Today I took the day off work to continue my quest for a mission-per-month in 2006. All week long, watching the weather forecast, I expected to have some clouds and maybe rain to deal with in San Antonio, and was actually looking forward to the opportunity (perhaps a little nervously) to get some actual instrument flying in... but the day dawned clear, cold, and nice weather forecast for both ends of the trip. By mid-afternoon, we were in the 70's and sunny, with only some high whispy clouds up at 25,000 feet (WAY above us!) providing welcome shade in the cockpit from the afternoon sun.
A check of the morning weather using both DUATS and the pilot-friendly weather tools at my friend Dan Checkoway's site showed that the only thing of possible interest was wind-sheer at 2000' (50 knots!) before 9:00 AM in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The winds at the surface were cold, but light out of the south, and I prepared myself and the passengers for a possible bump or two on climb out--which never materialized. I also computer-filed my flight plans with air traffic control.
The passenger, Norm, is a kind-hearted, jovial gentleman I've had the pleasure of flying with before. His stories and love for life and people are evident, and I always enjoy taking him to San Antonio. My wife, Teresa, was able to come along today, thanks to help from some friends of ours in picking up our kids up after school--thanks Pat and Karen!.
I left the house at 7:15 AM for the airport while Teresa took the kids to school earlier than usual. The plan was that she would meet me at the airport, as would the patient, at 8:15 AM, and we'd be off the ground at 8:30. This gave me time to preflight the plane undistracted, add fuel if necessary, which it was. I added fuel til I had 20 gallons per side, enough for a little over 4 hours flying time for this 2 hour trip.
Northwest Regional (52F), the home base of Cessna N712NV, the G1000-equipped plane I am now flying, is not a tower-controlled airport. For you non-pilot-types, that means it doesn't have a control tower telling pilots when and where to go (though I think sometimes air traffic controllers enjoy telling pilots where to go!). Instead, the airport is assigned a Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF), which all pilots using the airport monitor and broadcast their position and intentions on. It's a system that works well when it is used correctly. You still have to 'keep your head on a swivel' (as you should at all times!) watching for other air traffic, because there are older planes that don't have radios installed, there are pilots that accidentally dial up the wrong frequency (and thus, you don't hear them transmitting even though they ARE), and so on.
The other challenge comes when you are departing IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), which is a kind of flight plan that is under total control by ATC (Air Traffic Control) the entire trip. To depart under IFR rules, you must receive a clearance from air traffic control -- they basically "make a hole" to fit you into the traffic flow of other IFR planes. That's easily done from a tower controlled airport. It can be a challenge from a non-towered field. Some non-towered airports have a RCO (remote communications outlet) that lets you talk to Clearance Delivery on a discrete frequency and pick up your clearance before departure. Northwest Regional does not have one of these, which leaves you with two options: 1) take off under VFR (Visual Flight Rules) and try to pick up your clearance in the air, or 2) call clearance delivery on the phone and get your clearance with a void-time. I chose to do option 2... here's how it works.
After my preflight was complete and the passengers were seat-belted in and briefed, but before engine start, I called Clearance Delivery at 8:15AM, told them that Angel Flight 2NV (NGF2NV) would be ready to depart runway 17 at NW Regional in 10 minutes, and requested my clearance. They retrieved it and read it back to me... "Angel Flight Two-November-Victor is cleared to San Antonio International, upon entering controlled airspace fly heading 190, expect radar vectors to Waco (ACT), Victor 17, Centex (CWK), Marcs7 arrival (which is what I filed... usually they will just say "as filed" if the routing they are going to give you is what you had asked for!). Climb and maintain 2000, expect 6000 ten minutes after departure. Contact approach control on 118.1, squawk 2245. Your clearance is valid at 1425 Zulu, void if not off by 1430 Zulu, if not off by 1430 Zulu call me back at 1435 Zulu. Time now: 1418 and a half." I wrote that down in pilot-shorthand, then read it back to her, a chance for both of us to discover any errors. I got it right, she said "Read-back correct. Have a nice flight."
