Soaring over the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas

The guys together for a group picture at Sedona.

This was the day! We were at Sedona during a beautiful fall morning with clear skies and that warm sun radiating with a cold morning breeze. We loaded the planes and made the general checks and once again studied the route for the day! The flight was to be full of eye candies, 100% scenic, starting with arizona's Mesas and valleys transitioning to the overwhelming views of the Grand Canyon and ending with Las Vegas' lights and glitz.

We did a quick review of the route to be flown and settled on a place for a pit stop to refuel. That place selected was H. A. Clark Memorial Field (KCMR), just 45 minutes away from Sedona at an elevation of 6680 feet (2000 meters) above mean sea level. We decided to take it low and slow, flying together from take-off to landing and without controllers nagging us with route constraints and altitude limitations. In a matter of minutes the run up was made, mixture was adjusted for the high altitude take-off and we lined up at the right side of the runway, followed the the other Cessna lining up behind to the left. A static take-off was done and as we lifted off we kept our rate of climb to a minimum gaining speed while still flying relatively low and enjoying one last view of the airport's Mesa. With maximum elevation figures higher than 9000 feet we decided to maintain 8500 feet and dodge the terrain enjoying the views and the great colours at a low altitude. As we got close to the pit stop we overflew the airport checking the wind conditions at 1500 feet above the field and joining the pattern for the runway in use while our "wingman" followed us behind.

Flying low at the leader's 4 o'clock.

After doing a landing together we refueled and got on the phone with Las Vegas to prepare our arrival to the airport and transportation to the hotel.

In less than an hour we were once again soaring, now at 10500 feet which would be the minimum altitude available to cross the Grand Canyon on a scenic flight.

One of those perfect pictures that just make the day!

Pit Stop for some fuel and planing to Vegas.

Billy doing some planning on his improvised navigation table.

In order for you guys to understand it let me put it this way, nowadays due to the excessive traffic flying over and along the Grand Canyon in Air Tours or just for fun the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has decided to lay out some rules and create some preferential flying routes around the place. This has allowed to keep traffic organized and protect all the wildlife and nature around the park, which suffered due to the low level aircraft. So you readers have an idea, the Canyon is one of the busiest places to fly in the USA during the high season. Lucky us, we flew there during the low season and on Thanksgiving, so guess what, no one was flying there!

The view from our right window, while flying across the Canyon.

There are a few corridors going across the Canyon in different directions and altitudes. The Air Tour guys can always go lower, the general aviation goes higher. We decided to fly the corridors, first heading from South to North and then, proceeding North to South, while moving West. For those who know the place and the rules we flew first the "Dragon Corridor" and then the "Fossil Canyon Corridor". All the journey was done at 10500 feet and 11500 feet (3500 meters), with the scenery 3000 feet (915 meters) below. After crossing the designated routes we flew West descending inbound Las Vegas while the sun was fading ahead of us.

The routing we did.(This does not accurately depicts the corridors, it is simplified for better understanding)

The Canyon tour is better describer by photos, other than words. Please enjoy and bear in mind this is only a selection of a much wider, much bigger, collection!

Patches of snow could already be seen in higher terrain.

Westbound to Vegas down the Canyon.

Big ridges and Mesas all around.

Close up on a big crack inside a valley.

Nature at its best, with the nicest light one could ask for.

The sun setting on the West, leaving the Canyon for Las Vegas.

After crossing such an overwhelming scenery from a bigger, higher and different point of view you get the feeling you are being spoiled because you're flying your own small aircraft with your best mates across one of natures' biggest achievements and you have the opportunity much people can only dream of. So once I left the mountains, valleys and canyons behind I was still stunned, amazed, to say the least and I was surely not asking for anything else other than a simple landing at Las Vegas. But then again, I was wrong. This was to become one of those flights one could never imagine of when he first flew for the first time.

