ALL TIME LOW

On Monday the 13th we hit an all time low here with the "ultimate off road adventure" ,211 feet below sea level that is. That is the field elevation of "Furnace Creek" airport, (L06) in Death Valley. As you can see from the Photos, there is not much there! Not much Humidity, not much shade. There is a lot of heat, 110 at the least, some fuel and a "Pilot's lounge" complete with a bathroom, a chair, and two "phoneless cords" (cell service is OK).

A call to (760) 786-2345 gets you the front desk the the Furnace Creek Hotel, and a courtesy car will gladly pick you up, and the lunch buffet is not too bad. If you need fuel, they can arrange someone from the gas station to go out and pump some expensive 100 octane for you, but I suggest you plan on landing with return fuel.

Flying over from KTSP required threading the dreaded "Trona Gap" which is a narrow and not easy to define corridor between R-2505 (China Lake NAWS) and R-2524 (Edwards AFB), then hanging a hard right over Trona.

Dropping into Death Valley itself is visual overload. It is as the same time incredibly bleak, and otherworldly. Impossible for a camera to do it juistice. To think that this was once a giant lake is hard to picture. About thirty nautical miles south of L06 is the lowest point in the USA, Minus 282 feet below sea level, and to think it is less than 70 NM due west from the highest point in the Continental US, Mt. Whitney, at a plus 14,491 feet above sea level.

There are jeeps to rent, tours, visitor's centers, a museum, lots of rocks, a gift shop or two. Bring LOTS of water, and good comfortable shoes, sunscreen (the Rangers reccomend lightweight LONGSLEEVE shirts and LONG pants rather than shorts to avoid rapid dehydration and sunburn).

It is worth the flight, and seeing your altimeter read "backwards" on short final is a bit odd, but anyone who has not flown out here is missin a real treat.

Happenings at the Hawk Nest

With the odd weather patterns we have been having it has been hard to get much flying in, the hangar is like an icebox at times, and the wind , well it has been odd even for Tehachapi, which is known for it's wind! More East wind than ever!

IA renewall went OK, a bit "last minet" but I am back up to speed. The folks at the VNY FSDO are the best!

Kenny, the apprentice hase been doing well, I need to get him started on both some flying, as well as his FAA A&P writtens (the poor A&P needs to take three) We ahve our work cut out.

New hours, Wednesdays and Fridays I will be opening at 0930 rather than 0830. I will be focusing on the flying part mostly on Thursdays through Saurdays, dedicating Tuesdays & Wednesdays to shop work, Morning flights, and admin stuff.

Big day for the big guy!

On April 30th the big guy witht he big grin made his first SOLO flight! Despite the crazy winds and really unusual weather for this time of year he did good, logged three un assisted landings! Say "congratulations" to Don Colvin!

So now the world has a new pilot in it's midst. Next comes the fun of learning to add the words "Navigate" and "Communicate" to his skills.

Teaching and working with someone as enthusiastic as Don makes my job a real joy.

"Buck and a half"

Ah, the humble Cessna one fifty. In my opinion one of the best airmanship trainers ever built. Defiantly one of the cutest airplanes if noting else. Simple, rugged, student proof, and rather forgiving. An easy airplane to fly, but not easy to fly well. It makes one work
This example is a 150F, the last of the "flat sided" 150s. The next variant the doors bowed out slightly giving some desperately needed elbow room
As a classroom, it leaves a lot to be desired. Narrow and noisy, the student and instructor learn about "up close and personal" An intercom is essential, both to provide communication as well as preserve ones own hearing. Cessna added "soundproofing" in later models. This was usually removed as it did little to the environment, but added about 18 pounds, which the little bird does not need.
Over 13,000 of the little critters are still out there flying around, teaching new pilots that the laws of aerodynamics are damn serious business, and providing their owners with economical and pleasurable flying.
One of my students brought this one up, and we are getting his licence finished up in it. As many older examples of the breed, it is a bit rough around the edges It could use a coat of wax, and has been victim of too many bad landings, poor maintenance and occasional periods of inactivity.


