CL stunt pattern in Death Valley?

[Steve Helmick]

I had a weird idea today. It looks like I'm going to Clovis, CA, for the GSSC on the 23rd & 24th. After, I'm going over to E. Calif. to visit my brother, who lives at Ridgecrest, which is west of Death Valley. Got to thinking that it might be fun to pop a Bruline filter on the old blue Fancherized Twister, and fly it in Death Valley. Maybe on a dry lake, or at a rest stop that has suitable open spaces. Could be a first. Maybe I should apply for one of those Guinness's World Records. Or just buy a six pack of Guinness?  Steve

[Russell Shaffer]

I think it's a great idea, but the Park Service might whine.  Better check with them.

[Mark Scarborough]

Im thinking in the heat , a filter might be a bad idea for air intake, regardless, have fun, wish I could swing the Golden state trip, its been on my wanna do list for a couple years! and now having a plane worthy of taking, well its even more frustrating,, sigh,, hmm ask for a few days off after just getting back on at work,, yeah maybe not

[Balsa Butcher]

Trust me on this. The park service will have no sense of humor regarding the sacred dry lakes of Death Valley. However, enroute to Death Valley you will go through the booming burg of Baker CA. Baker Dry lake is just North of town. You could probably get away with a flight or two there. Despite the lack of control line circles, Death Valley is well worth visiting. 

[jim gilmore]

If you go north on 14 from Mojave and turn in to the desert before the turn to isabella.
There is a real nice area to fly in the desert. I do not remember thename of the road but it is a right turn directly between 4 billboards before you get to robbers roost.
Thats where I often camp. When I'm in ca.

[Howard Rush]

 .

[Paul Smith]

If you fly in the right part of Death Valley, you could apply for "lowest altitude with a CL model". 

An F-105 went supersonic down there and claimed a "lowest altitude supersonic" record.  To my knowledge, the Park Servive didn't catch him.

[Russell Shaffer]

Steve's not scared of no stinking rattlesnakes.

[Randy Powell]

Maybe the Mojave SpacePort. They should enjoy it. Maybe you could give Burt Rutan a turn on the handle.   

[pipemakermike]

Just remember that it is easier to get forgiveness than permission

[Steve Fitton]

This sounds like a job for electric CL.  Put up a flight and vanish before anyone knows you are there.

[Steve Helmick]

I flew at least one CL flight, a few FF flights, and many R/C flights (calm down, I was only 15, and didn't know any better!) on Rosamond Dry Lake, which is part of Edwards AFB and pretty strictly controlled now. When I lived at Edwards ('61), anybody could drive right on base, stop at the main base office, and get a haircut. Things have changed. It always seemed weird that most USAF bases had cyclone fences and armed guards, but this one with all the sekrit chit did not.

As for Death Valley...if I find a suitable spot, I'll do it. Snakes and Pork Dept's (spelling intended) be derned. I won't kill a rattle snake (done that, still feel guilty), but might buzz them a few times. I won't disobey any signs that say specific stuff ("no controline flying allowed"), so all you Sierra Club members can rest assured that I'll take good care of any dry lake I use. We didn't hurt Rosamond Dry Lake one little bit. I'm really hoping for a nice truck stop parking lot...  Steve

[Tom Niebuhr]

The Guinness sounds better than the rattlesnakes. We have an occasional copperhead and water moccasins in our stock pond. I don't feel at all guilty about disposing of them.

[Steve Helmick]

Tom...Moccasins are aggressive, as I recall from my years in TN. Never saw a Copperhead. The one Rattler I disposed of was crossing the dirt road I was hiking up, in the Blue Mountains of Oregon. I whacked it with my fishing rod, and it scooted. Went back to camp, got the twennytwo and offed him/her. It was just trying to make a living, and I'm not proud of killing it. I did kill another (also crossing a road, but in the dark)...ran over it with my truck. That was a big one...I think around 5', tho I didn't stretch it out straight and measure it. If I kill one with the blue profile, I'll BBQ it and eat it, I promise. Seriously. Tastes like chicken, ya know.  Steve

[minnesotamodeler]

Actually, more like frogs' legs.

[jim gilmore]

In ca no license is required to kill rattle snake.

[Steve Helmick]

Ok, I wanted to fly the pattern in Death Valley. I did drive through Death Valley, but I didn't see any good dry lakes there to fly on anyway. Two days prior, my brother Hugh (a retired rokit scientist from China Lake NWTC in Ridgecrest, CA) wanted to see me fly at "Little Lake", a dry lake N. on Hwy. 395 a bit. He knows the lake from landing his 1:1 scale sailplanes on it several times when flying around in the Sierras and not having enough altitude to squeek back to Inyokern Muni. If you drive 395, you may recognize "Cinder Cone", which is in the background in a couple of the pics. It's on BLM land, so there's no problem with flying there.

