Lessons learned during a rough ride today...(Longish)

Since the central route to northern Arizona is bracketed by TFRs for fire
fighting, I decided this morning to head up to Page (PGA) on a more easterly
route via Payson (PAN), Winslow (INW) and Tuba City (TBC.)

My preflight Wx research yielded some conflicting info with some products at
weather.gov calling for the possiblity of scattered, isolated thunderstorms
late in the day and other materials (the enroute TAFs from CSC Duats in
particular) did not concur. In general however, it looked good for flying
as this time of year it's a good idea to be back around lunch time if for no
other reason that just to beat the worst heat of the day.

As it turned out, weather.gov was closer to the truth. More on this in a
moment.

The flight up was really, really nice and while most everywhere in Arizona
is awesome from the air, the vast expanse of nothing between Winslow and
Tuba City was amazing (and humbling.) While there was a scarcity of
airports, I zeroed in on every wide, straight dirt road had I needed one in
an emergency. The vicinity of Page and the proximity of the airport and the
town to Lake Powell is breathtaking. I wish I could have frozen the plane
in midair just to better absorb the sight picture of turning base to final
over the river gorge that is right off the approach end of RWY 15.

I took a little stroll around the immediate airport environs and found a
nice shady bench on which to relax for a bit with a nice, cold Gatorade and
watch traffic arrive (one was a beautiful three-hole Falcon Jet of some
kind...beaucoup bucks!!!)

Ok, so time to head for home. I departed via RWY 33 so that I could
experience "stepping off the cliff" and soaring out over the lake. I turned
NE and explored a little bit of the shorline and allowed myself to fly far
enough out that I could be sure I'd crossed into Utah (does it count if I
don't land there?)

My return route was along the same route that I flew going up but I
sidestepped my route a bit to the east in order to try and pass closer to
the Meteor Crater SW of Winslow. I could see the crater on the way up but
since I was flying a route I'd not flown before, I decided to stick to my
flightplan and not deviate until the return trip.

As expected, the "desert chop" made the climb to cruise a little bumpy but I
was a little dismayed to find that even once I'd reached 9500', the bumps
didn't smooth out.

Passing Tuba City, I decided to cut the corner and head direct to Payson so
that I could turn west of south and climb to Even + 500 at 10500'.
Hmmm...no help. Still bumpy.

At this point, I noticed that there were clouds beginning to build off to my
left (east) but my intended route was clear. Viz was impacted, however, by
the residual smoke from the fires that were well off my right wing to the
west.

Passing the Meteor Crater, I managed to squeeze off one frame but the chop
had gotten so bad that I was afraid I'd knock out a tooth so beyond here,
the camera got stowed for good.

Approaching the Mogollon Rim, the clouds were beginning to get a bit thicker
and I steeled myself for a possible upslope kick in the pants where the
terrain fell sharply away to the valley surrounding Payson. Instead, what I
got was a lesson in density altitude Vs service ceiling. In the relatively
cooler air "up north", I was able to maintain 10500' (+/- 200 due to the
bumps...) but as I flew south, and the air got warmer, ol' 8DW didn't want
to stay at 10500'. Fortunately I had an out and could fly west from Payson
and still have plenty of room to hop over the next ridge at 8500' and turn
south toward home.

Rather than try and hammer out a transition with Sky Harbor controllers, I
opted to do the long, slow descent over Fountain Hills and duck under the
Class B by way of a couple of Class D transitions (Falcon Field and Chandler
Muni) instead and after a good landing at homebase, I climbed out of the
plane a bit battered (ok, maybe more than a bit... ) but wiser with a
feeling of accomplishment for having widened my comfort zone and made good
decisions along the way.

These may mean more out here in the land of brown charts than they might to
those who fly in the land of green charts but here are some things I will
file away from this flight:

- Density Altitude Rules All. I was fortunate to have an out where I could
safely descend to 8500'. I'd have been out of Schlitz if the plane had
decided to start to quit flying and I needed 10.5 to clear terrain.

- If you're not 110% certain the Wx will remain benign, don't over freelance
your flight plan. If I'd decided to hang out longer at Page, or over Lake
Powell, or if I'd spent time doing 360s around the Metor Crater, I might
have ended up being squeezed between terrain and a steadily thickening cloud
build up because the terrain climbs to meet you as you fly from Winslow to
the edge of the Mogollon Rim. I did get a few sprinkles of rain on the
windshield (I admit it, I jumped...hadn't ever been rained on before.)

- A corollary to the point above: If Wx information is inconsistant, plan
using the worst case scenario. The little voice in my head kept reminding
me that there was at least one source of Wx info that had mentioned the
possiblity of afternoon storm build up. I listened and headed back at just
the right time.

I feel like I got tested today but I think I done good...

Regards,

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Chandler, AZ

The last four photos at the bottom are from today...more to come soonly:

http://www.pbase.com/flyingphotog/aerials