TIme to get down to business. Essentially, she had given us, as is typical with a void-time clearance, a 5-minute window from 8:25 to 8:30 during which I could get airborne. If I was ready to go before 8:25, I couldn't take off... I had to wait til 8:25 to take off, but make sure I took off before 8:30, or else my clearance was void and I'd have to call them back and make new arrangements. I fired up the engine, we taxied out to the runway, which takes a bit of time with the circuituous routing from the hangars to the runway at this airport. I got to the end of the runway by 8:25, but still had my runup to do (check all the systems, make sure everything is good to go). Got done with that at 8:29, did a 360-turn to check the downwind and airport area for any conflicting traffic, made my takeoff announcement on CTAF, and we rolled onto the runway at 8:29:35 and pushed the power in... made our void time clearance with less than half a minute to spare! I really like the fact that the G1000 has the current UTC time on the main panel, right in front of you, synched to the atomic clocks in the satellites... you know the current time, accurately, at all times.
There was none of the expected turbulence after departure, but ATC quickly turned us from 190 to 220 to get us out of the way of a pilot who reported the need to return to his departure airport due to a rough-running engine. It was a beautiful morning, smooth air, a bit of a headwind for the trip down, and soon we were passing over my oldest daughter's high school, Central High in Keller, Texas. My wife snagged this photo of it.
Downtown Fort Worth, looking west. You can see the Trinity River in the foreground, about the center of the picture. The Trinity River winds its way through the Fort Worth/Dallas area, and has many miles of walking trails and parks alongside it.
My ugly mug!
Zoomed out on the MFD (multi-function display, the screen on the right) until you can see the Gulf of Mexico, and you can see our entire route. The map is in "track up mode", so since we're heading southbound, the state of Texas is upside down, and Louisiana is on the left.
Approaching the Waco area (where President Bush's Crawford Ranch is), you pass right between two lakes... the one on the west side looks like a Chinese Dragon from the air, and is known as Lake Whitney. Lake Whitney State Park is unique in that it has its own runway, a 2000-foot paved strip... so you can fly in and camp! I'll have to try that sometime. The 1280 acre park was acquired in 1954 by the Department of the Army and opened in May 1965. The park is located near the ruins of Towash, an early Texas settlement inundated by Lake Whitney. Towash Village was named for the chief of the Hainai Indians, who moved into the area in 1835.
This time of year, things are only green in Texas if you water them!
Waco Regional Airport, on the north end of (yup, you guessed it!) Lake Waco. I spent some time at this airport in September 2000, on another Angel Flight, when our progress to New Braunfels was blocked by a line of thunderstorms. That trip was not completed; I bought the lady and her son a ticket on Continental from Waco to their home... the thunderstorms that day wouldn't go away.
Waco (which is not pronounced like "taco", but like "Maaco") is located on Interstate 35, between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin, and is rich in history. There is a Dinosaur Valley State Park near here, where you can walk in dinosaur footprints that are still visible in the hardened bottom of the creek. Mastadons from the east and mammoths from the west traveled to this area, and skeletons of mammoths have been excavated here.
Waco is named for the Huaco Indians, the first known inhabitants of the area. The Huacos were a branch of the Wichitas and were closely related to the Tawakonis. The tribe lived in beehive-shaped huts, 20- to 25-feet high, made of poles, buffalo hides, and rushes. The Huacos had approximately 400 acres of land under cultivation, and planted in corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, and peach trees.
In 1837, the Texas Rangers arrived, intending to build a fort at Waco Village. Texas Secretary of War William S. Fisher ordered the Rangers there, to protect the white frontier after a Comanche raid at Fort Parker near Groesbeck. The Rangers spent three weeks cutting a road through the woods and building a bridge over Cow Bayou. However, it was decided the outpost was too far away from any white settlement to offer any protection.
An Indian Trading Post was established around 1844 on a bluff eight miles south of Waco village, on the east side of the Brazos River. A year later, another settlement was established further north by a rugged Scot named Neil McLennan. The city of Waco is located in the county named for the Scotsman, McLennan County.
