Why I built the Coyote

A place to share flight experiences of any kind. Looking forward to our first "first flight" post.
Bob Barrett
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Post by Bob Barrett »

You do great write-ups of your travels and the pictures are also good. They really make the topic more live :) Keep on posting and flying :)

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dons
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Post by dons »

Very nice Scott, thanks for the envy.
Don Sinclair
CYKF
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svanarts
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Post by svanarts »

Thanks guys! I'll try to take at least one more trip before the weather turns sour here.
Scott VanArtsdalen
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Nirvana Rodeo / Dudek Universal
S-6ES N612SV - GONE but not forgotten
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Bob Barrett
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Location: Sartell MN

Post by Bob Barrett »

We have been trying to make two trips for the past week and a half but the weather has screwed us up. I want to fly to my home town of Linton, ND and to Oshkosh. :bang: The weather has been lousy eaither way on the days we can go. It has been warm here but have had excessive winds gusting to 40 miles per hour out of the South and the only runway at Linton is 9 & 27. When the winds are down there we have them here at 8Y6 Clear Lake, MN The people we want to see while at Oshkosh have been gone when the weather is good. Maybe next week. :bang:

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Post by Spike »

The weather had been horrible here. Between work, storms, and the family, my hour count has fell through the floor. *ugggh*

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svanarts
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Post by svanarts »

Been a little busy with work lately but I finally found time to sneak onto the Internet and sneak a little flying in as well. Today I flew to an air strip called JB Golf today. I used to fly my Champ in there years ago. Never could get my RV in there. A superior pilot probably could have. It's one of the strips I really missed flying into. I buzzed the strip a bunch of times over the past few months but the trees were overgrown and I couldnt get the Coyote in either. He must have gotten the message because last week the trees were trimmed back and the approach is clear again. So this morning I packed my golf clubs into the plane and flew in for a nice round of golf. You have to love a golf course that you can land on.

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Scott VanArtsdalen
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Nirvana Rodeo / Dudek Universal
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Spike
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Post by Spike »

Suweeet!

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hydroguy2
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Post by hydroguy2 »

Sorry I couldn't help myself, you mentioned golfing so I had a flashback:

Correct me if I'm wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they're
gonna lock me up and throw away the key
Brian
Townsend, MT

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svanarts
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Post by svanarts »

Thanks to Chad, I've now been written up in Sport Aviation!

http://www.sportaviationonline.org/spor ... &u1=friend

Sorry I haven't been posting much. I've been lurking a lot lately.
Scott VanArtsdalen
Token Heretic
Nirvana Rodeo / Dudek Universal
S-6ES N612SV - GONE but not forgotten
RV-4 N311SV - SOLD

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BSwayze
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Post by BSwayze »

Congratulations, Scott! Nice article!
Bruce Swayze
Portland, Oregon
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Post by Spike »

Congratulations Scott! Its nice to be able to call so many cool people RB'ers :)

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svanarts
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Post by svanarts »

Just another checking to say I'm still alive. Still lurking periodically. Thought you guys might like to read my write up of flying in to Burning Man. If you don't know what that is, Google it. This is a cross post from my write up on Rans Clan...

So Burning Man has been on my bucket list for years and this year I just decided it was time. About a month and a half ago I started preparing for my journey. Looking for a ticket, gathering my camp gear, my foul weather (dust and wind) gear, etc. The day before I was to leave I was wondering if I'd be able to get there at all. Smoke from the Yosemite Rim fire was obscuring my route. Reno had been solid IFR due to smoke for a couple days now. My plan was to fly direct to Lake Tahoe then across to Lovelock, NV and then over to the Black Rock desert. But thick bands of smoke were preventing this. At the last minute I descided to change my route to O27 -D-> KSVE -D-> 88NV (Black Rock Airport). This turned out to be a good plan as I found out.

