capt. mike
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Posts: 8085
Registered: 11-26-2002
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well, if a day's hunting outing qualifies...
This probably has more interest for Pompano who is an avid hunter & sportsman....
others might simply find it amusing. Self deprecation is a healing art.
My inlaws are going to an Easter thing at a famous Phx area Farm which is known for its amenities for kids and such. it reminded me of a trip there 30
years ago during my early flying days.
"A fine dove shooting morning in the AZ desert..."
Ah….Schnepf farms….reminds me of a quick tale.
In 1980, 5 years before I got the Mooney, I was a member of a local flying club, the Cloud Busters. A friend and me had called the farm, it was dove
season, and asked permission to fly into their private airport so we could walk adjacent fields and shoot in the vicinity of their stock ponds. They
thanked me for asking 1st (the strip is marked private on the phx sectional chart) and said sure, come on over.
We picked the next sat a.m. to go.
I had never landed there before, or seen it from the air during the day, but on the sectional chart it was located east of Queen Creek and out by the
railroad that runs southeast …way out there. Also back then before suburbia it was BF Egypt!
This was long before GPS navigation!
Well – as you might know – the thing with dove season is you get there before sun up if you want any action.
We took off from Deer Valley an hour before legal daylight, figuring it would take about 30 minutes to fly the 50 miles approx in that awfully slow
100 mph fixed gear Beech I’d reserved, and we’d be on the ground with double barrels c-cked and ready to blast some birds before early light.
I had planned dead reckoning navigation, the way I was taught, and figured my true course, magnetic heading, distance and ETA over the “target”…just
like a WWII B-17 run, right? As new pilots back then we’d often pore over charts for hours, running our “Whiz Wheels” as they called them – and
generally spend ridiculous effort for a 30 minute puddle jump.
Well….not exactly.
As I said, the only plane available was a Beech Musketeer – I had only one check-out in it – 30 min. in daylight a couple of days prior, performed
only because it was the only one left on the rental line for our scheduled time – and my beloved Cherokee 180, 5264 Lima, with whom I’d learn to
caress and become one, had been reserved by others! The gall of them! She was MY girl…..So - we loaded up at O’dark thirty and took off. The 1st
thing I noticed was I had NO idea how to turn on the c-ckpit lights!
Anyway - we flew on “flashlight” mode and made for the site, still determined to get there before sunrise. Bird murder awaited. Phoenix was a TCA of
some level then so we had to talk to someone or figure out in the dark how to go around it. Before I guestimated our impending time for penetration of
the controlled phx airspace I made a call and said we were out of DVT but needed a steer towards Schnepf farms if he could oblige us.
No problemo was the reply (he was bored and lonely – at 5:00 a.m. back then sky Harbor was pretty quiet believe it or not). He soon gave me a heading
and we soldiered on.
I am not sure how – but we found ourselves over the airstrip 20 minutes later, which to my surprise appeared to be lighted! Woo Hoo !! All was good!
Man, thought I, I knew these farmers were rich but I never dreamed they’d turn on landing lights for us, let alone even having them on a dirt farm
strip!
We set up a normal approach, speed and flaps set, and as I was beginning my flare to land, to my horror I saw - as reflected from my landing lights,
several parked trucks right on the dang runway, parallel but off my port side with only 10’ of wing clearance!
I side slipped quickly to land right of centerline and we parked. My passenger had no idea what had just happened.
We climbed out and then it hit me like a ton of bricks – what I had just done was to “land” on a narrow service road which is adjacent to the runway
and lighted with several vertical street type light poles!
The good news, for us at least, was I could see where a flat spot at the side of the road would allow me to taxi off and reposition the plane properly
onto the runway. This I did immediately and No One saw what I otherwise had just accomplished! I was so relieved that I relieved my self immediately
and, still a bit shook up, unpacked my 20 gauge and off we went into the quickening morning – me in a state of “there but for the grace….” and he
jabbering away about how cool it was gonna be eating fresh dove sushi over a hibachi fire in a few hours.
Oh, he limited out in an hour and I ran out of shells. We were done by 9:00 and so were the birds, at least the ones that had stopped laughing about
my night landings…. ;^(
The flight back to DVT was pretty routine…I could see where I was going.
True story – I have way too many more….
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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ligui
Senior Nomad
Posts: 837
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Location: Fraser co.
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Great story mike , h-ll of a way to start the day . 
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Pompano
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Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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Great Day in the Morning!
A fine read, Mike...and it does remind one of some times back in the day. Mi flying amigo, Dusty, and I have had some similar ...shall we
say..'events'.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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capt. mike
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8085
Registered: 11-26-2002
Location: Bat Cave
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Mood: Sling time!
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well, might a swell write 'em up Roger - we all need a laugh now and then ya know.
and besides....the statute of limitations has run out on most of my dice-ier days as far as the FAA is concerned! 
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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Bob H
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Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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Mike, that was a nice report from a few decades ago. You were a young buck back then. I got a decent chuckle out of it. Thanks for the story!
Bob H
PS: Any pictures?
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capt. mike
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8085
Registered: 11-26-2002
Location: Bat Cave
Member Is Offline
Mood: Sling time!
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PS: Any pictures?
no... not that are ok for a public forum!!
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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