cruising on. Everyone that comes by just loves to take them for a spin.

We also put a ping pong table in there for some fun.

ScottSchmidt · Jan 7, 2007

This is one of my other fun hobbies - motorcycling

I know many of us that fly also love motorcycling. They are both sports that have many things in common. There is freedom in both flying and riding, there is a sense of adventure, and the elements have to be considered at all times. There is also a sense of pride when good skill is used to arrive at the destination safely.

My wife and I both ride. She rides a BMW 1150R and I have an 1150 GS Adventure. The last couple of years we haven't ridden quite as much while building the plane but I am getting excited to put more miles on this year.

RaNae on her 1150 R somewhere in Colorado heading to Telluride.

Me at the Salt Flats near Wendover UT.

At least once a year we take a week off and I guide about 10 of my friends on a trip somewhere. I have some friends that come up from Houston. We have riden around Colorado, Southern Utah and the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and last year we did Northern California. It was a great trip and was really nice to ride to the Avenue of the Giants. We hit some amazing roads on the way to the coast.

Another fun ride a do yearly with my friend Danny LaDue is the Utah 1088 (www.utah1088.com)
It is a 24 hour endurance ride that starts and stops near the Salt Lake City airport. There are around 70 - 100 riders that enter every year and they come from all over the US to enter. We have done this ride the last four years and have a blast every time. We ride anywhere from 1200 to 1406 miles in under 24 hours. Someday I want to take the RV-10 and see how many miles I can do in the RV-10 in 24 hours. It would be a blast.

Sunrise after 22 hours of riding

Setup on the bike - GPS, Radar, XM Radio

ScottSchmidt · Jan 7, 2007

More Motorcycling

I look forward to the Utah 1088 every year. There is just something about starting a ride where you will see two sunrises and one sunset. Throughout the last four years we have seen some neat country. One of my favorites happened around 1 am on Highway 12 heading to Boulder UT from Torrey over the Boulder Mountain. We couldn't see anything but there was lightning all around us. Every time the lightning struck it would light up the enormous valley to the south and you could see almost all the way to the Grand Canyon. It was pretty cool. I can't get them all on my camera because we never stop but I do take a few while I'm riding.

Another fun thing I did with motorcycles this year was I went out to the Salt Flats to try to get into the 130 mph club. I borrowed my brothers K1100RS because I knew my GS was an aerodynamic disaster. They give you one mile to reach 130 mph on the salt. I knew it would be close with this bike due to the altitude but if there was no wind or a tail wind I thought I could do it. Danny and I rode out there and each took turns on the red K bike. It was very slow at the starting line because each person had to be loaded into the computer and then the wind and rain started to come through in the afternoon but finally we each had a couple of runs to try to get in. There was about a 10 mph headwind on the course and the closest we could get was 128 mph. We will give it a try next year. It was blast though to run on the salt and see what the bike could do.

Me ready to go

Danny getting final instruction from the starter

PUNCH IT!!!

Keep the rubber side down.

EUROPE TRIP 2008
In August we took a trip to Europe and rented BMW's. For those interested in doing this I did a write-up on advrider.com.
Here is the link.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=416139
Here are a few pictures from the trip.

ohiopilot · Jan 7, 2007

VERY entertaining thread... bookmarked for when I have more time to follow all the links!

Thanks.

aparchment · Jan 7, 2007

way to go Scott

Scott:

Absolutely phenomenal job on your 10 Scott. Congrats to you and your wife. That is a serious traveling machine.

I would love to build one of those once my 7 is finished.

etekberg · Jan 19, 2007

That is a beautiful plane; I'm jealous.

DakotaKid · Feb 13, 2007

Nice post, good pictures - great plane.

ScottSchmidt · Feb 15, 2007

DakotaKid said:
Nice post, good pictures - great plane.

Your just saying that because you have 1 hour of PIC in this plane!
Here is a shot of DakotaKid over Park City UT.

Over Brighton Ski Resort up Big Cottonwood Canyon

ScottSchmidt · Feb 15, 2007

Wheel Pants Finished

I finally was able to get the wheel pants off long enough to get them painted.