There is one hazard...the dust from the lakebed carries "Valley Fever", so we used a slightly modified launch method. We started the PA .51 "wheels up" (which is the only way I've got it figure out, so far), I signalled, he stood it up at 12 o'clock (PDST), I took it from him and finished the rotation to upright. Hugh held the model at waist high, until I signalled to release, and he bent over and set it on the wheels and released instantly. It was a little odd the first flight. I put in 3 flights in a row, which turned out to be tiring and light was fading...it goes away fast in the desert, esp. with those 'hills' immediately to the West.

The three flights were tweeked leaner and leaner, due to approximate 2,500' altitude on Owens Valley floor. Finally got it almost fast enough. Hugh had not taken any digital pics of stunters in flight, that's for sure. I think some came out very good. Canon G10, I think it is. I used IrfanView to crop and compress the pictures. Some of them make me look pretty good, I think!

So, I didn't fly a pattern in Death Valley. Technically, Owens Valley. Between the two is Panamint Valley. Death Valley is the little one of the three. FYI, the route I took through DV was right around sea level, but there were several mountain passes that were over 6,000', and one over 6,600'. The Toyota didn't like California's regular (86 octane?), compared to our 87 octane, so I ran some mid-grade and a lot of premium. Other than stopping for a sandwich and a coke while climbing out of DV, and a couple of gas stops, I kept motoring, trying to get to Jackpot, NV, by dark. Didn't quite make it. Lots of deer, antelope, and elk crossing signs...I don't like driving in low light conditions in the boonies. Luckily picked a really nice hotel/casino in Jackpot (Barton's Hwy. 93)...great price, great room, great food...didn't gamble at all.

The trip down I-5 to Stockton, over to 99, down to Fresno, Hwy. 41 to Kettleman City (at I-5), across Tehachapi to 395 and up to Ridgcrest, DV, Jackpot, Boise, etc. was 2,700 miles. Nice little road trip. Hwy. 99 really sucked and  I-5 wasn't nice (way too many trucks on both).  I'm already studying the maps.    Steve


 

[Howard Rush]

Cool pictures.

[john e. holliday]

Probably good you didn't fly in Death Vally.  Now the guy on the camera took some great pictures.  Of course I don't know how many you discarded.  Driving the two lane from Vaughn NEW MEXICO west to I-25,  I looked at some of the areas that had standing water at one time or another,  thinking what would that be like to fly on.  I mean it is as flat or flatter than a pool table.  Yes, there were some not big enough to really think about, but a couple looked big enough for a control line NATS.  Also no trees for miles and miles.  By the way tell your camera man he did great.

[Brian Massey]

OK Steve; two questions . . . first and foremost, when you unloaded the plane, was anyone there to cook your hot dogs? And second, you say you drove down 99 to Fresno, then 41 to Kettleman City before going East to Tehachapi. Why the jog down 41? Were you just putting on miles?

And yes, still enjoying your mustard. 

Brian

[Steve Helmick]

Brian...Funny you should mention that! Why don't you guys build a nice freeway straight East from Fresno to Hwy 395? Mostly tunnels, of course...while you're at it, you might build some freeways to connect I-5 to some of California's towns and cities! They're all over on Hwy. 99, for some reason!  Those what aren't on the coast, I mean. Really, your east/west connector roads are a problem!

I had talked to Jim Rhoades about the route to take, and that was the route he planned, and had taken up from Whittier Narrows to Clovis. I think he goes East to LV and hits I-15. Going N. and across Hwy. 50 or Hwy. 80 didn't sound like a good plan, with threat of sneaux on the lips of the TeeVee weather guessers.



I knew Hwy. 99 would suck. I also knew it was a significant drive (through Fresno in Monday AM rush hour) and westward to I-5. Hwy. 41 was a pleasent change from 99, very little traffic, a few stop lights here & there, but not a problem. I-5 from KC to Bakersfield was a joy, with light traffic (no clumping due to trucks passing other trucks with a .01 mph speed differential). Once past Lamoore, it was very nice. Not bad to Lamoore, either. I also wanted to stop at Lost Hills and see if there was anybody out at the FF field, and didn't particularly want to go through So. Lk. Tahoe and go South on 395 from there, just because I'd driven from Reno to Ridgecrust in '07.  The highway over Tehachapi (58?) was a little busier than I-5, but not bad at all. Weather was a little drippy, but I'm used to that!

FYI, I  never had another hotdog on the whole trip. Or since! Didn't have any burgers on the trip, either...planned to, but the "In 'N Out" had not open yet (9:30am) in Bakersfield. Three meals of Chinese, one Mexican, one steak, a few BLT's, and I had beer/cornmeal battered catfish with hushpuppies and baked beans in Jackpot, of all places. Didn't make me sick, either...even your hotdogs (3!). Thanks for cookin', Brian! Steve

Edit: Noticed that I forgot one of the pictures I wanted to post, and added it here. Also, recalled that I didn't adjust the handle spacing wider, and it finally dawned on me why my "bottoms" were a bit lower than usual. I really haven't messed with the handle spacing on this plane yet. Maybe I should! 

