Flying isn't always fun

 Sunday's flight to Gila Bend, AZ (E63) was very stressful for me. We were warned that there was high wind activity along our route, with winds gusting to 29 mph. I talked with Bob Comperini, a good friend and pilot who flies from a tiny airport in the Mohave Desert. "Strap everything down and climb to 8500' and you'll be over all that stuff," he said. So Dennis and I strapped down everything in our planes. I had my camera, a bottle of water and a sack of sectionals as well as my tie downs in the right seat and on the floor. All got strapped down.

There was low overcast at Santa Ynez, which didn't clear until almost 11:00 a.m. We took off and climbed to 9500' . Pretty soon it seems as though it was desert, desert, desert. Nothing but brown hills, mountains, and rock. At 9500' the air was smooth. I was wishing that my camera wasn't strapped down and unreachable. We descended at Twenty-nine Palms, CA (KTNP) to refuel, and it started to get pretty bumpy. I was very happy that I was able to make a decent landing in spite of some turbulence. 

Twenty-nine Palms was VERY hot, and completely deserted. Very happily, there was an air-conditioned pilot lounge where we could catch our breath.

These pictures were taken after we left Twenty-nine Palms - but you would have seen the same landscape.

I was astonished to see huge solar farms out in the middle of the desert. Of course, what better place for them?

From Twenty-nine Palms to Blythe, CA (BLH)  was awful. There was a thick band of haze and although technically we were flying legally, with 5 miles of visibility, when you're going 104 kts/hr. you cover 5 miles pretty quickly. Even though Dennis pointed out via radio that there were no mountains en route as tall as we were flying, I still was stressed. And I kept waiting for the turbulence. It didn't help that even though the photo above shows a highway, much of the time we were flying a direct GPS track over lots and lots and lots of NOTHING!!! I remembered my CFI's repeated instruction to always have a road in sight, so that if you had to put down, you could walk to the road and you wouldn't have to hire a helicopter or truck with crane to get your plane out. I was violating my core training.

To get over some mountains past Blythe, I climbed to 8500'. When you're as stressed as I was, traveling over inhospitable terrain, you listen REALLY hard to your engine. As I climbed, at about 8000', I heard a small "knock" - as though someone was tapping on the outside of the plane. At first I was sure I was imagining it. Then I heard it again...and again. No change in the engine rpm, no hiccup. Just a small knock sound.

Suddenly I remembered that when Dennis and I were flying the Aeroprakt from Ohio back to Oregon, we had heard the same slight noise as we climbed to get over the Rockies. Back in Oregon, my mechanic had torn apart the carbs and done everything to diagnose the noise - but had found absolutely nothing wrong. In the past two years I've flown over 250 hours and never heard the sound again, but I haven't flown higher than 6500'.

Now, here it was back again! I started counting how frequently the knocks were occurring. About every 3-10 seconds, then they'd stop, and then they'd start up again a few minutes later. By now we were almost to our stop for the night at Gila Bend, AZ (E63). I was beyond delighted to land and bleed off my stress as well as altitude! As I descended below 6500', the knocking stopped and I actually started to enjoy the flight. At 2000', I was really enjoying the scenery.

I was struck by the farmland grids; at home, there would be crop circles. And there was absolutely no sign of humans - no homes, vehicles, etc. Just mile after mile of cropland.

And something I just couldn't figure out what it was. If anyone knows, please enlighten me!

Finally, we landed at Gila Bend. Gila Bend has only 2 planes based there, and a tiny air-conditioned pilot lounge. We both decided that we didn't want to put up our tents in the 104° heat, and we called the Cory Drury, the airport manager to find out about a courtesy car and a close-by motel. No courtesy car, and the nearest motel three miles away. While we were talking about what to do, Cory called me back and said that he had contacted several motels and found one that was willing to pick us up! THANK YOU, CORY!!!

Here's our track for Sunday: