The Grand Canyon 2002

I flew to Odessa/Midland in western Texas for a gathering of the Short Wing Piper Club. They had seminars, entertainment, feasts, and lots of tube & fabric airplanes like mine. One morning I got to take a nice young man named Marshall up for a scenic ride over his house and the Commemorative Air Force area. Even though the 20 knot winds were bouncing us around a little, Marshall did great at the wheel.


Bob, the official SWPC convention photographer, took some great photo's from Blue's back seat. As we flew away, Bob took this picture showing Blue's 1977 "groovy" paint scheme.


Continuing on the way home I passed over the Grand Canyon and this time my pictures came out okay.

Because the scenic tour airlines have so many planes in the area, the FAA has a Special Flight Rules chart. Little guys like me are advised to stay out of the way (several thousand feet) above the canyon rim. These tiny pictures taken from 10,500 feet don't do justice to the immense size or colors of the canyon. To give you a sense of size here, the rim is around 7,000' elevation (3,500' below me) so you can't even see the motor homes on the double lane paved roads in the picture above (left), and that river is about 5,000' below the rim. The canyon is really big.

You have to trust your engine here because there are no safe landing spots. This is a good place for me to thank my mechanic-magician-wiseman Steve Pankonin for keeping everything running smoothly.