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Dave,
Thanks for taking the time to share your adventure story. Things have
been pretty quiet here lately. Sounds like a fun trip.
Mark S.
On 12/19/08, Todd Bartrim <bartrim@gmail.com> wrote:
> Oh yeah, Dave!
> Other than dealing with the "guard", sounds like you had a great trip. I
> deal with snow as a matter of coarse but I always find it fun when in an
> area that isn't accustomed to it then watching the chaos. Sometimes you have
> to drive but sounds like this time you just had to fly.
> Thanks for the flight report!
>
> Todd
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net]On
> Behalf Of David Leonard
> Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 9:55 PM
> To: Rotary motors in aircraft
> Subject: [FlyRotary] Careful how fast you fly!
>
>
> I had a very interesting trip to Las Vegas this week!
>
> I went there on Monday to meet a bunch of Navy buddies from my old
> squadron but the weather was not so hot for flying. I spent most of the day
> waiting for the storm to pass but when it was still here at 3 pm I decided
> to just drive there instead. Alas, after 30min of stop and go traffic and
> knowing that I was still facing the LA rush hour and a snowy mountain pass,
> I was very disgruntled.
>
> Just as I was driving past my airplane hangared in Oceanside I noted that
> I could see sun hitting the ocean several miles out, though it was still
> raining and 1500 OVC at my location. I couldnt take the drive anymore so I
> loaded the plane and decided to take a look from the air. I flew several
> miles west over the ocean in light rain and low ceilings until the sky
> finally opened up enough for me to climb above the LA class B, head north to
> clearer skys, then catch the very frisky tail wind NE to Vegas. I didnt
> bother talking to anyone because 1- if you don't know how far
> up/down/left/right you are going to need to go to avoid the next cloud it is
> a real pain to try to communicate with those guys who really prefer to know
> exactly what you plan next, 2- I was the only guy at the altitudes I was
> flying at (13500) - the FBO said I was their only arrival all day. 3-
> those guys are always interrupting the music - and it was way too beautiful
> of a flight to have the music constantly interrupted.... Sunset, fresh snow
> on the mountains, crystal clear and clean air, scattered loafing cumulus
> clouds, and a tailwind giving me 235 KTS ground speed.
>
> After arrival, I gulped down a beer while waiting for the shuttle to take
> me into town from Henderson Airport (highly recommended). As I left the
> lounge, I was approached by no less than 8 of Henderson's finest. At first
> they would not say what it was all about, but they proceeded to search me,
> my luggage, and airplane while they detained me for over an hour. Turns out
> that US Customs/Border patrol felt that my flight profile was suspicious for
> drug running across the border. Fair enough. I guess I did just pop up on
> radar out of nowhere several miles out to sea, then head to VEGAS. It
> probably also didn't help that there was no one else flying. Those guys had
> no one to watch but me. (if you are a hammer, everything kinda looks like a
> nail).
>
> Anyway, upon return to Oceanside today, I was surprised to hear that
> Harold (the airport manager) already knew all about it. In fact if it were
> not for him vouching for my departure from OKB, I may very well have spent
> the night in the slammer or, even worse, on the wet cold dark tarmac
> removing and replacing all my inspection covers. It turns out that one of
> the triggers associated with my flight profile was the 235 KT GS. After
> all, who does that except turbo props and drug runners? :-)
>
> BTW, it was unbelievable to see all the palm trees at Mandalay Bay covered
> in snow like they were fir trees. Snow was building up on the Luxor then
> sliding down in big sheets - that is called a desert avalanche. McClellan
> closed most of yesterday, not because the weather was too bad but because
> they don't stock the right kind of de-ice fluid and because not enough of
> the mechanics are checked out on the de-ice machines. I was delayed leaving
> HND today because they don't have a snowplow to plow the runway. Instead
> they just drove a bunch of vehicles up and down the runway until they had
> splashed most of the snow off.
>
> Still, it would have been much worse if I had driven. I-15 southbound was
> closed for more than 24 hours and I was still able to leave town before my
> buddy who drove and had to fight nasty roads all the way home while I was
> treated to snowy vistas and clear skies.
>
> Gotta love these dream machines!
>
> --
> David Leonard
>
> Turbo Rotary RV-6 N4VY
> http://N4VY.RotaryRoster.net
> http://RotaryRoster.net
>
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