Looking for somewhere to take a trip this fall? Sedona, Arizona should warrant strong consideration. Just shy of 100 miles north of Phoenix, Sedona is one of the most beautiful areas in the southwest United States. From Texas, depending on how fast your airplane travels, you could make it to Sedona in a day, with a couple of stops in between. You’d definitely want to spend a few days to enjoy the scenery and maybe jump over to the Grand Canyon while you’re in the area.
The Airport
As you approach the Sedona Airport (KSEZ), you become somewhat distracted by the scenery around you. Don’t be too distracted as the approach is a little tricky. If you are landing north, on Runway 3, the calm wind runway, don’t let the surroundings fool you. Stay on that PAPI and don’t be short, as the runway is on a 500 foot mesa. In instrument conditions, the MDA for the RNAV approach to Runway 3 dumps you out about 1,300 feet above the airport elevation, giving you plenty of time to set up to land.
When using runway 21, don’t make your pattern too wide as there are some pretty tall rocks (around 7,000 feet) north of the field. The Airport/Facilities Directory gives a warning to pilots in strong southwesterly wind conditions. Be aware of strong downdrafts coming in on final for runway 21.
The runway itself is in excellent condition, and plenty long at just over 5,000 feet. The FBO is a little dated, but the folks there are great. They were redoing the ramp this summer, so beware of that. Airplane parking is no problem, but actually getting to the FBO is a little tricky. The Mesa Grill is a very nice good restaurant just a short walk from the FBO. When I was there, I chowed down on a buffalo burger. It definitely hit the spot.
What To Do
Sedona is the outdoorsman’s paradise. Starting off, to get a great overview of the area, hop on the Red Rock Scenic Byway (SR 179) about an hour before dusk. You’ll get to see some spectacular views while it’s still light, then you can’t beat the sunsets in Sedona.
For hiking, you have a myriad of options, from the Cathedral Rock, to the Oak Creek Canyon, to the Devil’s Bridge Trail, all are beautiful, though most are not for the faint of heart (especially the Devil’s Bridge). Even though the fall is cooler, make sure you pack plenty of water for the hikes.
Want something to do in the evening? Go up to the Chapel of the Holy Cross to watch the sunset. After the sun goes down, go do some stargazing. You’ll get to take a tour of the stars at the Sedona Star Gazing location in Oak Creek. You are shown all the constellations and stars by professional astronomers, and blankets and chairs are provided.
Art connoisseur? You’ll find plenty of art galleries around town with a ton of beautiful, original artwork. There are also several theaters and golf courses around Sedona, giving everyone a little bit of everything.
If you’re up for it, the Grand Canyon is about a 2 hour drive north of Sedona, or a quick flight up to the Grand Canyon Airport (KGCN).
In search of a good getaway? Try Sedona. You’ll be sore from lots of hiking and sight seeing, but it will definitely have been worth it.
This is a re-post from Assured Partners Aerospace’s 2nd quarter Newsletter. The full newsletter can be found on Assured Partners website.
Until the war in Ukraine, the aviation insurance market could be described as “stabilizing” after a couple years of volatility with higher premiums and tighter underwriting. However, and hopefully perhaps only for the short-term, the Ukrainian war immediately brought uncertainty back into the worldwide aviation insurance market.
According to Business Insurance, “the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine represents the biggest potential loss to the aviation war market since 9/11.” One leasing firm alone has reportedly already filed a claim of approximately $3.5B for aircraft and engines they say have effectively been seized by Russia. And, because the aviation insurance arena is so small, what happens around the world at this magnitude can have cascading, detrimental effects on the US aviation insurance market.
In addition, the well-publicized spike in fuel prices could have another cooling effect on aviation operations. Generally, less air activity combined with higher operating costs equates to more frequent requests for reduced coverage, taking premium dollars away from an already-small market.
Aviation insurance buyers should therefore remain on the alert throughout 2022 for potentially quick changes to the aviation insurance marketplace that might affect either their current insurance program or their next renewal.
Ever wanted to be a Cirrus owner, but the economics of being a single owner just don’t make sense for you? If you’re in the Houston area, you now have a chance to join a Cirrus SR22 partnership at the West Houston Airport, KIWS.
The group, CirrusShare, is a 4 member group, but one of the members is looking to sell his share. The airplane is a 2007 G3 SR22. It is in excellent condition, with dual WAAS 430s and air conditioning.
Looking for a fly in this fall? Check out the Texas STOL Roundup at the end of September in Hondo, KHDO. Interested in entering? All are welcome! There are several different categories including LSA, Experimental, and others. Come in for a fun weekend and see how short an airplane can be landed!
There will be bands, a STOL seminar, and even a hangar dance.
Fly in or drive in. Camping will be available on the airport.
Brazilian manufacturer Embraer recently received FAA certification for it’s “mid-light” Legacy 450. Capable of Mach .83 and a 2,500 mile range, this is one sweet airplane. Embraer designers gave passengers headroom as the cabin stretches up to 6 feet in height down the center. Complete with fly by wire controls and a full glass cockpit configuration, Embraer did a wonderful job with this airplane. The club seats even fold down to a bed!
The airplane’s list price is $16.5 million. To learn more about the Legacy 450, visit Embraer’s website.
Texas Top Aviation wants to express our heartfelt concerns and prayers for those affected by Hurricane Harvey along the Texas Gulf Coast and in Houston. We have several customers in Houston and hope and pray that they are all safe.
The Houston Hobby Airport after Hurricane Harvey’s Torrential downpour
If you would like to donate to the relief effort, there are several organizations that are accepting support. A few are below.