I earned my private licence in one, built up most of my early flying time in one, flew all over (West) Germany in one back in the seventies. About a third of my time in one was spent climbing to altitude. On a good day you might see 600 feet per minute. But cruise economy is good! Leaned out at 6000 feet you can get up to 20 MPG! (depending on winds) and see t he country at a stately 88 Knots. Not bad for the modest 100 HP Continental up front!
So it brings back a few memories, and once more I feel united to the sky more than the machine. As Elory Jeppesen once said: "Lets get one thing straight. There is a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician, the other is an artist in love with flight".
I like being an "Aviator"

Date flight

With business being slow in December & January, getting out and having "fun" has not been that much of a priority. While some couples have a "date night" My wife Georgia & I had a "date flight"! A variation on the traditional weekend "$100.00 hamburger" that many aviators and their friends enjoy.

For us, it was a quick getaway to Camarillo (KCMA) where they offer a pretty good burger! In fact the restaurant on the field, the "Waypoint Cafe" is renown for excellent food, good company and the best view of the field.
Overall, CMA is a very friendly airport. Even the tower staff are polite! (I hope the FAA doesn't read this, they might get fired).
The interesting thing was the weather however. As the photos show, looking north to Bakersfield, they were socked in. Everything south of the foothills & "Gorman pass" was severe clear! This is why I love flying and instructing in the mountains. My students get to see and fly in for themselves what others only read about until after they get their licence.
For example: the mini-cumulus cloud forming over the power station. As you can see it is formed by the heat from the evaporators, and the conditions were just right to show this phenomenon in a very visible way.
Yes indeed, I have the best deal going. And I get paid to do it!

Great Week!

After a lot of gloom, wet and cold we are finally enjoying some sunshine! The poor folks at Bakersfield ar clouded in, but the mountains are great. Good flying weather. Speaking of which, the monthly :Plane Crazy Day" at Mohave (KMHV) was great! Barry Schiff form AOPA magazine was guest speaker, Lots of unique aircraft equally unique pilots.

With the sunny skies now my once frozen students are thawing out and getting back into the swing of it. Looks like a busy flight schedule for the next few weeks. One new one starting Saturday. One is so hyped up that he is in the process of buying his airplane already!

Now that I am getting the hang of loading photos on the blog, you can expect to see more of the action. Weather permitting this Monday we will be flying out to Camarillo (KCMA) for the day, and a "photo safari" There are a lot of restored classic and WW-II aircraft there. Hope to be able to share some with you.

Mountain Hawk is taking on some good changes too, watch for some new things on the website: http://www.mountainhawkaviation.com/ in the coming month.

An odd occurance to one of my clients, after he "assisted" in putting the end plug in his crankshaft,
the first itme he went to "full power" it blew itself out! Fortunatly he was on his take-off roll and not airborne when it happend. the poor gut lost two quarts of oil and made one terrible mess! The picture at the top shows what I found when I pulled the spinner off the propeller.

Fresh in the New Year!

Today, January 4th is special! No I am not making a "new year's resolution", but I am following up on some things that have been in the planning stages for the past six months. Expect this blog to have something new every Tuesday from now on.



As you look down the approach end of Runway "two niner" at Tehachapi Muni (KTSP) you will see what has to be the most familiar thing I see in a day of instructing. Sometimes seven to eight times an hour! I am planing on doing a lot of this in the new year!



This year, Mountain Hawk Aviation will be changing a bit. The "ultimate off road adventure" is still in slow but steady progress. Preparation of "Winston" is underway piece by piece. A VHF/DF to be installed this month, and some air photo ops prep work in progress.



Since most of my instruction work is being done in aircraft that the students own, wear and tear on Winston is down. As the price of avgas goes from absurd to insane, I am shopping for a Cessna 150 or 152 "Aerobat"! I hope to use this for primary and emergency maneuver and spin training, reserving the 172 for instrument training and personal and business usage rather than "rental". I don't care if most people see the little "buck-and-a-half" as a "toy" airplane, it is still one of the best airmanship trainers ever built, and has operating costs that are hard to beat! If I can latch on to one of the Aerobatic versions, I will have a low cost, multi role trainer that is cheap, fun and effective! Mostly cheap fun for all concerned.



I will be getting out of the "heavy maintenance" business this year. At nearly 62 I find it harder and harder to keep up the production rate. I will be doing mostly inspection and compliance work, now that my clientele is getting better established. I will continue to serve a select clientele of airplane owners, but be very selective about new accounts. The "big" project about did me in.

Next, getting inviolved in EAA and more fly outs to events. No more being stuck in the hangar or office. This weekend I will be getting out and gettng more photos of neat places to post. Keep looking!