Mooney from MKG - LAS and back...2.5 days
- Thread starter jskibo
- Start date
Fencer
Experimentalist
I would suggest go to KLAS. Park at Atlantic total fees will be $40 landing plus $60 facility. Top tanks before. For 100 bucks overnight it is a great deal. If you are at Henderson it would cost you $50 in cab ride back to your plane free shuttle only one way. Atlantic people at KLAS are very friendly and you get free FBO shuttle to/from your Vegas retreat.
Rotor2Wing
Unapologetically American
Sounds like an adventure!! Fly Safe!
AdamTheAviator
Well-Known Member
Call me for your next adventure. PM me and I'll give you my contact info. I'm pretty sure you already know me since I've been fueling the flying club airplanes at KMKG since 2006.
scooter2525
Very well Member
What is the route you will be coming back?
Looks like VFR on the southern route today through Santa Fe then to Wichita. Then IFR direct from there to Muskegon. I already have 9+ hours of actual on this trip, don't want anymore 
I would like to take some pictures of something other than cloud formations for once. Wish I had a dash cam, those two approaches to minimums yesterday were great. But from 2000 AGL over SLC until 10 miles from North Vegas was in the clouds
Adam, you know Greg my copilot well, but I haven't run into, only been at the club since August and used Starks and Oceana for all my local refueling.....cheaper
I would like to take some pictures of something other than cloud formations for once. Wish I had a dash cam, those two approaches to minimums yesterday were great. But from 2000 AGL over SLC until 10 miles from North Vegas was in the cloudsAdam, you know Greg my copilot well, but I haven't run into, only been at the club since August and used Starks and Oceana for all my local refueling.....cheaper
spoolinup22
Well-Known Member
hofbrauhaus? if that's the german restaurant that i'm thinking about that place is amazing!!
Ok, pictures are up in the pictur area...
So if you're bored and need a great way to add ~25 - 30 hours to your book, try Vegas
To recap:
First Leg, KMKG to KLXN. Planned to depart areound 3pm Friday, but it ended up being 4pm. Filed Direct IFR @6000 for that leg. Lexington, Nebraska was about halfway. The Mooney has longer legs, but seemd like a good stop with cheap fuel. Hit IMC weather in Iowa and basically had it to LXN. LXN was reporting 500 OVC in mist, Temp 37, Dewpoint 36. They have a VOR and you need 440ft. It was an interesting approach, glad we had two in the cockpit, one to fly and one to look out. Broke out just a few seconds before the timer ran out to go missed. I thought for sure we would head up to North Platte if we went missed.
Fueled up in the rain and went inside to plan the next leg. We wanted to to the Rockies VFR for a more direct route, but the weather wasn't going to cooperate. Snow and low ceilings through the lower wyoming route and we didn't have O2 with to take any other routes. Vegas would be possible on the tank, but not prudent.
Filed IFR, 12K KLXN to KSLC. In the soup from 500AGL up to 11k, and then in and out up to the pass. Soon as we hit the pass we had lots of precip, but odd as you could see the stars in many areas. Mostly just saw clouds lit from the bottom as we passed over towns or whatever they were. ILS in the snow into KSLC, almost down to mins. Really happy to see all those runway lights as we broke out.
Hung out at Tac air for 90 min to catch a quick nap, then filed to North Vegas.
KSLC - KVGT filed IFR 12K, had to clean off the plane twice before departure. Could see the ground directly down until about 7K, but nothing in front of you at all. Broke between layers for a bit as we headed south. Shortest leg we had. Vegas has a broken layer about 3000, Nellis appraoch held us high way too long. Had to lose a lot of altitude quickly into KVGT. Fueled, got parking for free, cuaght cab and hit hotel. Really only walked to HofBrauHaus to eat and came back and slept 12 hours.
9am go time......
Northern route looked weathered in and would require two fuel stops. Filed VFR to the south (Santa Fe direct, then Ellsworth, Kansas. Only a couple areas we needed to climb to 13500 to get over a range. Weather was pretty good, VFR on top for some of it, but finally got to see some earth and take some pictures. Tailwind was good and we were getting between 20 and 40 knots of help. Made Ellsworth just after dark. Its 48x4000 with cheap gas. North south runway, winds slightly favored the North. Lining up there was a well lit up fenced area, lots of lights.....As we got closer we realized the touchdown point was 500 ft from a prison yard. You approach over the prison...>WTF? Don't land short!