The wheel pants were done by Dan Langson who normally does motorcycles. If you ever need a great paint job, he is the best I have seen.
http://www.danlangstondesign.com/

Turning final at my homebase at Bountiful Skypark (KBTF)

"Call the Ball"

RV-3Bravo · Feb 21, 2007

Well, I just got done riding in this fine flying machine. All

s for me!! Very nice, smooth airplane. That panel is to die for.

ScottSchmidt · Jun 29, 2007

2007 Utah 1088 - What a ride!!

This is sort of aviation related because I just purchased a Garmin 396 for my plane and also for this years Utah 1088 24 hour endurance motorcycle rally (the rally is actually 26 hours long). The new GPS was a great help over my old Garmin V since it can do route calcuations with multiple stops.

The 2007 rally was good to us and we took first and second. Here is a link to a great write-up that Danny did on Adventure Rider.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=243349

Total miles - 1421
Total time - 25 hours 10 minutes
Total list of finishers - http://www.utah1088.com/pastevents/2007Scores.pdf

If you love riding your bike, this is the rally for you. Come and give it a try next year. It is always around the end of June and you can learn more at www.utah1088.com

Since flying the plane I haven't had also of time to ride the bike but this is always a fun event to do. OK, ok, back to the plane. I am working on my interior getting everything ready for Oshkosh 2007.

danielhv · Jul 30, 2007

whatever it is you do for a living... hook me up! Beautifull plane.

phelan · Aug 2, 2007

Scott,
This was my first year at OSH, and I got some great shots of your bird. I think I even have one where you were taxiing with Tim Olson. I will try to get them up here when I get the chance to process them (I took 1200 pictures

). Definitely one of the highlights of my experience there was seeing your plane, because I'm a non-pilot RV-10 dreamer.

ScottSchmidt · Aug 2, 2007

phelan said:
Scott,
This was my first year at OSH, and I got some great shots of your bird. I think I even have one where you were taxiing with Tim Olson. I will try to get them up here when I get the chance to process them (I took 1200 pictures ). Definitely one of the highlights of my experience there was seeing your plane, because I'm a non-pilot RV-10 dreamer.

WOW, that is cool, thanks.

Did we meet? I don't remember meeting you but wished I did. I would love to see your pictures. I will upload them to my site if you don't mind.

Here are a couple shots that my brother took from Tim's plane and I took on one of those flights. We had a blast taking people up and showing them the Ripon/Fisk Oshkosh approach freeway system.

phelan · Aug 3, 2007

No I didn't meet anyone while I was there. I had my whole family (wife and two kids) plus my parents and uncle. It was the first trip to Oshkosh for all of us. Since I'm such a wannabe and not even a pilot, I didn't want to bother people with my journeyman questions. Besides, I know you guys get together to share stories and enjoy each others' company. I didn't want to disturb that, yet. My uncle is wanting to build a 7 or 9 (he can't decide). He took a test ride in the demo 7 and came back all smiles, of course. After seeing Van's 10, it all became very real to me, and my wife even commented that being there made them more real to her than just looking at pictures. I have to admit, part of me REALLY likes the Velocity XL-5. The TXL they had at OSH was impressive, especially in cruise numbers (250kts @ 15 gph?). Plus, they have Deltahawk on their side right now (I really think diesel is going to be the only option in 10 years if you look at fuel costs). But I have other reasons to build a 10 instead of the Velocity. First and foremost is building metal vs. fiberglass. Second is canard vs. standard low wing (I'm assuming canards are more dangerous for low-time pilots). Third (probably most relevant), I live in Keller, which is about 5 - 10 minutes from Jay Pratt's RV Central. And finally, all of you guys in VAF!!! Anyway, I'll get those pics up asap.

Rick S. · Aug 3, 2007

phelan said:
Since I'm such a wannabe and not even a pilot, I didn't want to bother people with my journeyman questions. .

Don't make that mistake again!!! We were all there before and speaking for myself I love to talk airplanes as I'm sure all of us do. I can remember googling "cleco"

about 4 years ago!!