Let me tell you, approaching Las Vegas on a clear fall evening with the sunset on the horizon has got to be one of the nicest things one might experience while flying. The controller took us from the West right over the big Hoover Dam and told us to proceed visual to the runway. So you guys have an idea, we were assigned a runway that makes you fly an approach path which is parallel to the Las Vegas Strip which is the main street in the city and the place where all the casinos and big hotels seat. So, as the video below might show, we had the best possible view over the city without paying a dime for a helicopter tour or something like that!

The arrival at Las Vegas came with a feeling of accomplishment and happiness since we had made it all work out just right. 5 guys, 2 aeroplanes, 2000 nautical miles (3700 km) and 22 hours of flying made us reach our destination and the most fantastic thing was that all worked out according to plan. But this was by no means the end of the journey, we were on ground to enjoy 2 full days of "sinful" party in Las Vegas. And then one would have to make the nice journey back! So there was still plenty to come but that is to be told on some other posts.

Flying in Arizona

After reaching Tucson the goal of this trip was getting closer, the Grand Canyon was just a few hours to the North.

Pima Air and Space Museum.

Just as side note Tucson was a great stop because we were able to have a full day around airplanes in one of the biggest museums and air force boneyards in the USA. Pima Air and Space Museum has loads of Air Force aircraft (275 aircraft) on a static display in the Desert and also includes some nice hangars which contain some well preserved World War II birds! Furthermore they have put together a tour that goes inside the actual Air Force Base boneyard - the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) - where you can see all the work that is done in preserving, storing, maintaining and destroying Air Force old and still in service airframes. The boneyard itself has more than 4000 airframes. After a day full of aviation related activities it was only right to go for a flight and so we moved to the airport to continue our journey to the Grand Canyon and Vegas.

The Famous BlackBird SR71 at Pima.

But before going there one should get used to flying in the mountains and valleys and so a stop was planed at one of the best known cities in Arizona, Sedona. Sedona seats in the middle of the arid Arizona and is best known for having the nicest views since it is right in a valley surrounded by red mountain tops with beautiful mesas and typical desert cactus. After reading about it on a guide book and learning a little bit more about the place on the internet it just sounded right to stop there on our way North. It was agreed that we would spend a night in Sedona to know the place prior to departing to the Canyon and so in the afternoon we departed Tucson inbound Sedona so we could do the 2 hour flight during the day in order to enjoy the most of the scenery. As Tucson seats at 2000 feet (610 meters) above mean sea level and it has mountains all around one had to climb to go past those mountain tops in order to fly the desired route to Sedona Airport which seats on top of the so called Airport Mesa (which is at 4830 feet (1450 meters) above mean sea level, but still is engulfed by the mountain tops) with a 180º view over the valley, to the opposite side of the town.

Our aircraft at Tucson prior departure to Sedona.

Departed from Tucson we started cruising at 10500 feet to clear all the terrain on our two hour flight. But somewhere in the middle it just felt right to go lower and enjoy a beautiful sunny afternoon and make the most of our scenery and so we cancelled the flight following and went down making our way visually at 3000 to 4000 feet down the valleys and rivers doing "slaloms" around the higher terrain. Elevations around us came to 10000 feet which made the ride quite interesting! After a while our friend caught up with us as they went through another valley which met up ahead with ours.

As you might understand the flight extended a little bit due to the fun we were having and we only landed when it was no longer worthy of enjoying the views due to the lack of sun rays and so we arrived in Sedona just after Dusk only to make a landing on runway 03, which has an upslope of 2.0% and at that time winds were gusting 26 Kts which accounted for some nice mechanical turbulence on final that put our skills to the test. It was the nicest ending for one of the nicest flights I have EVER had!

Enroute to Sedona flying in formation with the sunset behind.

