From: Curt and Cindy Browning
Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2008 10:55 PM
Subject: Another Pleasant Valley Sunday....

Guys
We really enjoyed the flight this morning. Was great to meet Harry and see you two.
Thought Id send along this journal entry and a couple pics. Flyin is special and we are lucky.
I miss some of our flying friends that have moved on.
Curt

Sunday
21 Dec 08
KFFZ-KAVQ-KCGZ-KFFZ

Like those words, it was truely another gorgeous Sunday morning in our desert. There was bright sunshine at the airport and even though we had been flying on the past two days, Cindy and I were out for yet another flying breakfast. Destination... Marana Airport today. Along on this run was Allan Wallace and his friend Harry (who turned out to be quite an interesting aviator as well) and Roger Whittier was flying out from Glendale to meet us enroute. It was to be a remarkable day in more than one way.

From arrival on the airport we found it strangely empty. No one around, and nothing taxiing as we prepped and got started. The radio was silent except for our own comm with ground control. And very odd for recent times at Falcon, we were the only aircraft waiting at the runway and got immediate departure clearance. Allan was held up for a few minutes so we took off and simply monitored the tower freq, awaiting his call for T/O. Just after TO we both noticed something strange..... no other airplanes were talking and there was no traffic on the G430. We simply had the sky all to ourselves. Not that we would have minded sharing but it seemed a rare priiviledge considering the concentration of traffic in recent times at our home drome.

Since Allan was slightly delayed we amended our plan to go direct AVQ and decided to take a 'lazy ride' along the canal east of Gateway and enjoy the scenery. We left one radio on the tower net and tuned in 'fingers' on the other so we'd hear Roger after he took off. Minutes went by..... Rittenhouse Field passed beneath us and the single airplane that we found sharing our sky was an Allegiant MD-80 climbing well above and turning toward some cold midwest destination. Having not heard Allan call yet we tried a call to Roger whom we expected would be rocketing well ahead of us. No joy. It began to be very clear that Cindy and I had actually gotten off in the lead this morning rather than the normal 'cow's tail" position. WhoooooHooooo for us. Wasnt long before we heard Allan get cleared for takeoff and also confirmed that Rog was airborne as well.

Continuing south we could see a white haze layer that appeared to get even more dense further south. The density though made it appear to be a cloud layer. It wasnt very high..... Newman Peak and just a bit of Pichacho were rising thru it. Made for a few nice photos (see pics) . Approaching it certainly appeared to be solid but it turned out otherwise. Visibility was still good looking down thru it once we were over it. South of the two peaks it disapated and there was just light haze. Arrival at Marana was uneventful, not nearly the traffic one usually encounters there on weekends. There was only a single airplane parked when we arrived but the restaurant was filled with those who park on the street side of the building. Breakfast was tasty and the conversation interesting. Allan's friend Harry is a former WWII aviator with time in the B-25 and B-26. After the war he managed a GA airport in NC and flew a SeaBee of his own. Apparently it had been a long while since Harry had been flying but his passion for flight was very evident in his recollections and description of the ride with Allan.

After breakfast there was ramp shots (pics) and farewell to Allan and Harry as Rog, Cindy and bound off for Casa Grande for some o' that "Texas Tea" for under $3 a gallon. Never thought we'd be excited about $2.65 a gallon but after seeing it go to $6 we wanted to get all we could and it was nearly a buck cheaper than at home for Cyn and me.

Word must have gotten out cause there was an "O'Hare" kinda thing goin on at CGZ when we arrived and we were no. 4 for the fuel pump when we taxied in. Its safe to say that CGZ is really on the AZ flyin map these days. There were several planes from Ryan Airfield that were gassing up too. A chat with the FBO guy a couple weeks back revealed that they are having no trouble selling 8000 gallons of the good stuff every week. Getting out of CGZ was easy and Roger tucked in close on our left for a wave before going wing up and breakin off for Glendale. A fast cloud indeed, Rog.

Nineteen minutes and 3.8 gallons of 100LL later we had 87D tucked neatly in her living room back at Falcon. The flight home from CGZ has become a bit of a 'nutroll' because of the airspace between it and home. Not only is there Class B to deal with but dual overlapping Class D's stand between the two. Over Gateway is more direct but often is congested which leads to convoluted instructions and restrictions so we now just go west a bit and fly over Chandler's Class D at 3100' which leaves us ample time to decend for Runways 22 but compresses things a bit if Runways 4 are in use.

Even with convoluted airspace, expensive (relative to car stuff) gas and innumerable regulations its a pastime that exceeds all others by any measure. Flying... especially with friends, is an experience like fine wine for the soul. It makes everything that is good, even better. The satisfaction of the most recent flight is eclipsed only by the anticipation of the next.

We are sooooooo fortunate.

Curt

Following Photos by Curt and Cindy: Click on Photo to enlarge