It's Friday, right???

[Richard Flanders]

Been rainy as hell here lately, sometimes with close and violent thunder and lightning. Today was nice and I happened to have a day off from my 7-days a week job on a drilling program so I went flying down to the range to a recently discovered ridgetop air strip in the foothills of the Alaska Range. Very nice place to land and great walking country. I shot up 100 rds through a recently acquired and very well used 9mm High Power and, of course, filled my plane with cool rocks for my rock pile here at the house. It was a great break from town that I much needed. I'll be back up onto that spot a lot in the future. This picture is looking to the north across the Tanana River valley.

[Stan Hoover]

Richard,
I'm envious of the beautiful area you live in up there, be a real great area to be a pilot. Have you flew your plane to the lower 48 I suppose?
Stan

[Harry Collins]

What a beautiful view. I suspect the picture doesn't do it justice. Looks like you are on top of the world.

[Dean Romig]

I still have the several pocketsfull of rocks I picked up while fishing the Talachulitna and the Kvichak Rivers a few decades ago. Mostly agates and sedimentary rocks with wild designs.






.

[Richard Flanders]

Have you flew your plane to the lower 48 I suppose?

Yes, I have flown it to the lower 48 several times. It's a long flite for such a slow plane. I've flown it to jobs in Utah, California and Nevada and across the country to Michigan and back to a job in California.

[Stan Hoover]

What is your typical cruising altitude and speed?
Thanks

[Richard Flanders]

Cruising altitude can be anywhere from 100ft or less to 14,000 feet. Generally less than 9000ft unless you're going over a high pass in the Rockies, such as going into Denver from the west at 11,000ft. Plane goes 92mph on a calm day. I made 14,500ft going over heavy forest fire smoke in northern Alaska one time.

[Stan Hoover]

Very nice Richard,
You're plane looks like much more fun than what I'm currently flying, but we're doing 2 different things, I'm usually trying to go somewhere quick with enough altitude to give me a safety margin in case of an engine failure. Of course where I'm flying is usually pretty densely populated, but when you get some altitude, there's usually more areas you could do an emergency landing than you would think while on the ground.
I'm currently flying a 79 Piper Cherokee 6/300, would like to find a Commanche, be a bit more economical.
Stan

[Bruce Day]

My view .

[Harry Collins]

Some of you boys have faster planes, but Richard trumps you with his tail dragger.