We arrived at 6PM and the Fixed Base Operator (FBO) - the service provider on the airport - had just closed at 5PM but fortunately there was still a clerk inside to help us with our check in, even after hous! We got a car and moved down the road from the airport half a mile to the Sky Ranch Lodge which is a nice small and cozy lodge that has cool rooms and all an atmosphere of a mountain lodge with pool and hot tub. Obviously since it was kind of cold and windy it was only right to get the luggage to the rooms and jump to the hot tub right away. Yeah, one must relax after such a hard day, right?

We relaxed for half an hour on the tub doing the debriefing and planing our next flights and as the dinner time came we got ourselves some warm clothes and got down to the city for the first time, just to find a local diner which had a rather different motif based on area 51 and aliens.

The next day we woke up early in the morning to make the most out of our time in Sedona and got down to the town in search of a breakfast, which we were thinking it would be really hard since it was the day before Thanksgiving. We came across a place which was packed with people and instantly decided to stop there. We one knows, if it is packed, it has to be good! In fact it quite exceeded our expectations and I might say it probably was one of the best breakfasts I've had since I've been in the USA!

With our stomachs full of such a great meal it was only right to feed the remaining senses and so we drove around the Town going to the landmarks and in search of those great views that make Sedona well known, the result can be seen here:

General view from a Mesa with the city on the valley.

One of the many views from the roads of Sedona.

The Church of the Holy Cross, a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The team at the Church entrance.

One of the many elevations around.

Small monument close to the airport. At night the cross

is illuminated and can be seen from the town.

As our departure time approached we went up the Mesa to the airport to get the workhorses ready for the next major flight which was the main goal of our trip. The route would go through the Grand Canyon, after doing a refueling stop in Clark Memorial Field and would end in Las Vegas, the more Westerly point of our journey.

Parked at Sedona, getting ready for the next leg.

Further West - Arizona

First of all sorry for the delay but I've experienced some problems with the internet connections in the hotels I've been to and was not able to upload new posts, which I had already written, so here it goes!

View from the left back window enroute to

Laurel Field, Mississipi.

The Crew after sunset, inbound Stephenville.

After a well rested night in Stephenville,TX, we woke up early the next day to get the most out of our flying day and to reach our destination, Tucson before sunset. Tucson is located in Arizona and it would take us 7 hours of flight to get there. This place was chosen because the other day when we went to Spruce Creek a former American Airlines pilot recommended us to go there and check out the Pima Air and Space Museum, one of the biggest aircraft museum in the USA.

As we got to the airport on our courtesy car, an old Police Interceptor which was once a real police car and after being stripped out was now doing the job of a courtesy car for the local airport, we quickly loaded and refueled the aeroplanes but as soon as we started the exterior inspection on one of the Cessnas we noticed that the right main tire was flat. Not a big deal as we contacted the local maintenance hangar and the guys promptly inflated the tire without any charge. That event delayed our departure slightly but once we were on the air to our destination Sierra Blanca, located in New Mexico, everything was going smooth and easy and our expectations were high since this would be our first "mountain flying" experience.

View from the left wing, as we cross the peak at 11000 feet (3300 meters).

Refueling at Sierra Blanca.

Sierra Blanca is a neat airport located at 6800ft (2000 meters) above mean sea level enclosed within a wide valley, just outside of Roswell, NM (By the way, I did not see any ETs!). This would be just a refueling stop to continue our flight down to Tucson. After stretching our legs and looking around we set sail to Tucson but instead of doing a dull flight and since it was such a nice sunny day we decided to fly slightly North to check out the mountains and scenery together with the other aircraft. When I mean together I mean flying in formation! Check it out...

Getting Close!

Zooming the guys!

Coordinated right turn.

Breaking off Formation - 1.

Breaking off Formation - 2.

Breaking off Formation - 3.

The flight ended in the best possible way, for the first time we were able to land in formation and we did so at the invite of the controller in the Tucson International Airport. It was quite an eventful day with lots of flying and new experiences which naturally drained our energies out and so it was only wise to go to bed and rest, since the next day would be even more exciting!

