Leadville and Beyond!

OK, so before I went to bed Friday night the Flight Service people didn't have any good news for me. Snow, mountain obscuration and Ice would be the weather I was going to wake up to. In case you didn't know that's not good. Snow means bad visibility, mountain obscuration means you can't see the mountain tops and Ice means your airplane gets covered with Ice if you enter the clouds. The Ice is a double whammy: It destroys the lift of the wings while adding drag and adds weight to the plane. Ice is nasty stuff. Stay away!

I get more weather info in the morning and the story isn't much better. Leadville, 70 Northwest is showing good weather but when I look outside it's snowing and I can't see the mountains around me. Crap. Well I have nothing better to do so I head to the airport and see what the weather is doing. The basic deal I get from Flight Service is that if I can get to Leadville I'll be able to get West and on to my destination... Long Beach, CA... Which seems like an awfully long way away.

As I'm sitting looking at the light snow fall on my plane I notice a tumble weed blow across the airport. I thought they only existed in TV commercials. After a few more roll across I realize that they actually do exist and I also notice that the snow is starting to end and I looking at the local Radar it is shows a band of snow has moved through and that I may have a chance to escape. The weather continues to improve as I can see up the valley. 40 miles away is Salida which is reporting good weather according to their automated weather system that you can call on the phone. Leadville is showing good weather too.

A little more on Leadville: Small town in the Colorado Rockies at 10,000 feet above sea level and it also happens to have an airport that is the highest in North America. Aircraft performance degrades as you go higher in elevation since there is less air for the engine to make power with and less air for the wings to make lift. This all means that getting in and out of Leadville airport is much more challenging than most airports. Leadville is something of a legend. Most people never fly higher than 10,000 feet, landing at 10,000 feet is unheard of... Except at Leadville. The name for airplanes at least is fitting.

So with the weather getting good enough to depart comfortably from Canon City I set out for Salida which is also showing good weather. A mere 40 miles away, 15 minutes by air. I can't go above the mountains because the tops are in the clouds so I follow the road out of Canon City up the valley to Salida. I'm so nervous on this part of the trip: more nervous than any other part. Every pilot I know warns me to be wary of mountain weather and here I am up to my eyeballs in it. I Know the weather is good where I am, I know it's good where I'm going and its not that far between... from looking at the radar if I have to turn back I don't have any reason to believe the weather is going to turn south in the 15 minutes. Still this is a little nerve racking.

I follow the roads, up the valleys, see Salida airport in good weather just as advertised. From there I can see the next airport, Central Colorado, and from there it's only another 30 miles north to Leadville. I turn north and pass Central Colorado Airport and a few minutes later Leadville airport comes into the windscreen. Sucess!
Where I am now the mountain tops are covered in cloud but to the north from Leadville I can see Blue Sky! I'm home free.

I land Leadville, fuel the plane, call Flight Service and they verify what I already know: Leave the valley to the North, turn west and you've got good weather all the way to Long Beach. Not only am I going to make it to my destination, I got to land at Leadville! Jackpot!

I get a free certificate from nice lady at Leadville to certify that I landed at the highest airport in North America! Then I set out for North Las Vegas airport for cheap fuel.

The takeoff from Leadville wasn't normal by any stretch: Normally I'm off the ground and climbing in 300 feet but at Leadville the plane struggles to get off the ground in 1000 feet. For this altitude getting off the ground in 1,000 feet is amazing.

The picture with the Ski Trails is Aspen Resort and if you Click on it you'll see a long range radar in the foreground.

From Leadville I head north for a few miles then west past Aspen, then Grand Junction, Moab, Bryce Canyon, Lake Mead, Nellis Air Force Base(home of the high priests), and land North Las Vegas.

Until about 50 miles from Vegas there isn't any sign of haze but as you get closer to Vegas the temperature starts to rise, the air can carry more moisture and there is some component of air pollution. This makes Haze. Nothing too bad but Haze none the less. Interesting to see changes like that.

I fuel up and North Las Vegas, call my brother and tell him when I'm going to be there and depart for Long Beach.

While waiting for departure at Vegas I peel the tape off my air vent, it's getting warm and it will be warmer in the LA basin. After I peel the tape off I hear the incredible sucking sound. I'm a little startled that that kind of noise is coming from the air vent. I cover it back with my hand and it doesn't go away. Now I'm really spooked. What the hell is going on? then I look behind me and there is a 4 engine jet bearing down on me waiting to depart as well. I'm relieved but halfway worried I'm going to get sucked into his engines. I don't get sucked in and all is well.

A little over an hour and I'm getting ready to enter the LA basin. Surrounded by mountains to the north and east and water everywhere else LA sets up some interest weather. The Desert outside of the mountains has no clouds and a small amount of haze. In the basin there is plenty of Haze, clouds at 5000 feet that I will have to pick through and airspace that is so complicated that you need a PHD to understand it completely. Try to picture an upside wedding cake with 5 tiers: That would be the forbidden airspace of LAX. Then for good measure pack 2 more 3 tier cakes under the first cake and finally pack another 7 or so short cylinder type cakes under the first cake. The airspace that I'm allowed to fly in is outside of all of the cakes. Fun Huh?

So I pass over the mountains, ask for clearance into the wedding cakes, get denied and commence picking my way down through the most complicated airspace I've ever seen. Painful but all went well. I landed Long Beach at 2 PM the day after I left from DC. Not Bad. Good fun too.

I eat a late lunch with my brother and then take him for a ride. I probably should have rested but he wanted a ride... All went well.