Baja Adventure 2011

There was some weather mid-country that extended past Omaha and caused us to not be able to head directly towards Albuquerque like we'd have preferred....hoping to get as far West as we could to clear that area of wind and turbulence as quickly as possible.   We departed and climbed through broken clouds and got on top VFR, having a pretty normal and good flight.  That didn't last too long though.   After maybe a half hour or hour, we were forced to pop back down through a hole before the sky went overcast.  The problem was the temperature....we were below freezing, and these were high moisture clouds.  I wasn't interested in filing IFR and flying into potential ice, so I wanted to remain clear of clouds and do the trip VFR. So we were pushed down.
Just a few misc. pictures of the panel...from time to time I like to refer to them to remember where I placed things...in the above pictures, this would be my first trip where I had an oil cooler valve control knob, located right next to my alternate air valve. As we flew along and approached the front, there was precipitation (rain type) falling in a line North to South across the center of the country, with a gap maybe 150 miles wide.  The line of rain was very narrow....you could completely fly an RV-10 from side to side of the front in about 20-30 minutes.  So we kept heading South until we passed the green precip returns, and then turned West to cut through the front as quickly as possible.  We got pushed lower and lower and lower, watching the WSI weather on the Cheltons for current airport conditions in front of us, knowing that conditions would improve in a very short time.  Still, it was no fun getting pushed real low, with ceilings for a while coming down to under 1000 ft, and viz down to 2-3 miles, we pushed on.  I'm not a fan of scud running, but we had enough forward viz to see obstructions, we were under 1200AGL so we met the class G airspace requirements, and we had in-flight weather info, so we aimed from airport to airport as we flew SouthWest, so that if the conditions got worse, we could either land at an airport right in front of us, or turn around and land at one we just flew past and be there within 5 minutes.  The clouds were low, but they were fairly stable....so they weren't coming down, we were just flying through the front, knowing it would improve.  And, I'd rather be zipping along low and be out of the ice than up in the precip trying to figure out how to stay aloft.  The OAT was between 31F and 33F for most of this portion of the trip.
Like clockwork, and exactly as the WSI weather had showed, we were past the front in maybe 20 minute, and after I could see that we had holes in the clouds directly over our heads, and could perhaps be between layers, I decided to pop up quick and try to get back up to 2500-3000ft. Sure enough, we were between layers, having a very nice smooth ride, and could see blue sky and sun ahead!  Another 10 mintues later and as you can see in the couple of photos above, the skies cleared right up! I'd have to tell you that the NUMBER ONE thing that I love about aviating in the 2000's and beyond, is in-flight weather.  Nothing comes close to giving us the benefit of safety, and information we need to safely complete flights on less than ideal days.   Here we had maybe 30 minutes of pretty miserable weather, but were able to make the trip.  Without  in-flight weather we'd either have cancelled the trip, landed all the time to get weather info, or worse, gotten stuck in places we didn't want to. We stopped at McPherson, KS KMPR for fuel....a stop we've made before, and tried to figure out which city we'd end up in for the night.  Knowing that Russ Daves, a very nice RV-10 Builder from Lubbock, TX would know where to go for lodging in that regionn, I gave him a call for advice....and he gave me much more than that.  Russ told us to fly straight to KLBB, Lubbock Intl, and not even pay for parking and gas....just park there and he'd put us up for the night and deliver us back in the a.m. right away so we could continue on.  We wanted to fly early before heat and winds picked up.  Russ and Ann were very accomodating and we had a nice visit with them...thanks a million Russ!

Once again we were headed West, passing into mountainous country.  Through the miracles of modern technology, despite being in turbulent skies at 10,500', we were able to communicate with Scott and RaNae and find out that they weren't going to be headed out until later in the afternoon, so we may as well enjoy our day a bit.  Flying from Lubbock to Phoenix is a pretty easy direct flight of just over 3 hours or so, but, with a slight diversion to the North, we could do something we've never done before....actually stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon!  Yes, we've flown over it 3 times now, but I've never actually stood at the rim and looked down into it.   So everyone got pretty excited about that stop, and we aimed the plane at KGCN, Grand Canyon airport.
Grand Canyon Airport turned out to be an awesome stop.  For a little cash, you can grab a taxi into town. It's a nice airport, but don't plan to buy fuel there at the super high price they charge.  The taxi will take you right to a restaurant and all the tourist stuff in that general area, and then bring you back again.  It's a quick ride and we were having a great lunch, and then out walking around the canyon edge enjoying the day.  The Grand Canyon is one of the more beautiful things I've seen, with so many different colors, and variety of terrain.

iPad 2 3G teardown proves ties to iPhone 4 design, upgrades

** The EVDO-based 3G version is near identical to the Verizon iPhone 4 and
has the same dual-mode Qualcomm MDM6600 chipset. The MDM6600 is a
GSM/UMTS/HSPA+/EV-DO multi-mode processor.

