My good friend Bill Buermann at Cottonwood Lake
One of my dreams over the past couple of years was to fly to Leadville, Colorado, home of the highest municipal airport in North America (KLXV). It sits in a high mountain valley at 9934 feet above sea level. A fantastic opportunity opened up for me this summer to attend a men’s retreat with the Band of Brothers USA. This is a 5 day camping trip with about 150 men where we ventured out on mountain biking expeditions, white water rafting trips, ATV or Jeep tours, go fishing, or just about anything else you could think of. Most importantly, we strengthened our bond with each other and with our King, Jesus Christ. Men, if you want to have the time of your life with men of God, this is the way to go. I decided that this year that I would fly up to Leadville. I mentioned the idea of flying there to Bill Buermann, a good friend of mine from church, and he loved the idea. So we were set on that plan.
Since I had never flown in the mountains, and since it is such a different experience that flying in the flatland of Iowa and Nebraska, I wanted to beef up with some training. I contacted a friend, Will, from Cañon City, CO who operates Royal Gorge Helitours (check them out if you’re in the area) and he offered to take me through a four hour course on the ups and downs, ins and outs of flying through mountainous terrain. With that done, I felt a lot better about taking on this challenge.
Dodging thunderstorms
Our day finally arrived and we flew out of Omaha, Nebraska from the Millard Airport in the Skyhawk Flying Club’s Cessna 182Q, direct to Pueblo. The trip to Pueblo took a bit longer than expected, as I needed to route around some thunderstorms.
From Pueblo, we flew to Cañon City, through Monarch Pass, then climbed to 12,200 feet and direct to Leadville. Not only was this my first trip flying in the mountains, it was also my first time flying a general aviation craft at that altitude. After 15 minutes or so, I was starting to feel the effects of the shortage of oxygen. Luckily, the time between Buena Vista and Leadville was only about 20 minutes so altitude wasn’t going to be a big problem. By the way, the views from the plane flying through the mountains were absolutely incredible!
Incredible view of the Collegiate Mountain range
Since the air is thinner at that altitude, I knew that my approach to landing would feel faster than landing at Millard. The plane has to move faster through the air to produce enough lift to stay airborne. The engine doesn’t have as much power either. I was prepared for all this but it still felt very different when landing. I’ve posted a video of the landing, from downwind, to base, final approach, touchdown and the taxi to the terminal.
This was such an amazing adventure. If you’re a pilot, the first time you do this, they’ll give you a “Certificate of Navigation,” which is now framed and hanging up in our bedroom. Next time, I’ve got take Laura with me! She will love it.
kenluckinbill 