(A) It was my turn for the next leg on day 6 of our journey. A day tip to the Moab deserts in the Canyonlands outside of Salt Lake City. This was the last day flying the 206 into unimproved airstrips before moving into the 182 to fly into the busy airspaces. The day before we were given our charts of the area with big circles around the approximate locations of the airstrips we were to fly into. Our mission was to find the airstrips, evaluate them and land if able, without knowing exactly where they were and what they looked like. I only had a few minutes in the backseat to plan my flight, while my flight partner flew his leg. Approximate fuel quantity to estimate fuel expiration time, find magnetic heading from the chart and interpolate what the wind direction looks like off the river to find relative bearing, approximate speed and time between checkpoints, compute weight and balance, and look up takeoff and landing data… so much to do in so little time. I was up. I briefed my passengers and pretended that they were newbies on their first flight to develop passenger sensibility. Checklist… ready to start. Checklist… start engine. Checklist… taxi. Checklist… run-up, pre-departure, takeoff, initial climb check, departure, cruse… checklist galore. I made my initial heading, set to cruse power, looked over airframe and engine instruments, wrote down my arrival time to the first checkpoint and said "ok" as a clue that I was done for the moment. Bad idea. My previously silent instructor pulls out a deck of handmade cards and says "pick one". I saw this before. My flight partner recently had to fly for half an hour and land with one eye closed because he drew a card that said "A huge bug flew into your eye". I drew "Thunderstorm ahead! 20 miles wide". I quickly did some math and charted a new course around it. "Pick another" he said. "Out of fuel! 2 minutes until engine quits". Found another airport. "Pick another". "Alternator died. No more electrical power". Sigh. Told him what to consider and started to fix the issue. "Simulations over, find Horseshoe Canyon". I crossed last checkpoint before the airstrip. I found my exact groundspeed and recalculated my final ETA. 15 minutes 30 seconds. "Hope this works" I thought. Start arrival checklist and descent. 10 minuets until arrival, 5 minuets, 2 minutes… at pattern altitude. No airport in sight. 30 seconds to ETA and nothing. "OK, the airport should be right around this abandoned dirt road" I said, but nothing that resembled an airstrip was anywhere around. Then it clicked, "OH SNAP! That's the airstrip!" followed by a sly fist bump from my instructor. Everything worked perfectly! Evaluation time. Three passes at 1000 feet, 500 feet and 50 feet. No obstructions found, calculated approximate slope, altitude and length, and conditions were that it seemed like soft dirt and benchmarks set. Every thing looked good, so one more pattern for a soft field landing to a full stop. Landing checklist complete, "Clearing myself to land ladies, hold on back there" I say to my giddy passengers. The male student shook his head. My final approach was aiming for a small dark patch of dirt just past a bunch of weeds. Power back, pitching up and adding a little power for the soft field landing. Needs to be a soft landing with the nose off the ground for as long as possible so the airplane doesn't plow itself into the ground. Everything rattles. A little bumpier than I thought it would be, but the touchdown was perfect. Approaching the end of the "runway" the instructor yells "POWER!” I add full throttle as I start to feel like the airplane was being sucked into the ground beneath us. The dirt was so soft that the airplane was getting itself stuck as it was digging into the ground. Avoiding getting stuck and needing to dig out the airplane, I lined up with the runway and shut it down. The flight was successful and I was finally able to breath! Someone else’s turn to fly now. So much going on all at once with no time to relax can wear someone out both physically and mentally. I stepped out of the airplane to take in the surreal view as I sip on my cold coffee. Barren, hot and infinite was the desert all around. The sand was soft beneath my feet as I sunk over an inch into the dirt. I noticed some ants in their hill and realized how desolate this place really was. Nothing as far as I could see, but we got to fly there. I imagined what it would take to hike to this place, or even drive there and I became truly amazed at what can be done with an airplane with proper training. I started to see just a little bit more how great a tool it can be for the advancement of the gospel, and what a blessing it is that I am given the opportunity to use it now. This was just one of many flights that happened during extended cross country this summer. All memorable, and useful as training for future flights that I am bound to take. It is such an honor to have been able to do this and I am so grateful to how God has blessed me. Horseshoe Canyon from Alex Ludvicek on Vimeo.
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