Sport Flying

Ulu · Sep 23, 2019

This is my old buddy Dave. Until he lost his license due to health issues, we used to go flying for sport.

We flew all over California and Nevada, and had a few adventures in the process. About half our time was in this Bellanca Super Decathlon, which has good performance because it is light and has a small cross section. It is made from little bits of metal and wood covered in painted cloth. This evolved from earlier craft like the 1960's Champion Citabria, and 1940's Areonca Champ, which were very similar with smaller engines. This is the Champ, designed to beat the Piper Cub. See the tiny air scoop?

You can tell the Bellanca because the air scoop is much larger than earlier craft.

That's me "on the tarmack".

You can fly it from the front or back seat, but much easier from the front. This is what it looks like from the back seat forward.

Ulu · Sep 23, 2019

On this day we flew over the High Sierra to a small place called Hot Springs Aviation, near Mono Lake.

The lake is saline as it has no outlets, though not so dense as the Dead Sea .

From Wikipedia: .....hypersalinity and high alkalinity (pH=10 or equivalent to 4 mg/L of NaOH ) of the lake means that no fish are native to the lake.....

I shoot straight down from the side window, as we make an impressive pylon turn on a short final run to Hot Springs.

At Hot Springs we met some guys from Sikorsky who were conducting high altitude performance tests on the president's new chopper.

They were "hopping" it down the taxiway, half-sideways to the wind.

Ulu · Sep 23, 2019

Looking straight down into the gloomy salt waters of Mono Lake. I tried to make the algae blooms visible, but it's a crappy low-rez shot.

On the way in we flew above this canyon. That's quite a jeep trail down below.

We went back thru this one, crossing over our previous flight path up from Chandler Field, in Fresno. Going over these peaks puts us up to the ceiling, where oxygen is required. We didn't carry any, as the service limit of this craft is only 13,000 feet under prime conditions. Two fat guys in a tiny plane is not prime.

We still cranked it up to 10,500 ft, which would normally require oxygen. You are allowed to go over 10,000 ft for a short time without oxygen, and the air conditions were quite dense, so we did.

The peaks north of yosemite look COLD! But cold air is denser than hot, and that helps you fly higher.

High in those peaks are tiny lakes from snowmelt.

They get much larger as we descend closer to treeline. This is up above Hetch Hetchy Canyon, long ago dammed up to make Hetch Hetchy reservoir.

That bald granite expanse is called Cloud's Rest, and is at the north end of the Yosemite Valley. At the far right is the elephant-hump-looking Halfdome.

Ulu · Sep 23, 2019

To get to Cloud's Rest, you must hike up thru this, or go WAAAAAY around.

I posted this "face-on" shot of Halfdome previously. We are about to fly over El Cap.

Here you can better see why it's called Halfdome. Half has split off over time.

Halfdome seen edge-on, and Cloud's Rest far beyond. this was taken from the ground on a different day.

Near us, the sharp edge of granite cliffs and spires show against the background of trees far below. Across the valley is the north-east face of El Capitan. It's 3000 feet straight up.

A photo from below cannot give you a clue to the real size of that monster.

Another view of Gator Rock, and you can see here it's way past the safety rail. We rode the bike up here in 2011, and took this pic.
You can see the major steps of Yosemite Falls beyond.

Ulu · Sep 23, 2019

Gator rock doesn't look like a gator since they put up the rail. You can't go out far enough.
A shot looking north, again, from the ground at glacier Point.

Zoomed view of El Cap from the air.

I believe this is Bridal Veil Falls. The main highway 41 and Merced river are below.

Here you get a good look at the valley and also the wires that hold the tail end together during aerobatics.

A long shot from a final turn about the south end of the valley before heading off.

That is some rugged stuff to try and cross on foot!
Things fade into the hazy distance. We just flew over all of that and more. Goodbye Yosemite!

A final panoramic view of the peaks far above Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy. There is still snow in late May.

We fly over Fresno on the way back to Chandler. Arthur Erickson designed that one very strange building in the middle, which is City Hall.
I was asked to draw up proposals for the glass walls on that building in the 1980's but I refused. Too many different individual bits, meant there was no profit in the job for us.

sikoko · Sep 23, 2019

That's so awesome I got the chance to visit Yosemite a few years back and just kinda stood in wonder of the place. Great pics and seems like you had a great time

Ulu · Sep 23, 2019

Here we fly into Pine Flat lake, which lies between Fresno and the Sierra Nevada.

This reservoir is operated by the Army Corps of engineers.

We fly over the dam & do a tight 360 to take photos.

Ulu · Sep 23, 2019

Here I'm flying the right seat in a Piper Cherokee. There were 6 investors in the club, but we all got too old, and that club dissolved.

This day, we're going to the air races in Reno Nevada.

We skirt Lake Don Pedro on the way.

This is a 4 seat plane. More comfortable but not as fun. Dave is telling me we can't go over these clouds. We're already at 10,000 ft & they keep rising.