Today the family, and I went for our first 100 dollar breakfast. We departed KSGU St.George regional for KIGM Kingman.
We arrived at KSGU at around 7:00. Got all of our items together in the hanger, and headed out to the plane. During pre flight I removed about 2 cups of water from the left fuel tank. We got into the air at around 7:30. We climbed straight out of runway 19 to a cruising altitude of 8500 feet.
The flight over was uneventful we held a pretty constant ground speed of 118 KTS. This was the first time the wife, and kids where able to see the Grand Canyon. That sight will never get old. We arrived in KIGM at 7:20 local time. Yes we arrived before we took off time travel is nice.
Once we landed, we tied down the plane and headed over to the Kingman Cafe. This is a perfect little hole in the wall cafe. You could tell the establishment was very old, a lot of locals in the dinning area. The food was phenomenal.
Reading some of the plaques they had just outside the cafe, next to once was an old control tower. We learned that kingman was Arizonas first commercial hub. Which Charles Lindbergh brought to the state. Prior to that Kingman was a army training base. Today it’s mostly a aviation junkyard with rows of CRJs, and even a DHL A300. It was quiet a sight to see.
After finishing our breakfast, we headed out back to KSGU. By this time it was about 8:50. By this time the wind was at a constant 11 KTS, kinda freaked the wife out since she doesn’t like turbulence.
We climbed out to a cruise altitude of 7500 feet. Once we hit the mountains it became very turbulent, so we climbed to a cruising altitude of 9500 feet. We finally found some smooth air at that altitude.
Passing the Grand Canyon on the way home we where able to see 2 aircraft pass right over each other. You have to love that sight. Coming into KSGU it was a busy Saturday morning as usual. We ended up #3 on the downwind. The wind was reporting calm but just above the runway it was anything but. As we approached runway 19, and went into our flair a big gust caught us lifting us back in the air. At that point I made the decision to go around. Our second attempt we landed without a hitch. Freaked the wife out a bit with the go around.
After we tied down the plane, and got all the post flight done. We where able to catch an amazing war bird at the FBO.
We all had an amazing time. Thanks for reading, and happy landings.