Yesterday I flew to Las Vegas in a Diamond DA40. Robert Stewart is a salesman for US Aero. Because I really can’t consider a plane seriously without flying it on what would be a standard flight for me (to Las Vegas to visit some projects), Robert was nice enough to agree to the long flight. Bob Whitehead (my business partner) came along for the ride. I will write some more about the trip in detail later, these are just a few choice photographs from the trip. (Bob had the camera most of the time and when I was downloading on my return I saw that he had taken 488.)

Two pilots and Bob

Me, Bob and Michael Goudeau in front of the plane in North Las Vegas. Michael and Theresa are the clients that we flew in to see. (We flew from Santa Monica to Henderson, visited the Castle site, then flew from Henderson to North Las Vegas, met with the Goudeaus, and flew home to Santa Monica.)

Short final for KHND

On final into Henderson Executive Airport (KHND). A great little airport. We might stop there again if we are going to our other project in Las Vegas (The Slammer), but it wasn’t the closest spot to the site. That would be Boulder City, where we will fly in next time.

Our project is on the hill

This is why it is great to have an airplane. We left the Henderson airport, flew over a little ridge, and we were right on top of the Castle project. I’ve never seen it from the air. The eighty foot high hill it sits upon is more of a bump when you are a thousand feet above it. It was wonderful to see, though. We did a circuit and Bob took a bunch of photos. We were later than we had planned, so the desert floor was already heated, bouncing us around with thermals. I hit one bump and rapped our heads sharply on the ceiling. We all tightened our belts.

The Stratosphere Tower

As we were navigating the Class Bravo airspace around McCarren we headed to KVGT, the North Las Vegas airport. Robert was doing the radio work (I had my hands full just flying and watching the glass cockpit screens) and reported that we were “at the Stratosphere.” I looked out my window and we sure were.

Downwind for KVGT

On the downwind for KVGT. 017 looked so narrow from up here… but it was fine once I was lined up. It was fun watching the Otters take off for the Grand Canyon while we were there. They went up like elevators.

Sunset on the way back to Los Angeles

The view between layers of clouds as we returned to the Los Angeles Basin from the desert. The flight back was amazing, but I need to write a separate post about the Diamond and the glass cockpit. It’s how flying should be for any sort of cross country trip.

Short Final for 21

As I was landing at Santa Monica they had a Cessna holding short for me (you hear on the radio “Cessna Alpha-Foxtrot hold short of runway for landing traffic”).

Papparazzi watch me landing

After we parked I noticed paparazzi on the terrace above typhoon. You can just make out a couple of them in the photo Bob took. I called up and asked if they were watching Angelina Jolie. They called back down that I was warm. I called, “Brad?” and they nodded. So Brad Pitt had to wait for me to land before he could take off to continue his practice landings. (Angelina has a pilots certificate, so she’s probably insisting that he be capable of co-piloting.)