** The HSPA-based 3G version for AT&T and the world is using an Infineon
337S3833 baseband chip to get online but has upgraded to a newer Broadcom
BCM4751 for the GPS chipset

http://wirelesse2e.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/iphone-cdma-and-ipad-2-no-obvious-path-for-lte/

The GPS in the iPad is part of the 3G chipset. That does not mean it isn't
a true GPS. Assisted GPS means that you have a 'real' GPS that has other
services associated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS

iPhone 5 will be a world-phone using Qualcomm MDM6600. Even though Apple
prefers not to change its proven designs frequently, MDM6600 is simply
superior to legacy Infineon baseband processor and it simplifies GPS
implementation.

So you're likely to be better off with GPS in any 3G version of iPad 2,
than you are with iPad 1, or with iPhones prior to iPhone 4.   The MDM6600
chipset may be why the Verizon ones are really pretty good with the GPS
acquisition and accuracy.  And I'm sure that Apple wouldn't have moved to
the Broadcom BCM4751 for the AT&T version unless it provided something
better too.

You can actually see the border in front of Scott's plane...it's a big line across the desert and it shows up on my Chelton screen too.  We headed to Yuma from Phoenix, and as we got closer to Yuma, ATC cleared us direct to San Filipe, Mexico, (MMSF) straight through a restricted area, to save us some time.  It was spooky to fly across a known restricted area that was indeed hot at the time, but we had permission.
It wasn't long and we were over the sea, in the Gulf of California, or Sea of Cortez, whatever you want to call it, approaching San Filipe.  We were greeted by a friendly voice on the tower, who had us reporting positions and set us up for landing, but never cleared us to land.  When I radioed to ask if I was cleared to land, he explained "Well I said there was no other reported traffic"....so no, not nearly as stringent as landing at a towered airport in the U.S.  Mexican ATC also apparently doesn't truly understand what "A flight of 2 RV-10's" means, because nearly every controller we encountered was surprised that 2 airplanes showed up when only one had a flight plan...despite everything we filed indicating we were a flight of 2, and we stated that on every radio communication.  When we landed we were met by friendly yet machine-gun toting men on the tarmac as well.  They loo.  We got fueled up, and went inside.  One thing about Mexican customs that is FAR different than Bahamas customs that I experienced is that Mexican customs is all about providing you everything they can, and charging you for it.  You get bounced back and forth about 6 times in Mexican customs, paying fees to each of 3 or so various places for various things.  They know that if they provide you something, they can charge you for it, so they diligently type away typing out flight plans, entering your information, and doing all sorts of paperwork to make it all look official and worthy of being paid.  It's quite comical, but it's Mexico.  You are also required to be on a flight plan any time you fly in Mexico, and THEY type your flight plan for you at the dispatch office.  It took maybe an hour for every last thing to be done.  Bahamian customs is very quick, costs something like $10 on the way in, and once you're in, you get a cruising permit that allows you to fly and land at any airport in the bahamas, and you don't pay any landing fees in any area I've been, and no tiedown fees either.  They even have a $300 fuel credit for flying your own plane, in 2011, up from $200 the past 2 years...so the Bahamas is very welcoming of pilots and desperately wants you to come there and visit.
After clearing customs and topping off, we hit the skies once again for our trip down the Baja peninsula...getting lots of good photos of Scott's plane, and his beautiful daughter in the window, all with that nice zoom lens.
Thanks to Scott pointing it out on Google Earth, we were easily able to find the house that they rented, and do a circle around it on the way down.  It was right on the beach, with a red concrete wave wall around it.
As we approached San Jose Del Cabo airport, near Cabo San Lucas, we were handed off from LaPaz approach to San Jose Approach and then San Jose tower.  Interestingly, the tower zone is 10nm rather than 5nm as in the U.S.  We tried contacting the tower and got no reply.  Continuing inbound we attempted to contact them again.  Then it started to turn crazy....we switched back to our prior approach controller, and he said he'd check in with them and get back to us.  He then told us to call them again.  Nope, no answer again.  So we called him back and once again he said he'd check.  He tells us they have us on radar, and we can call them again.  No answer a second time, for a while.  In the meantime, we were very near their 10nm ring, and had to start turning around it so we wouldn't penetrate their airspace.  I was beginning to think it was siesta time in the tower, just like it would be at Reagan National in the U.S. apparently. HA!  There was a Frontier airlines flight inbound right behind us, but finally after getting a hold of the tower, we were cleared to continue inbound and land, and within a minute or two the Frontier jet landed behind us.  Taxiing to parking, we passed a cool Piaggio Avanti...something you don't get to see that often...but we saw another I think in Tucson on the way home.  Pretty cool! The arrival was fine...we got to National rental car, got our cars, and soon were headed North for about an hour and a half to get to the house.  Mexican road speeds are pretty slow, but some of their roads aren't quite up to what we're used to here.  Interestingly, in the first hour of driving, I'd bet we passed 50 roadside grave markers....those crosses, or in some cases pretty good sized monuments, indicating automobile accidents....so it's probably a good thing their speeds are where they are.  In some areas there would be 4 or more of them all on one turn in the road...very interesting. The house was just north of Los Barilles, and as we entered Los Barilles, we stopped and I had some of the finest thin crust pizza of my entire life!  I mean, this pizza was inspirational!  I asked their secret and they showed me to their kitchen.  The oven was a hole in the wall....all brick/concrete/slate lined or something....just a flat floor, and no door on the hole, but inside was a regular small log fire going.  Very very interesting and cool indeed!  The brick helps dry the moisture out of the crust and gives it those awesome bubbles and crispy cracker crust.  It was so awesome I went back later that week and had pizza for supper, and ordered another one for lunch the next day!

