A not quite International Airport

I love the little air strip of Jerry and Lucy up there in the High Sierra. And I am afraid of it. It's one of the places that possibly pushed me over the edge to make the decision to learn to fly. The romantic feeling of flying a bi-plane, wind in your hair, into a strip out there in the wilderness. Here is a strip like that. I call if Jerry's paradise. Because it is. Last time I was up there, Jerry told me they are there for thirty-seven years now with no intention to leave.

Nearly every airodrome looks small when seen from the distance. However most of them get bigger when you come closer. But Jerry's airstrip, even when you are close enough to make a decision to land, still looks really small. My instructor always complained if I did not land on the center line. I never really understood it, because there was so much space on both sided so who cares about the couple of feet to the left or right. On Jerry's air strip you just don't have a couple of feet to the left or right. There is only the center line.

After touchdown I always try to get trusty 08L stopped before reaching the middle of the strip. There is a mown place to tie down a couple of planes. Never managed to do so although. Always have to run all the way to the end of the strip, turn around in Jerry's yard and taxi back to the tie down. One of these days I will manage - I promise!

Takeoff in contrast is rather easy for me. This time my friend Ron, with whom I stayed for the weekend up there in his mountain hotel, dropped me of at 08L's hotel and took a nice series of shots from the take-off. I thought I share these ....