[Brian Massey]

Steve! The highway east from Fresno to 395 exists! It's highway 120 and takes you through some of the most beautiful county in the world . . . Yosemite Park! Of course, it's a very slow switchback laden highway that is most definitely a tourist route. Plus, it's only open during the summer months. Actually, 58 through Tehachapi, or 80 over Donner are the only two real choices. My wife and I often travel to Colorado and Montana and curse the amount of miles we must drive just to get around the mountains; oh well, the beauty of the Sierras make up for it.

The problem with 99 is that it is a "state" highway. 5 on the other hand is federal and hence gets much more money. You would think with the gasoline taxes CA collects they could afford to modernize 99, but I guess the money the politicians syphon off from gas taxes to spend on "social issues" is more important. Just a sidebar on 5; the stretch from Bakersfield to Sacramento was opened back in the 70's. At that time it was the longest stretch of highway opened at one time in CA. There was much pomp and ceremony at the opening . . . only one problem. The stretch was over 200 miles and had NO (as in zero) gas stations. The CHP was used mostly for running cans of gas for many months before the gas stations started opening. I rode my bike along that stretch just after the opening to see my brother Mike, who lived in San Jose at the time. I made sure to carry an extra gallon can on the trunk.

Soooo, my hot dogs didn't make you sick . . . OK, I'll try harder next year. 

Brian

[Steve Helmick]

Trust me on this. The park service will have no sense of humor regarding the sacred dry lakes of Death Valley. However, enroute to Death Valley you will go through the booming burg of Baker CA. Baker Dry lake is just North of town. You could probably get away with a flight or two there. Despite the lack of control line circles, Death Valley is well worth visiting. 

Pete...Noooooo, I didn't go through Baker, CA. I went from Ridgecrust to Trona (Trona-Wildrose Road!), then hit Hwy. 190 east of Panamint Springs, and East to Stovepipe Wells and Beatty, NV. That there is a long haul between not much civilization and very little civilization. Funny thing, tho, is that my closest call on gas (i.e., lack thereof) was between Umatilla, OR and Pasco, WA, on Hwy. 730. Thankfully, "Crazy Mary" had built a new gas stop/convenience store at just the right place. Wrong brand (Shell), but it ran alright. At least it was in WA, where I could pump it myself (can't pump your own gas in Oregon...some Legislators must own gas stations?).    Steve

[Glenn (Gravitywell) Reach]

Steve....is that grey I see in your hair?

[Steve Helmick]

Steve....is that grey I see in your hair?

No. White primer.  Steve

[jim gilmore]

Trona is a nice place to visit...once.

[Howard Rush]

We took the road through Yosemite east to Mono Lake two years ago.  I couldn't talk Marilou into doing it this time.  She had to get back to work.  That's a reasonable excuse, because it pays for these trips. 

We did note that some work has been done on 99 between Manteca and Fresno.  Emily, the British GPS voice, would get confused when we came to each formerly crooked piece that had been straightened out with nice, new road.  99 is a lot better now.  My preferred route to Fresno is down I-5 to Nees Ave. (same street names across the whole valley), then turn left.  Nice country if it's not too foggy.  I like California. 

[Steve Helmick]

Easy to tell that Ty knows Nevada. Here's a few pictures of the drive starting with the drive down into Panamint Valley not too far out of Trona (no, it's not even nice to visit once, Gilmore!). I remember one straight stretch that looked like it was about 10 miles to where the road just disappeared. I would have taken a picture of it for you Easterners, but almost instantly, my right foot got a weird twitch. No, didn't break my Toyota pickumup land speed record by quite a bit, but got a little over "the ton". There was not a car in sight behind or ahead. Cunha has retired, so what the heck! Steve

[Jack Mulinix]

Those are some nice pictures Steve, sounds like a most excellent adventure. Sure makes me want to go somewhere warm.   Thanks for sharing Jack

[Steve Helmick]

Jack, actually, it wasn't that warm, but it does look warm, huh? I was a bit cold in a T-shirt and a bit warm in a sweatshirt. A little warm without A/C on, a little cool with it on. It was quite an ordeal! I sure like the "Big Sky" sort of country and highways without much traffic. Photo stops were mostly disguised potty stops. Two side doors on the right side of the truck is a nice privacy screen. Often, both missions were accomplished and a fresh Coke fetched from the ice chest, with no traffic passing from either direction.  Steve

[Jack Mulinix]

Ok, maybe not warm, but as I look outside at the gray surrounding me, did'nt see any talk of wearing wipers out. Jack