AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2013 - 81

HAPPY CAMP
Happy Camp, California, nearly won this competition for the most challenging airport in America. It is nestled in a 1,200-foot-elevation valley surrounded by 6,000 to 7,000-foot (msl) peaks and ridges. There’s barely enough room to fly a pattern, and if you do, the runway is at times obscured. County Director of General Services Randy Akana, a pilot, said not too many fixed-wing pilots go to Happy Camp other than to hunt or fish. There is no fuel offered. “It can be intimidating,” he said. It is very low use except for helicopters operated by the U.S. Forest Service and medevac helicopters. “It is built on the side of a mountain in a canyon,” said Airports Director Melissa Cummins, a student pilot. “When you turn downwind, the [side] window is pointed at the ground.” Since fixed-wing pilots are already avoiding the airport, it was disqualified. —AKM

“The rule of thumb here in summertime is, if you have a four-passenger airplane, it’s now a two-passenger airplane.” —Dick Weinberg
above Aspen from the “scenic” route through the western mountains that Kraft gives his mountain flying students and had to hold over a golf course off the end of Runway 33 until opposing traffic had landed. Since a 172 can easily maneuver in the tight space above the city, we were able to use Runway 33 and had the luxury of a headwind. Most of the time, opposing operations are the rule; take off on Runway 33, land on Runway 15. The only real issue for me when landing on Runway 33 was flying a squared-off right base leg aiming directly at the steep slopes of Buttermilk ski resort that formed a wall ahead. I tended to veer away from the mountain until Kraft pointed out I would be too high unless I flew to the extended centerline of Runway 33 before turning toward my final approach. The only difference I noticed during my flights was the many seconds it took during the takeoff run before I could say, “Airspeed [indicator] alive.” With a little training, mountain flying can be enjoyable and scenically rewarding. You might even see one of the mountain goat herds that live above Aspen. AOPA
EMAIL alton.marsh@aopa.org

DUATS
“SERVING PILOTS SINCE 1989”

• Free FAA Weather • Free Flight Planning • Free Flight Plan Filing

Make The Most of Your Flying and Upgrade Your Golden Eagle FlightPrep®
Get all the easy-to-use free features plus these premium enhancements: ChartCase Professional®

THE TOTAL FLIGHT PLANNING PACKAGE

Self-Briefing Capabilities
• Weather briefings • Plain language translations • Automated flight planner • Help Desk • Flight plan filing • Personal profile capability • Color weather graphics • Domestic ICAO flight plan filing • Notice-to-Airmen (NOTAM) • Parsing domestic NOTAMs by keyword

Fully Integrated EFB. No piecemeal download, no complicated option, no hassle, no kidding. • Full Moving Map & Flight Planner • Position on Charts, Plates & Taxi Diagrams • In-Cockpit Weather • Terrain Awareness (TAWS) Display • 3D Highway in the Sky (HITS) • Glass Virtual Instrument Panel • Pre-load of Sectionals, TACs, LIFR & Plates Golden Eagle Plus® • Fuel Stop Planning • Multi-Leg Trip Planning • Flight Planning Wizard • Premium Wx, METAR and Winds • Profile Topo, Airspace, Clouds and Winds • Weight & Balance

CSC has partnered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for nearly 22 years to offer DUATS as a FREE service to pilots nationwide. DUATS ensures that pilots can safely plan flights by providing current FAA weather and navigation data. DUATS is easy to use and easily accessible. Over 550,000 pilots agree that DUATS is the #1 preflight planning tool available.

• SSL connection • Flight plan processing • Interactive alphanumeric and graphic weather briefing • Data management • Search and rescue (SAR)

BENEFITS
• Improve Flight Safety: Gives pilots the most accurate information available for flight plan preparation • DUATS Mobile: Phone, Web-based, hand-held devices: www.duats.com/mobile • New and Improved Website for CSC DUATS: www.duats.com
Some premium features illustrated

• Continuous data recording – 15-day retention • Event reconstruction For a FREE software download, visit: www.duats.com or www.flightprep.com For a FREE copy on CD, call: 800.345.3828 option 1 To order, visit: www.flightprep.com or call: 503.678.4360

Both FREE with Data Subscription

http://www.duats.com http://www.duats.com http://www.flightprep.com http://www.duats.com/mobile http://www.flightprep.com http://www.duats.com http://www.flightprep.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2013