Breakfast Club
An Affiliate of the
The Knife & Fork
Breakfast Club Visits
Whiteriver & Whiteriver Motel
12 Aug 2006
by Warren McIlvoy & Austin Erwin
As
you will quickly note, I did not attend the fly-in to Whiteriver. One of
our newer members, Austin Erwin, took the task at hand and volunteered
to write this month's story about the Breakfast Club fly-in. I believe that you
would agree that
"Our chief waxier of poetic license at large, Warren McIlvoy, was
conspicuously absent from the morning breakfasters. But nevertheless, the
journal must go on, so I am writing on
Part I - Rain: Why Now, Why
Not During the Week?
The day began like most August
mornings in
The exception to this morning being like most others was that during the night,
while most were sacked-out, the weather was raising havoc in town. During the
week, a low pressure system had taken up residence in the western half of the
state and a high pressure system to the north. Like the Hatfield's and McCoy's,
eventually there was "gonna
be trouble". Overnight, in some parts of the valley, mico-bursts were felling trees and disrupting its
resident's conventional past-time for this hour of the night, namely sleep.
Farther east towards Show Low and Whiteriver, the destination of
this month's Breakfast Club trek, those areas were hit with weather too.
As the weather played heavily into the evening and very early morning sky, by
the time 0600 had arrived, most of the clouds had cleared out. However, some challenging ones lingered out east n Show Low and Whiteriver,
so decisions had to be made.
Now, it wasn't the weather above that was the problem, it was the weather where
we were going that had to be though about. And by the looks of it, the previous
evening storms didn't receive a "last call", in Whiteriver and
it appeared as though they decided to stick around into the next day. With all
this being said, the number heading out for Augusts’ Breakfast Club trek
to Whiteriver were fewer than usual.
Part II - The Flying
Part
Looking for ways to make this expensive habit (excuse me, hobby) as economical
as possible, a buddy of mine, Rob Mooers,
agreed to fly one leg of the trip. This helps to preserve and not wear out the
magnetic strip of our credit cards, so I rationalize. Today's outbound leg
belonged to me. Based at Stellar Air Park (P19), the chosen route was to
transition the Falcon Field (FFZ) airspace and then head direct to Whiteriver
(E24) at 9,500' MSL. Once airborne, it was smooth as glass. If you are a
skier, it was like one of those perfect early mornings to be out on the lake
with no waves. Today was like that in the air, no disturbance, nice and smooth.
Over the top of Falcon Field, we overheard a conversation between ATC
(air traffic control) and a CFI discussing the logistics of his exiting the
aircraft so his student could make their first solo flight. That brought back
memories, and they aren't all that old. ATC and the CFI worked it out and quite
possibly that evening, someone's shirt tail was missing a swath of fabric.
Further along past Falcon Field, the lakes of the
The estimated time to Whiteriver from Stellar is about one hour.
So far, we had been airborne for about 32-minutes. Passing over Grapevine,
the private field on the south end of
9,500' and all is well, and we just got there! With a Cessna 172SP's 180HP in
August, the vertical rate of climb leaves something to be desired. However, it
is a far cry from the PA28-161 Piper Warrior I was flying around in last summer, it only had 160HP under the "hood".
Density altitude and maximum take-off performance (or lack of it), and I are
well acquainted.
Looking out below, were some low-lying, ground hugger type clouds hanging
around maybe 1,000' AGL. They would be burning off in the morning sun fairly
soon. The good news was the weather behind us was favorable (we had to go back
eventually) and what was ahead looked decent as well. At about 25NM out, I
brought up 123.45 to see who was out-and-about and not to my surprise, there
were others in the sky. Now it might be a guy thing, but everyone was reporting
their ground speed. I heard some 160's and some 150's. I kept my mic closed for obvious reasons. Did I mention that it was a
172SP between me and the surface?
There is no AWOS at Whiteriver so the next best thing was turning in Show
Low to see what the conditions were up there. The Breakfast Club had
visited Show Low in July for the EAA pancake breakfast fly-in. Show
Low is only about 27-miles to the north. The signal reception was garbled,
but I managed to hear "160 at 7".
At 10-miles out, there were two or three of us in that zone and we kept tabs on
who was where. I still hadn't spotted the field but
Part III: Welcome to
Whiteriver. Hello, Where's the "Follow-Me" Truck?
The gang assembled and proceeded to hoof it to the Whiteriver Motel that
was up the road about a half a mile. The air was clean and fresh; a notable
difference from the
Breakfast was accompanied by the usual conversations regarding aviation gear,
politics, the latest interpretation of the TFR around the new Cardinals Stadium
and techniques for various things from leaning an engine to what not to pack in
your carry-on luggage if traveling commercially. And who needs a factory
installed A/C unit; some of us learned of a neat gadget that works in a
reto-fitted cooler and blows 65-degree air. A perfect gift if you fly during
the summertime in
1100. It was time to get back to
Summertime in Arizona usually brings fair flying in the early morning but then
as the morning wears on, thunderstorms develop in the higher elevations as soon
as 1000. So clouds were forming to the north and the weather, as expected, was
deteriorating into a typical summer's day. Summer weather can be more
predictable and punctual then me. The rains are welcome since we needed the
moisture, but it would be nice if it didn't interfere with our enjoyment of the
wind blue yonder.
The return leg of this trek belonged to Rob.
The altitude for our return home was 8,500' and the chosen route was to pass
over San Carlos Apache and transition Williams Gateway,
Roughly 25-minutes had elapsed and
the towns of Miami-Globe were beneath us. Miami-Globe are copper
mining towns, and from the air, the history of the area is evident. Strewn over
miles are the pock marks of mining operations. Mining operations to some,
conjure-up images of dark tunnels and caves. The operations here looked
different than that. What was etched in the earth below, looked more like
upside down pyramids than anything else. Instead of the apex reaching into the
sky, these reached down into the earth. Over a century ago, copper, gold, and
silver was the allure that brought many to this region. A century later, the
prospects of the same fortune are uncertain.
From here, it is a straight shot to Williams Gateway. Communications with
ATC granted us the permission we needed to transition their airspace. Not far east of the field, maybe less than 3-miles, is one of
the many proving grounds located in the valley.
This proving ground, not long ago, was thought to be in the middle of "nowhere",
but now, communities are springing up all around it. A 12-year-old on a bike
could easily spot next year's new release from
Once we passed Williams Gateway,
The day was a good one. The beginnings at 0400 spelled the unlikelihood of any
such luck of flying. Fortunately, the heavens were kind and allowed a few of us
to spend part of our day enjoying the freedom of flight.
Austin Erwin
References:
On the SRP Project:
http://www.srpnet.com/about/history
http://cronkitezine.asu.edu/fall2003/saguaro.html
On Whiteriver:
http://www.usacitiesonline.com/azcountywhiteriver.htm#history
On Cibique Fire:
http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=l&contentId=14873
On Miami-Globe:
http://www.allgetaways.com/view_destination.asp?destinationid=XGP114-013
The Whiteriver Gang
What's Next?
The September Breakfast Club event will see us traveling north towards the Grand
Canyon only a bit closer that we did in July. We will be landing at the
Click on the Whiteriver
link to view photos of this fly-in event.