Bryce Canyon to Grand Canyon

Departing Bryce Canyon for Grand Canyon, AZ. I've flown to Grand Canyon a few times before. The first time was on our way home from the Experimental Aircraft Association's Oshkosh fly-in. After camping near West Yellowstone airport, we headed to Grand Canyon and camped overnight. The next morning, we flew around in the canyon a little, before heading west. That was exciting! This time around, I was careful to plan around the Flight Free zones they put in place many years ago, which now complicate the arrival from the north.

Climbing away from Bryce Canyon airport. 

Approaching the Grand Canyon from the north. It's always impressive to me, when approaching the canyon, how it first appears as a tiny line off in the distance, and gradually widens, until it swallows up the airplane with its ten mile width.

Parked on the ramp at Grand Canyon airport. 

Preparing to shutdown, after setting up the GPS for my next flight - to Sedona, Arizona.

Moab to Bryce Canyon

Departing Canyonlands airport for Bryce Canyon, UT. I flew here in a Cessna P210 one time, with four other people, for an overnight camping trip, as part of my 10 hours required flight time in the aircraft, to check out with the flying club.

Crossing a meandering river. Wondering if this could be Green River?

Crossing some high terrain on the way into the Bryce Canyon area.

On the ground at Bryce Canyon airport. Not much to see here on the ramp.

Provo to Moab

Departing Provo for Canyonlands airport in Moab, Utah, a short 127 NM flight. Several friends at work are avid mountain bikers, and make a trip to Moab every year, to hit the amazing trails in the area. I've been here once, an overnight stay, while driving home after Christmas on the west coast with family.

Climbing eastbound out of the Provo area.

Looking back at the Provo airport (on the long point that juts into the lake).

On the ground at Canyonlands airport. 

Carbon to Provo

Departing Carbon for Provo, UT, a short hop over the Wasatch mountain range. Many years ago, the Boy Scout Explorer Post stage band I was in, played for an audience of several thousand people, at BYU in Provo.

Climbing west toward the Wasatch range.

Flying over a pass in the Wasatch mountains, just east of Provo. The Provo airport is ahead and to the right, on the longer point of land that juts into Utah Lake from the north side, forming Provo Bay.

Descending into the Provo area, after having just crossed the Wasatch range.

On the ground at Provo airport. There's a beautiful view from here, of the Wasatch range to the east.

Rifle to Carbon

Departing Rifle, CO for Carbon, UT, a short hop of 140 NM.

Climbing away from Rifle airport.

Climbing west from Rifle, over the Colorado River.

Approaching the cliffs at Anvil Points.

There's a scenic driving route from Denver westbound, that passes by Carbon on highway 6, which is bordered on the east side by an impressive line of mountains. This is what they look like, on the way into Carbon.

Aspen to Rifle

Departing Aspen-Pitkin County for Rifle, CO. After driving west on highway I-70 so many times, the City of Rifle feels familiar, even though I've never actually stopped there. It's a short hop from Aspen, over the western slope of the Rockies. This snapshot was taken over the mountain ridge just west of Carbondale.

With such a short flight, I forgot to take any other snapshots. This one shows the Baron on the ground at Rifle airport, parked right next to my favorite small aircraft, a Cirrus Vision SF50.

Denver to Aspen

My first flight in the Baron was to Aspen-Pitkin County airport, with some clouds that I thought would probably necessitate flying the instrument approach to the airport.

Climbing to an altitude that would clear the 14,000+ foot Rocky Mountain peaks, and keep me below the high cloud layer above. I figured 14,500 would be a reasonable compromise, as long as I didn't stay there more than a few minutes, while clearing the Continental Divide, which includes a few peaks above 14,000 feet.

I wasn't familiar with the old-style autopilot yet, so I ended up climbing over 15,000 for a few minutes. About 20 miles from Red Table VOR, the screen started to go dark. I thought it was the sunset making things darker, but then I realized the instrument lights were going dim as well, which didn't make sense. It took way too long, for me to realize that the simulator was telling me the hard way, that I was above the legal altitude to be without supplemental oxygen. Within a few more seconds, the screen went completely black, showing me that I had lost consciousness. Luckily, since I was just simulating this flight, I was able to descend to below 15,000 feet, and the screen image came back, so I could continue my flight.

Taking one last look in the direction of the Roaring Fork River valley, before focusing on the Aspen runway 15 instrument approach.

Adventures in the Beech Baron B58

The X-Plane simulator's aircraft menu includes a Beech Baron B58A, with which I've been wanting to spend some time. It's a normally-aspirated twin-engine aircraft, so it can't go very high, but it goes a little faster than most of my typical single-engine rides, and if one engine quits, the second engine provides the bonus of a much longer gliding range, which can get you to a more distant alternate airport.

Here's a rear view of the B58 in flight. Many years ago, I checked out in my flying club's B55 Baron, which is a very similar aircraft, with a shorter body than the B58, but I never accumulated the necessary hours in it, to be able to take it out by myself.

I'm somewhat disappointed by the mediocre performance of the autopilot. To be sure, it's a fine old control unit, that can hold a heading, track a VOR radial or GPS course, and hold an altitude or rate of climb or descent. My disappointment is with the way the assigned altitude is set by first stabilizing the aircraft on the desired altitude, then engaging the autopilot ALT mode.

There's no way to specify a desired altitude, and have the autopilot climb or descend to that altitude. It's also very disconcerting when engaging the autopilot during a climb, and trying to get it to stabilize on a specific climb rate, as it has a tendency to porpoise all around for the first few minutes, as it over-controls the climb and descent rates. This not something that inspires confidence in the unit, when climbing toward high craggy mountains in the late afternoon shadows. 

X-Plane allows me to setup a few quick-view keys on the numeric keypad. This is my favorite view for just flying along, and being able to see most of the instruments at the same time. So this is the Baron's instrument panel. Mostly old-fashioned round dials and gauges, but with a nice Garmin 540 GPS unit in the center radio stack. That single addition makes such a huge difference, in positional awareness. I learned to use the Garmin GNS430 and GNS530 units many years ago, after they started showing up in our flying club airplanes. I was excited to find that Garmin had made a GNS430 software simulator available, and that helped me immensely with learning to use it, while not under pressure of completing a flight safely.

This view allows me a closer look at the primary flight instruments, and still see the GPS moving map display.

This is my favorite view for landing. With the instrument panel lowered, it gives me the best view over the nose, while still letting me see the most important flight instruments.

This view lets me see the autopilot control panel, while still showing me the primary flight instruments, so I can keep the plane rightside-up while messing with the autopilot settings. There's no view outside, so the idea is to only be looking at this view for a short time.

This view gives me the best access to all the radios, with everything large enough to clearly read and change settings. The tradeoff is having no view outside, so I can't spend much time on this view, unless I'm sitting on the ground.

This view gives me the best perspective on the entire cockpit, including engine control levers, the three trim wheels, and even the cowl flap levers that are barely visible in front of the seats. Again, there's no view outside here, so it's only useful for a quick look at something I can't see otherwise.