Shabbos was pleasant here at Ak-Chin airport. In the afternoon, Wayne flew, as did local trainer Mo and a few other pilots from the Phoenix area. It was practically a mini fly-in!
This morning I flew solo flight #39. I flew “around the block” over irrigated fields and farms. Here’s takeoff:
M practiced a couple skateboarding tricks that don’t require rolling:
We installed the white sun shade we purchased at Quartzsite. It goes across both slides and should keep the sunward side of the RV cool:
Towards sunset, Wayne and Mo went out for a flight:
I flew solo flight #40. It was so windy that, once aloft, my groundspeed was only 4 MPH. After going forward for a few minutes, I would turn into the wind, race downwind at 35 MPH, then turn into the wind to start another crawl upwind:
This morning we said goodbye to our friends in Scottsdale and drove south to Ak-Chin regional airport where Wayne and Susie are parked for a few weeks. Wayne helped me install a new carburetor, as well as identify and eliminate high points on the head which were preventing the head seal from sealing properly. It took a couple hours, but we got everything installed and tested:
Towards sunset Wayne got out his wing and went out for a flight:
Good Shabbos from Ak-Chin airport near Maricopa, Arizona!
See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.
This morning I got up before dawn and managed to take off at sunrise on flight #38:
I flew roughly 4 miles west to Ogilby Campground where Greg was camped. The camping area is on the edge of the dune field:
Greg took off and joined me:
Greg and I both use helmet video cameras, and Greg got some shots of me flying:
The dune field extends for miles in every direction, dwarfing our paragliders:
At one point we both flew low over the dunes, following the contours of the dunes. Greg is in front of me here:
At one point, Greg radioed to me that we had flown over a crash site. I flew over a few times, and could clearly see the military insignia on the largest piece of debris:
After a while I said goodbye to Greg and flew home. At 56 minutes, this was the longest flight I’ve flown so far:
After breakfast, we all drove over to meet Greg. We decided to take a closer look at the crash site. Since we don’t have a permit for the dunes, we parked about half a mile from the edge of the dune field on private land:
M rode with Greg in his RZR:
Trish and B and I walked to the crash site. Using the GPS track from the flight, I was able to lead us to the crash location:
After a half a mile of traversing the dunes, we arrived at the crash site:
Even at a distance, I began to find fragments:
This largest piece was quite large:
We briefly lifted it to see if there were any markings on the underside:
This fellow was hiding under there:
I found an edge-on plate that identified the fragment as coming from an F-4 Phantom II. I realized that it was one of the wingtips, which were hinged:
Here’s the wingtip:
It’s the most brightly lit portion of the wing, top-most in this photograph:
We thought this might be the end of the hook used for carrier landings:
This looks like landing gear:
After looking around the crash site for a while, Greg got out his R/C truck. It was impressive!
On the way back, we found adjacent areas in the dune field that had smaller debris. The impact must have spread debris over a large area, as I think some of these fragments were too heavy to have been blown here:
Greg gave M a turn at driving. Look at that smile:
We also watched Greg fly his R/C plane:
The ladies took a turn in the RZR:
Greg and I had a great flight this morning, and this was the second time we’ve flown together, the first time being at Salton Sea a few weeks ago. We said goodbye to Greg and hiked the half mile back to the truck:
The wind really picked up towards sunset, filling the air with dust and reducing visibility:
This morning I got in a flight, but it was sufficiently turbulent that after trying in vain to find an altitude with stable air, I came back and landed:
My parents had purchased this Gumby-esque phone holder for us a while back, and Trish found a use for him holding the radio while the I have the other one in the air:
After a full day of homeschool, M and B built a jump for their bikes:
My PPG buddy Greg called to let me know he had arrived at the Ogilby Campground adjacent to the dunes, about 4 miles from here, but winds were gusty so we decided not to fly. We had an amazing sunset:
Tomorrow morning I hope to fly over to meet Greg, and we will fly the dunes together.
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