Vegas Red Bull Air Races

We just winged our way back into Denver from Las Vegas. We spent five days in sin city for the Red Bull Air Races. It was, to date, the most amazing trip yet in Wablosa. We experienced and seen things on this trip that are hard to put into words. It was very surreal, and at times harrowing. (Don't forget to click on photos for a larger view...the panoramics are quite cool)

As the day of departure got closer, I was doing my weather monitoring as usual. There was a front that was scheduled to move into the Denver area around 3pm on our day of departure. I concluded it should be no factor as we were planning on being wheels up around 7am. As with most things weather related...the forecast changed. It now was scheduled to arrive about 6am. The forecast was saying, IFR was due for not only Thursday, but also Friday. We had to get out before the storm hit or we weren't going to be flying anywhere. 

I cooked up a plan to leave at 5am. Of course, its still dark until about 7am. Not planning to overfly the mountains at night, we headed south along the foothills and flat ground until daybreak. We would then pick our way through the overcast if possible to the west and over the mountains. The Rockies are less daunting further south in New Mexico, which would also help the cause. 

Sheryl was a trooper, agreeing to get up at 3am, and sure enough we were airborne by 5am. The air was smooth and it was quite peaceful as we buzzed along waiting for the sun to peak out in the east. We got down around Trinidad and as the light opened up the view, we headed southwest into the mountains. You'll see from these pics...at times it looked fine, and other times it looked like turning around was the best option.

Navigating through this maze of clouds, with granite all around us, was daunting. I had never experienced a flight quite like this and learned a lot...good and bad. I always felt like I had an escape plan...an "out" if things got too dicey. That was imperative. The advanced avionics on board made this possible...dual, redundant GPS, XM weather and autopilot make this much safer and I wouldn't have attempted it without them.

In the end, I think my plan was sound...head south and then take a "look see". I'll admit my execution was not quite as good. I was squeezed by cloud layers more than I was comfortable with and several times turned back. To the south was clear, I should have diverted further south before heading west to alleviate this danger. A little extra flying time, in the grand scheme of things, is not that big of a deal. 

One of the times we were "on top"...although the picture is deceiving. I could see the ground ahead of us, this cloud layer was short lived, but it sure made a nice picture. 

This was a great shot by Sheryl of a rainbow as we were coming out of Farmington, NM. It actually was a full rainbow, although you don't see it all in this pic. Nice front row seat to all that mother nature has to offer.

Once we were beyond the mountains...it cleared right up as I knew it would. I was very relieved to have the Rockies behind us, while I pondered the lessons learned. 

Here is our Delorme flight path out and back. You can see from how my flight path was zig zagging that I was having a hard time finding a clear way through. We ended up stopping for fuel in Farmington, NM. This trip over the mountains was one I won't soon forget.

We had four airports on our bucket list for this trip: Monument Valley, Page, AZ, Grand Canyon, and Sedona, AZ. We only achieved two of the four because of weather...and fatigue. Monument valley was socked in so we skipped it without hesitation. But Page was in play...this is the airport at Lake Powell. Here is a picture from our stop on the way back...we grabbed the crew car, checked out Glen Canyon Dam and had lunch.

A couple more great shots from this beautiful dam and the canyon beyond it. We wanted to go down to the marina for lunch but they wanted $15 just to drive into the park. Sorry, not this time, which was a bummer.

The jet center FBO is quite nice. They treated us well, although they had high avgas prices. 

Once we landed in Page, I couldn't get enough of the view, it was gorgeous! This place is a must see in your plane.

Looking down the wing in a steep banked turn over Lake Powell. We took a scenic tour around the lake and it was breathtaking! This ended up being my favorite part of the trip..even over the next destination, the Grand Canyon.

These pics don't do it justice (I keep forgetting to bring my nice camera...the iPhone just doesn't cut it sometimes), but take my word for it, this place is simply amazing.

