Tracing the Flight of the Beast in "The Dog Stars"

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.

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My book Lessons from Piloting for 45 Years covers close shaves over more than four decades involving thunderstorms, mountain weather, faulty runways, equipment failures, and more.

Learn key strategies for coping with these dangerous situations. They include two tools called Sully's Rule and Forecast Evaluation.

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 will just talk about our route, which followed much of the flight described in the book, except that we reversed direction and started at a different airport. The reason for the reversal is simple. The Rockies typically have westerly winds. If we start in Denver, we must climb rapidly from 5,000 ft to 14,000 ft, all the while suffering from the downdraft produced by the westerly winds across the mountains. There is no way that our Zenith 601HDS, with 80 hp Rotax 912 engine, can do this.

We begin at Montrose, CO, which is NOT the terminal location of the flight in the book. We had reached Montrose after tracing the Dolores River from Cortez, CO. That trip is described in a separate post.

The takeoff at 7:30 am at Montrose goes well. The air is still cool, and the plane accelerates rapidly, lifts off, and climbs at more than 500 ft/min. Turning north, we quickly pick up the Gunnison River. Due to the blinding sun rising in the East, the river glistens like molten silver.

Gunnison River north of Montrose, CO.

Generally, our route goes northeast, but has a number of twists and turns so that we see a number of canyons carved by various rivers.

Route from Montrose, CO, left bottom, to Erie, CO, right top.

We know that we must climb eventually to 14,000 ft. Accordingly, we have added altitude markers to the sectional that tell how high we must be where. We take care that the route segment with flight beyond 12,500 ft will not take more than the legal limit of 30 min. We do not carry oxygen since we had hiked in Colorado a few weeks earlier up to 13,000 ft. If we can climb up to that altitude, we surely can sit in a plane at 14,000 ft and fiddle with buttons and switches without ill effect.

At Bowie, CO, we turn east and follow the North Fork Gunnison River.

North Fork Gunnison River between Bowie and Oliver, CO.

Continuing north, we cross the 9,000 ft McClure Pass, then follow the valley of the Crystal River to Carbondale, CO. Just as we exit the valley, we do a gentle 360 deg turn to take in the scenery. The valley of the Crystal River lies to the South.

Crystal River south of Carbondale, CO.

Nearby to the east is Mt. Sopris at 12,953 ft. It is still higher than us at 11,000 ft. But as we continue to climb, such mountains will soon be below us.

Mt. Sopris, 12,953 ft, south of Carbondale, CO.

Carbondale is embedded in green fields. If it weren't for the winters, this would be a beautiful place to live.

Carbondale, CO.

We proceed northeast towards Gypsum, CO, but bypass the airport traffic area of the controlled airport. At Dotsero, CO, we pick up and follow the Colorado River in northeasterly direction.

Colorado River north of Dotsero, CO.

The mountains are rising, and so are we. Shortly before Kremmling, CO, we begin the climb from 12,500 ft to 14,000 ft. So far, we have climbed at 4,600 rpm and 65 kts at a quite reduced power setting. Now we increase this to 4,700 rpm, but drop to 60 kts. This produces a steady climb to 14,000 ft. At that point, we test the limit of the engine. We go to full power, hold the speed at 60 kts, and watch the climb rate. Lo and behold, we still get 250 ft/min. A quick calculation tells the density altitude is 16,500 ft, and that the engine at full throttle puts out a meager 30 hp. So, with 30 hp, the plane climbs 250 ft/min at 16,500 ft density altitude! Amazing, and not in small part due to the fact that we have maybe 30 lbs of luggage, tools, etc., while remaining fuel weighs about 80 lbs.

At 14,000 ft, we can see quite far. 

View south from Tabernash, CO.

Far below are the ski slopes of Winter Park.

Ski slopes of Winter Park CO.

Turning east at the 11,671 ft Rollins Pass, we slow down and savor the scenery. The title photo is the view north. Here are two detail photos in the same direction.

Views north from Rollins Pass...

Instead of landing at the Erie airport, we proceed to Greeley, CO, with two long runways offset by 90 deg. Refueling at noon, we decide to start the trip home to Dallas.

A surprise comes up in the broad expanse of Kansas. We have seen signs of aliens in Texas and New Mexico before. Now we have evidence of aliens in Kansas, not in the form of crop circles, but of dirt circles, a novel means of alien communication. We first cannot make out the drawing, but when we later turn the photo upside down, the meaning becomes clear.

Alien dirt circles in a large field, displayed upside down.

There is nothing to be frightened about: The drawing shows the Atlantic City boardwalk with setting sun. Evidently, aliens have become masters of artful communication.

Every post has a message. Here, we have two of them. First, if you have not read Heller's book, by all means do so. It's a terrific story. Every person to whom my wife or I have recommended the book, has come back thanking us for suggesting that great book. Second, whenever you have time, fire up your plane and fly the Colorado high country. It's a trip you will never forget.


Coda

When we mailed this post to Peter Heller, he responded:

Klaus,

How cool that you flew the route. This is one of the coolest responses to the novel I've received. Every one of your photos brought a memory--I've seen the country from that angle many times. Thanks very much for sharing this with me, and on your post. And happy flying, and reading!

Here's Triple Three Alpha in Paonia.

Peter Heller's Cessna 182, the role model for the Beast in "The Dog Stars"

All best,

Peter

Peter Heller

Author 

The Dog Stars

The Painter

from Vintage and Knopf

Contributing Editor: Outside, Men's Journal

peterheller.net

Have any questions or feedback about this post? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Want to learn more about flying?

  

My book Lessons from Piloting for 45 Years covers close shaves over more than four decades involving thunderstorms, mountain weather, faulty runways, equipment failures, and more.

Learn key strategies for coping with these dangerous situations. They include two tools called Sully's Rule and Forecast Evaluation.