Friday, August 3, 2018 Cobra flight #643, PIC #653, 2 landings Rio Grande, Santa Fe Baldy, Truchas, Jicartia

Transcription

1 Friday, August 3, 2018 Cobra flight #643, PIC #653, 2 landings Rio Grande, Santa Fe Baldy, Truchas, Jicartia Belen: 6:02 am Angel Fire: 9:08am Airtime: 3.1 Total PIC Time: Total Logged Time: Saturday, August 4, 2018 Cobra flight #644, PIC #654, 2 landings Eagle Nest Lake, Valle Vidal, Elk Sunday, August 5, 2018 Cobra flight #645, PIC #655, 2 landings Black Lake, Las Vegas, Canyons, Manzano Mtns Angel Fire: 6:44 am Angel Fire: 8:14am Airtime: 1.6 Total PIC Time: Total Logged Time: Angel Fire: 6:11 am Belen: 9:19 am Airtime: 3.1 Total PIC Time: Total Logged Time: It was a dark early preflight for our trip to Angel Fire. We wanted to fly the Sangre de Cristos and there was a little bit of wind predicted, so we got up really early for a civil twilight takeoff.

2 Our plans were to follow the Rio Grande and meet up with Henry, a trike pilot based at Double Eagle, on the way north. There was a flock of about 8 balloons over the river that morning. We were a few miles east of Double Eagle and made radio contact with Henry after he took off to the north. We arraigned to meet near Bernalillo.

3 After meeting up, we flew up to Cochiti Lake, then crossed north of Santa Fe. I remember looking down on the Santa Fe Opera House. I climbed up near the Ski Area, then over to Santa Fe Baldy and Lake Katherine (above).

4 I flew over to East Pecos Baldy and followed the trailriders wall to the Truchas Peaks Complex. The weather seemed a little iffy, all the overcast and occasional drizzle. I stayed high.

5 A little north of Truchas is the Trampas Lakes Basin.

6 I made the jump across the valley to Jicarita Peak, and then started my descent to farm valleys south Angle Fire. Just as we crossed Black Lakes a few miles south of Angel Fire, it started to rain a little. We landed, pushed our trikes in the hangar, then hung out with rest of the trike pilots who had trailered their trikes to the Angel Fire Airport. Henry had a great time on this flight, his first long distance cross country flight in a trike. I traded an evening flight for a relaxing afternoon beer. Frank and Mitch set up their BBQ and we had a nice cookout at the airport. The FBO manager let met sleep on the couch in the huge pilots lounge.

7 Here is my GPS track from the flight up to Angel Fire. Belen Albuquerque Jicarita Peak Santa Fe Baldy Truchas Peaks Angel Fire

8 Last night we traded a sunset flight for a morning flight. That meant getting up early. I preflighted before sunrise and took off to the north. We expected winds at high altitude today, so we would stay down in the valleys.

9 Eagle Nest Lake had a layer of mist over the lake.

10 I skimmed along the surface of the mist and my prop wash dug a trench. Paul (visible right of center above) was off to the side and didn t see anything. The only way I saw the trench was with a backwards view on my GoPro fusion camera.

11 We flew north, beyond the where the road turns to go to Red River and entered a valley. I saw more mist and fog ahead.

12 I followed Paul in a ways. The air was smooth down low, but up higher there was some turbulence from the winds out of the north. I could see the terrain below me, but I did not like this. We headed back south to where the fog was not as thick.

13 This was nicer down over here. I picked up Chris and Joseph from Taos on the radio. There were over Wheeler Peak and were descending down to the foggy valley.

14 I flew all the way down to where the fog started and saw a huge herd of elk below. Hundreds of elk.

15 We flew back to Eagle Nest Lake.

16 We flew back to Eagle Ne Chris, Paul and I flew back in an echelon left formation. Chris took this picture of Paul s and my trike.

17 We flew over the Vietnam Memorial on the way to the Airport. You can see Chris s trike on my right and Paul s trike on my left.

18 Chris, Ron, and Joseph all landed at the airport and we chatted for a while before they had to return to Taos before it got too windy and thermally to get back home. We pushed our trikes back in the hangar and relaxed, had a great dinner in town, then shot the breeze at the airport. Paul, Henry and I would get an early start tomorrow to fly home. Eagle s Nest Lake Angel Fire Airport Foggy Valley Elk

19 The next morning Paul, Henry and I took off and headed south. High winds were predicted for the Rio Grande Valley and the west side of the Sangre de Cristos. Our plan was to stay low in the valleys on the east side of the Sangre de Cristos, then loop around towards the Sandia / Manzano Mountains on the way home. I circled this huge green meadow near Black Lakes waiting for Henry to catch up.

20 Cruising over Black Lake.

21 Heading down Guadalupita Canyon.

22 This stretch of Guadalupita was very nice, and even had some nice landouts.

23 The valley opened up to some beautiful green farms. The long finger like valleys stretched for miles, joined up to parallel valleys. Next year I will spend some time exploring these valleys instead of climbing the mountains. This side of the mountains was in a wind shadow and had very smooth air.

24 Eventually I emerged from the maze of valleys into a wide plains north of Las Vegas, NM.

25 The wide open spaces.

26 I liked this cool looking lake.

27 The green plains seemed to go on forever. It was really green out here.

28 We flew past Las Vegas and crossed I-25, then returned to the wild, middle of nowhere country. I entered Canon Blanco, a canyon I remembered getting stuck in fighting high winds in It was much friendlier today.

29 The far end of Canon Blanco.

30 Chet caught up to us in his BearHawk near Stanley, NM. At this point, Henry split off from Paul and me to fly north of the Sandia Mountains and over to Bernalillo on his way back to Double Eagle. Chet circled in front of me after we crossed I-40. You can see him in the center in the image above. We crossed the Manzanos in the low spot just north of Guadalupe and Mosca Peaks. Paul had to attend his wife s birthday party, so he headed on ahead of me. It was windy crossing the Manzanos, I slowed down to about 30mph crossing over. Shortly after I landed, Paul took off from the hangar for his party. We drove down separately so he could do this.

31 Here is my GPS track from this nice flight from Angel Fire to Belen. Canon Blanco Manzano Crossing Belen Albuquerque Rio Chama Las Vegas Guadalupita Canyon Black Lakes Angel Fire