x/c options Tucson to El Paso

I'm looking for a list of good landing sites between Tucson (El Tiro)
and El Paso (West Texas Airport, home of El Paso Soaring). By "good
landing sites" I mean regularly used airfields and known good landing
strips or fields that are easily accessible with the retrievehicle.

Any help from someone with experience along that route would be most
appreciated.

-Bartman

"bart w" wrote in message
om...
I'm looking for a list of good landing sites between Tucson (El Tiro)
and El Paso (West Texas Airport, home of El Paso Soaring). By "good
landing sites" I mean regularly used airfields and known good landing
strips or fields that are easily accessible with the retrievehicle.



Look up Michael Stringfellow. Maybe he is in the book. I know he has flown
the route because I met him there at West Texas Airport after he flew from
Tucson.

If possible, try to arrange it so you are at El Paso on the second Sunday of
the month in the morning. Excellent breakfast on that day at the 99's
fly-in. I recommend the Juevos Rancheros.

Larry Pardue 2I

Go to the Arizona Soaring Association site or to John Leibacher's site and
get the ASA 2004 Contest Series database. You can find it under
"Turnpoints" on the following page:
http://www.asa-soaring.org/

From El Tiro you will need to skirt the controlled airspace usually by
flying north of it, over the Catalina Mntns and then on to the next valley
where there are some fields. Then it is on to Willcox, Bowie and fields
around San Simon then a dry lakebed east of Lordsburg then Lordsburg then
Deming. After that you're on your own.....not only because I've never flown
farther than that but also because I'm not sure that there are any airstrips
between there and Las Cruces. If it is good enough to go that distance it
shouldn't be much of a problem. I've always wanted to hold a contest out of
Deming since every time I drive through that area the clouds look like they
have bases over 18K.

The best resource for more info would be Mike Parker who flys out of El Tiro
and has done many long distance flights to the east.

Good luck,
Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

"Kilo Charlie" wrote in message
news:8Nctc.8318$wH1.6997@fed1read02...
The best resource for more info would be Mike Parker who flys out of El
Tiro
and has done many long distance flights to the east.

Good luck,
Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

My bad. It was Michael Parker that I met at El Paso.

Larry Pardue 2I

Not me Larry - you must be thinking of Mike Parker from Tucson - he's flown
this area a lot.

Although I am a rather reluctant cross-country flier, I have flown as far as
Lordsburg (over the Chiracuhua mountains from Bisbee - a spectacular
flight). Lordsburg has a nice airport and there are airfields and landable
terrain on the way there from Tucson. Beyond Lordsburg, the next real
airfield is, I believe, Deming.

I have driven the route several times and you do start getting more
agriculture as you get closer to El Paso, so the route is probably
reasonably safe.

Also check the Return to Kittihawk reports, many of them followed this
general route.

Mike Stringfellow ASW 20 WA


"Larry Pardue" wrote in message
...

"bart w" wrote in message
om...
I'm looking for a list of good landing sites between Tucson (El Tiro)
and El Paso (West Texas Airport, home of El Paso Soaring). By "good
landing sites" I mean regularly used airfields and known good landing
strips or fields that are easily accessible with the retrievehicle.



Look up Michael Stringfellow. Maybe he is in the book. I know he has
flown
the route because I met him there at West Texas Airport after he flew from
Tucson.

If possible, try to arrange it so you are at El Paso on the second Sunday
of
the month in the morning. Excellent breakfast on that day at the 99's
fly-in. I recommend the Juevos Rancheros.

Larry Pardue 2I

After Deming ( en route to Las Cruces) there are several ranch strips - "Solo"
is one, and I know several sailplanes in the RTKH event last year landed there
.. The sectional of that area shows at least another two close .
Getting around the north side of the ElPaso airspace may be tricky so study the
charts for possible routes .
Happy landings .

Okay, I think I've got most of it figured out:

S: El Tiro --.-
1 Brave Bull 29.7
2 Cascabel 33.5
3 Willcox 28.4
4 Bowie 25.0
5 San Simon 14.4
6 Steins 14.9
7 Lordsburg 19.1
8 Deming 56.4 *** help!
9 Solo Ranch 18.5
10 Las Cruces 28.2
11 Cielo Dorado 31.0
F: West Tx Apt 27.0

Casey does the first half look like what you described?

The part I'm looking for more help on is Lordsburg to Deming. Looking
at the maps, I can find nothing; no airfields, farms or strips of any
kind. Just 56+ miles of glider repellant.

-Bartman

(bart w) wrote in message . com...
I'm looking for a list of good landing sites between Tucson (El Tiro)
and El Paso (West Texas Airport, home of El Paso Soaring). By "good
landing sites" I mean regularly used airfields and known good landing
strips or fields that are easily accessible with the retrievehicle.

Any help from someone with experience along that route would be most
appreciated.

-Bartman

No promises, but the SeeYou satellite images appear
to show cultivated fields starting 12 miles west of
Deming. Other than that there's noting but open desert.
Best advice is to keep a healthy altitude margin heading
east out of Lordsburg and gas up along the way. If
you can't get enough altitude to make Deming easily
stay within a conservative glide of Lordsburg until
you do.

A decent summer day in that part of the southwest should
yield more than enough altitude to make it in one shot
(~10k AGL). If it's not a good day you'll probably
have trouble getting as far a Lordsburg in the first
place.

9B


At 01:30 28 May 2004, Bart W wrote:
Okay, I think I've got most of it figured out:

S: El Tiro --.-
1 Brave Bull 29.7
2 Cascabel 33.5
3 Willcox 28.4
4 Bowie 25.0
5 San Simon 14.4
6 Steins 14.9
7 Lordsburg 19.1
8 Deming 56.4 *** help!
9 Solo Ranch 18.5
10 Las Cruces 28.2
11 Cielo Dorado 31.0
F: West Tx Apt 27.0

Casey does the first half look like what you described?

The part I'm looking for more help on is Lordsburg
to Deming. Looking
at the maps, I can find nothing; no airfields, farms
or strips of any
kind. Just 56+ miles of glider repellant.

-Bartman

(bart w) wrote in message
news:...
I'm looking for a list of good landing sites between
Tucson (El Tiro)
and El Paso (West Texas Airport, home of El Paso Soaring).
By 'good
landing sites' I mean regularly used airfields and
known good landing
strips or fields that are easily accessible with the
retrievehicle.

Any help from someone with experience along that route
would be most
appreciated.

-Bartman

That is pretty much it. There are fields and some duster stips around San
Simon but Steins is not landable....it's just a truck stop in the hills
between San Simon and Lordsburg. There is a large dry lakebed just east of
Steins but should you land there you'll have to figure out how to get the
glider out since there are railroad tracks to the north with no apparent
crossing for a long way. There are most likely dirt roads leading in from
the north but I have no knowledge of those. Lordsburg is just a bit farther
east. There usually is a smaller but landable area of that lakebed on the
south side of the interstate and tracks. I have not been down that way this
season so don't have current info.

As I have said, past Deming you are on your own other than that advice added
above. My guess is that arriving there in the good part of the day you
should be able to easily get very high and be able to make Las Cruces since
that airport is on the east side of the town.

Have fun and best of luck,
Casey

Why stop at El Paso? Continue 160 miles on to the legendary Marfa soaring site
in the high country of west Texas! See our website and your WAC Chart 23 for
details.

Tows, instruction, hangar space, hospitality now available year-round at Marfa.


Burt Compton
www.flygliders.com
800-667-9464
Marfa Gliders, west Texas