© C Blythe 2004

Arriving back in the room I straight way finished the quiz before doing anything else. I was glad I had broken the back of it on the way to the Grand Canyon. Like the flying it seemed more straight forward. Anyway, I was glad the quiz was done. I managed to watch about 10 minutes TV before falling asleep. Five forty-five, the alarm goes and I haul myself out of bed and into the shower. Thankfully I packed the night before so it is just a matter of getting dressed and leaving the room.

Of course I get to the airport first. It is totally deserted. Well, lets face it who would be hanging round an airport at 6.15am? Punching the numbers into to security gate keypad, opens the gate and I wander over to FR and drop my bag by the side of the plane. although it is still dark,  it is possible to start to make out some of the shapes of the rocks around the airport.

Rich arrives but no Sharon. She will join us for breakfast. We load up the plane and by 6.50 we are all done. Despite the large dinner the night before Rich urges us to get a good breakfast. This is the penultimate day of the trip and some serious decisions are to be made including I hope confirming my checkride. It was also going to be a long day too with us flying at altitudes up to 16,000 ft at times. The breakfast was essential. This is the route all 818 nm of it.

By 7.50 we were airborne and departing Sedona with me at the controls enjoying the sunrise enroute to Durango, Colorado, two hours forty minutes away. We would go via Winslow for a practice low approach a mere 53 miles from Sedona.  The VOR RWY 11 approach was a variant on a couple of others I had done previously. There was a DME arc to fly an intermediate leg over the VOR and then track away from the VOR to the airport. It was a busy little approach. Added to this were the altitudes that made it just a bit more interesting.

Practice makes perfect and that’s what happened. All the bits of learning with the stuff you only really get to understand from doing it came in to play today. For example, the AIM suggests that you join DME arcs at the IAF. In practice Center or Approach drop you onto the arc from your inbound course. It makes sense but, that’s not what the book says. Anyway, I competently executed the approach, and the miss and hold then set course for Durango two hours away.

Today was also scheduled as partial panel day. The stretch to Durango gave plenty of opportunity for Rich to test me out. Once on course for Durango on V291, Rich covered up the HSI and the AI and the autopilot was alsoswitched off. As it turned out it was also a pretty bumpy day which did not help. Keeping the wings level was really hard but it all held together. Doing the partial panel meant one thing and that was that I was getting nearer the time Rich would make a decision about the checkride.

After an hour of this including timed turns to keep us on course as we went over the Gallup VOR onto V421, Rich decided that we would do a few steep turns. Off came the instrument covers and we did a couple of turns to the left and a couple to the right. These turns are done at 45 degrees. Rich advocated using plenty of back pressure and I wanted to use a bit of power. It was difficult holding up the aircraft and keeping it smoothly holding altitude.  The nose was going up and down like nobodies business. OK, it kept within test limits but it was not pretty. Just using back pressure was too much for me so we agreed that we would try power next time. We never got to find out what it would have been like using power. The VOR DME RWY 2 approach to Durango was also done on partial panel, however, there was a bit of fun before that. Well it was fun when we knew what it was all about.

Crossing into Denver Center airspace we had the normal hand off from Albuquerque. On checking in with Denver we proceeded as normal when another Denver voice comes on the air. “N51FR, we would like you to call us when you land, advise when you can take down a phone number”. I looked at Rich and the colour just drained from his face. He keyed the mike and asked for the number whilst I flew the plane. The number was given along with “ask to speak to Mike”. We flew for about 10 minutes and Rich could not wait so he called up Center asking “Center are we in any sort of trouble” “Just call us!” was the response.

We continued speculating over what it could be about as we readied our self for the approach from 50 miles out. We had the weather, we had the approach request in and all the instruments we were going to use were dialled in even if we had still not managed to ident them as yet. Leaving Rattlesnake VOR I set Nr 2 Nav to the VOR as Nr 1 Nav was effectively u/s as the HSI was covered up. A combination of DME and flicking between the two VOR frequencies identified the AZTEC intersection where I was to turn onto the intermediate approach course. Nr 2 Nav then had the DRO VOR which was my guide to the runway. Thankfully it was not too rough. The longish leg from AZTEC to the FAF gave me time to slow down. Drop the wheels and flaps and get prepared and fully briefed for the descent.  The airport has an elevation of 6685 ft the minimum descent altitude is 7020 ft as we intended to go straight in.

Once past the 3 DME point I lost the next 200 ft pretty quickly to get down to the MDA. At this point came the words “take off the hood”. There, offset from the track  was the runway. With clearance to land already received I did a shallow S turn to line up in the runway and land. I was thinking that I had nailed the VOR, keeping the needle dead centre so why was I off the centreline so much? There was another “nice job” comment but it seemed sloppy. Take a look at approach chart.  You do approach the runway at an angle needing to do an S-turn to line up. Memo to self, “brief up properly on what to expect to see and where to see it, when you break out”.

