[ MSFS2020 | VATSIM ] "Bush League" #54 (itinerary at DownwindSim.com) in the WBSim 152 taildragger!

Tonight we had intended to launch a new series called "Balloons Over the Bravo" (or so that's what we had published) -- but with it being the first Monday of the month, we decided to blow off that April Foolery in favor of another "Bush League Backcountry Fly-In Series" event instead! This one was a return to the Lake Powell area of southern Utah, which we had visited during event #18 (three years ago this very month) -- and in that event, we had closed with a side-trip down to Page (KPGA) to catch a view of the Glen Canyon Dam. Tonight, with the stream starting an hour before the event, we elected to start there instead and overfly that same dam landmark before joining our friends!
The gathering was at Cal Black (U96) (which I inexplicably kept calling Clint Black) and we got airborne from Page as quickly as we could in order to get to the briefing on time. The lake itself served as a pretty visually distinct landmark -- but just to make sure we didn't follow the wrong branch of it, we used some point-bearing-distance references off of the Page VOR as a cross-reference. We couldn't find a METAR at or even near our destination but we looked at some others in the area and decided that a left downwind to Runway 19 was the way to go. We had a brief discussion about the best and safest way to make that entry, and concluded that it's one of those areas that sim pilots (including myself) tend to take liberties on VATSIM which could be risky in the real world. Unfortunately we were a bit late for the briefing after all, but, tuned in from the sky as we entered the pattern there.
As it turns out, the winds at Cal Black favored northbound operations, and we concluded that in the lack of a METAR or other weather information at the airport, a visual inspection pass to observe the windsock direction was a good strategy to avoid a future repeat of the error. Fortunately the resulting landing was pretty smooth anyway. Once the briefing concluded, a few folks took my arrival as their lead to depart from 19, but, we then heard a couple taxiing out who realized Runway 1 was the better option. So by the time we got ready to roll again, that's the direction we wound up using.
Our first stop was Bullfrog Basin (U07), just across the lake to the northwest. Once airborne we heard another aircraft in the pattern there and modified our plan accordingly -- we planned to overfly midfield east-to-west at pattern altitude, then turn south to join a left downwind for Runway 1. It worked out pretty niftily (is that a word?) -- at midfield, we looked left and watched the other plane land basically underneath us. That gave him plenty of time to get stopped and back-taxi to the parking pad while we made our half-circuit. We had to fight the crosswind to stay aligned, and set it down a little firmly as a result, but overall we were satisfied with the execution -- and the first official event leg was in the books.
We next went to Hite (UT03), at the top end of the lake, and felt more confident about finding this one visually (although we used the Hanksville VOR as a sanity check). The directory entry simply listed it as "East/West" and from the notes it wasn't clear whether one landing direction was less treacherous than the other! We heard one of our colleagues arrive there successfully before us, but upon inspection we discovered a short gravel strip right on the riverbank at the bottom end of a tall canyon. We elected to continue northbound, then turn around and come down the canyon onto a left base for the eastbound runway. A vicious north-to-south crosswind had other ideas and we went around for a second attempt -- and almost didn't survive the effort as climbing out from the airport nearly proved impossible. On attempt two we zig-zagged badly on the rollout but got down mostly in one piece. Two friends arriving shortly after us had similar experiences, and one bent airframe came as a result.
Departing from Hite we headed toward Fry Canyon (UT74) -- although our departure took a herculean effort not to end in the Colorado River. We eventually picked up some altitude and airspeed and headed down the road to the southeast. Once we traveled a ways, the 3,100-foot dirt strip came into view, and a right pattern put us nicely onto the surface.
It was time to head back to Cal Black from there, and we decided to try to navigate it completely visually through the canyons and roads to our southwest. The bright rotating beacon of the airport helped us spot it pretty readily, and we came in behind a friend into the left pattern for the northbound runway. It took us a few tries to feel out the wind correction, but in the end, it was fairly straightforward. We carried a ton of extra speed to the runway and bounced pretty badly, but, somehow managed not to hurt the plane as we taxied in to close out the night. -- Watch live at / slantalphaadventures

[@OldGPU]

Really enjoying your Livestream uploads, thanks for giving me wholesome content to keep me from going crazy at work!

[@SlantAlphaAdventures]

Happy to be of service! Therapy that I don't even charge for -- LOL!