The house they rented was a fantastic and very large house.  It was like having a buddy who was a millionaire with a seaside mansion, and they tell you that you can use their beach house for the week.  Truly amazing.  There were bedrooms in greater quantity than there were people to use them.  Each bedroom had it's own bathroom and shower.  Every morning we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise over the waters of the East Cape of the Sea of Cortez.  Being on the East facing and bay side of the peninsula, the waves never got very large, the winds were never very strong, and the weather was nearly always perfect.  The air was dry, and warm, 24 hours a day, never changing very drastically from morning to night.  You could get hot standing in the sun, but with the steady sea breeze, you were never sweaty.  At night, you could leave the windows and doors open, with no screens, and fall asleep with the sounds of waves on the shore. There were NO flying insects found crawling around the room, and with the dry air, your wet swimsuit would dry out overnight.  In short, at this time of year at least, the climate in this particular place, is about 100% ideal!  It was amazing that it was like that constantly for us.
The kids all loved playing together on the beach, nearly every day was a different sand castle...this one even had a full North/South runway!  The house had a nice pool too, that provided tons of entertainment. One of the big surprises we had, is visible in the photos below.  There is video somewhere of this too, so maybe I can find a better screen shot of it, but nearly every day we had periods where groups of whales would swim by just offshore, jumping and breaching, and showing their tail flukes.  It was quite a show to watch them cruise southbound down the coast, on their way migrating back North for the summer.
The roads in the area as I said, weren't the best, but in some areas they weren't all that bad.  It looks like the roads do wash out quite badly in some areas, with huge potholes showing up and no sign of maintenance.  Other areas they'd be fine for a mile or so at a time.  There were often bulls, horses, or goats roaming around seemingly freely...the bulls had bells tied to their necks.

Minutes later we were being whisked away by a man who had us hooked up with one of the nicer local parasailing outfits.  We were parked by the marina, and the parasailing tent is over on the public beach a mile or two away, but that gave us more opportunity for adventure.  As part of our parasailing fee, they included transportation by water taxi...a boat for maybe a dozen people, where we were taken out of the harbor.  Once out by the cruise ships, we jumped from boat-to-boat onto the Parasailing company's transport boat, and then we headed to the beach by their tent where we picked up a few more people.  From there we had a quick trip out to meet the parasailing boat.  They haul you out there in groups, just in time so that when one group finishes their parasailing, they can board the transport boat and you board the parasail boat, switching loads of passengers out in the sea.  It's a pretty cool and efficient operation.
With the transportation around the harbor, we got to see some pretty cool yachts too....this one was particularly stunning, having it's own helicopter on the back deck.  I decided that some day if the lottery comes my way, I'll just live on a boat like the one above. :) Parasailing turned out to be the favorite thing about the trip for the kids.  They could take up 3 people at a time as long as you were balanced out properly.  You are winched up in the air, to a height of about 600ft, and then after a tour of the harbor and the Cabo arch, they cranck you back down to the deck...you don't even have to get wet to go up on the parasail. After parasailing, we caught the water taxi back to the marina and then had frozen yogurt and went shopping in the mexican market where we bargained away for a few small items to take home with us.  It was a really nice place to go.  Being a family with near teens, I think I'd have to recommend that if you like to do lots of fun things like parasailing, jetskis, kiteboarding, and things of that nature, I'd recommend staying close to the Cabo area.  The East Cape is very beautiful, less wavy, and very comfortable and relaxing, but it doesn't have the activity selection that you'd find down in the tourist trap area.