Trip to The West - Destination Las Vegas

Dear readers, today a new adventure began, I’m currently on a Cessna 172 at 10500’ flying inbound Stephenville, Texas. Last Friday the 20th of November my long time friend Francisco arrived at Orlando to spend a few days with us. We got there and picked him up at the airport on 2 convertible Ford Mustangs which we drove back to the terminal where our Cessnas were parked for our flight back to Daytona. While on the move back to Daytona we got into a conversation about where we should fly to so that Francisco could experience the most of is trip. The route we decided upon after Francisco’s insistance shall take us to the West into the great american Desert and Mountains flying over Georgia, Alabama, Mississipi, Louisiana and stopping at Texas, Arizona and Nevada. The great landmarks to visit include the Grand Canyon, The Death Valley, Hoover Dam and Las Vegas.

Planed stops along the route to Las Vegas (click HERE to follow to google maps).

The planed route will give us approximately 50 hours flying roundtrip time and more than 5000 nautical miles (nm) of ground distance, all that to be done in around 6 days. Regarding the stops depicted above, there might still be a few changes, mainly on the Grand Canyon Area, where we want to do a few touch and goes and landings on peculiar strips which have not yet been chosen.

After doing all the planing and since the weather was not in its best conditions we decided to set sail Monday, the 23rd of November. And now here we are, the first leg of our journey was about 480nm long and took us from Daytona to Laurel Field in the Mississipi in 4h55min. After a pit stop to refuel and stretch our legs we are now on our second leg of today’s trip which is taking us to Stephenville in Texas. Curently Francisco is the Captain, flying left hand seat on the Cessna, taking care of all the flying and navigation. It will take us about 4h and 30min to go along the 450nm that set both places apart and we are estimating Stephenville at 10pm, local time. By the time we arrive we shall have a car with keys on the ignition that we’ll use to go to the hotel to grab something to eat and have a good night´s sleep because tomorrow we will have another long day.

I’ll keep you all posted and photos shall follow in a near future and as the guys have been saying, this might whell be the journey of a lifetime.

Go West - Key West

View from the Pier Bar at Key West by the sunset.

As a few of you guys might already know I've been down to the Keys during the end of September for the first time while the sun was high and the temperatures were hitting 35ºC and the beach was just awesome. After the first time almost two months have passed and along came the Winter which made the Keys look like a distant, old dream. But last week, as our friends were around and since they were out from a cloudy, dull winter back in Europe we decided to satisfy their biggest desire and lead them SouthWest, down to the Florida Keys Islands.

Unfortunately the weather was not as good as expected and low overcast ceilings with rain and gusty winds amid made the trip impossible during the first days and by Thursday we had almost given up on the idea of going down to "paradise". Still, Friday morning came up with a crystal clear blue sky, calm winds and temperatures of around 25ºC. With these great conditions available we hurried to the airport and got 2 aeroplanes and even lost our minds for a moment and decided to rent 2 C172SP G1000 to enjoy the most of the experience as possible and give the first flight chance on a G1000 glass cockpit to our friends.

Walkaround and refuel was complete in a matter of 15 minutes and after getting the guys at controls, flying left-hand seat (they are pilots, it was only fair to let them fly for themselves and experience the flight in the first hand) we took off from Daytona bound to Homestead, a small local airport close to Miami, which was chosen as a fuel stop due to its nice fuel price (much cheaper than the Keys). This leg was flown with the Auto Pilot ON, making full use of the G1000 capabilities - which included Flight Level Change for en route climb to 9500ft, Vnav profile descent into destination and GPS Flight Plan navigation - just like an airliner.

After Homestead we moved further South to Key Largo, the first island that makes the Keys and decided to start a scenic tour from there to Key West at low altitude, flying VFR by hand. And so we did, taking pictures of the scenery and enjoying the amazing coloured waters. But after a while we noticed that something was missing... "Wait a minute! We have 2 aircraft, we should be enjoying this tour all together!" One of us got on the radio and quickly solved the problem saying: "Hey guys, wait up and we will get together and fly in formation down to Key West! Maybe we will even be able to get some nice pics on the way!"

