Holiday Barnstorming in Arizona!
One benefit of the pandemic was that my family was willing to endure two 5-hour (but crowd- and mask-free!) GA plane rides from Houston to Arizona and back for the holidays…. As a bonus, we managed a couple of fun sightseeing flights around northern Tucson over the holidays.
We departed Houston (KAXH) early in the morning, stayed low to minimize the effect of the westerly winter headwinds, and stopped half-way for gas in Fort Stockton (KFST). From there, we overflew El Paso, then hugged the U.S. border across New Mexico and southern Arizona, with the mountains in Mexico out the left windows.
Along the way, south of Deming, NM, we spotted the charted but “unmarked” massive aerostat balloon tethered 14,000’ feet in the air and poking above a cloud layer. This balloon is one of a fascinating system of balloons from Puerto Rico to Yuma, AZ that provides low-level, downward-looking radar coverage along the U.S. southern border for drug interdiction and aerospace defense. We gave it a wide berth. We had our own problems to deal with. The winter desert can be darn sunny, and I’d forgotten the sunshades. We made do with what was handy, namely some checklists and the first aid kit….
Our destination was La Cholla Airpark (57AZ), a cozy and well-maintained private airstrip whose management and residents graciously allowed us to land and park there for the holidays. La Cholla (2953’), 23 miles north of Tucson Int’l (KTUS), sits in the foothills of the Tortolita Mountains in the morning shadow (6 miles west) of one of southern Arizona’s taller peaks, Mount Lemmon (9157’). The airpark’s also conveniently a 7-minute drive from my parents’ house in Oro Valley, AZ.
La Cholla Airpark (57AZ)
Final approach to La Cholla’s Runway 19 puts the highest point of the Tortolita Mountains, Jeffords Peak (4696’), off the right wing.
Final approach to La Cholla’s up-sloping Runway 1 puts the Santa Catalinas and Mt. Lemmon off the right wing.
The Tortolitas on final approach to Runway 19 at La Cholla
The Santa Catalinas on final approach to Runway 1 at La Cholla
Most of the trip was filled with family time and great hikes, but we flew two AZ joy rides. The first allowed my brother Justin’s pal Nate Grobstein, a successful Arizona real estate entrepreneur and aviation enthusiast, to spend some time at the controls on a sunset flight around Mt. Lemmon. Along the way we overflew the plane “boneyard” at Pinal Airport (KMNZ), home to scores of old airliners and other planes, including Delta Airlines’ (and any U.S. carrier’s) last-flying 747. It was also hard to miss the nearby Stone Canyon golf course, an oasis of green in the otherwise ochre landscape.
Nate was a natural: most new fliers can turn left/right easily enough, but few first-timers take immediately to pushing/pulling the yoke, changing altitude and leveling off smoothly. Nate did not need to be shown twice! He was about to start flying lessons in March when the pandemic hit — once he starts up, I suspect it won’t take Nate long to be solo in the left seat….
Next up a few days later was my 2-year-old nephew Théo’s intro to small planes. We went for a short hop from La Cholla to nearby Marana Airport (KAVQ), overflying Wasson Peak (4687’) and the nearby Saguaro National Park. Marana’s ramp is littered with old war jets: for a 2-year-old, that’s a setting we called an “attractive nuisance” back in torts class….
In a show of marital synchrony, Théo’s dad caught on video his son’s delightful takeoff giggle inside the plane, while his mom shot our takeoff from beside the runway…
Théo had a ball. He won’t remember any of it, of course, but it’s captured for posterity.
The flight back to Texas featured a smooth 66kt tailwind, and we made Tucson to Midland to Houston in well under 5 hours. The tornado warnings throughout Houston 24 hours later were a stark contrast to the almost perpetual sunshine of Tucson. If you have a chance to do some winter flying in southern Arizona, don’t miss it!
