Passion for Flight

View north from Rollins Pass, CO. "The Dog Stars" is a terrific sci-fi book by Peter Heller. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, it tells the story of a survivor pilot who with his Cessna 182 Skylane, affectionately called the Beast, tries to make a difference. The author is himself a pilot and has made sure that all technical discussions are correct, down to the minutest detail such as pulling mixture control. We are not giving anything away by saying that the story begins at the Erie airport (EIK), which is just a few miles NW of Denver, CO. You learn that on the first few pages of the book. We are also not spoiling your reading of the book by saying that a trip going west from Erie across the Rockies becomes important. That trip intrigued us to the point where we drew the course on a Denver sectional, using the detailed narration in the book to identify waypoints.  Now we are not going to tell what happens on that trip of the book and where it terminates. Instead, we

Dolores River near the city of Dove Creek, CO. Dark brown color on sectionals, indicating high elevations, used to worry us. After all, our Zenith 601HDS has a Rotax 912 engine whose 80 hp output at sea level rapidly declines with altitude. For example, for 14,000 ft altitude at 45 deg F, density altitude is 16,500 ft; Rotax engine output then drops from 80 hp to 30 hp. But maybe flying with minimal luggage and without a passenger, the plane could be coaxed to the higher elevations. This summer, we tested that idea on an extended trip to Colorado. This post is the first of two reporting the results. We fly to Grants, NM, to meet the FBO again, this time consisting of three very friendly and helpful persons: Ray, Lynn, and Rory. Grants always has hangar space available and allows a very early departure: We just open the hangar, pull out the plane to get under a strong ramp light, preflight, and take off, without anybody else in attendance.  Shortly after landing at Grants, Rory