The result is better described by these photos below other than by text!

General View of the scenario en route.

Check out the shadows that the aircraft were casting as we were approaching each other.

Head photo taken from our right wing.

Catching up with the guys, slightly above their altitude.

Spot the US1 down there!

Once we got to Key West we hastily moved to the beach to take some baths and lay on the sun watching the speed boats race go by across the shore (it was speedboat race's weekend at Key West)! This felt beautifully regarding it was winter and just a week before it had been raining!

As the evening came it was time to grab something to eat by the dock to the north of the beach and so we walked through the streets and got there just in time to enjoy the sunset over a few drinks and snacks. Once we were satisfied we strolled down Duval Street, which is the main street in Key West, where the Speedboats' parade was being held. At the end of the street we got to the Southernmost Point of the continental USA which is perhaps the biggest icon in Key West.

The gang together at the Pier Bar.

Southernmost Point of Continental USA.

The Team all together after a great day!

After such a great day we jumped on the Cessnas for a 4 hour flight back do Daytona, this time on a more direct route only stopping to refuel at Airglades Airport, which is close to the well known Okeechobee Lake. On those four hours we were still able to do an RNAV Approach, an ILS and a handful of touch and goes. Our friends got to our place with only one hour to prepare the bags, eat something and take a bath, after that they were back on the road to Orlando for their flight back to the Old Continent.

Extra: For those interested in a video compilation summing up the flight check out this one made by my friend Vieira,

Friends' Arrival

Been having bad weather for a couple of days which delayed flying a little bit and furthermore all the aircraft got into 100 hour checks last week which made my life quite dull. Nevertheless to get some excitement into my life and keep my spirit high we got two friends over last week right from across the Atlantic. They got to Orlando International airport on a Jet Blue flight from New York where they previously arrived from Lisbon on an Airbus A330. They got pretty late into Orlando and had already flown 9 hours and two legs so in order to save them some time on the journey to Daytona we decided to fly and pick them up at Orlando International. Since all aircraft were in maintenance we had to take a Cessna 182T G1000 together with a C172SP. I was flying left hand seat to Orlando on the 182 and then back right hand seat on the 172. We arrived in Orlando 10 minutes past their landing time and after leaving the aircraft on the FBO (Fixed Base Operator) we rushed to the main terminal to pick them up on a designated van we got on the FBO.

Our Aircraft on the ground at Orlando.

After 9 hours flying they still had to fly 45 minutes more to Daytona on these small machines, lucky them, they had 2 designated pilots to fly them to their final destination!

We got back and loaded the planes just in time to get on the air prior to 1A.M.. After a short hop and an uneventful flight we got to our place at around 2A.M.. It sounds kind of late but for us it was like early morning and we still had time to enjoy a fresh bottle of red Portuguese wine brought by our friends as a gift. For us it was a simple flight but unique flight, but for them the adventure had just begun with a 1 hour night flight on a Cessna for the first time.

They spent the last week with us and during those 7 days they "logged" almost 18 hours flight time and had quite a few surprises and adventures, from flying VFR at night, to flying full IFR under rain and even shooting ILS approaches or doing formation flying at 500 feet enroute to Key West.

I just posted this to explain why I've been away last week and to get you ready for the next post describing the adventures during our last week. I will include photos and probably video footage to enrich the next post!

La Nouvelle-Orléans

New Orleans Skyline View.