As far as I knew when I woke up, October 26, 2016 would be an ordinary day for me. It was a Wednesday, and I was scheduled to fly our Company’s BE58 Baron on a charter from Wings Field (KLOM), a non-towered airport just north of Philadelphia, to Pittsburgh International Airport (KPIT) and spend the day there waiting for my 3 passengers to finish up their meetings. The plan was to fly them back to Wings that evening and then make the short hop back to home base at Lancaster, PA. (KLNS).
It was a flight that I had done countless times, and I was comfortable with the airports, the passengers, and the airplane. Everything went smoothly that morning and my short flight from Lancaster to Wings was uneventful. I even made it there in time to spill coffee all down the front of my pants before my passengers arrived. The weather was clear, calm and beautiful as we loaded into the Baron and the sun was just starting to come up as I taxied toward runway 24 for departure. I was departing VFR and had an IFR plan on file which I intended to pick up with Harrisburg Approach once we were airborne. According to my calculations, I was on schedule to be drinking my coffee at the Pittsburgh FBO right around 8:30.
At 7:05, I advanced the throttles for departure. A few moments later, I received a very unpleasant surprise. I was quickly approaching rotation speed when 2 deer ran onto the runway directly in front of the aircraft. It was still dark enough that I was relying on my landing/ taxi lights to illuminate the runway for take-off. As a result, I was unable to see the animals before it was too late. I don’t remember making a conscious decision to pull back on the yoke, but it was that or plow directly into them at about 85 knots. I pulled up as quickly as I could and the airplane rotated immediately. A fraction of a second later I heard and felt a sickening THUD.
There was no doubt that I had hit one of them, but, somewhat unbelievably, the airplane was climbing as though nothing had happened. I put the nose down to get the airspeed back up and began to try and piece together what damage the airplane had sustained. Based on the noise and the feeling of the impact, my suspicion was that I had hit the deer with the left main landing gear. A review of the instrumentation showed no abnormalities and the airplane was behaving normally, so I didn’t suspect any damage to the airframe/ flight controls. I couldn’t see anything out the windows that looked unusual, and somewhat unbelievably I still had 3 green lights.
After gaining a safe amount of speed and altitude, I turned around and told the passengers that we had hit a deer. It was obvious that we had hit something and I was sure that they wanted to know what was going on. Then, I checked all my indications again and satisfied with what I was seeing, tried to bring up the landing gear. No dice. When I pulled the gear lever to the up position, the master “GEAR UP” warning light came on and I got a horn. There was never any change in the 3-green indication and the gear motor never came to life at all.
At this point it was obvious that, minimally I was going to have to divert to Lancaster and have the maintenance guys look at the airplane to see if anything was broken. I figured that they would either give me the green light to continue or I would just jump into one of our PC12s and complete the trip while they worked on the Baron.
The landing gear’s refusal to come up was my first indication that there was substantial damage. I set course for Lancaster and called our Chief Pilot. After explaining the situation to him, we agreed that KLNS was the best option and that he would let the maintenance guys know that I was coming.
The logic was that proceeding to Lancaster would allow a visual check of the landing gear by maintenance people as well as the tower and result in the safest outcome if an emergency landing were required. Lancaster would likely have better services available in terms of emergency responders and, not to mention, I was fairly certain that there was a dead deer on the only runway at Wings that I didn’t feel like hitting for a second time. In addition, the relatively long runway at Lancaster combined with light traffic at that time of day made it the ideal option to divert to.
I again turned around to brief the passengers. I told them that we were going to have to make precautionary landing before continuing to our intended destination and that I would be performing a few low passes for the tower.
Due to the drag from the landing gear, the flight to Lancaster seemed to take forever. The long cruise home, however, gave me time to try and reach someone on the ground at Wings in hope of having the runway inspected and cleaned off before other traffic tried to use it. After several attempts to raise anyone on the Unicom/ CTAF frequency, I called Philadelphia Approach for help instead. Philly answered right away and I explained to them what had happened. I requested that they call over to Wings on the phone or send someone out to check the runway. They told me that they would get it done and asked if there was any other way that they could assist me. I told them I was headed to Lancaster and that I appreciated their offer, but didn’t require any further assistance. I then switched over to Lancaster Tower and let them know that I was about 15-20 minutes out, but I would need to perform a couple of passes to have them check my gear. The tower cleared me for a low approach over runway 26.
I arrived at LNS at about 7:30. I performed my first low pass by the tower, not really expecting anything to appear out of place. I figured I had bent something or damaged the squat switch, but not much more. I climbed to pattern altitude and awaited the good word. Shortly after the fly-by, Tower reported that the left main gear didn’t appear to be down and locked. They suggested that I make another pass. The airport maintenance personnel chimed in, reporting the same. We had just started discussing whether cranking the gear a little by hand might help when Philly approach called the Lancaster tower on the phone.
Philly informed Lancaster that someone had inspected the runway at Wings and found the left main strut and wheel in the grass. I quickly concluded that cranking the gear down probably wouldn’t help!
This was found in the grass by the runway at Wings Field
The gear door and strut after the accident.
If you think about the fact that I hit the deer with the wheel, but it didn’t hit the gear door, it becomes apparent just how close the airplane was to clearing the animal completely.
Andrew Robinson is an airline pilot for Piedmont Airlines. He is a former 135 Charter Pilot and flight instructor who lives with his wife and 2 daughters in Pennsylvania. He instructs in Beechcraft Bonanzas.