As I preflighted my plane I could see the towering pyro-cumulus to the east over Yosemite. I took off under a blood red sunrise and pointed my plane almost due north. Almost two hours later later I was landing at Susanville to top off my tank and make the final flight into Black Rock Airport. They ask you to fly to Gerlach, NV and then follow the railroad tracks in. If you haven't landed they ask you to tell them you are inbound with "shiney wings". This let's Unicom know you are landing for the first time and they give out more info than normal such as altimeter and wind. The runway is very hard to find as it blends in with the playa dust. They helped to deliniate the runway by placing a large black chevron at the ends of the runway and lining the sides with black road cones. You can't see these things until you are on short final. At any rate I made a half way decent approach and landing and then taxied back to look for the parking area. They had a ground frequency and someone in a golf cart which helped you locate a tie down spot. I finally got to a tiedown spot and hopped out and pushed the plane into it's parking spot. A beautiful woman named "Z" drove up in a golf cart, jumped out, yelled "Welcome Home!" and gave me a tight long hug! She took down my info, explained a few things about the airport briefly and then was on her way to hug someone else.

After tying down the plane I walked to airport customs where I showed them my entrance ticket, and paid my $20 one time fee for landing. Since it was my first visit they demanded I lay in the dust and make a dust angel. I'm all about tradition so I eagerly complied, the crowd cheered. Then I was given yet another briefing about how to get out to my plane, given a wristband that allowed me access to the airport, and then let into Black Rock City were another beautiful woman hugged me and asked me how many times I'd been to Burning Man. I told her it was my first time. She then handed me a mallet and told me I had to ring the virgin bell. She yelled to the crowd that was there "We have another virgin!" I rang the bell and the crowd cheered.

Having done all that I acquainted myself with the Galley, a tent set up to feed pilots so we didn't have to haul all our food along. I went back out to my plane and finished setting up camp. Afterwards I got my backpack loaded with water and snacks and set off for Black Rock City.

Black Rock City is home to 65,000 artists, partiers, engineers, and nerds. There were numerous art cars driving around (think parade float), people dressed in various costumes and in various states of undress. The overall guiding principle of BM is "radical inclusion" so you can be what you want to be there. No one judges you or treats you badly. It was the most friendly, welcoming place I had ever been. Everyone hugs everyone there. If you are not a people person or you are the least bit judgemental, you don't want to be there. As I have a fairly open mind, I enjoyed it.

In my wanderings I met up with Al. He was driving an art car that looked like a small trolley. It was a very fortuitous meeting. He offered me a ride on the trolley which me and my tired feet gratefully accepted. He found out I was a pilot and mentioned how his wife would love to go for a flight. I told him I'd be happy to take her. So we stopped by his camp and he introduced me to his wife and friends. It was too late in the day for a flght (hot and dusty) so I offered to give them a ride in the morning. Al took me back to the airport on his trolley, I had a wonderful dinner of shrimp paia, and then crashed in my tent to the sound of rave music in the distance.

The next morning I crawled out of my tent and who did I see but Al and crew waiting for me at the airport fence. He and his buddy and their wives were all there, hugs exchanged all around, and they had even brought me a pot of hot coffee. I gave both ladies their airplane rides and they were both just stoked. When we got back Al was talking to another young lady who wanted an airplane ride. I was all rided out and it was already starting to get hot and crowded in the pattern. I asked her to come back the next morning and I would give her a ride.

I rode back into town with Al and crew and spent a couple hours with them at their camp watching them serve up free coffee. This was Camp Brew-Haha. In case you don't know, commerce is NOT allowed at Burning Man. They have a "gifting" culture. You simply just give to other expecting nothing in return. Everybody does this. It's amazing. Al said that since I had no way to get around and hadn't seen much of the city that I could take his trolley for a few hours and just go see what I could see. So, off I went on the Trolley visiting art projects out on the playa (the large empty central area of Black Rock City). I saw the Man, the Temple, the Goddess of Truth and Beauty. I gave people rides who looked tired. From the beautiful girl who explained what steam punk was all about to the 4 gay men, all were fun in their own way and yes, all hugged me. By this time I was completely used to it so that even when the topless women hugged me it was no big deal. I went to Kentucky Fried Baloney who were giving away bourbon shots and fried baloney sandwiches and I went to the Tequila Shot Hot Dog Stand. Guess what they were giving away? :) The gifting culture is simply mind-blowing.

