Finally have a minute to post an update on my latest adventures!
Leaving home on a beautiful clear cool morning with the sun coming up headed off for an adventure! What adventure could it be? Well, here’s a hint: I’m officially a commercially licensed pilot now!
I took the test to become a commercial pilot! Also I passed it! This means I can actually get a job flying airplanes, although not as a pilot for airlines. Next stop: becoming an instructor so I can teach other people to fly!
As of my checkride I have 330 hours of time as pilot in charge of an airplane. Somewhat higher than required, but while I was waiting for my checkride I spent a lot of time safety piloting with people who are working on their instrument certificate. Basically I’ve been playing junior instructor, just spending time with people while they’re practicing, helping make sure they stay safe and giving whatever tips and tricks I can.
Believe it or not, that’s probably the least exciting of the adventures I’ve had recently! As hinted in my last couple posts, I got to fly a small 2-seat airplane home, all the way across the continent, from Sacramento CA to Dallas TX.
There’s a bunch of pictures attached, so click the Continue Reading button to find out more about this adventure!
After getting up early and taking a commercial flight to California, I was picked up at the airport and taken to the smaller airport where the plane I’m taking home was parked. After inspecting it and getting everything in order I started my journey home mid-day in Sacramento, and flew south towards Bakersfield CA. It was so much fun flying in the green and damp with mountains in the background.
Unfortunately, California being California, I was unable to make it to my destination due to clouds.
The plane I’m flying is not allowed to go into clouds, even though I’m personally licensed to do so. So I’m stuck. I have to land somewhere and wait for the clouds to clear before I can move on. After about an hour of waiting a path clears up and it looks like I can make it through. Because of the delays in getting to Sacramento and waiting for clouds to clear I’m not going to make it past Bakersfield tonight. I don’t want to go over the mountains in the dark, and if I want to be able to borrow the car at the airport and get to a hotel
Next morning it’s up early and time to depart. There’s an alert for turbulence over most of my route today, so it may be a bumpy one. Nothing dangerous though, just potentially uncomfortable and might make me have to go a bit slower. Plane is all fueled up and we take off, time to fly over mountains for the very first time!
What a fun view, to finally be looking at something besides the flatlands of north Texas! It got pretty bumpy as I went over this mountain pass. Much like speed bumps, they’re more tolerable if you go slowly, and it doesn’t break the plane that way! So it was a bit of a put-put-put flight for a little while, but the view was worth it!
Not a lot of good places to land in case of an emergency out there, but some interesting sights. I need to go back and look on google maps and figure out what some of the things I saw were.
One of the things I love most about flying is seeing things from the air that you never knew where there, or can’t tell what they are. While writing this post I went to look this up. Turns out it’s the “Oso Pumping Plant”, part of the California Aqueduct.
Flying past Edwards Air Force Base was really cool. You can see why they landed the Space Shuttle here, plenty of wide open spaces and big flat salt flats to use if you need them!
When I looked up this place to figure out what was going on here, I found out that the Southern California Logistics Airport was used to set the record for “Longest-distance Wheelie in an airplane”,keeping the front wheel off the ground for 14,319 feet in a Cessna 172.
Blythe California was my last potential stop before Phoenix, but I had sufficient fuel to continue on, so onward to Phoenix we go! Upon arriving just outside the Phoenix airspace, on my way to the Chandler airport, air traffic control requested me to remain south of the Estrella mountains. Fortunately they’re marked on the map!
I stopped at the Chandler airport for fuel, topped off my water bottle, re-organized my snack collection, and got back into the air! Chandler was a busy airport, the airspace around there might be even busier than back home in Denton! Quite a little adventure, but I managed to escape and get back out into the wide open spaces.
On the list of things you see from the air that you never really notice from the ground is giant prison facilities in the middle of nowhere outside Phoenix. Would not attempt to escape from, would rather stay inside than wander this desert.
If you wander too far you’ll find giant open pit mines, or salt flats the like of which I’ve never seen outside of a Star Wars movie…
Only one place to stop for the night, unless I want to get over the last mountain into El Paso in the dark, which I don’t. So Deming it is! And now I can say I’ve been to New Mexico too!
At the Deming airport office they had a sofa which I could’ve slept on, but right by the sofa was a glass terrarium with a rattlesnake in it. So there was no way I was going to get any sleep there! I considered sleeping in the plane, but fortunately I found the guy who works at the airport and was able to borrow the crew car. After a quick stop at the recommended local italian joint, which was amazingly tasty, I found the La Quinta and got a room for the night.
Next morning it’s back up early and off just after sunrise. Only 6 more hours to home! Finally the weather is looking good too, up until now there was a chance that I’d get stuck here due to cold temps and low clouds between El Paso and home. The plane I’m in can’t go into clouds, nor does it handle extreme colds, and the temperature at home has been in the teens for a few days. Fortunately it’s cleared up though and is above freezing, so homeward we go!
These mountains are about halfway between El Paso and Guadalupe Peak.I really have no idea what the geology of the area is, but there was something really cool about these little bumps of mountains out in the middle of nowhere.
Up ahead though is an actual mountain range. One that was tall enough I didn’t feel like going over it, so I decided to detour about 15 minutes to go around instead. This gave me a great view of the end of the mountain range, probably my favorite view of the whole trip.
Shortly after that I started getting into west Texas’ oil fields. Much less interesting to look at! It’s amazing how huge these fields are though, I’ll give it that.
North of Midland texas I stopped for my very last fuel stop of the trip! Only about 3 more hours! This fuel stop had a warning sign that made me want to be back up in the sky. I mentioned it to a local a few minutes later and he laughed and said they’re all hibernating at the moment. Note to self: Never come back here in the summer.
I never though north Texas was all that pretty until I got back to it after west Texas. About 45 minutes later I’m back on the ground in Denton, and the plane is tucked into the maintenance hanger!
Just under 17 hours of total flying time, over 3 days, and it sure was an incredible experience! Not only was it my first time flying over mountains, after doing all my training it the flatlands of Texas, but it was my first time planning anything that long and involved.
I also was recently part of flights to go and get new planes for the school. We flew all the way out to Alabama, and up to the northwest corner of Kansas, both incredibly educational and fun trips as well. Flying in a V formation of 5 planes was something that you don’t get too many chances to do!
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of flying. Every time we go up there’s something new and interesting to see or learn.
Glad it was a safe trip. Dad enjoyed going with you even from his recliner. Here’s to many more safe and successful flights. New meaning to love you to the moon and back.