Windows on the Future

Air Mike Flight #65     

One of California's epic sights out the window of the plane:

Mt. Shasta, standing 14,179 ft tall.

One of the big benefits of flying airplanes is the fact that they can get you somewhere a lot quicker than cars can. In fact the main reason we pilots fly, apart from the pure fun of being up in the air, is to get something or someone somewhere. Up until recently, the fastest I could get anywhere in a plane was at the impressive speed of 110 knots, or 125 mph. That could cut the usual time it takes to travel by car in half. With my recent training in the C182TR, I now have the ability to clip along at 145 knots—165 mph. Which means its time to start going places!

Monterey was a great flight to whet my appetite for extending my forays afield. But that was with an instructor on board. My first flight as sole PIC (pilot in command) came a couple weeks after getting signed off in the new plane. Dr. Nedley, the president of Weimar Center, where I go to school, was needing a ride to Mt. Shasta, California. Himself a private pilot, he much preferred the idea of flying an hour and a half up to this mountain town rather than ride in a car for four hours. I, of course, jumped at the chance to be the pilot to fly him there. And of course, the busy college student that I am, I am constantly trying to find a way out of studying.

David catches a nap in the backseat of the 182.

 We departed Auburn in the early afternoon right at max gross weight—with books to sell and David Daum, a Nedley Clinic employee to help sell them, in the backseat. It didn’t take long for David to fall asleep as we set up for cruise to Shasta. The scenery of the Northern Sacramento valley, flanked by the Eastern Sierra foothills slowly gave way to more rugged terrain as we approached the top end of California. Straight in front, a white-capped mountain grew in size as we approached the volcano called Mt. Shasta.

Our destination was a small airstrip just outside of the town of Mt. Shasta: Dunsmuir-Mott Field. This would be the shortest runway yet for me, at 2700 feet. But this is the kind of flying that 182s are made for.

Wearing the Flyer's Grin. Both Dr. Nedley and I are private

pilots, and David recently soloed. 

The approach to the field was quite visually impressive, to say the least. Zipping over the last ridge, the small airport came in sight, situated on the east side of a valley, with the south end of its runway overlooking a dropoff. Still needing to lose quite a bit of altitude, I elected to fly up the valley, turn around and land on runway 14. With a route to lower terrain, a go-around from that direction looked a bit more forgiving if I didn’t like my approach.

So that’s what I set up for, forgetting to glance downward at the wind sock as we passed over the field. Turns out, it’s a good thing I picked that direction, as the wind was a good 10 knots and blowing straight down runway 14. Final approach was flown just above 60 knots with full flaps, and keen as I was on making a good short-field landing, I think I actually touched down on the displaced threshold. At least it was smooth pavement. Needless to say, it was a good feeling to have made a successful flight into this beautiful, somewhat more challenging mountain strip.

On the ground at Dunsmuir-Mott 0O6, with a brisk afternoon

breeze.

The local Adventist pastor came to pick up my passengers and I got ready to head down to Redding. I was not keen on navigating those mountains under a moonless, pitch-black sky for the return trip, so the plan was for Dr. Nedley and David to be dropped off at Redding after the seminar was done in the evening. The flight back to Auburn from Redding would be mainly over flatlands and foothills.

I got the plane started, waved at the couple who had been surprised to see an airplane at this small field when they showed up for a picnic, and then headed out to the runway. What I was thought was flaps 20 for short-field takeoff actually turned out to be only flaps 10, but with just me in the plane I probably didn’t need flaps at all. The plane was in the sky practically before you could "flaps 10" ten times.

I was on the way back to Redding when I realized I hadn't

yet taken a picture of Mt. Shasta. So I turned around to get

some shots.

It was my first time being solo in that plane. With over 200 hours of flight time, barely one sixth has been by myself. I like to fly with people. But I’ll admit, being up over that incredible scenery, with just me and that plane, was a pretty neat feeling.

The joy of flying was temporarily suspended once I arrived at Redding. I had brought along my A&P textbook and I needed to get at least some studying done. So I sat down in the pilot’s lounge and gave myself a headache over the next few hours, reading the miniscule descriptions in the chapter on bones. At least the chairs were comfortable.

This pilot's lounge took a little customizing - I had to turn off

the football game on the TV, and plug in the lamp.

It was dark when my crew arrived. This was one reason I had made sure to get night current again when I was getting checked out in the plane. Flight time was just about an hour back to Auburn. During the trip back I got a chance to hear about the success of the afternoon’s seminar.

“There were several people who had questions about the Sabbath after I mentioned the body’s circaseptan rhythm,” Dr. Nedley told me over the intercom. “One person was talking with a church member afterward and when the member offered to give Bible studies on the topic, they accepted.” It was exciting to hear. Through his seminar, people had once again been impressed by the way that science points back to the Bible.

“That’s really the whole point of coming out and doing this, isn’t it!” I remarked. He agreed. And the neat thing was that I got to be part of it. With the plane. As a pilot. You see, this is just a taste of what the years to come have in store. Flying to places to give people the opportunity to know God and His plan for their lives is what I'm going to be doing for a living. In reality, this could have very well been my first mission as a missionary pilot. And by God’s grace, it by far won’t be the last!