This trip report could get huge so I'll skip most of what I saw and just say that the people were amazing. I have lifelong friends in Al, his wife Cookie, his buddy Captain Kanga-brew (John), and his wife Perkie. They took me under their wing and let me hang out in their shade, plying me with water, lemonade, coffee, cigars, and otter-pops.

The night before I was to leave I packed everything into the plane except for my tent and sleeping bag. I was nervous because the wind blew hard all night, collapsing my tent and waking me up several times. Finally just as it was starting to get light, the wind just stopped dead calm. Not knowing if it would start up I quickly packed my tent up and loaded up the plane. I taxied out, and in a big cloud of dust firewalled the throttle and the trusty Coyote had me and all my crap airborne in about 800 feet at 4000 foot density altitude. The tailwhind I had coming in was still there only now it was a headwind going home. I went back the same way I had come out except this time I flew 88NV -D-> KSVE -D-> KOVE and then stopped for gas before flying on to O27. It took 3 hours to get to 88NV and 3.6 hours to get back home. The Rans never skipped a beat, not even in the dust of Black Rock.

If you ever get a chance to attend Burning Man please make every attempt to do so! Whether you're a partier, or like art, or mechanical engineering, or your an aging hippie, or a nudist (which actually, I am) there is something for you here. It may look like Afghanistan out there but it feels like paradise.
Scott VanArtsdalen
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Nirvana Rodeo / Dudek Universal
S-6ES N612SV - GONE but not forgotten
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svanarts
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Post by svanarts »

Here are a few photos of the trip since it didn't happen if there aren't pictures....

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Scott VanArtsdalen
Token Heretic
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S-6ES N612SV - GONE but not forgotten
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svanarts
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Post by svanarts »

And here is a picture that a friend took of Black Rock City, population 65,000...

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Scott VanArtsdalen
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svanarts
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Post by svanarts »

I also made it to Johnson Creek, ID this year for some camping with the backcountrypilot.org crowd. Here are a few photos from that trip.


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Scott VanArtsdalen
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svanarts
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Post by svanarts »

A few more pictures from my Johnson Creek trip. Sorry in advance for the size.

Another look down the runway... the accident site is just barely visible...
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The social center of JC. Showers, wireless, and coffee available here. Also a great place to shelter from the thunderstorm that had just gone by.
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Some happy potluckers...
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Mountain peaks near Cascade, ID...
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Mt. Shasta and next door neighbor, Shastina...
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Somewhere over eastern Oregon...
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Pretty visitor to the cockpit...
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Flying eastward into the sun over Lake Tahoe...
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The Johnson Creek airport really is an awesome place but with this many planes, you really have to exercise EXTREME vigilance. It's way more than just see and avoid because you can't always see. The accident that occurred was a horrific reminder that flying is a risky business. Especially in those narrow canyons... uh... drainages as the locals call them. I call it Oshkosh in a can. Glenn and Gwenn and Neil and Tracey and I all had a great time. But someone went home without their son. So sad for that man.

Fly safe!

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Scott VanArtsdalen
Token Heretic
Nirvana Rodeo / Dudek Universal
S-6ES N612SV - GONE but not forgotten
RV-4 N311SV - SOLD

Spike
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Post by Spike »

Thanx for posting this Scott. I loved the photos. It sure is a beautiful part of the country out there.

John
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svanarts
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Post by svanarts »

Thanks John. Yeah, the terrain is beautiful and very unforgiving out here. I'm having fun with the new plane but I sure miss the RV-4 when it comes to longer trips. :-)
Scott VanArtsdalen
Token Heretic
Nirvana Rodeo / Dudek Universal
S-6ES N612SV - GONE but not forgotten
RV-4 N311SV - SOLD

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