Please don't let that stop you from introducing yourself and saying hello, if you get an attitude then shame on them!!

I can't wait till I can talk building AND flying....should happen in about 4 to 6 months but I'm not setting any deadlines.

ScottSchmidt · Aug 3, 2007

Airplane Choice

I wish you and your family would have joined the RV-10 group at Oshkosh one night. The amount of information that group has in one spot will just about cause your brain to explode. It is like going to a Rainman convention. We all have also gone through the decision of which plane, engine, EFIS, spark plug and even nut to use. Trying to sift through all that data can be pretty overwhelming. You are about in the stage when you need to get the most information from others. There are many factors to consider other than just speed and fuel burn though. Insurance is a huge one right now, especially if you are considering a non-standard power plant. When you start getting down to a couple designs make sure you get a quote. Also, like buying a motorcycle, they all look great on the outside but you have to go fly them and see if they are fun to fly or just good at taking you from A to B. And without flying a bunch of different planes it is hard to tell. If you have never flown, the Goodyear Blimp would have been a blast, but a C-152 would be even better, you know what I mean. Fast planes can be great but they also typically mean they land a little faster and limit the airports you can go to. If the fires die down, my wife and I are going to Johnson?s Creek this weekend. The versatility of the RV-10 is incredible. It is not looking good up there, too many fires (Aug 2007). Also, with a faster plane you get their sooner and for me, I love the journey typically way more than the destination, especially when you are flying the RV-10. A 200 mph cruise is just about the right balance of speed for flying in the US. I left Oshkosh at 9am and got back to Salt Lake at 3pm including two fun stops. This year when I landed at Oshkosh, I couldn't wait to grab family and friends and go fly some more. I don't know of a more fun 4+ seat airplane than the RV-10. Talk to you later and make sure you come and find us next year.

OK, the Shuttle would be a good ride too but the fuel burn is a little too high for me?

phelan · Aug 5, 2007

I appreciate all the generousity you guys are displaying. I honestly thought I was being courteous by not interrupting. I will definitely not make that mistake again. My wife already said that next year she wants to meet some of you guys, especially when I make her read some of your websites and experiences on here. I think even if the plane were only average, the community you all have created is extremely unique and unprecedented amongst other kit builders. And obviously Van doesn't make average planes. I look forward to getting to know you guys over the years. As promised, here are the pics I took of your plane. They're not as good as some of yours probably, simply because I was at considerable distance. I've got some of Tim's too. Let me know what you think. Again, thank you for such a warm virtual reception.

ScottSchmidt · Oct 6, 2007

My first official Young Eagle.

Last Sunday, I had my first official young eagle go flying with me. My aunt from Washington DC was in town with a friend from Germany and I took them on a ride for their birthday. Hannah has been very excited to take a ride as well. The leaves around Salt Lake have been very colorful. We flew around the mountains, landed in Heber UT. for a drink and then back to Salt Lake. By the end of the flight Hannah had three Cessna brochures from the Heber dealership and was telling us about the planes. If we hit a little turbulence she would tell all of us that it was OK. Pretty funny.

Hannah getting ready to fly.

My first official Young Eagle.

Changing colors in the mountains.

Young Eagle Certificate

ScottSchmidt · Jan 19, 2008

Las Vegas - Nellis Airforce Base

We were very fortunate this fall and were invited to fly into Nellis Air Force Base for the annual air show. Tim, Andrea, Colleen, and Danielle Olsen all flew to Salt Lake from Wisconsin to meet up with us and fly down to Vegas early Thursday morning. Needless to say, we had a great time, a great flight down and back and managed to not lose more than $5.

Tim did a great write-up including our indoor skydiving adventure so I won't bore you with the same dialog.
http://www.myrv10.com/N104CD/flights/20071111/index.html

I did get a few great pictures that I thought I would share.

Flying down to Vegas, Tim got this shot

Planes parked at North Las Vegas airport

Right after we landed, two Stealth Fighters touched down. I didn't even pick them up on my EFIS.

