El Mirage
I have just returned from my driving/flying vacation at El Mirage dry lake
bed in Southern California , cut short by vicious winds. I spent the last
couple of days there camped out with my son Joe and his friend Mike. I had
planned on flying down south to visit my brother in Tehatchapi, but I
decided to make it a combination flying/motorcycle vacation to include my
son. We trailered my Challenger Ultralight and loaded up the truck with 2
motorcycles and associated equipment. The milage round trip was 880 miles.
We arrived Saturday afternoon about 1PM and the boys couldn't wait to get
their motorcycles out and start riding. The lakebed is about 3-4 miles
long and aprox 1/2 mile wide at its widest point. The lake is dried
mud with a smooth surface, perfect for hi speed runs with wheeled
vehicles and makes a perfect landing site, no matter the wind direction.
Hills are located on the East side of the lake and have many trails for
off-road vehicles. I set to work upon our arrival getting the camp
set
up and erecting a 16 X 20 ft awning to keep us out of the sun. The wind was
blowing too hard to set up my plane, so I had to wait until that evening to
put it together. By the time I finally got the plane all set up and
preflighted , it was only about 30 minutes before sunset, so I took off and
flew around the lakebed to familiarize myself with the area. The boys were
out riding there bikes, so I thought I would go out and buzz them. The
sun went down too quickly, so I had to quit flying for the day and wait
until morning. When we went to bed that night the sky was filled with
millions of stars, and the veiw was teriffic. I awoke several hours
latter and wondered who had turned on the lights. A full moon had come up
and it was so bright outside, I could have read a book! The sun finally
came up the next day, none to quickly for me, as it gets very cold at night
in the desert. I had communicated via E-Mail with Robert Comperini, a USUA
AFI who flys out of Brian Ranch near El Mirage before I had left, and he had
invited me to fly in and visit. That morning I got up early and reviewed
my sectional and planed out my trip to Brian Ranch. I took off and headed
in a SW direction using a distant mountain peak as a reference point.
About 15 miles out of El Mirage I spotted a ranch up ahead that had a
couple of large crossed runways that would be suitable for a training
facility, and as I circled overhead, I spotted a man waving at me. I
set up my approach and landed, only to find out that I was not at Brian
Ranch, but at Norms house. Very nice gentleman Norm, we talked about
flying for the next 30 minutes, and he told me where all the private
runways in the area were. I was about 8 miles east of my intended
destination, so I said farewell and headed off to the Ranch. I didn't
have any trouble finding it after Norms directions, and when I landed, was
greeted by Robert Comperini (a frequent contributor to this forum) and
George Chabot, both USUA instructors. We had a nice conversation, but I
had to get back to the camp to fix breakfast for the boys. That
afternoon the winds picked up and never did die down enough for me to go
flying again, so I had to be content with my trip to Brians Ranch that
morning. I awoke the next day greeted with perfect flying conditions, no
wind. I quickly got up and took off for the Apple Valley Airport to look
up my old friend Dick Brawley who had been the manager there until about a
month ago. I found this out when I inquired about him at the restaurant.
The nice lady there said that she did not know where he could be found
these day's so I decided to take off and check out the former George
AFB. It had been directly in my path that morning, so on the way back I
landed on the very long and wide runway. I felt like I had entered the
Twilight Zone, because the place looked like a ghost town. Very strange
landing at that very large facility where I had previously worked from
time to time in my capacity as an Airlift Control Element (ALCE)
Loadmaster when I was stationed at Norton AFB with Dick. I met with Richard
Cole, the Director of Facilities, Southern Calif International Airport and
discussed the future Army troop exercises that my unit (I'm still an ALCE
troop, only they call it a TALCE now) will be supporting in the coming
months. Again I had to get back to camp to fix breakfast for the
motorcyclists! That day the winds picked up in the afternoon, and with the
dust devils, very LARGE, dust devils raging all about us, I spent about 2
hours with my fingers crossed hoping that one would not come through our
camp. I was sufficiently scared to make the decision that I could not
stay another day and risk the destruction of my plane. We would pack up and
leave the next morning. I did get to fly that everning, and practiced cross
wind landings in the 8-9 MPH wind. That day, a couple of French nationals
were there on the lake filming a documentery of some kind. They asked if
they could film me flying, but I explained that the winds were too strong
and they would have to wait a couple of hours. They couldn't wait, but I
was amused while watching them film. The camerman would lay on the hood of
their car, with his head hanging down at bumper level, while his partner
held on to his belt. He held the camera about 2 inches from the ground as
they sped along the lake bed. In addition, there was another film crew of
some kind filming in the middle of the lake. I think they were filming
inside a van, that was completly drapped in a black tarp. All the while, a
group of 4-5 people stood in the sun along side. Very strange, I can only
imagine what was going inside that van! Only one more night at El Mirage,
so we had finish off our firewood and had a great bonfire that night. The
stars were out by the millions and if not for the dangerous winds, we
would have stayed longer. The boys declared the trip a sucess, and I must
admit that the little bit of flying that I did was fun. In addition, I
did get to meet with Richard and can now place a face with his posts. I
can recommend El Mirage for a short visit, but If the winds and dust
devils pick up, be aware that in the blink of an eye, your pride and joy
can be reduced to a pile of junk. Happy flying John from Vacaville
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