Descending out of 10,000 ft for Lake Havasu at 783 ft...

Thu Jun 14 - We are up early-ish in Gallup...eat a light breakfast at the Ramada...meet up with the other 2 race teams...Gallup Flying Service is there to pick us up and take us to the airport. Great airport and FBO...very attentive to their customers. Looking forward to seeing it again on tuesday for Leg #1 on the Air Race Classic.

We've preflighted and are ready to climb into the sky again.We're filing a DIRECT flight plan - GUP to HII at 10,000 ft. After yesterday's intimidating flight, we're feeling a little cautious about the climb, but it's much cooler for our morning launch. The plane starts up easily, we taxi to RWY 24m do our run up, get out clearance, and we're off. Lots of power for the climb, and it's very smooth as compared to yesterday's feeling of clawing every 50 ft on our way to out cruising altitude. Today, it feels very much like a "normal" climb.

The controller asks for an extra 1000 ft of climb to 11,000 ft, and we're comfortable with that today. We're so comfortable that we decide it's time to bring Flora back up front to sit with the pilots, and we break out the camera for some upcoming photo opportunities.

We really had a great time on this flight and spend much more time soaking in the desert scenes below. It kind of looks like a alien planet not fit for habitation. But we see some amazing rock formations and the beautiful rock faces of Sedona...a massive crater...mines...so much scenery.

We finally see some green vegetation again...

Finally, we reach Lake Havasu AZ, which is near the California border. We are coming across the last ridge talking with Los Angeles Center. As we cross the ridge, we see the floor drop to a mere 783 feet where Lake Havasu lies. We realize that we have to lose several hundred feet of altitude and choose to take the scenic route of flying south of the airport over the city and then back north again, along Lake Havasu itself.  Turning north again, we see the Lake off to the left and the airport off to the right. The airport lies just adjacent to some rocky terrain.  So we are flying to the left of the runway entering the traffic pattern and taking care to turn towards our final approach to runway 14 without getting blown further left towards the rocks. But the winds are not too bad.
We are here! Let the Start Weekend begin...

[scroll down for some photos]

Next up: Day 1 of the Race...Havasu to Gallup to Hereford...