Burning Man -> Texas (part one)

So, here it is the long awaited post on my very hasty retreat from Burning Man. I know it has taken awhile but there is a story behind the delay. I am now living and working in South America. This opportunity came together while I was out flying this summer. My departure date was set  by the time I left for Burning Man and I had little time between. Certain things, such as a more lengthy update of the blog, had low priority. But now I have settled into my apartment, job and life down here. Still working hard on learning a new language but I see some improvement each day. I will be here until June. Guess what I plan to be doing in June?  Flying perhaps?

AC_20130902_last_shot_N90HS_on_playaHere is one final shot of Niner-Zero just before we departed. The  playa looks kind of lonely, most of the other aircraft have already departed. It is Monday morning and Burning Man is over and officially closed the day before. Although there was not much “open” on Sunday as everything was already “coming down” and being packed up. A devoted group of volunteers will stay for about a month to clear every trace of the event from the playa. Perhaps next year I’ll be able to stick around and help with this, but this year I have a new adventure beckoning and I have to cover the 1400 miles back to Texas as quickly as possible.

 

AC_20130902_88NV_airport_02The airport is no longer the bustling center of activity it had been. There are still snacks available for departing flights and, of course, everything is covered with dust. Lots of dust. I was able to get airborne about 7:30 in the morning, made one climbing circle around Black Rock City and headed east, towards the mountains.

AC_20130902_dirty_cockpitI climbed to about 11,500 feet so that I could clear most of the terrain along my course. I took this picture shortly after leveling off. Yes, it is disgustingly dusty in the cabin. There is at least a thin layer of dust on everything. Including me.  You can see that the cabin heat is on as I neglected to put my sweatshirt on before departing and it was 54 degrees at this altitude. Even with the heat on it was cold. By the time I was about 30 minutes out of BRC I entered an area that was affected by the smoke from the forest fires to the south. I was basically flying on instruments in visual conditions. I had the required visibility and there were no clouds but there was also no horizon. I could see the ground directly below me and occasionally some peaks to my left and right but that was about it. There were a lot of military operation areas along my route of flight and as I was unable to raise the control authority for them on the radio I assumed they were not active and just flew through them. I never saw another aircraft, but I know from experience that it is often the one you don’t see that causes problems. I kept a good look out and felt comfortable.

AC_20130902_clouds_formingAfter an hour or so I was through the smoke and started to see my next concern. It was clear when I departed except a very high overcast. An overcast that was the remnants of storms that formed the previous day. Storms were predicted along my route for later in the day and here you can see the first clouds forming as moist air is being pushed up over the mountains. The flow is from the southeast so I have a slight headwind. It was bound to happen but I can’t complain as this is the FIRST headwind I have had since leaving Texas about three weeks ago. After about four hours I made a fuel and lunch stop in Richfield, Utah.

AC_20130902_valleyShortly after departing Richfield I was flying over some pretty amazing terrain including Capitol Reef National Park. Absolutely amazing!  Next year I am going to work on a “door opening and photo taking” drill so I can get more pictures without the glare of the window. I’ll also have to dress warmly as it was about 50 degrees up there and with the door open and a sweatshirt on it would have been too cold to be comfortable and being comfortable goes a long way towards being safe. In my opinion.

AC_20130902_cap_reef_01So I’m just going to post some of the pictures I took during during this leg of my flight and pick up the commentary in my next post. Enjoy!

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