December 20, 2004

Today my father and I drove over to the little private airport in Chapala. It's a grass strip known as Aeroclub Chapala (click that link for aerial views). There are two grass runways, the longest being 2160 feet (the shorter one is only 900 feet long). It's home mostly to ultralights, but my father ended up getting me an "invitation" to land there if I wanted to. I seriously considered it, but there was basically no way I was gonna land the RV on a grass strip I had never seen before. That, and the fact that I probably couldn't get 100LL fuel there, was enough for me to steer clear for the time being. But...I wanted to check it out just in case it would be viable for the next trip down.

It's gorgeous there! The runways and taxiways are like a golf course. Very well maintained, smoother than any other grass strip I've seen. The "long" runway should be just long enough -- considering the elevation is 5150' MSL, I will probably use most of that runway when loaded. Anyway, I got a really good vibe from the atmosphere there. People working on their planes, building ultralights, etc.

I took this spliced panorama shot to kind of show the whole thing, at least from the viewpoint of the balcony.

Back at the pad, there was a really cool sunset. Yeah, it would really suck to be stuck here waiting for parts. Too bad the plane is performing flawlessly.

I launch for home tomorrow morning.

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Dan Checkoway ()