Across Utah and over its mountains - in a Piper Seneca...

[P_7878]

In my earlier B707 flight, I'd replicated the first commercial flight service ever by a major carrier in the U.S., that of Western Airlines' (KLAX-to-KSLC) airmail flight, on April 17, 1926, with a Douglas M-2 biplane. A month later, on May 23, 1926, nation's very first passenger "landplane" service, would occur, also by Western, in the reverse direction from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, thereby heralding the novel mode of (commercial) air travel on top of the prevailing ones of railways, steamboats, automobiles, and horse drawn carriages. A "Certification of Flight" (autographed by the pilot) was given to each passenger of this flight. Pictures show passengers immaculately dressed, with full complement of suit, tie, and hat...🙂...though I think some flexible clothing would have been more comfortable...🙂...Mr. Ben F. Redman of Salt Lake City would officially take the prestigious title of "Commercial Air Transport Passenger #1" in U.S. with Boarding Pass #1. I am just wondering what my number was when I printed out my boarding pass, last month, at the self-serve kiosk with UAL (and of course, the Douglas M-2 has been replaced by a 737 MAX 9 across a timespan of 98 years...🙂...). 

The service ceiling of the Douglas M-2 was 16,500 ft. I was also wondering today what scenery, those very first travelers such as Mr. Redman, would have seen from the air on that trip. So, if you're curious, see below, for a representative set of images of the en-route scenery, from the state of Utah. For this post, I've travelled across the entire state from south to north, departing from KGCN, Grand Canyon Airport, just south of the state Border, in Arizona, and then north to Salt Lake City Airport. The motivation for picking the Seneca for this post, besides the fact that it's one of my favorite twins, is that when I saw that Garmin GNS-430 on the flightdeck of my (Western) B707 (while expecting to see a functional INS CDU), my thoughts had drifted to the (Carenado) Seneca, which has a similar GPS system...🙂...

Years ago, I'd visited Salt Lake City, on a business trip not pleasure. Frankly, business objectives and (high-altitude) jet travel simply do not mix together well for exploration of the local regions. I often hear people I know, tell me, "Oh...btw, leaving Lincoln (Nebraska), or South Bend (Indiana), we'll be passing through O'Hare, to catch our flights to London, Geneva, or Singapore...etc."...This is like my trips from Chicago to Frankfurt, I'd alluded to earlier in my 707 post. OK, I see Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline after lift-off, assuming daylight departure allows it, and at the end of flight, the skyline of Frankfurt in the hazy lights of dawn...and, maybe, that (shiny) River Main which flows by the city, if one happens to be looking down intently for it, with sleepy eyes, out from the window seat...on the final approach. The rest of the long flight in-between is nothing but blue sky above, velvety white cloud layers below, occasional distant jetliners passing by with contrails visible, and of course, the (comforting) sight of the turbofan engines, purring steadily just a few feet away...as I would be trying to guess whether it's a PW, GE or RR...🙂... (if you wish, please see one of my recent posts about these 3 types of aero-engines). 

So, to make up for the shortcomings of my last (short) RW visit to KSLC, I fly here, just as Western's Douglas M-2 might have flown in 1926, at about 12,000-15,000 ft, but in the comfort of my Piper PA-34 Seneca, guided by its GNS-430 GPS. Thus, I explore the geography and the mountains of Utah, that I did not have a chance to do before. Utah has a most unique and diverse geography consisting of deserts, mountains, sand dunes, lakes, and valleys, and renowned ski resorts. As I travelled here north across Utah, I overflew Mount Nebo (shot #s 7-8), the highest summit of the Wasatch Range mountains that surrounds Salt Lake City. If one thing I recall distinctly from my (RW) visit, it's the backdrop of those impressive mountains being so close to the city. Unita is the other mountain range of Utah, and I've taken a small eastward detour here to also overfly the highest point of the Unita Range, the Kings Peak (shot #s 11-12). Notice the elongated ridge lines of both these mountain peaks. I've finally circled around over the Great Salt Lake (I do recall the aerial view of this lake from my trip; it's the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere), from north of KSLC, to land on its (southward) ILS Runway 16L.

Hope you enjoy this collection of images of Utah's unique terrains and landscapes, as seen from my flight today...assisted by faultless transport support of one my most beloved twins, the Piper Seneca...

Thanks for viewing...!

[pmplayer]

Nice set of shots, beautiful scenery around..

cheers 😉

[P_7878]

Thank you, pmplayer.

I see of Utah here what you see...🙂...Always have wished to take a road-trip around there, maybe one day....

[Alaska738]

Great shots! 😉 

[bernd1151]

Great trip and an interesting story, as always P_7878 !

[ryanbatc]

Lovely mountain views, thanks for taking us on the journey!

[CBass]

Great set of shots and really neat aircraft too.  Cheers,

Calum

[andy1252]

Great shots P_7878, and great intro/backstory as ever. I have similar experience with SLC. Only ever been there once, on business, but it was a fascinating trip for all sorts of reasons. Part of possibly the best trip I ever did (started with two weeks teaching in Orange County, then my wife flew out to join me and we had a week driving up HW1 to Silicon Valley, staying in little places in Big Sur, Santa Cruz etc. Then fly to New Orleans for the second week of our hols, and lastly I went on to SLC while my wife flew home). Had a really good class in SLC, with a fellow instructor there to pick up the class so I had company for the week, which was unusual when teaching. And I remember "Terminator II" came out that week and we got in to see it. Great stuff!

But . . . never did get to see anything of the place apart from on the approach and departure. It looked like a wonderful setting though so I've been back many times in the various sims I've gotten into since retiring. And it really does look magnificent in MSFS. Done many (very) low level explorations around the city and its surrounding area and every time I do my trip comes back to me. Which is something I know you "get", as it sounds like the same for you. One of the great joys of MSFS.

Thnaks for posting these, and I feel another visit in my near future!

[P_7878]

Will, Bernd, Ryan, Calum, Andy:

Many thanks for the additional comments and thoughts. And, glad you liked Utah from the "virtual" traveler, who has no close encounter (yet) with that beautiful state and scenery....🙂...except fleeting aerial views of the lake and the mountains near the airport...

[Andy: Looks like you have seen more of Utah than I... And I know you've travelled the world a lot mostly on business, though unlike me, do not want to talk much about it...🙂...But I cherish all my global travels, and thanks to MSFS, I can re-live some of those bygone events...albeit virtually...which, of course, is not exactly the same thing...]