With the previous flight ops at the Hacienda being such a big success, it was time to do it again! This time, some friends and I planned to meet for breakfast. I’ll call them M&J.
As always, the flight over western New Mexico is fabulous…
These are are the mountains near Pie Town…
We arrived at the Hacienda at nearly the same time, got ourselves on the ground, and went to work.
The first order of business was getting some photos of the RV-4 on the airstrip – which I forgot last time!!
It wasn’t a “cold” morning but there was a chill to the air. We needed a fire!
M&J had brought a fire ring so we set about assembling that and gathering fire wood.
The fire ring went together quickly and before long we had a nice camp fire burning to provide some warmth. We eventually got the fire ring lined with big lava rocks that just happen to be everywhere on the property. Not terribly surprising since half of the property is a volcanic cinder cone!
The mornings breakfast menu included coffee, breakfast burritos and cinnamon rolls. M&J even brought a propane stove to warm them up! Before too long, we had piping hot breakfast!
YUMM!!
By mid-morning, the temperature had climbed sufficiently for me to start being concerned about density altitude. We guessed that it was 40 degrees which would be a density altitude of about 8,000′. I decided that a takeoff was in order to ensure that the performance of my plane was still acceptable.
With M&J watching, measuring, and photographing, I took off and landed again. The report was that I was 50′ above the ground by the 2,000′ mark. Excellent!
Even better was that this was the expected result based on our calculations!
Speaking of photography – the flying photographs were taken by my friend. He is VERY good with that camera and his house is an art studio of photographs taken from the air.
We did some walking, talking, and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a good long time. Eventually, it was time to head home. The temperature had risen to 56 degrees which was a density altitude of 8,700′. How would my airplane perform?!?
As before, she did wonderfully! The increase in density altitude was most certainly noticeable but we got off the ground and clear of the trees with plenty of room to spare.
Before heading home, we needed to get a bit of video proof of my landing at the airstrip. Once again, credit to my friend for capturing the following landing.
On the way home near Datil…
I now have five full landings and takeoffs at the airstrip. That isn’t a lot but it is enough that I am very excited. Until this week, I wasn’t really sure how well my airplane would do there. It has been a lot of work that I have considered a big experiment. It is now clear that it works!
With that in mind, the airstrip needs christened.
I’ve REALLY struggled with a name. Friends have offered many suggestions and one of them seems to have stuck so that’s the one I’m going with. Congratulations to John B. – you are the million dollar prize winner!!
Introducing: The Bendit Airstrip!
‘Bendit’ is has several meanings. Firstly, the airstrip has a ‘bend in it’. Secondly, this is a good place to have an accident and ‘bend it’ (your airplane). Finally, most of the trees in the area are known as “crooked pines” – they have lots of bends. So, ‘Bendit’ seems to work mighty well!
Winter is the wrong time of year to get excited about doing work on Bendit but that’s what I’ve done. Hopefully I can maintain that enthusiasm until spring!!
I am glad it is all working out. I was not aware that it was such a gamble. I just assumed you could land and take off there. Silly me!
Howdy Pete! The word ‘gamble’ scares me. ‘Experiment’ sounds much less risky – and more controlled. 🙂
That is one very long bent strip, looks great! Nice to see your RV in action. I agree that is a great name for it.
Thanks Tom!