Minnesota Fun Fact
A lonely black bear in Duluth, Minnesota nearly started World War III during the Cold War (source)
Departure Airport: McKinney National Airport (DTX/KTKI) @Ethan_Brown summon
Arrival Airport: Sedona Airport (SDX/KSEZ)
Aircraft: Challenger 350
Livery: AirShare
Flight Time: 1:56
Server: Expert
Loading up six members of a Dallas-area tech company’s C-suite (I’m bound by an NDA not to say more) onto our Challenger 350 on the ramp in McKinney.
Entering a sharp turn to the east shortly after takeoff.
The champagne and caviar are flowing in the cabin at 44,000 feet over farmland near Lubbock, Texas’ tenth-largest city.
Entering the state of UFOs, Breaking Bad, and green Chile, New Mexico. Fun fact: the town of Clovis, which we’re flying past right now, is home to the Southwest Cheese Company which is the largest cheddar cheese producer in the entirety of North America.
Overflying Albuquerque. Albuquerque is the only city that I know of that calls its airport a “Sunport.” More places should do that. It’s fun.
Crossing the boarder into Arizona near Petrified Forest National Park, which looks as wild as it sounds.
Descending over the town of Cottonwood, which sits just down the road from Sedona.
The Sedona area is globally known for its dramatic red rock scenery, and this arrival did not disappoint!
Carefully guiding us in for landing. Sedona’s airport is perched atop a mesa, making the approach quite delicate. The runway is also only 5,132 feet long, and at an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet above MSL, it’s not a lot of room to work with.
We used up most of the airstrip to safely come to a stop and exit the runway. Despite this, we got our VIPs into scenic Sedona ahead of schedule and in a safe fashion, which is what matters!
- Boarding in McKinney (1)
- Takeoff from McKinney (2)
- Cruising near Amarillo (3)
- Clovis, New Mexico (4)
- Albuquerque (5)
- Petrified Forest National Park (6)
- Cottonwood, Arizona (7)
- Red Rock Views on Approach (8)
- Short Final (9)
- Landing Rollout (10)