I really wonder if this "looking for somewhere to break the speed record" thing hasn't been way overplayed. You can imagine it yourself... there you are on a beautiful day in an incredibly scenic place, a plane just waiting for you, and with people who you like well enough but have seen plenty of. So you say, "Maybe I'll just go flying for an hour or two, it's such a great day".
And someone says, "Oh, why, what are you planning to do?" And you're way too polite to say, "Nothing much, but it'll be a whole lot more interesting than sitting round yakking with you lot", so you say "Oh, I dunno, I thought maybe I'd, er, maybe look for some big flat lake somewhere, you know, for this speed record thing."
And you take off, and you look at the Sierras 15 mins flying away, and you say to yourself, "Maybe I'll just mosey over there and see if I can find that ridge where I hiked last year, maybe take another look at Yosemite from above".
And of course you go missing and that last thing you ever said to anyone suddenly becomes incredibly important, but you never really meant it.
n5296s