Thunderbirds and C-5

Wayne's beautiful RV-10

ScottSchmidt · Jan 19, 2008

Las Vegas - Nellis Airforce Base

Thanks to a fellow RV-10 builder Chris Johnson, we got to hang out at the Red Bull tent on Sunday and eat some great food. The skydivers were interested in the RV-10 until I told them the door doesn't open in flight, unless something bad has happened.

RaNae wanting to be a Red Bull girl.

The F-22 was a highlight for the show.

The group hanging out watching the show on Saturday.

TSwezey · Jan 19, 2008

Thanks for the pictures! The one with the Thunderbirds and your plane is classic! I was wondering if you guys had fallen off the earth!

Rotary10-RV · Jan 25, 2008

Scott you are a fortunate guy!

Scott You're a lucky guy RaNae outshines all those Red Bull girls. Pretty and likes to go places in the plane? It just doesn't get any better than that!
Bill Jepson

ScottSchmidt · Jan 4, 2009

Camera, Storage and Posting

From time to time I receive e-mails about where I store my photos, why, and how I link them to VAF. Doug has a nice tutorial written up here.

http://www.vansairforce.net/articles/ImagesInForums/images.htm

This shows you how to post the link to a photo stored somewhere else to a write-up you are doing here on VAF.

I will try and take you through the complete write-up process, how I upload photos to another site, link them here, show links to other websites and finalize the post.

I am not affiliated to any of the companies I mention here. I'm sure there are many others that work just a great.

Camera
So the first thing you need to do is take a picture.
Almost all my pictures over the past two years have been with the Canon G9 and G10. Here is a picture of the G10 and a link to Canon's website.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=144&modelid=17624

I have loved shooting with Canon cameras. I have also used Nikon and others but this is my favorite. I always shoot on the highest resolution. At 14.7 Megapixels each photo is around 5.5Mb each. That starts to cause a problem with storage as you begin to collect pictures in the thousands.

To handle the storage issue I have an account through a company called Smugmug. http://www.smugmug.com

They are a pay site but I feel part of the reason the pictures link well in write-ups is the quality of smugmug. When you upload your pictures to Smugmug they upload the complete picture and do not downsize the picture size or quality. They then offer you a way to link a smaller picture without losing any picture quality. Once it is uploaded you can download the picture anytime. If you want to download your complete library it is not as easy. They do not offer a great way to do this other than to purchase a complete set of DVD's with all your pictures on it. This is the only complaint I have had with Smugmug. I would like a way to download a complete gallery but I really have never needed to do it. It is nice you can purchase a set of DVD's every so often and put them in your safe.

They are a pay site and I pay $39.95 per year but I feel it more than worth it. I currently have over 16,000 photos and 43 GB and I never have to worry about a hard drive crashing and losing all my photos. Plus it makes it easy to link to forums such as VAF which we will get to later.
Another great reason I love Smugmug like many other sites that Yahoo and Google run is the ability to share your photos easier, e-mail links to your photos for sharing and you have all your pictures with you anywhere a computer is located.

If you do choose to get a Smugmug account you can get $5 off your first year if you put my e-mail into the "e-mail/coupon" section. I get a $10 finders fee but it is no big deal if you don't. ([email protected])

OK, you now have a Smugmug account. Now lets upload a picture to it.
I will typically upload the pictures from my camera onto my computer temporarily because it uploads to the Smugmug account faster from my hard drive than from the memory stick.

Open your Smugmug website and login. Usually you only have to login one time and it usually remembers your login and password information.

Your screen should look something like this. (It will most likely be a different theme / color, but you can change that)
Now select "add photos", then "New Gallery"

You will now see a page like this:

First name your gallery and you can select a category for your photos. You can also create your own category.

The next thing to do is create a theme for the gallery you created. This is the color, font and style. You can select one and see a preview in the small window on the right.

ScottSchmidt · Jan 4, 2009

Camera, Storage and Posting

Great, now you select "Create Gallery"

Now you have to upload your photo to the gallery.
Depending on if this your first time it may bring up the following screen. Click on the tab for either Mac or Windows. I always use "Simple" for uploading.

If you don't get that screen and you are in your newly created gallery, click on "add photos".

Once you click "Simple", your screen will look something like this.

