Jump to content

Monument Valley / Grand Canyon / Lake Powell


kaba

Recommended Posts

Looking for suggestions, tips, advice on flying through Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. We are in Palm Springs. On our trip back to Fort Lauderdale we would like to do some scenic flying through these areas. Also any recommendations on routes of flight would be great. Input and experience greatly appreciated!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Grand Canyon chart shows the various corridors across the canyon and the appropriate altitudes.   It's pretty easy to do and very cool.   Coming from Palm Springs if you use the Dragon Corridor from near Grand Canyon airport or similar you'll wind up headed roughly toward Page/southern UT/monument valley.   Essentially all of southern UT from Page up to Moab and southern CO up to Grand Junction is constant scenery overload.   You can't go wrong through anywhere there as far as scenery is concerned, it's all stunning from a small airplane.   I go back and forth from Phoenix to SoDak and usually go that way.   It never gets old.

A few seconds of the Dragon Corridor:

 

Edited by EricJ
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, kaba said:

 

Looking for suggestions, tips, advice on flying through Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. We are in Palm Springs. On our trip back to Fort Lauderdale we would like to do some scenic flying through these areas. Also any recommendations on routes of flight would be great. Input and experience greatly appreciated!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

If you’re doing the Grand Canyon and get as far as Bryce Canyon the flight from KBCE to Santa Fe KSAF takes you over Lake Powell and Monument Valley — and Santa Fe is an awesome place to stay and should be convenient if you’re heading back South East.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, kaba said:

 

Looking for suggestions, tips, advice on flying through Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. We are in Palm Springs. On our trip back to Fort Lauderdale we would like to do some scenic flying through these areas. Also any recommendations on routes of flight would be great. Input and experience greatly appreciated!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Low level flight over Lake Powell is a must. Land at Goulding’s (UT25) right in Monument Valley, another must. Do a couple of Grand Canyon corridors

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did the corridors almost exactly a year ago and finished the routes around 1030 as I remember. It was WINDY. Plane dropped a wing into an instant unusual attitude on the furthest east route with my wife and baby in her belly. My brain went to mush after that, got a number to call at grand canyon airport when I came in and landed without a clearance. Long story short, pay attention to the TAFs. I wouldn't fly over 15 knot gusts, was gusting to nearly 30 when my incident happened.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is always windy and bumpy down there. On our way to Flag it was smooth at 17.5k and the bumps started descending through 13k. Very rough ride from there all the way to touchdown. Seems like it is always like that when we go there. This was around 11:00 am. My advice for flying in the desert Southwest is to stay high as much as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, larryb said:

It is always windy and bumpy down there. On our way to Flag it was smooth at 17.5k and the bumps started descending through 13k. Very rough ride from there all the way to touchdown. Seems like it is always like that when we go there. This was around 11:00 am. My advice for flying in the desert Southwest is to stay high as much as possible.

The summer bumps start at 11:00 And start to soften at 4:00 by 6:00 it is usually smooth again.

Between those times you will get tossed, but they won’t hurt you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Start on the south side of the canyon and then take a corridor north  near  the east end and go over to Page from KPGA go north along the west side of Lake Powell up to Dangling Rope Marina (about 25 miles north of Page) cut to the east side and go back south towards Page (6000 to 7000')    One of the best rides for observing all the canyons and lake.  Better look-see than Monument Valley (you'll be unimpressed with Monument Valley after this trip up and down Lake Powell). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was in the Air force, IR126 was an epic low level route that we only got the chance to fly when we were TDY to Nellis.  It starts way over by Sante Fe but there’s an alternate entry point closer to Lake Powell.  Ive probably flown down the lake 6 or 7 times at 500’ over the water, canyon walls above me, zipping left and right like Will Smith in his F-18 in Independence Day.  Instead of aliens, we were chasing water skiers, especially bikini clad ones.  Even saw some fall as we blew over at 500kts.  Anyway, the grad canyon routes, lake powell and monument valley are well worth it.  Watch out for the tiny little line on the sectional that says IR126, but it’s not too busy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.