The FBO had a stock of donuts and bananas going free and I helped myself to one of each. I was shattered and it was only 10.30.

Sharon had the next two legs into and out of Telluride using the LOC DME RWY 9 approach. I was going to sit in the back and enjoy the view.

It is impossible to put into words what it was like flying into Telluride. The photos may give some idea of the environment, the approach plate some idea of the dead end that you fly into and the extract from the enroute chart below shows the positioning involved as well as the terrain clearance necessary.

There looks to be a direct route to Telluride from Durango but its not so. The minimum enroute altitudes printed above the airway tracks shows how high you need to be to fly that route.

Our route would take us to 12,000 ft going from Durango to Cortez , Dove Creek and Cones VORs before positioning for the localiser approach to Telluride.

The landing when it came was an anti climax. Sharon greased it as normal. We were landing on 27, so we had to circle to the south from where this view was taken.

Getting out of Telluride was as difficult as getting in. Before taxiing, we fitted ourselves up with the oxygen gear. It was clear that we were going to have to go well above 12,500 ft to get on our way.

As we passed the turbulence Center brought us down to a reasonable 9000 ft and we continued to Pueblo this time with Sharon doing partial panel. Her approach was to be a radar approach with a simulated no gyro situation to RWY 8.  She started with turns being made at standard rate, then at half standard rate, then turn/stop turn instructions all the way to minimums.  It was great to hear and watch it and Sharron nailed it beautifully. The runway was never out of the middle third of the windshield.

Once on the ground Rich helped with the taxy to the FBO, Flower Aviation. This FBO has a reputation for getting pretty girls with short shorts and big chests out onto the flight line to encourage pilots to stop there. Sure enough there was a babe helping to reel us in. Rich “confessed” about using Flower just before arrival.

In the office the girls were even prettier.  Mind you it is at a price when you look at the relative fuel costs between them and their competitors.

However the deal turned into good value. We had arrived too late for the restaurant so instead of missing lunch, they lent us the crew car so we could drive towards the city and find somewhere to eat.

It was now 2,30; we had to eat because there was four more hours at least before we got to our next hotel as well as a bit of uncertainty of what was ahead. Whilst waiting for the car to come round, I had filed the flight plan to Grand Island our stop for the night. The weather briefing was not encouraging. In fact the briefer was doubtful we would make it. Alternates were also filed for Goodland, Kansas where I was to do another practice low approach.

The crew car was a beat up old Ford with a column auto shift. Sharon drove us towards the edge of the city. The first place we came across was Burger King. That was it. At that time of day there was no need to be discriminating. Over lunch we discussed the options. Our decision point would be Goodland and we would decide what to would do there.

We were airborne again at 16:00 local and the weather gathering around Pueblo did not look to promising either. At least that was coming from behind us. The plan was to fly direct to Goodland using the GPS. The IFR clearance was ready in no time. Cleared to Grand Island  as filed, 9000 ft squawk 5170. This leg apart from the approach was flown without the hood. The change in weather was something Rich wanted me to see. As we cruised along I got a first class met lesson. The weather was constantly down loading into the GNS 530. Goodland was clear of bad weather but Grand Island was looking more and more remote as a destination for the night. As we were flying east too, we would lose an hour as we passed back into the central time zone. It was getting dark fast.

The approach at Goodland VOR RWY 30 was straight forward and for once I got to do the full procedure including procedure turn. The miss and hold entry was also satisfactory and I set course for North Platte, Nebraska. Rich had re-filed the flight plan to take us to North Platte. Once the autopilot was engaged, there came the only dodgy manoeuvre of the trip. I was to move to the back seat whilst Sharon was to move to the front. There is a bit of a knack to this. I am not the smallest person but I managed to get back OK. Sharon found it easier slipping to the front. A mid air seat swap is a real challenge and I can imagine what its like with a couple of burley blokes. The approach to North Platte was with the ILS RWY 30. By now it was full blown night and Sharon had the opportunity to add a bit of night time flying and a night landing to her logbook, an unexpected bonus for her. We landed at about 8pm local.

Rich had called the FBO on the radio and organised a new hotel complete with a shuttle to get us there. Whilst checking in Rich told us there were no more quizzes and we could relax.

Fifteen minutes later we were in the restaurant. There was a general weariness in us that evening. We had done some travelling. Today we flew 818 miles, cruised at 16000 ft landed at the highest commercial airport in the US and had a fair mix of weather. Add to this a gruelling partial panel test and it was no wonder we were shattered. However we still took our time over dinner. Rich announced at dinner that I was being signed off for the checkride on the Friday, 36 hours away. I felt a bit numb. Whether it was just tiredness I don’t know, but it just took sometime for the news to hit home. Sharon squeezed my arm in congratulations and Rich had that enigmatic smile which seemed to say everything yet nothing. Before going to bed Rich reminded us that we still had to prepare for our flight plans for the following day and to meet for breakfast at 7.30. A lie in! I managed to watch about 20 minutes of TV before I was out like a light.

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