capt. mike - 5-15-2010 at 06:11 AM
and a good tip on some tequila.
from BBP
"Well I finally figured out the high tide limitation here at Alfonsina's. Yesterday we had a 12.25 ft high tide and today we had a 12.41 ft high
tide. I have a Cessna 172...today i could have landed or taken off, but, no sleeping at the yoke, 10 degree flaps, not much margin for error.
Yesterdays 12.25 would have been more comfortable. Anything higher than a 12.4 is going to get your aircraft wet. I am thinking that if you have an
aircraft that needs much more runway than a skyhawk, consider a 12 foot high tide the limit, and for most others, a 12.2 to 12.4 foot high tide the
limit.
To get these tide readings, go to the "papa fernandez" home page, scroll down to "quick links". Click on "tides". Then i change the settings such
that it is organized "tabular", then change to "feet", how many days you want, and start date. It's pretty easy. I also noticed that the time they
list for the high or low tide is actually 50 minutes later than what you'll experience here at Gonzaga Bay. If you hear from another source that it's
possible to land with a higher tide than mentioned above, i would say that either they are basing it on a different tide chart, or that they are
misinformed. I looked ahead at the Memorial Day weekend coming up in a couple weeks...there will be no tide conflicts for that holiday.
On another note: The mini mart by the Pemex station has a very fine one liter bottle of tequila with the name "Compadre" and it costs only 90 pesos.
What a deal! The other thing is that the mixer costs almost twice as much as the tequila. So, go heavy on the Tequila and light on the mixer.
That's about all the advice i am qualified to give. Cheers"
David K - 5-15-2010 at 06:36 AM
Nice article!
Love it when pilots talk about the best prices on tequila!
Here is the Papa Fernandez web site: http://www.papafernandez.com/
bonanza bucko - 5-15-2010 at 07:27 AM
There's a 22 foot range of tide at Gonzaga Bay. The tide charts you get, including Papa's, are mostly...if not all...based on the tides at San Felipe
which is the closest place where experts have been in residence to study it...and calculate it. We have used the Tide Calendar for the Northern Sea
of Cortez since the 1960s. It was published for years by the University of Arizona and the got taken over by an outfit called CEDO in Puerto Penasco.
By that chart the runway at Alfonsina's covers completely with a 15.5 foot tide. It gets shorter and narrower from the South and West....the runway
is 36/18.....runs North to South. It's normally about 3600 feet long and about 140 feet wide. As the tide comes, as Capt. Mike has pointed out, you
can land and takeoff with the runway partially covered...shorter and narrower.
The scale used by any of the tide charts is arbitrary....you just have to know where, on that scale, you're gonna be under water. After the runway
covers you can't land or take off for about two days because the mud is too wet....salt water and mud eat up magnesium wheels and aluminum parts
pretty much like hydrochloric acid eats up beef steak. If you get wet and don't wash your bird down pretty fast with fresh water and a non acid
solution....vinegar...you will discover your bird has started to evaporate....not good.
We have been flying into Alfy's runway and out of it for 35 years. We love it...but it looks bad...which keeps the weekend warriors out.
BB
David K - 5-15-2010 at 07:42 AM
Of course, there is Rancho Grande with a 5,000 ft. runway about 1/4 mile away from the south end of Alfy's runway... and it is above sea level all the
time. I guess they charge a fee and then you plane isn't next to you when you stay at Alfonsina's...?
bonanza bucko - 5-15-2010 at 10:13 AM
Yep...and, you gotta be a wuss to land there, it's dusty because Sr. Rodriguez has stripped all the vegetation off the land to the South and the wind
blows it on your bird to da max, it's dark and lonesome out there at night and your poor bird is all alone with some druggers who might like to fly it
to someplace not nice and you'll never get it back and you can't look at it while your having a cerveza on your porch.
BB