Passion for Flight

Flight Design Panel The panel in Philip's Flight Design CTLS is intimidating. There is information about engine performance, weather, temporary flight restrictions (TFRs), airports, routes, airplane attitude and direction, speed... a lot of stuff to digest and stay on top of. The yellow label centered at the top admonishes, "Read manuals before flight." Notice the plural "manuals." It's a rule that reminds me of a jocular warning label in some old Piper Cubs: "Do not exceed mach 1.5 in inverted flight." How did we get into such a complicated airplane? It begins with a flight with our Zenith 601 HDS, N314LB, from Dallas to Deming, NM, under adverse wind conditions. The best choice is staying low, indeed very low, for the entire route.  Over the desert of West Texas, this means flying 500 ft AGL. There are no towers or other obstructions, and flying so low is safe, indeed exhilarating. US 62 going west from the Guadalupe Mountains across th

Grand Canyon National Park Near Gallup, NM, a violent storm digs into the sand of the desert a few miles east of our southeasterly route. Strong gusts pitch up plumes of sand past 13,000 ft MSL, above our altitude of 11,500 ft MSL. This is the second close-up sandstorm today. We avoid the sand just as we did earlier, by staying over forested terrain. Half an hour later, we approach Grants, NM, the second and final stop of the day. Wes, the FBO, says “Wind 220 degrees at 20 kts, gusting to 27.” Oh my, the single runway at Grants is 13-31, so this is a severe 90 deg crosswind. As a safeguard for that situation, we have planned as alternate the Double Eagle airport in Albuquerque, which lies 55 nm east and has two runways. But before we give up on Grants and go to the backup plan, we call back for verification. Wes says “The winds are bouncing around. Wind is now 170 degrees at 18 kts, gusting to 24.” For runway 13, this is an easily  managed crosswind. We line up for