You can either upload a folder (containing lots of photos), or you can upload individual photos. In this example I clicked on "add files" and selected one photo. I then clicked on "Upload"

Once it finishes uploading, it will say, "Upload Complete" and your gallery will look something like this.

Now you have your photo(s) uploaded to Smugmug. From here there are tons of things you can do. Usually Smugmug is "smart" and is able to rotate the photos for you. If not you click on the "tools" menu and rotate the photos that didn't work. You can delete individual photos or by bulk.

If you put your mouse over a photo you can save the photo or view it larger or smaller.

Example of tools pull down menu.

ScottSchmidt · Jan 4, 2009

Camera, Storage and Posting

OK, now lets open a new thread in VAF and insert a picture and a link.
First select "New Thread" and add a title to your thread and do any typing you would like. You can add bold text, different size, ect... If you do select bold for example, the words between the 's will be bold.
So this is what we have so far.

Now you need to copy the link of the picture from your Smugmug account. There are two ways to do this.

1. Right Click on the photo, and select "Copy Image Location"
This will also copy the current size of the photo you are currently viewing. Remember, you can put your mouse over the photo and select "Large, X-Large, Medium, ect..."
I typically post all my pictures in the "Large format".

2. The other way is click on "Share Photo", then "Get a link"

You will then get this screen. You just have to click on the link / size you want and it will automatically copy the link.

Either way works great, now we just have to copy it into the the thread.

Once we have the link copied we click on the yellow square which is the insert picture button, see below.

That will pop up this screen.

Now just paste the copied image into this section. I typically use the shortcut for pasting which for make is "apple+V", for PC it is "CTRL+V", or you can just select "edit" then "paste".
You not have this.

Now just click OK and it adds this to the thread.

ScottSchmidt · Jan 4, 2009

Camera, Storage and Posting

To add a link that is active and navigates you to a different page. Click on the world button with a link.

It will pop up this link, just add the link into it.

Your thread now will look like this.

Once you select "Submit" you are done. It now looks like this.

The pictures in this case are only linked to the thread and don't have to uploaded to VAF. Pretty slick.

Like I mentioned, on Smugmug most of my photos are "Large". A shortcut to changing the size of the photo can be done when you copy the link into the VAF "insert image" pop up menu. You will notice a M.jpg or L.jpg, or XL.jpg. You just have to change the M to L if you want a large image.

Now I do not claim to be an expert at this and many of you probably know a heck of lot more about this but hopefully those of us that are still learning can follow this to create great threads with lots of great pictures.

I feel that Smugmug does a great job preserving the quality of the photo that my Canon camera takes which is why I don't lose much quality when it reduces the size of the photo.
Smugmug has a forum site as well to help you if have questions.

Good luck.

Sid Lambert · Jan 5, 2009

Scott has a great knack for getting a great image. Just because you go out and buy a 25 megapixel camera with 10,000 bells and whistles doesn't mean you will get shots like his every time.

Just like having a $500,000 airplane doesn't make you a better pilot. (If someone will give me one I will test the theory though)

Mike S · Jan 12, 2009

Scott, thanks

Just to add a bit to Scotts excellent post.

A friend sent me photos he had taken of my wife going for a ride in a friends Christian Eagle, linked to SmugMug.

I remembered this thread about the site, and decided to try posting from there, even though the Smugmug account was not in my name, guess what???

It worked just fine----after I did what Scott said, that is.

I am signing up for an account today

Scott, do they give you a commission on new accounts??

ScottSchmidt · Jan 12, 2009

Yup, they do.

Mike S said:
I am signing up for an account today

Scott, do they give you a commission on new accounts??

They do Mike. If you put my e-mail into the "e-mail/coupon" section you get $5 off and I get a $10 credit. (I'm pretty sure it is $5, could be $10)
[email protected]

Thanks Man!

Doug · Jul 23, 2009

Ah... the Dolomites

Referring to post #9....
IMO the most spectacular place on earth!
Doug Gray

ScottSchmidt · Mar 29, 2010

Flying to Johnson Creek

Johnson Creek - A quick reference guide to approaching and landing at Johnson Creek.