And some more scenic shots from the ramp...

From Lake Powell, you are essentially at the start of the Grand Canyon. We traveled along the rim, staying out of the restricted airspace over the canyon until we got to the Dragon Corridor. This is a GA crossing path over the Canyon. Flying over the Canyon in a plane you built is a right of passage for some...including myself. It was very cool, and the views were amazing as you'd guess. Before we knew it, we had successfully crossed, I let out a small sigh of relief and we were descending to pattern altitude at Grand Canyon airport. 

After a complimentary shuttle ride about a half mile into town (we walked back), we watched a very good IMAX film about the GC and then had lunch. A little bit of souvenir shopping and we were on our way back to the plane. At this point, we were pretty tired and it was about 2pm. Sedona would have to wait for another time, we were kinda pooped and ready to land in Vegas, check into our resort hotel and have a cold drink by the pool! Let me tell you...that was nice as we talked about our adventures of the day.

Our resort, Tahiti Village, was recommended by some RV Friends of ours...Sean "Goose" and Mercedes "Cougar" from the West Coast Ravens formation team. They said it was a nice place for a reasonable price. They did not lie...$77 for a one bedroom suite with full kitchen at a resort with a large pool and lazy river. We will visit again, that's for sure and certain, definitely a good value this time of year. 

A panoramic shot of the speedway...hard to see, but Sheryl, Diana and I are standing on the finish line. 

The view from our seats. Although the trip was great, the races were a mixed bag. It was hotter than heck, about 90 degs so we kind of cooked in the stands with no shade. Saturday was a long day in the sun. Sunday, which is the best race day, was cut short by high winds. They actually had to declare the winner from the qualifying run the day before. Pete McLeod got his first win this way, not the best way to do it but it wasn't his fault and I think it was the only fair way to declare a winner...although some disagreed.

While in Vegas, I took longtime family friend Rachelle for a short ride. She is taking flying lessons and really was excited for the flight. I do believe that is an RV grin I see! She asked how much a plane like this would cost her? Uh oh...thats how it starts! Thanks for sharing the cockpit with me Rachelle and good luck in your flying career.

Photo by Red Bull Air Races

Try as we might, after passing over Hoover Dam twice, we did not get any good photos. So, here is a cool promo shot by Red Bull Air Races to fill the void. The red plane is Canadian Pete McLeod...who became my favorite RBAR pilot while watching him in Dallas. 

These two pictures were actually as we came back to Denver. Again, we hit the same low ceiling, hanging at about 12,000 ft. I wish I had brought the oxygen so we could've had the option to go over them. Notice that small sliver of blue on the horizon, thats what I had to work with. We ended up squeezing through Rollins pass with just about 500' to spare from mountain to cloud layer. Our alternative plan was to land in Granby and wait it out. As you can see, the Rockies got some snow while we were gone...winter is coming.

This was a nice canyon view as a lone cloud added some depth to the photo. 

On a side note, twice on this trip, I got a call from the tower asking me after landing what kind of "experimental" my plane was?? Our ramp guy in Henderson even asked if it was an Extra (clearly doesn't know his aircraft)? Must be the paint scheme...throws 'em off! 

Monday morning departure, we were exhausted but happy to be packing the plane for home. It was a darn fun trip with great company (quite a few friends/family were out there) and another shining example of exactly why we build these puppies! 

Be sure and check out the google map at the bottom of the page, we now have 25 airport pins in our collection. Most of them have personal notes added for reference. I got this idea from Mr. Scott Mills and others...I'm becoming obssessed with "collecting" airports! Wait until you start your own collection...you'll understand.

As we dropped off Sheryl's twin sister and husband at the airport, Sheryl looked at the zoo of humanity swarming around and turns to me and says with sad eyes..."I feel sorry for them...they have to fly commercial." :) I couldn't agree more as we both smiled, well said girlfriend, that should be a bumper sticker! Carry on!!