Refueled and planned for KMKG IFR Direct. Checked the plane for stowaway prisoners and departed. Climbed above a layer to the northeast and spend much of Iowa in and out of Precip. -12C, so nothing sticking to us. Spent much of that flight on the scan as I had zero reference except some clouds lit from the bottom over towns. Halfway over Lake Michigan was cleared to 3K and expect ILS 24. In precip again at 5 and vectoring all over. Ice started to collect a bit on the wing, nothing bad though. Breakout was around 2K in mist. Easy approach and done....Finally!
I needed hours for Commercial Mins and though challenging, it was a heck of a lot more fun than buring holes in the local practice area......
So if you're bored and need a great way to add ~25 - 30 hours to your book, try Vegas
To recap:
First Leg, KMKG to KLXN. Planned to depart areound 3pm Friday, but it ended up being 4pm. Filed Direct IFR @6000 for that leg. Lexington, Nebraska was about halfway. The Mooney has longer legs, but seemd like a good stop with cheap fuel. Hit IMC weather in Iowa and basically had it to LXN. LXN was reporting 500 OVC in mist, Temp 37, Dewpoint 36. They have a VOR and you need 440ft. It was an interesting approach, glad we had two in the cockpit, one to fly and one to look out. Broke out just a few seconds before the timer ran out to go missed. I thought for sure we would head up to North Platte if we went missed.
Fueled up in the rain and went inside to plan the next leg. We wanted to to the Rockies VFR for a more direct route, but the weather wasn't going to cooperate. Snow and low ceilings through the lower wyoming route and we didn't have O2 with to take any other routes. Vegas would be possible on the tank, but not prudent.
Filed IFR, 12K KLXN to KSLC. In the soup from 500AGL up to 11k, and then in and out up to the pass. Soon as we hit the pass we had lots of precip, but odd as you could see the stars in many areas. Mostly just saw clouds lit from the bottom as we passed over towns or whatever they were. ILS in the snow into KSLC, almost down to mins. Really happy to see all those runway lights as we broke out.
Hung out at Tac air for 90 min to catch a quick nap, then filed to North Vegas.
KSLC - KVGT filed IFR 12K, had to clean off the plane twice before departure. Could see the ground directly down until about 7K, but nothing in front of you at all. Broke between layers for a bit as we headed south. Shortest leg we had. Vegas has a broken layer about 3000, Nellis appraoch held us high way too long. Had to lose a lot of altitude quickly into KVGT. Fueled, got parking for free, cuaght cab and hit hotel. Really only walked to HofBrauHaus to eat and came back and slept 12 hours.
9am go time......
Northern route looked weathered in and would require two fuel stops. Filed VFR to the south (Santa Fe direct, then Ellsworth, Kansas. Only a couple areas we needed to climb to 13500 to get over a range. Weather was pretty good, VFR on top for some of it, but finally got to see some earth and take some pictures. Tailwind was good and we were getting between 20 and 40 knots of help. Made Ellsworth just after dark. Its 48x4000 with cheap gas. North south runway, winds slightly favored the North. Lining up there was a well lit up fenced area, lots of lights.....As we got closer we realized the touchdown point was 500 ft from a prison yard. You approach over the prison...>WTF? Don't land short!
Refueled and planned for KMKG IFR Direct. Checked the plane for stowaway prisoners and departed. Climbed above a layer to the northeast and spend much of Iowa in and out of Precip. -12C, so nothing sticking to us. Spent much of that flight on the scan as I had zero reference except some clouds lit from the bottom over towns. Halfway over Lake Michigan was cleared to 3K and expect ILS 24. In precip again at 5 and vectoring all over. Ice started to collect a bit on the wing, nothing bad though. Breakout was around 2K in mist. Easy approach and done....Finally!
I needed hours for Commercial Mins and though challenging, it was a heck of a lot more fun than buring holes in the local practice area......
That it is....I love going there. Overpriced in Vegas though. A new one is opening in the Chicago area soon