One of the girls seems to get lucky every year.....her Birthday falls right during one of our common vacation times, and this year was no exception.  We had to go to town and buy cake mixes and a cake pan, but we managed to throw together a heck of a big round birthday cake and have a little celebration. Below are more pictures of the house and various rooms around it.  We didn't take any exceptionally good house pictures, but it was beautiful.  I especially loved that we could leave the windows and doors open 24/7.  In fact, I didn't mention that although people seem to be getting murdered all over Mexico, and you hear about beheaddings, we didn't have one time where we felt we even needed to lock the doors to the house.  The Baja seems to be one of the more safe zones in Mexico in some respects.

In the 1st and 4th picture above, you can see a zoomed and panned display of our destination airport, KLUM and the weather they were being hammered by.  45,000' tops, with 35+kt winds, and the terror of all terrors...HAIL!    Over my years of flying the RV-10 with WSI, I've learned a lot about what types of weather are conducive to a good day of flying, and I knew that this could be good, as long as we didn't have to get in anything with colors.  If it's widely greens and yellows, you may have a good smooth flight, but it'll be rainy.  Probably smooth.  But, if you have very isolated cells, you'll maybe have a bumpy day, or maybe not...but you CANNOT penetrate anything with color at all, if it's widely scattered or isolated.  It was in the 70's that day at home, and I knew that anything with color would mean build-ups, bumps, and nothing but bad.  Of course, if you can do it without flying into any of the colors, you will probably be fine.  It's nice to give thunderstorms 20 miles of distance, but I've often found that depending on the storm, if you're VFR, you can find an easy way by even if you're closer...and the trailing side of the storm isn't always too bad.  We continued on, fixated on this storm, hoping to see that all the colored heart of the storm would move North and East and blow past our airport.  I had plenty of doubts, but as we got closer and closer, the storm moved little by little...not very quickly, but just enough.  Almost into Wisconsin, I queried the controllers twice about what they saw on the Wx display.  They said that the intense and extreme stuff was passing the airport.  I told them I may shoot an approach at nearby KRGK.  They asked if I was going to land there then....I said "No...just an approach to get under it all so I'm not in IMC".  I forgot to mention that as I got closer, I was above the tops and had a solid undercast.....and, experience again told me that if it's solid undercast and I'm only at 9,000', it's likely going to be a pretty smooth descent through the clouds.  There were no puffies, only smooth solid layers of clouds.  I queried them on the cell status and as I was 10 minutes from home, he said it had all moved about 5 miles or so North and East.  I decided I'd give the approach a try, knowing that I was coming in from the South, and the approach was flying East for Rwy 9.  As I descended into the grey clouds, we watched our path, and in the 2nd picture above you can see that the we could see that the approach path was definitely clear of the cells.  Keeping in mind that there's a couple minutes of delay to the satellite weather, I knew that the cell would have moved further, not closer, to the airport.  So we continued on, ready to break it off and go to KRGK if there were bumps or any signs of anything negative.  As we turned inbound for the approach, there was a solid gap of nothingness between the approach path and the cell, and I knew it would be fine.  We were in stable stratus clouds, and as we got lower and lower on the approach, we could even see the occasional thin glimpse of ground passing by. After passing the FAF and beginning our descent, we popped out with maybe 2200-2500' ceilings, and could see the city in front of us.  I called airport in site, cancelled IFR, and we had a perfectly smooth approach, and one of those landings where you don't feel the touchdown...only hear the wheels being rolling on the wet runway below.  It was warm but overcast and comfortable, and we placed the plane back in it's hangar for a well deserved rest.