In 1848, two years after Texas statehood, General Thomas J. Chambers sold his Mexican grant of land, which surrounded the old Waco Village site, to a group of businessmen from Galveston. In early 1849, surveyor George B. Erath (from whom Erath County gets its name) laid out the first streets in Waco. Lots were sold for $5 each, with "farming lots" selling for $2 to $3 each. (Don't you wish you could go back and buy some land at those prices?!). Among the first buyers was a Texas Ranger, Shapley P. Ross. Captain Ross opened a ferry across the river in 1849 and built the first house in Waco with help from Armstead Ross, who by all accounts was the first African-American to arrive in Waco. The city of Waco was eventually incorporated on August 29, 1856.
Waco is also known as a center of learning ("college town") in Texas; in 1886, Baylor University moved to Waco from Independence, Texas and merged with Waco University. Founded in 1845 under the Republic of Texas (before statehood!), Baylor is the oldest continually operated university in Texas.
Texas Christian University (TCU) also called Waco home for more than 10 years, leaving for Ft. Worth in 1910 when fire destroyed its main building.
Paul Quinn College, Texas' oldest liberal arts college for African-Americans, was originally founded in Austin in 1872 as the Connectional College. The college was moved to Waco in 1881, and was named in honor of Bishop William Paul Quinn, a missionary. The college has since relocated to Dallas (in the early '90's).
Those reading this from outside Texas are probably only familiar with the name "Waco" from the Waco standoff between the FBI and David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. I hope this little history lesson tells you a little more about this interesting mid-Texas town.
Much of the land between Waco and Austin ss used for farming, and we found the combination of textures, plowing lines, hillside gradients, colors and lighting/shadows from the sun to create some interesting visual patterns today, as this series of photos, and some later, show:
Teresa is on the left, Norm is in the back, and I'm trying to take a self portrait of all of us...
And, I eventually manage to get us all in the picture. Norm didn't stick out his tongue this time--like he did on the FIRST picture I took of him on a previous Angel Flight...
For recreational boating, there can be no more fun (I imagine) than a lake like Belton Lake in Temple, Texas, with all its switchbacks and coves. The lake was completed in 1954 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding within the Brazos River Basin. The lake also functions as a water suplly, fish and wildlife habitat, and provides recreational opportunities for the public (camping, boating, picnics, fishing). The Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area is simply referred to as BLORA by the locals.
Located 60 miles north of Austin (the state capital), Temple is known as the Wildflower Capital of Texas. Unlike cities formed by settlers, it was founded in 1881 by Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway officials, and is named after its chief engineer, Bernard Moore Temple. Chosen for its central location and close proximity to other major cities, Temple soon became an important transportation, trading, agricultural and medical center.
Because of its rich history, the Temple area boasts five unique museums. As you can see in the third photo below, the area is served by a nice general-aviation airport just east of the lake.
Draughon-Miller Central Texas Regional Airport (KTPL) is just alongside our filed route...
It appears to be a very nice airport, located close to the downtown and lake areas... I'll have to come back for a "fun" visit.
And another view of the "switchbacks" in Belton Lake. You have to admit... that would be fun in a powerboat, jet ski, canoe, sailboat, heck, maybe even in an innertube...
More central Texas landscape. We are getting closer to the Hill Country now, where the land becomes less flat and more interesting.
Check out the way the sun was breaking through small holes in the high overcast, to create interesting light patterns and shadows that played against the plow lines in the fields.
Now we are approaching the city of Austin, which you can see in the middle left of this photo. Chartered in 1839 as the capital of the Republic of Texas, Austin became the state capital when Texas was admitted to the Union in 1846 as the 28th state. Austin is now the fourth largest city in the state and the sixteenth most populous city in the nation. Located in the Central Texas Hill Country, it is about 230 miles north of Mexico, and 79 miles from San Antonio (both to the south of Austin).
