The morning of 23 December 22 was a beautiful day for flying near Phoenix, AZ. As part of a post-maintenance flight for my Cardinal, I decided to fly along the Superstition Escarpment. This steep drop off is the western most edge of the main Superstition Mountain range. The top is about 5037' and lies just east of the Phoenix Class B 5000' shelf, so one has to be careful here.
I started from the south end and flew north just to the west of the main ridgeline. The is a view of the northern part of the ridge looking east over much of the rest of the range. In far left one can see Four Peaks over on the other side of the Salt River. These cliffs look spectacular in the sunset light in the evening from the eastern part of The Valley of the Sun.
This shows the very northwestern part of the ridge. The steep cliff protruding to the left was the site of the very sad crash on Thanksgiving Eve in 2011 when plane left Falcon Field at night and was delayed turning to the south and was staying under the 5000 bravo shelf. It flew right into the side of the cliff, perhaps just a few hundred feet below the ridgeline, killing 6 people.
In the shadow on the previous photo is a cleaned rock face called the Siphon Draw. Water from above on the top of ridge drains out here. It is a popular and fun hike up. The next photo shows more directly looking down into it.
A view looking south along the ridgeline.
Weaver's Needle is a locally famous feature in the Superstition Mountains. The top can only be reached by technical climbing. (Yes, that is 20° of flaps to go slowly and enjoy the view.)
On the way back I flew over the town of Florence Junction, where the highway from Florence meets US highway 60 running between Phoenix and Superior. There are two old strips here. Both are no longer charted or really useable. The paved runway behind the old gas station is the newer one. One can see how the new divided highway interchange was built over part of the older gravel strip. I went down to consider landing on either or both. But didn't really like the looks of it for my tricycle gear Cardinal.
Finally, for those who might be worried about a post-maintenance flight over such mountainous terrain. I had just prior to this done a high speed taxi and a turn around the pattern, followed by the flight over flat terrain on the way here. So I knew the plane was flying well by this time.
I started from the south end and flew north just to the west of the main ridgeline. The is a view of the northern part of the ridge looking east over much of the rest of the range. In far left one can see Four Peaks over on the other side of the Salt River. These cliffs look spectacular in the sunset light in the evening from the eastern part of The Valley of the Sun.
This shows the very northwestern part of the ridge. The steep cliff protruding to the left was the site of the very sad crash on Thanksgiving Eve in 2011 when plane left Falcon Field at night and was delayed turning to the south and was staying under the 5000 bravo shelf. It flew right into the side of the cliff, perhaps just a few hundred feet below the ridgeline, killing 6 people.
In the shadow on the previous photo is a cleaned rock face called the Siphon Draw. Water from above on the top of ridge drains out here. It is a popular and fun hike up. The next photo shows more directly looking down into it.
A view looking south along the ridgeline.
Weaver's Needle is a locally famous feature in the Superstition Mountains. The top can only be reached by technical climbing. (Yes, that is 20° of flaps to go slowly and enjoy the view.)
On the way back I flew over the town of Florence Junction, where the highway from Florence meets US highway 60 running between Phoenix and Superior. There are two old strips here. Both are no longer charted or really useable. The paved runway behind the old gas station is the newer one. One can see how the new divided highway interchange was built over part of the older gravel strip. I went down to consider landing on either or both. But didn't really like the looks of it for my tricycle gear Cardinal.
Finally, for those who might be worried about a post-maintenance flight over such mountainous terrain. I had just prior to this done a high speed taxi and a turn around the pattern, followed by the flight over flat terrain on the way here. So I knew the plane was flying well by this time.
