The Breakfast Club
An Affiliate of the Arizona Pilots Assn
The Knife & Fork
Breakfast Club Visits Jean, NV, Goldstrike Casino
10 Apr 2004
by Warren McIlvoy
The Breakfast Club finally made it to Jean,
Nevada. Jean was on our
schedule last year but foul weather persisted most of the week of the event and
did not clear until late the Friday night prior to our event. Since Thursday
evening was the deadline for making a go/no go decision, I canceled the event
in favor of Sedona. As it turned-out, the weather cleared-up by Saturday
morning but by then it was to late. However, two
aircraft did head up that way and later gave me a report on their trip. This
time, the only weather related issue was some enthusiastic winds out of the
northwest that promised to make the trip a bit longer on the outbound leg.
We had some high, broken clouds at about 12,000' or so but they cleared out
somewhere between Bagdad and Kingman.
At 8500', even with a 15-20 knot headwind, the ride was relatively smooth. The
broken clouds gave a somewhat mottled appearance to the countless ridges and
valleys along our course. Just prior to reaching Bagdad, I heard BC-2
on the line stating that they had just departed Deer Valley
and heading our way. We crossed the Hualapai
Mountains and the Wabayuma Peak Wilderness Area a bit south of Kingman
and a tad east of the Sacramento
Valley. On the west
side of the valley, lies the Black Mountains
that form the eastern backdrop for the Bullhead City/Laughlin area.
After crossing Lake Mohave about 10 miles north of Laughlin, it seemed that our
headwind had increased by about another 10 knots or so. The picture that did
not seem to fit was that, at full throttle, I was only developing about 2450
rpm. We weren't climbing nor descending, just not going forward very fast. I
checked the mixture again to make sure that it was set properly but that had no
effect on the power loss. Just for the heck-of-it, I applied carb heat to see if that would make any difference and all
I got was a rough running engine. Thinking that maybe I had over-leaned the
mixture, I quickly undid the carb heat application.
The casino town of Searchlight
passed below our left wing as we continued on to Jean. The GPS was
pointing to a small mountain ridge but I could not detect the presents of any
form of an airport that had two runways. I stopped our descent since the
airport could be on the west side of the ridge. I reported on the CTAF that we
were 5 miles southeast for a mid field crossover for runway 2. We crossed the
ridge 3 miles east of the airport and the energetic winds provided and exciting
ride as we crossed the ridge. Another aircraft reported 5 miles north to follow
us in the pattern. The 15 knot winds shortened-up the approach and landing roll
allowing for a quick exit off the runway. Two hours and twenty minutes for the
216 miles trip to Jean, I need a faster aircraft (or less wind). The two other
aircraft in our group had already landed and tied-down. A few pictures of the
group on the ramp and we were ready to take the short hike to the Goldstrike Casino. The
sidewalk makes a beeline to the casino and is lighted just in case you have an
after dark urge to part with some of your hard earned cash.
The buffet style café is to your right as you enter the casino and there
is nothing different about the Goldstrike Casino as
it appears to just like every other "cookie cutter" style casino. The
cost of admittance to the buffet is $7.50 a head which is a tad bit more than
most other casino buffets. The breakfast entrees were the usual buffet items
but the selection was, in my opinion, a bit lacking. There was no evidence of
any fresh fruit and there were some hot items not generally associated with
breakfast like ribs and chicken. There was a dessert bar with a large variety
of selections but they seemed to be lacking in flavor. As my sense of taste is
limited, that opinion was common around the table. All-in-all, we could only
give the Goldstrike buffet, a "fair" grade.
We have had better for slightly less expense. But it is the adventure, not the
destination.........right!
The gaming area adjacent to the buffet was beckoning but they did not make much
from us. My wife donated about $5.00 and Richard's wife Marcia, donated $1.50.
I did not hear from any of the others in our group but since we were not there
very long, I doubt that the damage was to monumental.
After making the mandatory "pit stops", we exited the Goldstrike for the hike back to the airport. Since it had taken more
than two hours for the first leg, I decided to use the self service fuel island
where fuel was $2.62 or about .13 more than at Scottsdale. Take-off on runway 2 into the
brisk wind had us off the pavement without using much of it. The flight guide
says to avoid over-flying the prison that is on the slope of the mountain about
2.5 miles east of the airport. Since the earlier approach over the ridge line
on our arrival was "interesting", I did not care to repeat the
experience again so I elected to go around the north side of the ridge. That
route would place you under the outer ring of the Las Vegas Class B
airspace but our altitude was well under the "floor" of that sector.
The route back home was a reverse course of the morning's leg with one notable
exception, the enthusiastic head wind, was now on our tail and pushing ground
speeds into the high 130's to the low 140's. I climbed to 9500' to take
advantage of the generous tail winds but, as we passed Kingman, I
noticed the same odd power loss that I noted on the first leg. There was no
visible moisture in this area as the high clouds were closer to the Phoenix area. The high
tail winds mitigated this anomaly so it was less of a concern. Upon reflecting
on the odd power loss, I can only come to the conclusion that I had my first
experience with carburetor icing with no visible moisture. By the way, the trip
back only took 1:40 minutes or 40 minutes less than the leg to Jean.
All-in-all, an interesting day and a new entry in my logbook but with all of
the expectations of this location, I believe that we were all a bit
disappointed. I presume that the event committee will not be scheduling an
encore visit here anytime in the near future.
The Jean Gang
- Warren & Jeri-Ann McIlvoy in 4544X, BC-1
- Richard Spiegel and Nancy
Shore with Richard
& Marcia Azimov in 6864Q, BC-2 & 3
- Larry and Brad Jensen in 14LJ
What's Next?
In May, the Breakfast Club will
be making an encore visit to Seligman,
Arizona and Lilo's West
Side Café. Seligman is becoming a favorite of the $100
ham & eggs gang and Lilo's is the place to go. Later in the month the 22nd
& 23rd, will see the Breakfast
Club do an overnight trip to Winslow
and the La Posada Hotel. Thought there is not much to do in Winslow,
the La Posada is worthy of an over night stay for those enamored with historic
places. In June, the Breakfast Club will be making its first scheduled trip to Payson.
We have been there many times in the past but on several occasions, Payson
has served as an alternate. That's all for now but remember, fly safe.
Click on the Jean,
NV link to view photos of this fly-in event.