While the University of Austin is located here, and it is the state capital, Austin is best known in Texas for its music scene. Live music echoes from every corner of the city, from every restaurant, bar or anywhere there is a place that can be made into a stage. In fact, the city is known as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and a night on the town here includes music at more than 150 venues on any given evening. Country, blues, rock-and-roll, Western, swing, hip-hop, Tejano, latin jazz... you name it, you can find here. The largest concentration of venues is in the downtown Warehouse District and along Sixth Street. Every March, thousands of musicians and fans alike converge on the city for its annual South by Southwest Music, Film and Interactive festival.
The PBS series Austin City Limits is filmed here, and in its 31st season as of this writing, it continues to be what some consider the best free show in town, showcasing American and Texas roots music. While you can get tickets to see a taping of the show indoors, may flock to Austin in September, when the music leaves the studio for the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Zilker Park, home of the Zilker Botanical Gardens, a beautiful outdoor music setting, indeed.
Austin stakes a claim to being the "Gateway to the Hill Country". Along the western edge of the city, as seen in this somewhat hazy photo, the Balcones Escarpment rises up to separate flat prairies from the rolling hills.
Originally a buffalo hunting ground for Native Americans, Austin was permanently settled in 1838 as a trading post on the Colorado River. The Texas State Capital building is made of pink granite (YES, PINK!), but Texans will tell you proudly that despite its color, it does stand 14 feet taller than the nation's capital... after all, "everything is bigger in Texas". ;-)
In this photo, you can see the remains of Robert F. Mueller Municipal Airport, an airport that served general aviation exceptionally well with its close location to the city of Austin, with some 350 GA aircraft based there. In the early 1990's, the City of Austin began planning to close this important resource, and transfer both General Aviation (GA) and commercial operations to the distant former military field at Bergstrom Air Force Base. Local pilots and the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) recognized that would not serve GA well, and began lobbying to keep Mueller as a GA-only facility. The city promised--but never delivered--equal facilities for GA at Bergstrom.
Austin city officials then announced their intention to purchase nearby Austin Executive Airport, already home to more than 250 general aviation aircraft, and turn it into the primary GA airport for central Texas. But on at least two occassions after that announcement, when the privately-owned airport was offered for sale, city officials failed to buy it. Eventually, Austin Executive Airport was purchased--by expanding local computer giant Dell Computer--and was closed.
By late 1999, with both Mueller and Austin Executive now closed, more than 600 GA aircraft left homeless and the Austin area bereft of a GA airport, the AOPA began lobbying state officials for a solution. Speaker Laney, working closely with Texas Representative Ron Wilson and Senator Ken Armbrister, in March 2001 engineered House Bill 2522, which required that the Texas Department of Transportation "establish a state airport in Central Texas that is open to the general public." Despite fierce opposition from Austin city officials, the bill passed in May, and was signed into law by Governor Rick Perry on June 15, 2001. That started the Tx DOT on a project to identify sites for a new airport. Unfortunately, local officials wouldn't approve any of the three locations TxDOT had picked, and then, in a surprise move in 2005, provisions that would have freed up funding and created a new airport to serve Central Texas were removed from the final legislative budget, leaving Austin-area pilots without a long-promised replacement for the two lost GA airports. The battle, and the waiting, continues....
Below are photos of the new commercial, non-GA friendly Austin Bergstrom field. When I say "non-GA friendly", I don't mean that general aviation can't fly there. I've flown there--on October 20, 2001, during my instrument training, on my required "long cross-country" trip, I landed here. But, there are no GA hangars or provisions for the local pilots to have a place to park their planes on a permanent basis--it is only geared towards transient GA, not "call this your home" GA.
Teresa took this picture because of the fire damage evident at the side of this reservoir.
We were captivated by all the red-roofed buildings in scenic San Marcos. Located between Austin and San Antonio, the "Jewel of the Corridor" ('corridor' referring to the Interstate 35 corridor between DFW and San Antonio) is home to Texas State University-San Marcos, and it is their campus buildings you see in the photos below. This university holds a "claim to fame", as the only Texas University to have graduated a U.S. President (any guesses? The answer is further down in case you want to take a stab at it).
