FarewellFire
DSC03917
"Hello Las Vegas."
Since me being cheap had prevented me from fuelling up for a non-stop ride to Las Vegas I'd planned a fuel stop enroute. Landed at Fresno and got some royal treatment by the good fellows of Landmark (they even literally rolled out a red carpet next to the plane). I swallowed the ridiculous FAA Safety Fee of five bucks that seems to be enforced at any airport with a "International" suffix slapped on to the airport name and told myself that it was worth the dollars just to have the name in my logbook (The airport acronym is FAT).
If I'd been on a more powerful plane I could've grabbed my oxygen mask and flown over the Sierra Nevadas and saved a few hours of flying but I opted to take the safe route around, flying south and then turning east and finally northeast. Even passed the Sierra Nevadas there are a bunch of military areas that are restricted but since I had nothing better to do (and honestly, the flight wasn't that exciting) I asked a flight controller of the status of these controlled zones. After a few minutes he came back to me, explaining that they were "hot" (in active use by the military) but that they'd allow me through anyway which took me by surprise. Off I went.
The bad part was that big parts of the zone was in the radio shadow of the mighty mountains so when I finally got out and contacted Las Vegas control there was a couple of minutes of confusion where the controllers just kept sending me around since they had no idea where I came from. Finally someone took pity on me and led me west of the Strip to my final destination - Las Vegas North.
I have never experienced as bad crosswinds as I did this late afternoon in Vegas and seeing that the city itself probably didn't have too much to offer anyway I decided to do a couple of landings just for practice. After three touch 'n go's I had enough (like I said, these winds didn't mess around) and I made a full stop landing.
The super friendly people (quite the dramatic difference to the staff at Henderson, further south of the city, where I'd landed before) welcomed me and even drove me to my hotel close by the field.
In the picture above you have McCarran International to the right (hello steep parking fees!) and the Vegas Strip with all the classic hotels running from right to left, culminating with the Stratosphere where I had dinner in 2008 and a guy tried talking me into joining a UFO cult, the same guy also was my limousine driver at the time.
DSC03917
"Hello Las Vegas."
Since me being cheap had prevented me from fuelling up for a non-stop ride to Las Vegas I'd planned a fuel stop enroute. Landed at Fresno and got some royal treatment by the good fellows of Landmark (they even literally rolled out a red carpet next to the plane). I swallowed the ridiculous FAA Safety Fee of five bucks that seems to be enforced at any airport with a "International" suffix slapped on to the airport name and told myself that it was worth the dollars just to have the name in my logbook (The airport acronym is FAT).
If I'd been on a more powerful plane I could've grabbed my oxygen mask and flown over the Sierra Nevadas and saved a few hours of flying but I opted to take the safe route around, flying south and then turning east and finally northeast. Even passed the Sierra Nevadas there are a bunch of military areas that are restricted but since I had nothing better to do (and honestly, the flight wasn't that exciting) I asked a flight controller of the status of these controlled zones. After a few minutes he came back to me, explaining that they were "hot" (in active use by the military) but that they'd allow me through anyway which took me by surprise. Off I went.
The bad part was that big parts of the zone was in the radio shadow of the mighty mountains so when I finally got out and contacted Las Vegas control there was a couple of minutes of confusion where the controllers just kept sending me around since they had no idea where I came from. Finally someone took pity on me and led me west of the Strip to my final destination - Las Vegas North.
I have never experienced as bad crosswinds as I did this late afternoon in Vegas and seeing that the city itself probably didn't have too much to offer anyway I decided to do a couple of landings just for practice. After three touch 'n go's I had enough (like I said, these winds didn't mess around) and I made a full stop landing.
The super friendly people (quite the dramatic difference to the staff at Henderson, further south of the city, where I'd landed before) welcomed me and even drove me to my hotel close by the field.
In the picture above you have McCarran International to the right (hello steep parking fees!) and the Vegas Strip with all the classic hotels running from right to left, culminating with the Stratosphere where I had dinner in 2008 and a guy tried talking me into joining a UFO cult, the same guy also was my limousine driver at the time.