SkyHog
Touchdown! Greaser!
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2005
- Messages
- 18,431
- Location
- Castle Rock, CO
- Display Name
Display name:
Everything Offends Me
Carrizozo Municipal Airport(F37)
On the way out of Sierra Blanca, my next stop was in Carrizozo. The turbulence near the mountains just west of Ruidoso was getting very rugged, mostly moderate at this point, so I couldn't wait to get out of the mountains. It wasn't a long flight to Carrizozo by any stretch of the imagination, but with the turbulence, it certainly felt like it took forever.
The terrain in this area is really cool looking. I love the central mountain area of New Mexico. Carrizozo is located between the Beak MOA and R-5107, along what is reported to be a very busy stretch of airspace (Its only about 15nm between the MOA and the restricted area.)
The airport is located right next to the city of Carrizozo, and sticks out like a sore thumb in the brown landscape surrounding it. The dirt runway looks to be treated with something, because even it looks heavily processed.
It felt so good to get out of the turbulence when I finally touched down. It wasn't one of my better landings, but it was ok, and the plane still flies. The runway has only a short taxiway, so getting to the ramp requires a stop and a back taxi (at least, it does when landing on 24, as I did).
At the ramp, I ran into the nice airport manager named Bill, who informed me that they were "plumb out of fuel." This was a bit unnerving for me, since this was where I had planned on getting fuel to get back to Albuquerque. I went into the FBO office to talk with Bill and was introduced to the airport dog, whose name is, appropriately enough, "Airport Dog." Another dog, which functions as Bill's doorbell is named....you guessed it, "Doorbell." I hate to badmouth animals, but I tell you, Airport Dog smelled pretty badly, and has to be the fattest dog I have ever seen (pic below). Bill gave me some good information, including a packet called "Mid-Air Collision Avoidance, Holloman AFB." Its filled with local procedures around the R-Space and how to get places. Very useful! Thanks Bill!
I headed out to the plane after resting for a bit to check the numbers to see if I could make it back to Albuquerque with the fuel I had on board. I never like to leave less than 1 hour as a reserve just in case, and I had about 2 hours worth of fuel with me. I was about one hour and fifteen minutes from Albuquerque.
OK - I'll just fly to Belen and get fuel there. I made a quick call to flight service to check the status of the restricted airspace to see if it would be possible to cut straight across. No go, it was active. So I had to fly along the eastern edge of the restricted airspace. By the time I started getting going, I realized that the turbulence had gotten really bad. Really bad.
I started dealing with 500+ foot drops (not feet per minute) and uncontrolled rolls of 45 degrees and higher. It was crazy. I started getting really sick, but I just focused on the flying and concentrated on the fuel gauge (knowing that it may not be accurate), and decided to push on to Albuquerque, since its only a bit further north anyways.
When I landed back at Albuquerque, I was a bit surprised to see just how little fuel I actually had left. Wow, 10 gallons looks like a very small amount in a tank. Still over an hour left, but closer than I like. So with constant severe turbulence and low fuel, I was dead tired and went home and crashed. This was a great day!
Pictures:
1) Final, runway 24
2) Parked on the ramp at Carrizozo
3) Airport Dog - the mighty lump of dog
CARRIZOZO MUNICIPAL QUICK FACTS:
Airport Elevation: 5371 Ft
Runways 6/24: 4900'x75ft, Asphalt in good Condition
Runways 15/33: 2500'x90ft, dirt in decent condition
UNICOM: 122.8
Nick's NOTAMS: No weather information available. No fuel available.
On the way out of Sierra Blanca, my next stop was in Carrizozo. The turbulence near the mountains just west of Ruidoso was getting very rugged, mostly moderate at this point, so I couldn't wait to get out of the mountains. It wasn't a long flight to Carrizozo by any stretch of the imagination, but with the turbulence, it certainly felt like it took forever.
The terrain in this area is really cool looking. I love the central mountain area of New Mexico. Carrizozo is located between the Beak MOA and R-5107, along what is reported to be a very busy stretch of airspace (Its only about 15nm between the MOA and the restricted area.)
The airport is located right next to the city of Carrizozo, and sticks out like a sore thumb in the brown landscape surrounding it. The dirt runway looks to be treated with something, because even it looks heavily processed.
It felt so good to get out of the turbulence when I finally touched down. It wasn't one of my better landings, but it was ok, and the plane still flies. The runway has only a short taxiway, so getting to the ramp requires a stop and a back taxi (at least, it does when landing on 24, as I did).
At the ramp, I ran into the nice airport manager named Bill, who informed me that they were "plumb out of fuel." This was a bit unnerving for me, since this was where I had planned on getting fuel to get back to Albuquerque. I went into the FBO office to talk with Bill and was introduced to the airport dog, whose name is, appropriately enough, "Airport Dog." Another dog, which functions as Bill's doorbell is named....you guessed it, "Doorbell." I hate to badmouth animals, but I tell you, Airport Dog smelled pretty badly, and has to be the fattest dog I have ever seen (pic below). Bill gave me some good information, including a packet called "Mid-Air Collision Avoidance, Holloman AFB." Its filled with local procedures around the R-Space and how to get places. Very useful! Thanks Bill!
I headed out to the plane after resting for a bit to check the numbers to see if I could make it back to Albuquerque with the fuel I had on board. I never like to leave less than 1 hour as a reserve just in case, and I had about 2 hours worth of fuel with me. I was about one hour and fifteen minutes from Albuquerque.
OK - I'll just fly to Belen and get fuel there. I made a quick call to flight service to check the status of the restricted airspace to see if it would be possible to cut straight across. No go, it was active. So I had to fly along the eastern edge of the restricted airspace. By the time I started getting going, I realized that the turbulence had gotten really bad. Really bad.
I started dealing with 500+ foot drops (not feet per minute) and uncontrolled rolls of 45 degrees and higher. It was crazy. I started getting really sick, but I just focused on the flying and concentrated on the fuel gauge (knowing that it may not be accurate), and decided to push on to Albuquerque, since its only a bit further north anyways.
When I landed back at Albuquerque, I was a bit surprised to see just how little fuel I actually had left. Wow, 10 gallons looks like a very small amount in a tank. Still over an hour left, but closer than I like. So with constant severe turbulence and low fuel, I was dead tired and went home and crashed. This was a great day!
Pictures:
1) Final, runway 24
2) Parked on the ramp at Carrizozo
3) Airport Dog - the mighty lump of dog
CARRIZOZO MUNICIPAL QUICK FACTS:
Airport Elevation: 5371 Ft
Runways 6/24: 4900'x75ft, Asphalt in good Condition
Runways 15/33: 2500'x90ft, dirt in decent condition
UNICOM: 122.8
Nick's NOTAMS: No weather information available. No fuel available.
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