Lee: In July of '71 flying back to SNA(now called John Wayne Int'l), after an unsched. Stop in Columbia MO to secure a Carb Heat control that kept creeping open, I was headed for Santa Fe via Pratt, Liberal, Dalhart & Las Vegas NM I encountered one of those summer rains that you encountered. I Refueled in Pratt and headed off IFR ( I Follow Roads- Hwy 54) toward Dalhart. As I approached Boise City I observed a Squaw line in my way and called FSS and informed me that they currently had a TS and advised that I divert south to the Canadian River and plan on spending the night in Tuccumcari because of severe weather west to the Sangre De Christo's south to the Mexican Border. The next morning I departed TCC for SNA with a fuel stop in INW, 806 sm total. After the refueling top @ INW I thought I was in big weather troubles again as I approached Sedona because I was getting sandwiched between a broken cloud deck and the impressive rim that is the east side of the Verde River Valley on the way to PRC. but as soon as I broke over the rime the deck rapidly dissipated and I was home free and was able to climb up to 10,500 for the leg from PRC to the Colorado. I had 1500 ft between the rim & the clouds to scoot through at the rim.
The total Clock time from TCC to SNA including the time on the ground for refueling at INW was 8 hrs-15 min in a 172. Oh yea a rented 172-- $14/hr wet- those days are gone forever. I learned about the SW monsoons from that trip. Don ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lee Van Dyke wrote: > WEATHER. > > I can remember flying in MI during my lessons and for a couple of years after > gettnig my license. I just forgot what weather or bad weather was like. > Oshkosh has always been wet, I think I can only remember 1 or 2 years with no > rain. Arizona on the other hand, well lets just say we are spoiled. Yes it > is hot for 3 months and right now we have the monsoons going on. Big clouds > and rain at the end of everyday. Some days was have bad winds, direct cross > winds. My trip to Oshkosh was a reminder and an eye opener for me. Richard > and I went through a couple of good rain cells with lighting. It is amazing > how fast I could turn that plane when you see lighting right in front of you. > While at Oshkosh the KR pilots best friend is a non-super sticky tape. > Sorry about you paint Mark J. and Richard S. I will be looking into having > a cover made to not only keep out the sun but WATER. I was stuck in Osh for > an extra day due to weather, and on my return flight I ran into a wal! > l of 25 mph wind. McPherson KS 25mph wind down the runway. Dalhart TX 25 > mph with gusts over 30. The morning was mush better with only 20mph. I flew > with a 172 from Mesa AZ from there, we headed to Double Eagle NM, fighting a > 35pmh head wind@ 8500 ft. Just before Las Vegas NM the clouds showed up, the > winds were gone but the ceilings were low. We were going to set down in Las > Vegas and wait, but the 172 would not be able to T/O with the density alt. I > landed and had to repair a hatch on my canopy, they were going to fly low the > Double Eagle. I took off andf flew above the broken clouds and went over D/E > and header to St Johns AZ. 40 miles from the AZ border CLOUDS low and solid, > so I went north to Grants. My fuel pump went out on my transfer pump. 20 > mins later after a trip to Checker, Auto Zone and Napa. No pump. So it was > going to be shorter trips from here on out. The WEATHER looked ok to the > west. A front was heading south and it was clear in Winslow AZ. I! > went up to 12,500 to clear all of the broken clouds and got to Winslo > w. Flagstaff looked real bad. I talked to a pilot with a lot of time in the > area and he said that I would be bumped around alot but it was open to Payson > AZ. I took off and headed to the south for Payson, the clouds were not > getting lower but the terrain was getting higher, I got through a pass on the > Rim and it opened up around Payson. I still had 3/4 of a tank and I sould > see down a canyon that ends up in Mesa. The clouds were about 2000ft agl and > visibility was about 10-15 miles. Down the canyon I went. 40 minutes later, > I was in Mesa and 10 minutes later my Home Airport. > Wow........WEATHER,,,,BAD WEATHER SUCKS..... > > Lee Van Dyke > from the VALLEY OF THE SUN.... :) > _______________________________________ > Search the KRnet Archives at http://www.maddyhome.com/krsrch/index.jsp > to UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@mylist.net > please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html