La Nouvelle-Orléans, also known as New Orleans is the largest city of Louisiana and it is considered one of the oldest and most unique cities in the United States. Built in the shores of the Mississippi river by a french settlement it is known for its multicultural and multilingual heritage which provided the city with a unique cuisine, architecture and musical background which is most uncommon in the United States.As you might have seen this makes the city quite an interesting place to visit, even more if you are European, since you might identify yourself with the city and its history. As we are 4 European guys on vacation this seemed as the right place to go and so we got on our 2 Cessnas and set sail to Louisiana which we reached after crossing 2 states (Florida and Alabama), flying over the Gulf of Mexico and one time zone, all that done in slightly more than 5 hours of flight. We landed on the Lakefront Airport which is quite close to the city and after getting a map and directions we jumped on a brand new Chrysler Seabring with only 200 miles and went downtown. The nicest and oldest zone of the city is Vieux Carré (French Quarter) which is the place where all the Spanish and French influence can be found. All the tourists go there and can tour around by foot checking the Voodoo stores, Jazz Cafeés or the typical architecture of the quarter.

The guys walking around the French Quarter.

New Orleans Streetcar.

Since we were hungry the first thing we did was to get inside Central Grocery, an Italian shop, to grab a Muffuletta.

Inside Central Grocery Store.

Back on track we strolled around the French Quarter, the Jackson Square and the Saint Louis Cemetery which is the oldest and most popular cemetery in New Orleans.

Jackson Square general view. Saint Louis Cathedral can be sean in the background.

General Jackson. War hero of the battle of New Orleans.

Saint Louis Cemetery.

This is a Roman Catholic Cemetery which was greatly influenced by the Spanish and French and has above ground tombs, not common to the Americans. These tombs are also above ground level due to the usual floods of the Mississippi.

Me stranded on the railroad, ready to be run over by a Streetcar.

Mississippi Shore.

Sidewalk on the shore of the Mississippi. Spot the guy playing his guitar.

Once all theses historical places were seen we decided to tour the Mississippi River with style and got aboard the last Steamboat which still sails the Mississippi River nowadays. We did a 2 hour ride in the Natchez Steamer and while on that tour down and up river we saw Domino's Sugar Factory, one of the oldest and biggest Sugar factories in the World, the docks extending over New Orleans harbour, the Navy Reserve Base, one of the biggest oil refineries in the Western Hemisphere, a few houses that were torn down by the Katrina, the destroyed levee system that failed during the hurricane and flooded the city and the last but not least we had a privileged view over the city.

Natchez Steamer.

Detail on the Natchez big paddle.

Domino's Sugar Factory.

Back on the dock it was time to grab an espresso at The Market Cafe and listen to some live Jazz (what else in the birthplace of such a beautiful music style?). We sat there for a while enjoying some well known hits like "The Girl From Ipanema" and "When The Saints Go Marching In" and my friend Nuno even bought a CD from the band. To finish up and get a broader idea of the city we got on the car and while the sun was setting we drove through the business district, through all the tall buildings and past the Louisiana Superdome, the home of "The New Orleans Saints" which is the local American football team.

General View of a business district street.

Louisiana Superdome.

As a footnote, after the hurricane Katrina, all the people were gathered at the Superdome and an operation basis was mounted there to rescue and feed all the ones in need. After such a long touring day it was time to it the "road" and so we got back to the aeroplane and after taking care of all the paperwork, fees and doing the walkaround we were back on the air for a quite dull and uneventful flight back home. We reached Daytona Beach at 3 A.M., just in time to get the same departure controller that released our flight to New Orleans back on his workstation. He was the one who did recognize us and impressed by the late hour said:

- "Were you the guys that were heading out to New Orleans this morning?"

- Yes We were sir!

- "And did you ever make it there? I heard the wind was quite strong today..."

- Yes We did, 5 hours of flight time each way.

- "Geez..."

- Yeah, long day at the office!

After 22 hours and 30 minutes awake we finally got home almost sleepwalking. We were quite exhausted but I can assure you it was one of the best flights and adventures I have ever had and it was the longest for sure.

Regarding New Orleans, it is quite often said to be one of the poorest cities in the USA but I must tell you that is not true, the city is full of life, colour and history, it has European heritage and style and it is surely one of the most ethnic cities I've seen. On a sunny day you will surely enjoy New Orleans as I did, with its greatness and grace!