Phone Photo Flight

I had to head to Phoenix, AZ (KDVT) today for what will hopefully be a quick couple-night-stay work project. This time of year finally has the vegetation starting to green up in Colorado and still a little snow hanging out on the mountain tops. I was alone on this trip as my usual sidekick and photographer had to stay home and watch the grandson. Along the way, I started to get bored and took out the trusty old Samsung G3 phone and decided to take a few shots while cruising along at 12,500. The phone doesn't do too bad, and I managed to get some respectable pics. I thought I'd post a few of them here just for grins.


This first one has Pikes Peak just off in the distance. My goal here is to cross Pikes Peak on the North side and then head for Hayden pass.



After passing Pikes Peak, we come up to a valley. Looking to the left, we have Westcliffe, CO. The mountain range in front of me is the Sangre de Cristo.



Looking to the right, off in the distance, we have one of our favorite airports/towns in Colorado - Salida. A bit hard to see in this photo.



Trying to find the "low" spot in the saddle of Hayden pass. 10,709 feet



Couple of shots going through the pass. Why are the passes always so BuMpY??



Still some snow left up here.



After making it through the pass, we can see southwards down the Alamosa Valley. Big and wide it is; who knew there was so much flat land in Colorado.



Looking down the right side of the valley.



A few more to come . . .

Nice pictures Scott. That phone - camera did a nice job!

Photo Phone Flight

Well continuing the trip, we have some rather boring pics headed across what I like to call the New Mexico wasteland...



Continuing onward, at least there's some trees down there.



339A reaches a milestone just before arriving at St. Johns, AZ. (KSJN) 1200 Hours, Woo Hoo...



No stop in St. Johns would be official unless you got a picture of this on the bulletin board. Two of our favorite couples that Deb and I like to fly with!



I made it the rest of the way to Deer Valley Airport (KDVT) without incident. I got a little busy with bumps and getting into DVT and didn't take anymore pictures. I must say, though, the Samsung G3 phone takes some fairly decent pictures for such a small lens.

It was a great day to fly, and I'm a lucky guy who gets to do this thanks to my job! On top of that, it turned out to be cheaper than United and was WAY more fun.

Regards,

Thanks for the write-up and pictures.

Were your original fuel tanks replaced?

Best,

Scott thanks. I want to go to Colorado again

Few inches up..you would have gotten a shot of my card on that b.board..hehe...Sheldon

phone pics

The photos are surprisingly good and a lot of fun to see for lovers of Colorado and NM. Thanks for sharing. Your job sounds great, and 1200 hours is an impressive milestone indeed!

Beautiful shots. Incredible day. That's very similar to my milk route between Denver and Albuquerque. Here's one of those flights in motion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3eR5L3p72c

Nice pictures, Scott! Thanks for posting them for all of us to enjoy! Colorado is a beautiful place and we're looking forward to visiting you there.

altitudes & o2??

Being a rock-dweller to some degree, always interested in how others get around, thru passes, and over da rocks.
you say you were at 10.5, and 12 something....do you know your 02 levels? or perhaps you were on ox and just don't mention it?
just curious....I finally got a pulse oximeter the other day, and found that even at 5500 asl, my sats are down from 98 to about 94.

Great Pics Scott

I hope to be returning from Oregon starting out Sunday on the southern route through central NM and landing in Winder with the new bird by Wednesday...more to come

flyboy1963 said:

Being a rock-dweller to some degree, always interested in how others get around, thru passes, and over da rocks.
you say you were at 10.5, and 12 something....do you know your 02 levels? or perhaps you were on ox and just don't mention it?
just curious....I finally got a pulse oximeter the other day, and found that even at 5500 asl, my sats are down from 98 to about 94.

Click to expand...

Being flatlander myself I don't play with Big Rocks. I uncork the bottle and go up to the highest legal VFR altitude. Approaching Leadville

This brings back a lot of memories. I spent a year out there when I was pretty young. Salida, Nathrop, monarch ski area, and the San Luis valley are a few of the places I visited. Hot springs in the San Luis valley was cool too. There was also a town called bonanza up in the hills which a friend lived in. Got To get back there someday. Thanks.

rockwoodrv9 said:

Nice pictures Scott. That phone - camera did a nice job!

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Thanks Rock, your day is coming!

pierre smith said:

Thanks for the write-up and pictures.

Were your original fuel tanks replaced?

Best,

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Interesting question, Pierre. I built the tanks and they are original. I painted the plane myself with the tanks off.

Vlad said:

Scott thanks. I want to go to Colorado again

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I thought I was a traveling man till I started reading your trips. You're always welcome to stay with us the next time you're out our way. Deb and I really want to get back east and do some flying. We are from New Hampshire originally and most of our family is there. Deb is a big fan of the Pleasant St B & B in Rangeley, ME.

Bill Dicus said:

The photos are surprisingly good and a lot of fun to see for lovers of Colorado and NM. Thanks for sharing. Your job sounds great, and 1200 hours is an impressive milestone indeed!