Not everyone comes to San Marcos to learn. Almost as popular as tubing down the leisurely current of the San Marcos River (visible in the bottom right of this picture) is bargain hunting at the beautifully landscaped, open-air facilities some call the "best outlet malls" in the southwest.
(Answer to previous trivia: The only U.S. President to have graduated from a Texas University was Lyndon B. Johnson, who graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos).
Nearing San Antonio, now, we happen upon Canyon Lake. Nestled among steep and wooded hills, 8,240 acre Canyon Lake is one of the deepest and most scenic lakes in Texas. The Upper Guadalupe River above Canyon Lake affords some of the most exciting whitewater in the state, while the lower segment is favorable for canoeing and tubing. Wildlife observers are also treated to sights of the area's white-tail deer and many birds.
On the arrival procedure into San Antonio, now, and we've been cleared down to 4,000 feet. The Garmin G1000's traffic alerting system told us somebody was overtaking us from above, FAST... and we looked up to see this Southwest Airlines 737 pass 2000' overhead on the same arrival we were on.
One thing we like about the Hill Country is it isn't all as FLAT as it is up where we live (we have hills to, but not as much as down here).
Another jet passes us on the arrival.... this one, an American MD-80 we're told to follow for the landing on the visual approach into Runway 12R.
After landing and seeing our companion off to his doctor appointment, Teresa and I accepted the two-hour crew car offered by the Raytheon FBO folks. A nice air-conditioned late-model red Hyundai Elantra was at our disposal. For lunch, we went to El Jarro De Arturo, a San Antonio legend of several decades, on the recommendation of a pilot acquaintance, Bill Suffa, who bases his plane out of historic Stinson Airport in south San Antonio. We enjoyed their lunch buffet, friendly service, and, as Teresa and I both agreed, some of the best homemade crispy taco shells we've ever tasted. Thanks for the suggestion, Bill!
A place with a sign like that has got to be good, huh?? After lunch, we drove north to the Barnes and Noble at 281 and 1604... my oldest daughter, Jessica, is reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" in high school, and the teacher recommended they all get the Sparks Notes for the book, but every bookstore up here is sold out--but we FOUND ONE in San Antonio. Also bought a new book for each of the girls from the Award-Winning shelf (Newberry, etc.). I am so glad my girls have a love of books and reading...
The ramp had filled up at Raytheon when we got back... I fell in love with the Bonanza A36 parked next to our Cessna 172. My dream single-engine airplane would be a Beech B36TC, the turbo-charged big brother of this six-seater.
A Blackhawk helicopter and its 20-something crew landed (and departed) from the ramp while we were there. Raytheon has a government contract for fuel, and does quite a business selling Jet-A to the military. We saw this helicopter, an FAA Flight Check Beech King Air, and a Coast Guard King Air all come in for fuel on the Government "AIR" Fuel Card.
Another view of the ramp.
Closeup of the paint scheme on the A36; it was blue, red, and gold. Very nice.
Headed home now, the "other" side of Canyon Lake. Our return routing takes us up V163 (which runs between the San Antonio, Lampassas, and Glen Rose VORs), so we are now west of our original routing, and actually OVER the Hill Country instead of alongside it.
I've taken a photo of this strip (these STRIPS) on a previous trip. They are both "private" air fields, what is interesting is their proximity to each other. One is on the top of the hill, the other, nicer, wider, and paved, is just below it... I've boxed them in green so you can see them more clearly. Between the two runways, there are two terraced "eyes" staring back at you.
You may have heard; we've been having a drought in Texas this year. Nowhere was that more apparent on this trip than when we crossed the Pedernales River, just east of Fredericksburg. Flowing from deep springs in the southeastern corner of Kimble County toward the northeast for 106 miles, the Pedernales River crosses Gillespie, Blanco, and Hays counties, to its mouth on Lake Travis. The name Pedernales River translates from the Spanish as River of Flint due to the abundance of flint rocks found in the riverbed and frequently quarried by Native Americans to fashion flint tools. In fact, arrowheads are abundant in the area and provide archaeological evidence of early human habitation here. As you can see, though, the springs must be low... the river is essentially dry.
