This weekend I had a long cross country flight planned. The destination was Sedona, AZ, which is a very famous airport for pilots.
According to the Sedona Airport website, they claim to be “America’s Most Scenic Airport”. It is also sometimes referred to as the “USS Sedona” because it feels like landing on an aircraft carrier. This is due to the fact that the airport is situated on a Mesa with a 500 FT dropoff on both ends of the runway.
To add further drama, Sedona is home to a number of “spiritual vortexes”, which are clearly identified on tourist maps. In fact, one of them is right on the Airport access road. Some say that it may even contribute to the bizarre wind patterns that pilots wrestle with on final.
The first leg from Tampa to Shreveport was a grueling battle with weather. You can see from the screen shot below why I had diversion clearances of 20 degrees right or left most of the way.
Luckily after Shreveport, there was no more rain to contend with. The next stop was supposed to be Truth or Consequences, NM. I thought the name was unique, and their runway layout even more unique. But as I was flying over West Texas, I needed a break. So I pulled out the iPad and found a great little airport in Snyder, TX that was only 40 miles from my position and had cheap fuel, internet and a crew car!
Since I was on an IFR flight plan, I called ATC and told (not asked) to divert to Winston airport (KSNK). Their immediate response was “WHY???”. I replied “NO emergency… Just change in plans”. Then I did a couple of 360s to get down from 16,000 FT and had an uneventful landing. The crew at KSNK (Ray and Danny) were extremely friendly and helpful. After a bite and a bunch of “hanger flying” with the crew, I was ready for departure.
However, it was 95 degrees out and I struggled with the hot start. After 2 failed attempts, I pulled up Alex Wolf’s YouTube video on SR22 hot starts and that did the trick. (Thanks Alex!!)
Now I was finally direct Sedona. As I approached, I instantly understood why this airport has so much hype. The views were breathtaking! I tried to capture some of it on video, which you can see below:
So Arizona is now officially state # 38 and because of my little detour, I will try to hit New Mexico on the way home.
Cheers,
== T.J.==