Diving over the field so Andrew can see where it is

Came back around for an actual landing approach

Had to circle around two times to let Andrew catch up after I passed him and forgot to throttle back

Snow has melted at Big Creek. Andrew is now on XBox and has swapped to the XCub

Heading up Big Creek to the east

Catching sight of our first strip. This is going to be fun!

went around and am now coming in on final. Watch out for that....

Followed Andrew in on final to see how he did. Made it down okay

Came back around from the other end but you couldn't approach low enough and still see the runway, ended up way off to the left - that's the end of it just out my right window

Second attempt was better but still ended up getting blown into the trees by the crosswind

Finally made it down on my third attempt

Then I flew into the trees taking off. Dammit!

Restarted in the air and just went straight for the next strip

Steady... STEADY.... Andrew does the flyby this time overhead to watch

Mentioned how moody the clouds look off in the distance but Andrew said he didn't have any so I said go set your weather preset to Scattered (live weather was being wonky). This kicked him out of the flight session. D'oh!

Clouds ahead, time to dip back down into the valleys

Airfield in sight

Noooooooooooooooooo

Hazy day at Flying B

Brrrrr chill - icing on the wings as I wait for my friend Andrew to work through some technical issues

Looking down on Flying B Ranch as I setup for my diving turn to base and final

Ice on the propeller, too. Thankfully it and the ice on the wings did not seem to impact performance all that much

Approached from the opposite side this time

Finally we can both depart together

Passing over the strip I can see the windsock sticking straight out - you can't see this from the end of the runway or when parked near the cabin - I hadn't realized the wind was *that* strong

Keeping track of when and where the river forks was the primary means of navigation

Coming around a bend and spotting the air field of Pistol Creek Ranch

Tried to fly straight in but was going too fast still on final approach so had to go around

Coming back around at a more level attitude but this also makes it harder to spot the runway amongst the trees

Andrew passed me on short final and we managed to touch down right at the same time this close to one another. Was cool

Wind was from the left and my wing tipped up a bit but I was able to get it under control quickly. Andrew on the other hand had a bit more trouble as he careened towards the trees...

Was easy enough to push him out and begin taxiing back for takeoff

Enjoying the scenery at Pistol Creek Ranch

Enjoying the scenery at Pistol Creek Ranch

Ready to depart from Pistol Creek Ranch to continue along the Middle Fork River towards our next destination only 11nm away

Passing Thomas Creek air strip. Too EZ

Spotting Lower Loon Creek air strip, one of the more well-known back-country fields in the state, also the entire country

Lower Loon Creek is an enhanced airport in the default sim so is a popular bush flying destination and we saw some aircraft already on the ground as we passed over to setup for approach

Andrew already on approach as I fly out to turn around

Lining up for final as the aircraft, three of them now, start their takeoffs down the runway as Andrew waits off to the side

Down okay on the ground rolling out. Two aircraft recede into the distance... wait weren't there three?

Yiiikes!! Just as I turn around to taxi back the third aircraft comes whizzing past me, taking off for the second time

Poor guy failed again. I feel him, I had take off woes of my own earlier today. This time he turns around and taxis back a little bit to get more room for his roll

Fourth time the charm?? This time he used the pushback feature to move his plane almost to the point where it was going to tip backwards down the embankment into the river! One of his buddies did a high-speed low altitude pass that surprised both of us as we were looking at this guy wondering when he was going to take off

The aircraft that buzzed us pulled up in an immemelan loop and came back for another pass. Was definitely not a Beechcraft. Likely a Reno Air Race aircraft, they all probably were and I didn't have the models to match them. Also looks like either someone else crashed or another person joined up

Oh for.... they either picked up another friend or someone else crashed again...

Sweeping through the river ravine is now getting a bit more dicey with the fading light

The other aircraft flew by again as we were setting up for landing at Flying B Ranch 11nm up the river. I gave them a wing wag as we passed. Andrew is on the ground here after initially picking the nearby Bernard USFS to set down

On final to Flying B Ranch, just making it down before it was too dark to really see it

Andrew hopped over and we could not progress any further with the encroaching darkness. Was a good place to stop over though