Here are some screenshots from Google Earth as well as some of my own pictures of flying into Johnson Creek. I do not claim to be the master and I highly highly encourage everyone to take the mountain flying course at McCall ID. I have been lucky to sit and talk about flying into Johnson Creek and Big Creek with people who are experts. I have not taken the course but would love to someday.

http://www.airnav.com/airport/3U2
Johnson Creek (3U2) is located in the middle of Idaho's most beautiful country and features some of the best if not the best airplane camping in the world.
Here are some suggestions for landing and departing there.

When to fly there?
I believe Johnson Creek opens Memorial Day and closes Labor Day. I guess it never closes but it is not attended and the showers are closed.

The best time to fly in and out is in the morning and in the late afternoon.
Around 12pm the winds will go from 0 to 10 instantly and typically will not let up until the late afternoon.
The runways are north/south and it slopes up to the south so you will almost always takeoff to the north and land to the south.

How to approach?
If this is your first time, you may want to over fly the airport and plan on flying up the canyon (to the south) from the town of Yellow Pine. You have to make sure you are at the right altitude because if you do this you will not have visibility of the runway until that final right turn. This is how I did my first approach and it worked great.

This is what you will see when you fly up the canyon.

When you fly over Johnson Creek there is usually someone down there with a handheld radio you can ask for the wind. If not, you can check the windsocks.

So, here is a picture on Google Earth looking to the south showing the landing up the canyon. You will definitely be in the canyon for this approach. If you are too high add power early and fly up the canyon for a little while before turning, unless your high enough turning crosswind will be very tight and not recommended. I have done this and we are lucky that the RV's have such a great climb rate. I've seen some very scary go-arounds.

My typical approach is to fly over the airport to check the winds (I am usually approaching from the south), make a turn near the town of Yellow Pine (try not to fly directly over the town) and start the approach with an upwind on the west side of the airport flying to the south. This gives you another chance to check the winds, make your calls and check for traffic.
I then make my crosswind and start the decent. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen planes not start their decent soon enough and end up way too high and have to go around, this is where a mountain flying course would be great. I'm not saying a go-around is bad because it is exactly what you should do if it does not feel or look right, just make that decision sooner than later. You will be in the canyon in a proximity to trees that you may have never felt before if this is your first time.
You will then make your downwind as you are descending and hugging the east side of the airport. Wait to make your base until the terrain turns you, it opens up on the north side of the approach. This will actually put you west of the runway approach, you will then make a normal approach.
Make sure your speeds look good on final. The runway is pretty long and is uphill so if your are right on your speeds it will slow down fast.

This is looking to the north.

Here is another view of the approximate approach looking to the south.

Starting the downwind leg

A view on the downwind leg from the cockpit.

Departure
The departure is to the north (downhill).
It is pretty straight forward. After liftoff it is advised to make a 10 degree turn to the right to give you more visibility to see possible landing traffic and increase your travel distance before turning down the runway. It also may give you a chance to return to the airport if you have problems.

I hope that helps with orientation of this runway.
Here is another write-up of flying to the Johnson Creek with more pictures.

Johnson Creek / Big Creek Idaho July 4th 2008
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=31832

ScottSchmidt · Mar 29, 2010

SAVING A POST FOR FUTURE JOHNSON CREEK POSTS

ScottSchmidt · Jan 3, 2012

Formation Pictures

2011 Oshkosh was a great year for formation pictures. We had some really nice ones on the way to Oshkosh and during Oshkosh Jim Beyer took up Tim Olson's wife in his Bonanza to get this 3-ship that made the 2011 calendar.

Tim Olson and Sean Strasburg

This is the one that made the calendar (August)

panhandler1956 · Jan 4, 2012

Great stuff

Scott,
Your photos and trip reports are truely inspirational! Keep it up!

blahphish · Jan 4, 2012

Whoa, those are the coolest photos ever!!

pilotian · Jan 17, 2012

AMAZED!

Stunning airplane! I think I am drooling now

RV-10 N104XP - Scott Schmidt, Salt Lake City UT (KBTF)

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