The view: Over the Grand Canyon, the remnants of a so-called Pacific atmospheric river occluding the better known Colorado river below.
The pilot: Peterson Conway, Stanely, ID
The airplane: Skylane 182
The mission: Our annual winter migration south
The memory: Tops were at 12,000′ which left little room for our little non-turbo C182 Skylane. We plotted not just canyon-rim airports, but also had to to pick between periods of storms. Leaving Idaho on New Year’s Day, this was the first sun we had seen in almost a month. And by “we”, I mean the pilot and his dog BonBon. Maximum depth of the Grand Canyon is 6,000′ while the shortest width is 600′ with an average of 10 miles in most places. Even BonBon could do the simple math. So we puckered up for a “scenic flight” across one of the great seven wonders, wrapped in a blanket of white like a forgotten Christmas present on the roof of the world.
- Friday photo: Grand Canyon wrapped in a blanket - February 24, 2023
- The great intermission: a renaissance in general aviation? - December 19, 2022
- The art of staying at home—a letter from a monk to pilots - October 5, 2021
The Colorado River hopefully was getting the much needed benefit of those clouds. Always interesting to see what you are doing!