701 to Copperstate #5

. .ince I was approaching from the north-northwest and was still ten miles out, I circled a bit further to the west and then turned to track inbound again on what was, essentially, a ten mile forty-five. I reasoned that this course should take me over a point five miles northwest of the airport and thus, hopefully, right over “the Pit”. Five miles later, there it was! It was unmistakably a huge, deep hole, probably a quarry, and it was directly below me. Relieved, I keyed the mic again, “Copperstate Approach, Experimental 33Zulu over the Pit inbound for landing.” I was told to continue and enter the right downwind for runway 23 and to switch to and monitor the tower.

I switched to the tower frequency. They were busy trying to sort out some confusion with another airplane. As I started my turn onto the downwind I heard the controller call: “High-wing Experimental turning downwind, you are cleared to land runway 23.” The controller then resumed talking with a pilot who sounded a bit lost. This older gent had somehow ended up on the wrong side of the airport. He was reporting that he thought he was only a few miles out, coming in from the southeast, airport not in sight. All of a sudden he reported spotting the runway. He was close. I wanted to stay clear of this situation, so, having already been cleared to land, I turned directly for the numbers. I lowered my right wing, chopped the power and added full top-rudder while pushing the nose firmly over, creating a big slip. In my airplane such a slip gives me quite an elevator ride, almost straight down at 1500 fpm. With this maneuver, starting from my downwind position abeam the numbers, I entered a steep-descending 180-degree turn and dropped onto short final in a matter of seconds. The controller, who was starting to tell the confused pilot to turn away from the airport, saw the opening that I had created and changed his call. He said, “Continue directly to the runway sir, you are now cleared to land, number two, follow the high-wing aircraft on short final.” It always feels good when I can help make things work out utilizing the capabilities of my remarkable airplane.

At the event, I visited with friends, met many interesting people, talked with vendors, and saw scores of beautiful airplanes. When Sunday morning came, two days later, I headed for home. I departed before seven a.m. After a full day of wonderful flying, with many good memories of a great Light-Sport adventure, I was home. I pushed my plane back into the barn at four fifteen that same afternoon. My relatively slow Light Sport Airplane had flown from southeast of Phoenix to fifty miles northwest of San Francisco in a single day! While unsurpassed in short-field operations, the CH-701 from Zenith demonstrated that it’s also quite a capable cross-country performer. And once again, the annual Copperstate Fly-in was a huge success.