By Rod KunKel & Chris Nugent
Chris Nugent and I took my 182 on a weeklong trip in mid-August. We got as far north as Glacier National Park in Montana, almost to the Canadian border. We saw plenty of spectacular scenery, ate a lot of good food, and drank some good beer. We successfully avoided inclement weather along the way, with the 182 performing flawlessly. Personally, I had instances of both good and poor airmanship along the way … One never stops learning!
Here’s a summary of each day:
Day -2
A couple days before setting off, Chris and I spent a good hour scrubbing a summer’s worth of bugs off the leading edges of my 182. We figured on a long trip this might gain us a knot or two. And even if not, our transportation would look better.
Day 1
We departed Falcon Field (KFFZ) for Moab, UT (KCNY). KCNY is a non-towered airport in the high desert just north of Moab. They do have a few airline flights a day, so there is a decent-sized terminal building with some services. We weren’t in a hurry to get there as no adverse weather was forecast early that day, and the rental car counter at KCNY didn’t open until noon. That afternoon, we did some short hikes in Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park. Dead Horse Point State Park is a great alternative to the more crowded national parks in the area. It is also where they filmed the final scenes for the movie Thelma & Louise!
Day 2
We got up early to get into Arches National Park before 7:00 AM when reservations are required for entry. We hiked up to Delicate Arch, a spectacular sandstone formation. This was a scheduled non-flying day which turned out to have periods of overcast skies and rain, so we did a fair amount of sightseeing by car, both within Arches NP and along the Colorado River, which flows through the Moab area.
Day 3
On to Lewistown, MT (KLWT), home of my former co-worker Sean and his wife Diane. KLWT is a sleepy little airport now, but during WW2, it housed a B-17 training facility. Interestingly, the training facility was deactivated only one year after it opened, but many of the original buildings are still there.
Along the way, we stopped at Hot Springs, WY (KHSG) for a fluid exchange. KHSG is a great little non-towered airport in central WY, and relatively new, having been built only about 10 years ago.
After our arrival in Lewistown, Sean and Diane treated us to an elk steak dinner at their home … elk that Sean had personally hunted and butchered. Very tasty!
Day 4
We reached our northernmost latitude when landing at Kalispell, MT (KGPI). KGPI is a towered airport (Class D) that services several airlines and is the primary airport for Glacier National Park visitors. It is also in the midst of an exp
ansion that will funnel even more people into the already crowded Glacier National Park. That afternoon, we hiked to a viewpoint above the town of Whitefish, MT, where we were staying, and later had a nice dinner at a local golf club.
Day 5
Glacier National Park requires reservations at the West entrance (which we didn’t have) anytime after 6:00 AM. We weren’t too excited about getting up that early, so we drove to the East entrance, where reservations aren’t required. We then headed back west within the park. In my opinion, the scenery and hiking in Glacier NP is the most spectacular of all national parks with the possible exception of Grand Canyon NP. Unfortunately, it is also very crowded. We had planned a couple short hikes, but couldn’t get a parking spot at the trailheads. So we settled for a hike near the visitor center at the West entrance on the way out of the park. And we had another good meal at a local BBQ place, a former blacksmith shop!
Day 6
We broke the return trip into two days, planning to stop at Ogden, UT (KOGD) for the night. Fog delayed our departure from KGPI for a couple hours. By that time, it was increasingly clear that northbound thunderstorms forming south of the Salt Lake City area would reach Ogden before we did. So we stopped at Idaho Falls, ID (KIDA) to get some lunch and kill some time. Leaving KIDA, we deviated to the west to skirt around the storms and approach Ogden from the SW after the storms passed, which worked pretty well. FlightAware showed the storms still well-entrenched over Ogden, but in reality, we arrived about an hour after they had moved to the northeast. Both KIDA and KOGD are towered (Class D) airports with multiple non-parallel runways.
Day 7
Leaving Ogden, the weather showed moderate precipitation passing northbound through the PHX area, so we stopped at St. George, UT, (KSGU) for a break. KSGU is a non-towered airport with a single runway that is quite long and wide. I used a good bit of it landing with a gusty right crosswind, which is not my favorite. After a short break, we headed back to Falcon Field. Once again, we had to navigate around some moderate precipitation, which was enough light rain to wash all the newly acquired bugs off the 182.
While the entire week of flying had gone pretty well, the last few minutes disappointed me. We approached Falcon Field to find both patterns crowded, with one very busy controller handling both runways. When entering left downwind for 4L, ATC indicated the traffic I was following was a Cirrus at 1:00 and a mile. Neither Chris or I could find it visually or on ADS-B. And I couldn’t get a transmission in to let ATC know. I decided to extend my downwind until I located the Cirrus. ATC then had me switch to 4R and immediately cleared me to land, #1 for the runway. I quickly turned base and final for 4R and found myself pretty high with no flaps extended, so had to slow down and descend fairly quickly to land. No damage except to my ego, but I should have flown a more stabilized pattern, and gone around when I found myself fast, clean, and high on final. Lessons learned! Still wondering whether the Cirrus was ever there, or if ATC had me confused with another aircraft?
All told, 20.3 hours on the Hobbs meter, 3 quarts of oil, and about 200 gallons of 100LL. And except for the last few minutes, a good time was had by all!