Idaho 2024
One of my friends bought an airplane up in the Boise area and we did a 3 day trip up to get it, flying my Cessna 140. It was a wonderful trip and I'm so thankful to be part of what must be about the funnest mission you can fly - buying another airplane! :)
We left Prescott pretty early and were over the canyon an hour or so later. Upper level winds were forecast to pickup today, but mainly out of the south which would give us a nice tailwind.
We were making good time and planned to stop for fuel and a break in St George, but given the good tailwind thought to press on further to cedar city. As we approached however and picked up the ASOS, winds gusting to the upper 30s made us reconsider that plan and I turned back to St George where the winds were barely moving!
On the ground in St George. This was my first time stopping at this airport and it was quite nice - a huge runway and the FBO was very hospitable. Shortly after we continued on, next stop being wells Nv. The upper level winds were increasingly strong heading into Nevada, and combined with the mountains made for a pretty rough ride. To take advantage of the tailwind and in an attempt to find smoother air, we climbed up pretty high, around 12,000 ft. A Cessna 140 being so light you really do feel every bump! I was focused on staying the course and did not take many pictures but 2.5 hours later, we landed in Wells NV.
There is not a lot in Wells NV! The winds were blowing around 20 knots and temps were in the 50s - after being at altitude for that long I had long forgotten the hot arizona summer! Being cold was not a problem I seriously considered in late August!
The last leg of the trip was about 2 hours. Ceilings were somewhat low, around 2000ft in places so we followed the terrain through some very pretty mountain valleys. We landed in Emmett Idaho where the plane was at and got a first look.
The airplane is beautifuly constructed, with a c85 "stroker", meaning a c85 case with o200 crank and cylinders. Unsurprisingly it performs very well, easily climbing at 1500 ft/min and cruising comfortably at 100 mph.
We spent the following day going through the new plane and hooking up a simple ferry tank system. The onboard tank has 11 gallons useable and some of the legs across nevada and arizona would be stretching that. Then we did some test flights around the area. Cliff was nice enough to let me fly it as well! I flew it back to Nampa and we spent the night in a nearby hotel.
That Cessna 140 is a good looking plane, if I do say so! Here she is fueled and ready to depart nampa, I think it was about 6am local.
There were some interesting low clouds over wild horse reservoir in northern nevada. No other clouds in sight besides these!
First stop was at Elko NV. Checked fuel burn and oil levels, everything was going well. Went across the street to the AutoZone and got a funnel in case we needed to add oil later on, then took off again heading for lincoln county NV.
We flew close formation for a bit and took some pictures. The Pazmany is very unique looking!
We made a fuel stop in Lincoln county airport and took off shortly after heading for prescott. This leg was about 2.5 hours. Seen above is St George, this time from the west side looking to the east. I really enjoy flying over this part of the country. Although it may look desolate from this distance, contained in this area is Zion national part, Bryce canyon national park, and of course the grand canyon.
Looking out the other side of the plane, we can see the virgin river gorge. The virgin river is the river that flows through zion national park.
This is on the north side of the canyon looking east. Very beautiful and very desolate!