Death Valley

[Rjfanjet]

So I want to fly here in my C. Just curious as to who has done it fairly recently?

The internet says poor to fair runway conditions.

Would like to know what to expect. I'll be flying from SLC, hopefully doing the flight in October or November.

Thanks!

[DCarlton]

29 minutes ago, Rjfanjet said:

So I want to fly here in my C. Just curious as to who has done it fairly recently?

The internet says poor to fair runway conditions.

Would like to know what to expect. I'll be flying from SLC, hopefully doing the flight in October or November.

Thanks!

I would do it too if the runway was decent.  Good question.  

[Skyland]

I flew to Stovepipe Wells L09 last year in my J.  Runway was okay, probably rate it as fair.  Lots of cracking and some mild upheavals of the asphalt along the cracks.  But the location is great, right next to the village and a couple mile walk to Mesquite Dunes.  My son and I camped near the airport for comet viewing.  The Ranger told us we need to camp a mile away from the road and airport.  Gee, at night five minutes walking and we called it a mile. 

The Park is trying to permanently close L09, purportedly to turn it into a dark sky viewing area.  Sign the register and voice your opinion.  Crazy that they think the airport and star gazing can't coexist.  There are no night ops, plus the big campground and village are adjoining.  Miles of open desert to make a viewing area.  More people need to use the airport to show a need for it.

Furnace Creek L06 is another gem.  I've landed there dozens of times over the years because there are so many things to do.  But I won't land there at this time.  (Drove there recently and walked the runway).  Really large cracks and upheavals that could damage a Mooney gear, in my opinion.  Funny thing is there are no plans to close that airport but it sure needs resurfacing.  How is it that Death Valley has hundreds of miles of nice smooth roads but they can't maintain a mile of runway?

Then there's Chicken Strip and the Saline Valley Hot Springs.  Definitely not for Mooneys, however.

[Skates97]

38 minutes ago, Skyland said:

I flew to Stovepipe Wells L09 last year in my J.  Runway was okay, probably rate it as fair.  Lots of cracking and some mild upheavals of the asphalt along the cracks.  But the location is great, right next to the village and a couple mile walk to Mesquite Dunes.  My son and I camped near the airport for comet viewing.  The Ranger told us we need to camp a mile away from the road and airport.  Gee, at night five minutes walking and we called it a mile. 

The Park is trying to permanently close L09, purportedly to turn it into a dark sky viewing area.  Sign the register and voice your opinion.  Crazy that they think the airport and star gazing can't coexist.  There are no night ops, plus the big campground and village are adjoining.  Miles of open desert to make a viewing area.  More people need to use the airport to show a need for it.

Furnace Creek L06 is another gem.  I've landed there dozens of times over the years because there are so many things to do.  But I won't land there at this time.  (Drove there recently and walked the runway).  Really large cracks and upheavals that could damage a Mooney gear, in my opinion.  Funny thing is there are no plans to close that airport but it sure needs resurfacing.  How is it that Death Valley has hundreds of miles of nice smooth roads but they can't maintain a mile of runway?

Then there's Chicken Strip and the Saline Valley Hot Springs.  Definitely not for Mooneys, however.

Interesting, Agua Caliente L54 is a dark sky viewing area. No night operations at the airport and so no effect on viewing. Haven't been there for a couple years but the runway was in good shape at the time. There is a campground within walking distance of the airport and a little general store. It was at the beginning of Covid so not sure what the store hours are, they were closed at the time.

[Rjfanjet]

Thanks for all the info!

[Larry]

Death Valley had a flash flood last month.  The National Park Service (link below) shows both airports open, but there was a lot of damage in the surrounding area.  Last year the asphalt was fair when I was there, the deluge of water couldn't have helped.

Has anyone been there in the last month?

National Park Service website

[MisfitSELF]

It's been about four years since I've been to Furnace Creek and the runway was in awful shape, washboarded with lots of cracks.  I was thankful to get out of there without collapsing my landing gear.  I understand there's a better half or a portion of the runway that is in better shape, but I'm not bringing my bird back unless they repair it. 

Here are some remarks from the current "AFD" in Foreflight:

Runway 15/33:  Up to 4 inch salt heave and runway cracks.  could dmg aircraft with wheel fairings or cause a potential to blow out a tire.
pavement heaving, extremely rough surface.  potential for dmg to aircraft using this runway.

That's gonna be a no from me dawg...

Edited September 19, 2022 by MisfitSELF

[N201MKTurbo]

What ever happened to that multi-trillion dollar infrastructure bill? You would think there would be a few hundred grand to fix the runway.

[4cornerflyer]

One would indeed think the money is there, but the owner/operator of the airports has to want them to be repaired. It is not clear that this is a desire of the National Park Service.

Jon

[kerry]

On 9/18/2022 at 1:41 PM, Skyland said:

I flew to Stovepipe Wells L09 last year in my J.  Runway was okay, probably rate it as fair.  Lots of cracking and some mild upheavals of the asphalt along the cracks.  But the location is great, right next to the village and a couple mile walk to Mesquite Dunes.  My son and I camped near the airport for comet viewing.  The Ranger told us we need to camp a mile away from the road and airport.  Gee, at night five minutes walking and we called it a mile. 

The Park is trying to permanently close L09, purportedly to turn it into a dark sky viewing area.  Sign the register and voice your opinion.  Crazy that they think the airport and star gazing can't coexist.  There are no night ops, plus the big campground and village are adjoining.  Miles of open desert to make a viewing area.  More people need to use the airport to show a need for it.

Furnace Creek L06 is another gem.  I've landed there dozens of times over the years because there are so many things to do.  But I won't land there at this time.  (Drove there recently and walked the runway).  Really large cracks and upheavals that could damage a Mooney gear, in my opinion.  Funny thing is there are no plans to close that airport but it sure needs resurfacing.  How is it that Death Valley has hundreds of miles of nice smooth roads but they can't maintain a mile of runway?

Then there's Chicken Strip and the Saline Valley Hot Springs.  Definitely not for Mooneys, however.

Chicken Strip closed. Washed out.

[Dialed In]

4 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

What ever happened to that multi-trillion dollar infrastructure bill? You would think there would be a few hundred grand to fix the runway.

Most of that money requires a 5% match so if the community is not behind the airport and there is no other way to get the match that money goes unused. 

[N201MKTurbo]

1 hour ago, Dialed In said:

Most of that money requires a 5% match so if the community is not behind the airport and there is no other way to get the match that money goes unused. 

So, the airport is owned and operated by the federal government. Do they need to match themselves?

[Dialed In]

Guess I don't know how it works when the feds own it.  I would assume that they get an allocation in some sort of general fund every year for the operations of the airport, but you know what assuming makes.  All I know is for city and county owned airports is depending on size you get $150,000 per year in NPE’s $159,000 per year in BIL funds (which is the infrastructure bill) and we have to match 10% on the NPE’s and 5% on the BIL funds on any project they qualify for.