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I was pretty surprised as well. Amazing the leaps technology is making. I've said it before, I'm fortunate that my company lets me do this! As a side note, of the 1200 hours on 339A, better than 950 of them are Cross Country.

BSwayze said:

Nice pictures, Scott! Thanks for posting them for all of us to enjoy! Colorado is a beautiful place and we're looking forward to visiting you there.

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You are getting closer everyday Bruce. Deb and I look forward to doing some trips together.

flyboy1963 said:

Being a rock-dweller to some degree, always interested in how others get around, thru passes, and over da rocks.
you say you were at 10.5, and 12 something....do you know your 02 levels? or perhaps you were on ox and just don't mention it?
just curious....I finally got a pulse oximeter the other day, and found that even at 5500 asl, my sats are down from 98 to about 94.

Click to expand...

Interesting that you bring this up. I had been following the recent oximeter post the other day. I have one in the plane but haven't used it for a while, so I pulled it out yesterday. I did have the O2 tank in the back and was using it. My sat was 94/95 while on O2. I was at 12,500 for the entire flight.
Quite honestly, a lot of the time I don't. Deb and I went to San Diego a few weeks ago and never used it. Flew the same altitudes and pretty much the same route, no noticeable problems...

Jerry Fischer said:

I hope to be returning from Oregon starting out Sunday on the southern route through central NM and landing in Winder with the new bird by Wednesday...more to come

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Good luck with the new plane and enjoy the flight. I really do enjoy flying over all kinds of terrain. I know I called New Mexico a wasteland, but I was just be facetious. New Mexico and Arizona have some of the most interesting/varied terrain of all the states, and I've landed in all of them. They change so quickly from one end to the other.

Thanks All,

turbo said:

This brings back a lot of memories. I spent a year out there when I was pretty young. Salida, Nathrop, monarch ski area, and the San Luis valley are a few of the places I visited. Hot springs in the San Luis valley was cool too. There was also a town called bonanza up in the hills which a friend lived in. Got To get back there someday. Thanks.

Click to expand...

You're welcome, Turbo, and you do know that you've always got a place to stay in Colorado should you need it!
The R44 flight at OSH last year ranks in my top 5 aviation events. Thank you.

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing!

Photo Phone Flight Part Deux

Due to several "unforeseen issues" beyond my control, I have had to play the waiting game here in Phoenix. Seems the APS (Arizona Public Service) people weren't quite as ready as they thought.... Oh well, the story of my "workin" life.

Thanks to good friend and all around great guy Larry Schneider, who just happens to be the same guy that got me some temporary hangar space at Deer Valley. As I've just been lazing around in the hot Phoenix sun, Larry has tried to keep me entertained the past couple days to stave off my boredom. I'm attempting to see if I can wait around longer than APS has money.... probably not.

Early this morning (these Deer Valley guys like to fly before it gets HOT, jeez...seems like we were "up with the sun and gone with the wind"), Larry invited me to tag along for their ritual Saturday morning B-fast run. It's good to see that this tradition of finding cheap food and burning lots of expensive 100LL continues all around this nation of ours!

I opted to ride with Larry and leave 339A in the hangar. Larry has built many RVs through the years and is a superb craftsman, so how could I resist a ride in his latest creation?

Larry's trusty new stead out of the hangar and ready to go--my ride over to Payson, AZ. KPAN



Quite the impressive panel, complete with ADS-B traffic. First time I've seen this in action. Pretty interesting.



The Samsung G3 took this pic, zoomed out, which I then edited in Paint. Notice the Hot Air Balloon launch behind us as we leave Deer Valley.



A quick 25 minutes later and we're on right base for 24 at KPAN.



On final. Time for breakfast.



After having breakfast, which I willingly paid for (there's just something sacrilegious about NOT paying for B-fast when you're the passenger), we headed back to DVT and Larry let me fly for a bit. The roll rate/control is so much different than the 9A... WAY lighter and, I hate to admit it, more fun. This is the first 7 I've flown, but it's very similar to the sixes.



We then began a low-level mission to inspect the terrain for Russian spies or ... possible lost hikers. The Verde River below us, in English... the Green river. As always, pretty scenery here in this part of AZ.



Still a few more G3 pics to come

Photo Phone Flight Part Deux

Continuing on our hunt for Russian spies or missing hikers. Ok, Now I get the Green River thing.



A nice view of Sheep Bridge. Notice the people camping down there for Memorial Day Weekend.



A few shots as we head up towards the Bartlett Reservoir and Dam.









The Bartlett Dam in full view now.



Many thanks to Larry Schneider for letting me tag along today and all of the Deer Valley crew that I've met over the past few days while "hanging out".

Regards, and I hope y'all had an RV-filled Memorial Day Weekend. Let's not forget those who gave us this great opportunity to do what we love and those who continue to serve.

Regards,

Sounds like "unforeseen issues" were not issues at all if you could swing a trip like Scott. I was also looking for Russian spies in our corner of flatlands. Couldn't find any but recruited at least two RV loyalists