Flight Training - July 2013 - 26

FLYING CARPET

By Greg Brown

PLUS View the video.

A LATE-SEASON snow squall threatens Sedona
Airport in Arizona.

SMALL FLIGHT
TURNS BIG

BETTER THAN A SUNNY DAY

B

y car, Sedona, Arizona, is 45 minutes on winding mountain
roads from Flagstaff. But by Flying Carpet, it’s fewer than
20 miles and takes 10 minutes. The small distance, however,
belies the grandeur of the flight. Forested Flagstaff graces
the southwestern Colorado Plateau, while sunbaked Sedona edges
the Verde Valley far below the plateau’s red-rock rim. To fly there you
cruise cool pines for five minutes, launch over a 2,200-foot precipice,
and plummet a half-mile downward between scarlet spires to Sedona’s
mesa-top “aircraft carrier” runway.
Videographer Derek Ellis and I had
been filming at Flagstaff Airport under
partly cloudy skies this unseasonably cool
morning. The forecast called for gusty
winds and midday snow showers, so we’d
agreed to shoot on the ground today and
film aloft tomorrow, which was to be
sunny and warmer. After capturing hangar
and preflight shots, Derek wanted to test
our cockpit audio setup for tomorrow’s
aerial recording. So he took the co-pilot
seat and I cranked up the engine. So much
for that forecast bad weather, I thought,
scanning high broken clouds.
It seemed like a shame not to fly when
we were sitting there with the engine run-

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FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

ning. I asked Derek if he was willing to go
up for a look. If conditions were favorable,
we could do some filming. If not, we just
fine-tuned the audio. My friend showed
thumbs-up, so armed with my previous
weather briefing we taxied for takeoff.
No sooner had we cleared the trees than
it was obvious the weather was good for
miles around. What’s more, shafts of sunlight streamed between the clouds, and
the air sparkled clear for filming.
I steered to where scenic Sedona huddled out of sight beyond the rim. Within
minutes we cleared the cliffs, and Derek
excitedly filmed the freshly revealed
red rock paradise on his first-ever light

airplane flight. When he finished, I suggested we land for breakfast at the airport
restaurant.
Sedona’s runway slopes upward to the
northeast. Since slope generally trumps
light winds when it comes to runway performance, Sedona traffic normally lands
uphill on Runway 3, and departs downhill
on Runway 21. There are various rules of
thumb for estimating when winds should
override slope in determining takeoff
and landing direction. Some pilots use 10
percent of touchdown or rotation speed as
their limit for arriving or departing with a
tailwind, while others round the number
to a simple 10 knots. With today’s breeze
southwesterly, I elected to land uphill
with a light tailwind.
Over huevos rancheros and plenty of
coffee, we discussed Derek’s upcoming
graduation from Northern Arizona University, and his filmmaking career plans.
Then, some 35 minutes after arriving, we
moseyed out the restaurant door toward
the airplane.
“Whoa! Look at that!” said Derek. To
our astonishment, a massive snow squall
loomed ominously from the northwest.
With skies still fair in other directions, I
hurriedly phoned Flagstaff’s automated
weather station—it, too, reported good
weather, so as long as we departed before
the storm enveloped Sedona Airport
there’d be no problem getting home.
What’s more, clear alternates lay in every
other direction. So we hurried to the
airplane; I checked the oil, started the
engine, and we taxied out.
By now, however, outflow from the
snow squall had reversed the winds to
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