..a 60 year old twin and a dirt strip to be happy.
Bacon Strip in the Mojave desert......
...is a private dirt strip owned by John Bacon....
...but open to all, even old dinosaur twins. He takes great care of it and there's even two small cabins one can rent if one wants to stay the night.
The Commanders big mains makes almost all surfaces smooth, and the hard packed desert dirt was no problem. This was the first twin to ever land at the strip according to John.
Landing helped me strip even more flaking paint off the belly, so actually saving me money..
....on each dirt strip landing.
Such a serene and calm place the desert. It's astonishing just how quiet such a big open space gets when nothing's around....
...yet still only about a 45min flight from Los Angeles.
It was time to get back to the city before the sun set and left me flying in the desert and mountains without visual cues...
Some Mad Max-inspired plant I passed on the way back just before I busted an aerobatic training sortie (notam'ed as well)... Lady pilot wasn't too happy, but I did see her and kept far away in my mind, but maybe not far enough. It was a detour after refuelling, so I hadn't checked the notam for that particular airport. All I could do was apologise and that seemed to smooth things over. Technically I was about 0,5-1 mile away from the notamed area, so I was legal. Still, I should have tuned the freq of that airport earlier and listened in. I wish notams were delivered plotted or graphical, so it would be easier to get an overview. They do it with TFR's, why not notams?
My new one piece panel with the glowing UMA-lighting has made night flying a veritable pleasure and taken 30 years off the old girl. At least on the inside.
Here's the landing. As you can see, the strip is almost undefined, but it's a dry lake bed so it's all pretty smooth. Please watch in HD as compression ruins details.
Here's the slightly more sporty takeoff.