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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Jul 17, 2014
Description:
Out in what was left of the depleted reservoir was a much better splashing place. A rest stop was on the agenda since we were so far ahead of schedule.
Date Taken:
Jul 17, 2014
Place Taken:
Millerton Lake, CA
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
Lakeside_Parking.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZDQ20000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZDQ20000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZDQ20000s">
Category:
502, N346PE
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Read what others had to say:
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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The old lava flow perched overhead like a medieval castle, leaving us parked in the deep moat.
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High Fortress
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Uncovered batholiths, granite domes, loomed like gray bulges, exposed by erosion.
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Old Baldy
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Without any appreciable wind slowing us down, we were making much too much progress towards Orcas Islands. No use showing up early. I decided to park and hike down the hill for lunch.<br /><br />Though a bit of a hike, the diner was a perfect accompaniment for the airport. The owner stuck their friend’s airplane on the roof. Inside was full of aviation paraphernalia. A great fly-in stop!<br /><br />Oh, and the food was good too.<br />
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Airport Diner
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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It’s easy to spot the old lake levels in lines on the canyon walls.
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Water Lines
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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What was not so long ago under water is so bare. It must have been intentionally denuded by the Corpse of Engineers before filling the reservoir. Kinda looks like Mars without the cover of water.
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Open Lakebed
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Oh, I hope my mom doesn’t see this! She had a thing about bathtub rings.
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RingAround the Edges
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Something is missing here. It’s a fer piece to row a boat to get to water.
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Lost Lake
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Even water has to wind its way through the mountains.
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S Turns
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Cult or Vineyard or both? There are folks saying the Fellowship of Friends vineyard is a cult. The Friends claim special status as a vineyard. I didn’t care to stop and find out which it is. Either way it’s a fly by for me.
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Grounds for Fellowship
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Once an island, now a peninsula. It’s SeaRey temptation too fine to fly by.
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Land Bridge
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Parked on the edge of red mud, the ground truth wasn’t nearly as enticing as the aerial over view. Kinda of like a mucky Mars landscape.
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Edge of Red
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Lava once flowed out and filled river valleys. As water went to work, the softer valley walls were worn away to become a river valley with two lava plateaus forming the new walls. At least that’s one version of what might have been deduced from a quick over-flight. Actual reality may be significantly different, but it’s my story and that’s the way I’m telling it.
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Between Flows
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Out in the valley the weather was fine. On both sides, however, nasty looking clouds spread horizon to horizon, above and beyond. No worries for my valley destination, though. The end-of-the-day goal was in easy reach with no rain showing on the radar between hither and thither.
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Between Decks
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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The old flows have water working on them constantly. It isn’t making much progress yet, but it will.
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Plain of Lava
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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The weathered edges of old lave flows stand above the plains they once flowed through.
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Flow Fingers
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Looking down from above, it seems the old lava is fading away from all directions.
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Top of the Flow
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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The edges are getting quite ruffled.
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Ragged Edge
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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A sprinkling of trees spot the old lava plain.
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Tree Speckled
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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As the Central Valley narrowed, my margins from the rain storms narrowed. Still, no worries. I was within easy reach of my goal.
| | Attachments:
Filling the Stream
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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Ever see plans flushed down the drain? It happens.<br /><br />There I was on approach to my safe harbor for the evening, sailing smoothly through the late afternoon air. It had been a long day. I was still a few miles out when I decided to do my pre-landing checklist. Aux Fuel On. Gear selected down. Gear indicated down.<br /><br />Um. Gear is NOT indicated down! Uh, oh. Gear position verified? Yep. They’re still up.<br /><br />Recycle.<br /><br />Still nothing.<br /><br />What the heck? Flying into the traffic pattern is not the place to be figuring out the problem. I turned away from the airport, back southward, to try and figure it out.<br /><br />There was nothing to be figured out. Puff’s gear wasn’t going anywhere. It was up and locked, and no trickery or aerial magic was going to change that.<br /><br />Now what? Land gear up on the grass? No way. It’s late afternoon. There is no one left at the airport to get us up again.<br /><br />Okay, I’ll just land in the river and see if I can figure this out.<br /><br />Wait! The river is running pretty fast and it’s not particularly deep.<br /><br />Yeah, but there are some deep spots. I found one I thought would work.<br /><br />But it’s inside the Red Bluff Class D airspace!<br /><br />Oh, just a little ways in. No one will know.<br /><br />Oh, sure. No one will notice a seaplane landing in the river. And what if we can’t get back off again? What if we have to park and get help. Then they will know we barged right into controlled airspace.<br /><br />But I’ll have to call the tower. I bet they’ve never had someone call requesting to land in the river. It will cause all kinds of confusion. And, all the way from Florida to here I’ve not had to talk to anyone. I want to finish the trip that way.<br /><br />Too bad. The only smart play is to call and confess. There’s not enough fuel or daylight to fly back to one of the nice reservoirs to the south. Just call.