A little further north, about halfway between San Antonio and DFW, you'll find beautiful Lake LBJ, named after President Lyndon B. Johnson, whose ranch is in the area. This lake is part of the Highland Lakes chain of seven lakes starting in Austin and going northwest for over 85 miles. Lake LBJ starts at Kingsland and goes all the way to Horseshoe Bay, 45 miles NW of Austin, which is what you see in the lower left of the picture below.
Lake LBJ is normally a constant-level lake, and is just over 21 miles long with a maximum width of some 10,800 feet. Being constant-level, it is a perfect place for sailing, boating, water-skiing and other water-related activities, and is justifiably one of the most popular lakes in Texas. Not only are tourists from around the U.S. attracted to this beautiful lake and the resorts that are built on it, but many Texans from Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas/Fort Worth own weekend lake homes on Lake LBJ, or retire in the area around the lake.
One of the more popular of these resorts is the Horseshoe Bay Resort, located just off the left side of the picture you see above. In the picture below (which you could place to the left of the picture above), you'll see one of the things that makes the resort so popular... its Jet Center, with its own 6000' runway.
Next you pass the town of Lampasas, and just outside the north end of town, proudly adorning State Hwy 281 is Lampasas Airport (KLZZ). Do you remember our discussion of the town of Temple, founded by the executives of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway? They play into the history of Lampasas, too.
You see, in the spring of 1882, the railway extended its line west from Belton to Lampasas and ended the cattle-trailing era in the county... now, you could put your cattle on a train car and get it to Temple, from where it could go anywhere in the nation. Cattle weren't the only ones to ride those rails, however. Tourists took advantage of reduced rail fares to visit the mineral springs at Lampasas (I do not know if said tourists rode in the cattle cars or not...), and the Park Hotel and the Hannah Springs Bath and Opera House were built in 1882. In 1883 a new courthouse and jail were completed (were the tourists getting into trouble, maybe??). The county's first bank, the First National Bank of Lampasas, was established on October 19, 1884. Its cashier, Frank L. Malone, helped organize the Texas Banker's Association, which was chartered in June 1885 by thirty-one Texas bankers who met at the Park Hotel. By 1885, the railroad continued building northwest, and the railroad boom subsided... the tracks are still visible in this photo!
Minerals? What made this unique pattern all by itself? If you know, email me.
Ultralight landing pad?
Alien handwriting?
Almost home now, and we get to Lake Granbury and the town of Granbury, self-proclaimed as "Where Texas History Lives". Just 45 minutes driving time from where we live, 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth on US Highway 377, Granbury offers a unique dichotomy of both historic attractions and present day conveniences. The historic square, with its courthouse, remains in many ways just as it was in the late 1800's. Many of the buildings on the square are registered historic landmarks, including the Granbury Opera House. The lake was formed in 1969 by the damming of the Brazos River. Actually, there is only one natural lake in Texas... all the others were formed by damming.
Two miles from historic downtown Granbury, on the west side of town, is Granbury Municipal airport. You can see the runway in the green rectangle below. In the circled area is an old drive-in theatre... can't really see it in this photo, but the drive-in is still operational and shows first-run double features every Friday to Sunday during the summertime. We've been there once, and will likely go again.
Downtown Fort Worth comes into view, and Dallas behind that on the horizon....
Just 5 miles from touchdown at home base, we cross over Alliance Fort Worth, where American Airlines has a maintenance facility. They will fly planes over here from DFW to work on them. FedEx also has a large presence and sorting facility at this airport, and I've landed here many times during instrument practice sessions. The annual Air Show that the Blue Angels perform at is held at this aiport.
Look closely... can you tell why my kids identify this airport as "the one with the ice-cream-cone tower"?
And here's a video of the landing back "home":
Can't see the video above? Download it (930 kb).
Here's a track of our return flight, from a great site that provides free flight tracking of any flight that is on an IFR flight plan, including General Aviation aircraft.
Whew! I know that was a lot of information, and if you're still reading, you're to be commended. Thanks for sharing this mission with me.