The Breakfast
Club
An Affiliate of the
The Knife & Fork
Breakfast Club Visits Window Rock,
Navajo Nation Capitol
10 Mar 07
by Warren McIlvoy
The Breakfast
Club finally made it to Window Rock.
Why has it been so long since we flew into this remote part of the state? We
did have Window Rock on our September 2001 schedule but everyone knows
what happened to general aviation at that time. As best I can reckon, it has
been more than six years since our last visit. Light aircraft have been back in
the air for a while and the weather outlook is good so it was full steam ahead toWindow Rock for
some fun and festivities.
Departing from
Our ride is smooth and the radio chatter is active with reports from other Breakfast Club
folks. We pass over Holbrook and its power station and then the plateaus
begin to rise to over 6,000' with the accompanying flora becoming a tad more dense. At about half way between Holbrook and Window
Rock, there appears to be a layer of verga at
about 10,500' but none of it finds my airplane. As we get closer to Window
Rock, a couple of us decide to fly the GPS approach to runway 02. The
approach altitudes keep us a bit high as there is a 1000' ridge line that is
only 10-miles southwest of the airport that is actually in somewhat of a
valley.
There is no taxiway at RQE and the runway is over 7000' long so you don't
really want to touch down on the numbers and spend a good portion of the
morning working your way to the ramp. A good practice would be to touch-down
about half way down the upsloping runway and just
allow the aircraft to slow-down on its own and only use your brakes as needed
to make the turn-off to the ramp at the end.
By now, more than half of the Breakfast
Club group has arrived and since this
airport is over 6700 in elevation, the cool air beckons the use of the jacket
that we so thoughtfully elected to bring with us. Some of the Breakfast Club folks
formed the first wave to take the short hike to the motel before all had
arrived. I opted to wait till the stragglers landed and the final group started
the procession to the motel. Just before we departed the ramp, I received a
call on my cell phone from the first wave. It seems that they were not sure
which way to turn upon reaching the highway. The last time that we were here,
the motel was called the Navajo Nation Inn but that has since changed to
the Quality Inn that is at your 2:00 position upon reaching the highway.
I later learned that the first wave was partially motivated by the fact that
the airport office was not open on weekends and some bladders were now
exceeding their limits thus activating their personal "high water
pressure warning lights".
The dinning room is typical of most motels and our group was seated at several
long tables and several booths. Some of the folks ordered from the menu but I
along with several others opted for the buffet. I surveyed the buffet as I
walked-in and it appeared to be better than most. In the end, I was not
disappointed as the biscuits and gravy were especially
good.
After breakfast, some of our folks elected to visit the Navajo Nation Museum
and the small adjoining zoo that are nearby. Still others choose to visit the
Indian jewelry shop that is across the street from the motel. I felt that it
was safer (read cheaper) to go directly back to the airport. About eight
aircraft elected to travel about 38-miles to the south and stop in at
The Window Rock Tribe
What's Next?
On the 14th of April,
the Breakfast Club will be making our inaugural visit to Wilcox (P33),
Click on the Window Rock link to view photos of this fly-in event.