<br /><br />Fine. “Redding Tower, Experimental seaplane (don’t confuse them with amphibian) N346PE requests landing on the Sacramento River just inside your western airspace.”<br /><br />“Say again Papa Echo.”<br /><br />I’m not sure I could make it any clearer, but I tried.<br /><br />It must have finally sunk in. She finally said, “Landing in the river is at your risk, 346PE. Cleared into Class D. Advise intentions.”<br /><br />“Papa Echo is on approach for the river. Will call on final.”<br /><br />The river was a lot faster running than it looked from above. There was a sandbar, however, that looked just the place for an emergency gear inspection.<br /><br />Only it wasn’t a sandbar. It was a gravel bar. I picked the softest looking spot and headed for that, killing the engine and jumping out just before the hull hit the shore.<br /><br />The hull was saved a grinding impact, but it was all I could do to hold on to Puff and keep her from being washed downstream. That’d be just the ending, wouldn’t it, to see her washed away so close to her home?<br /><br />Hold on I did. Barely. It made inspection and troubleshooting all the more exciting. In the end, it didn’t matter. Nothing I did could make the gear come down.<br /><br />Checking the map, I found a marina shown on a reservoir to the northwest. It was within range, though I’d arrive with minimum legal fuel and just enough daylight left for a safe visual approach.<br /><br />What about after we get there? What then? It will be getting dark. There may be no one at the marina. It could be a long night on the water with nothing but a soggy granola bar for dinner.<br /><br />That’s okay. Better that than the complications of a wheels up grassy landing at the airport.<br /><br />The fast running river made the takeoff seem lightning fast as the steep river valley walls flashed past. Just fast enough to avoid the crossing power lines and not-so-distant bridge.<br /><br />I called to let the controller know I was leaving her airspace. I got a hint of relief in her brisk reply.<br /><br />On the way to the distant marina I passed over another reservoir. From overhead I saw a small beach, and an unmarked marina! Great! Plenty of daylight and fuel for landing. The map didn’t show the name of the lake, so there was no way to check to see if it was legal to land.<br /><br />Oh, well. It’s almost an emergency.<br />
| | Attachments:
Down the Drain
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Dan Nickens - Jul 17,2014
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No one was around when I beached Puff near the marina. I tied her off and went to see who I could find.<br /><br />The sign was heart-stopping: “Welcome to Whiskeytown Lake Park and National Recreation Area!”<br /><br />Gulp. National Parks are well known as unwelcoming to seaplane. When I couldn’t find anyone to turn myself in to, I called the Park Dispatch Office.<br /><br />The dispatcher was incredulous. “You mean there’s a seaplane in the marina?”<br /><br />“Yes, maim.”<br /><br />“I’ll have a ranger there immediately.”<br /><br />Telling her there was no hurry was completely futile. It wasn’t long until the sound of a siren and screeching tires could be heard coming down the mountain.<br /><br />The first ranger to arrive was as excited as he sounded. “A seaplane! Excellent!”<br /><br />The next ranger was much cooler. “May I see your identification. I need to call it in. Please.” It really wasn’t a polite request. I gave him my driver’s license.<br /><br />Fortunately my explanation of a precautionary landing struck just the right tone. No emergency. Just a seaplane landing for repairs. Nothing to see here.<br /><br />The first ranger was concerned about the prospect of leaving the SeaRey parked along the shoreline overnight. “There are people who party in the campground. It would be great if we could move you to a buoy.”<br /><br />Arrival of the marina manager confirmed the concern. It wasn’t a problem for him. He was happy to help me reposition Puff. By that time, even the second ranger was pitching in to help. We got Puff securely anchored out in the cove.<br /><br />“Are you going to camp here?” asked the first ranger. “Um, no. I’m going to call a cab and go into town and find a hotel.”<br /><br />He laughed. “It might take a while for a cab to get out here. It’s a twenty minute drive from Redding. Come on. I’ll take you.”<br /><br />Right to the hotel. After 11.2 hours up in the air, it was a quick trip from there to sleep.<br /><br />The next day I rented a car and drove up the lake. There was Puff happily swinging on her buoy. All I had to do was find a way out there.<br /><br />The marina manager came over. “What can I do to help?” he asked.<br /><br />“I need to rent a kayak so I can work on the airplane,” I told him.<br /><br />“Sorry, I can’t do that.”<br /><br />I looked at the rental sign and then back to him incredulously.<br /><br />“I can’t rent you the kayak, but I can let you have it. Anything you need, just let me know.”<br /><br />As it turns out the manager knew of Richard and Puff. He was a fan. And, his father was a PBY navigator in World War II. I had the full run of the marina.<br /><br />It took all morning to conclude that the fault lay in the master circuit board. Fortunately there was a test button on the board that could raise or lower the gear independent of the main gear switch. All I had to do was remove all the stuff from the airplane to access the electrical panel below the baggage compartment.<br /><br />With arrangements made at the local airport, I called the park dispatch for departure approval. Yesterday a seaplane in the marina was big excitement. Now it was old news. No one came to see me off.<br /><br />At the airport a local maintenance shop confirmed what I had found. There was no way to bypass the system. I could raise the gear, but I couldn’t lower it without using the test panel. The only replacement board available was marked “Shop Use Only” and it was in Florida. Waiting for it might not solve the problem and would delay us by at least two days.<br /><br />I decided to fly on…tomorrow. I could leave the gear in the down position, and only raise it in an emergency. After a cab ride back to the park to retrieve the rental car, I went back to the hotel. Though there wasn’t much flying accomplished, I celebrated at another Mexican restaurant. The next morning I remembered I had left my second credit card there.<br />
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Park Parking
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Don Maxwell - Jul 17,2014
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Nice SeaRey Adventure here, Dan. Should we guess at the outcome--whether you left the gear down, or figured that the test button worked once and ought to work again? (The Test button would be really tempting... but Prudence (whoever she is) would make the other choice.)
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Dan Nickens - Jul 18,2014
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One of these days I hope to meet her, Don.
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Tom Binsfeld - Jul 17,2014
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Dan, you could have made repairs in Chico, CA 
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Dan Nickens - Jul 18,2014
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That would have been a great option, Tom. Keep the night light on. You never know when a wayward SeaRey might be looking for refuge.
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Philip Mendelson - Jul 17,2014
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Great story! I remember, losing my tailwheel cable on a long trip. We tied it down, for the <br />duration of the trip. worked fine..
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