The Breakfast Club
An Affiliate of the
The Knife & Fork
Breakfast Club Blows Into
By Warren McIlvoy
12 Apr 2003
The April Breakfast
Club event aimed the group into a northwesterly direction to a
totally new location,
Since this was about a 2.5 hour flight for us, it was "wheels in the well" at about 0630. Knowing that it was quite early for some of our faster aircraft, I did not attempt to check-in with anyone else until at least 0700 or later. We climbed to 8500' and settled-in for the smooth ride enjoying the sights and the dead silent radio on our "air-to-air" frequency. It was not until we were just south of Parker that I heard the first uttering’s from another Breakfast Club participants. I was beginning to wonder if we would be the only folks to make the trip. Since we were well ahead of any of the other Breakfast Club aircraft, we would give updated weather information to those that were well back in the pack. But since it was a beautiful day with only a very slight headwind, this made my task, very easy.
We crossed the Colorado River just
south of Parker and the semi-mountainous geography that dominated the
When I was about 25 miles out, I began my letdown to reach the 4000' TPA before actually reaching the vicinity of the airport. The GPS was pointing directly ahead but there was a small line of mountains that were also in line with our direct course. I figured that the airport had to be almost up against and on the eastern side of the mountains as they are not clearly depicted on the chart, so I continued in that direction. As we reached the 10 mile mark and I could not discern any semblance of an airport, I determined that APV had to be on the west side of these mountains. I halted our descent and turned to the south to go around the end of this mountain chain. About the time that I had reached the mid way point of this detour, I spotted a moderately wide valley between the two ridge lines and felt that a "short cut" would be the logical thing to do. Up to this point, I could hear other aircraft in the traffic pattern of APV and they were using runway 18. I could not raise the UNICOM for advisories but I thought that maybe the mountains were blocking my signal (I later found-out that you had to click the mike button three times to activate the "automatic unicom"). When we had reached about the halfway point of the "short cut", the turbulence convinced me that we had made a big mistake. At times, it was a case of just hanging on for the ride and try to keep the nose of 44X pointed in the general direction towards the north end of the valley. Exiting the valley, I spotted APV only about three miles to the northwest. I still could not get a response from UNICOM but the traffic in the pattern told me that the winds were generally straight down the runway at about 25 gusting to 30. Oh, and I should be aware of possible wind shear. Great, just what I needed after 2.5 hours and my kidneys were beginning to remind me that I was about to exceed my pressure limit, (read, time limit). I entered the pattern at left downwind and compensated for the generous tailwind. The landing was uneventful and we taxied to the ramp at the south end of the field.
We parked in the second row, right in front of the terminal building. When we opened to door, we also discovered another surprise, it was COLD. We did not stand to much on formalities as my wife was first to make a beeline to the terminal and I felt that the tie down duties could wait a few minutes while I also took care of some physiological needs. As I approached the terminal building, there was a Cherokee Six cranking-up for some sort of "air lift". The one problem with that scenario was that the chocks were still firmly entrenched around the nose gear. I was going to signal to the PIC that he was going to have a problem taxiing when he suddenly shut-down. Apparently he had gotten the message from someone else so as I approached the aircraft I signaled that I would remove the chocks for him. I did so and handed them to him via the pilot's side window. He was VERY grateful. During the morning breakfast, I found-out that most everyone else in our group believed that the airport was on the eastern side of those hills.
About this time, the original objective for this trip to the terminal building, became more apparent. Without further ado, I reached the appropriate facility and promptly took care of business. To paraphrase an old TV ad, there is definitely MORE than one way to spell "relief". After extinguishing the "high water pressure" warning light, I went back out to the ramp to finish tying-down my aircraft. I would normally wait on the ramp for the other Breakfast Club aircraft to arrive but the cold air and brisk winds convinced me that this was not a prudent endeavor. I was able to locate the person that was in-charge of handling the fuel orders, so, as long as I had plenty of time while waiting for the others, I took care of that little task. One item of interest was that, as long as you purchased 20 or more gallons, the fuel was the same cost as at SDL, so, top it off. In short order, the second wave of Breakfast Club aircraft took their positions on the ramp. The Wings Café is just to your right as you enter the terminal and they had one long center table set-up just for us. The menu is slightly limited but adequate for an airport restaurant. The selection that I had was good enough and I did not hear any complaints save for one person who wanted egg beaters and they did not offer them. His alternate selection showed-up very late. The service was a tad slow and a little surprising as I gave them a weeks notice that we were coming. Another surprise was that they do not accept any credit cards, only cash. Almost all of the staff that I had seen, appeared to be very young, mid to late teens or very early twenties. There could have been some older folks in the back but I did not see any of them.
Another minor disappointment for the day was that, the
The
What's Next?
In May, the Breakfast Club is
scheduled to make an encore visit to