Landing at Los Alamos (LAM)

[0TreeLemur]

Anybody fly into LAM?   I used to live at the same elevation (7,200 ft) so I'm versed on high DA airport ops.  Just wondering about facilities, limitations, and crosswind effects since the field is on a mesa.

[N201MKTurbo]

I’ve landed there a few times. The last time was over 20 years ago. I don’t remember it being unusual or difficult. Strange little town, highest Phd/capita of any city. I think the guy that works at the 7-11 is a Phd. Their museum is cool.

When I used to work for the phone company, I had a radio site there I serviced. It was a pager transmitter. It was across the street from the FBO. When it needed attention, I would fly there from Albuquerque. 

If you get a chance to drive around some of the back roads, you may see some weird stuff. One day I found a nuclear reactor on a truck just parked on the side of the road.

[toto]

Every time I think about flying into Los Alamos, I decide against it because Santa Fe is just a few minutes away by Mooney and they have 24hr rental cars etc. But I’d definitely be interested in a pirep if you go

 

[0TreeLemur]

30 minutes ago, 1980Mooney said:

One way runway.  Restricted Area R-5101 immediately along entire south side of runway 27-09.  Here is the City provided pilot briefing.

https://cdnsm5-hosted.civiclive.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_6435726/File/Government/Departments/Public Works/Airport Division/KLAM_PilotBriefing 5-2023.pdf

Winds: The local winds are often calm in the early morning, easterly by midmorning, southerly by noon, westerly in the late afternoon, and calm by dusk. Gusty winds can occur, and when combined with the canyons to the south, can produce considerable turbulence on approach. A reported 10 knot crosswind will feel more like 15-20 knots.

One-Way Runway: There is a blast fence and a housing development immediately off the west end of RWY 27 and terrain rises steeply to over 10,000” MSL only seven miles from the airport. Thus, all landings are to the west on RWY 27, touch-and-go landings are not allowed and, due to the restricted area (R5101) immediately to the south, all goarounds are to the north. All takeoffs are to the east on RWY 9. Although winds may not favor RWY 27 for landing or RWY 9 for takeoff, do not attempt a takeoff to the west or a landing to the east; attempting to do so has caused several accidents. It is far better to wait for the winds to change or fly up another day

Go-Arounds: The rule of thumb for local pilots is: "Wheels on the ground don't go-around".

Thanks!   This is exactly the information I was seeking.  Much appreciated.   Plan B will be Santa Fe.

One of my sons has accepted a job there and we're going down Saturday for a house hunting trip.   Friday I'll fly from Alabama to pick him up in northern Colorado.   Might wind up spending Friday night someplace in western Kansas because of storms in north central Colorado.   Saturday the weather looks fine.   We'll fly to Los Alamos, then Sunday back to FNL, Monday back to AL.   Gonna put some hours on our J!  

[Fly Boomer]

10 hours ago, 1980Mooney said:

The other "gotcha" (aka Nail in the coffin) why they say "do not attempt a takeoff to the West" is because Runway 27 has a 1.52% UPSLOPE Gradient.  Hight altitude, hot day, max GW - if you try for whatever reason to take off on Runway 27 you will be hard pressed to outclimb the gradient.  You have to dig for that info for some reason but it is on the AOPA Airport chart

https://www.aopa.org/destinations/airports/KLAM/details

 

Sounds like fun!  Hot, high, heavy, up-slope, tailwind, and restricted area.  What could go wrong?

[0TreeLemur]

7 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Sounds like fun!  Hot, high, heavy, up-slope, tailwind, and restricted area.  What could go wrong?

A superior pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid situations which require the use of his superior skill.

- Frank Borman

[FlyingScot]

Definitely among the more challenging airports in the US. If you choose to fly in, make sure you study the pilot briefing and know it as well as you would know the Oshkosh arrival notam. 

Winds can be very challenging  and cross winds are magnified. Best times are early morning and late evening.  I’ve flown in both there and Santa Fe, and after a fashion, I typically flew into Santa Fe and rented a car. In practice it was just easier and less problematic to operate out of Santa Fe for a whole host of reasons and it’s also not so far away that it’s an inconvenient option. 
 

On your first time in, if not dead calm, clear skies and reasonable DA, I would recommend Santa Fe. 

[Z W]

I've been in and out a few times over the last 3 years or so.  Very cool airport.  Like any mountain airport, best done with low winds, check winds aloft, over 15 knots or so at 12,000 feet may be a no-go.  Flying early in the morning or near sunset helps.  Be aware of the one-way-in and out nature of the place and the restricted area to the south.  If you've never landed with a small (5 knots or less) tailwind component, you may want to go practice that at a flatland airport first on a nice day.  It can be required here and I'm surprised how many pilots have never done it.

I found the field to be unattended most of the time.  Had to leave payment for tie-downs in an envelope drop box outside the FBO, on the honor system. Nice self-serve fuel at the upper end of the runway, except watch out, the ramp is very sloped there at the filling area, be careful how you park or you may need a friend to help you push the plane.  Easy access to the FBO and ramp through a gate code.

I had a friend who was also picking me up and dropping me off, so no idea how easy it is to get a car or ground transportation.

It's a beautiful place to fly in and out of with the proper planning, knowledge, and precautions.  Santa Fe does make a good alternative.

[A64Pilot]

Never been there, but done a bit of high altitude hot desert flying.

Almost always early, the earlier the better. Early mornings it’s usually no winds, much cooler and little to no turbulence, sometimes but not always late afternoons are similar. Think of morning being like the afternoon, except it had all night to cool down and winds dissipate, so mornings are best

[aviatoreb]

I’m due to go to Santa Fe in a few weeks - slightly on topic.  Anything exciting our out of the ususl about Santa Fe airport operations?  I like that it had 3 long runways !

[toto]

54 minutes ago, aviatoreb said:

I’m due to go to Santa Fe in a few weeks - slightly on topic.  Anything exciting our out of the ususl about Santa Fe airport operations?  I like that it had 3 long runways !

Nothing really unusual. It’s a great airport.

There’s a lot of military traffic - I once had to wait for a half dozen Ospreys to land before I could take off, and I was a little bit concerned about the vortex madness that those things would produce. 

There’s also a jet warbird flight school there, run by Larry Salganek - you’ll occasionally see a student doing touch and goes in a MiG or L-39.

But generally it’s easy peasy. When departing IFR, they always seem to give me a departure procedure, which isn’t common for piston singles in the plains, but no big deal.

Have fun

 

[0TreeLemur]

Followup.  Saturday June 17 I flew my son from FNL (Fort Collins/Loveland) to visit Los Alamos, New Mexico on a house hunting trip. I filed IFR because of cloud cover in Colorado.  My plan if smooth and calm was to land at LAM.  Sadly, it was not smooth and calm.  

We flew through about 120 miles of mountain wave from Raton south to Ft. Union VOR.  I finally got a block altitude because the KFC-150 was about to make us both puke trying to hold altitude.  Winds at 12,000 were 240@45.  At the surface they were 260@18G30.  Landed at SAF with a real strong crosswind component.

Lessons learned:

- They did not issue a SIGMET for mountain wave in northern NM (or I possibly didn't get the memo) .

- The KFC-150 is very aggressive about holding altitude.  It will turn a Mooney into a roller coaster in mountain wave conditions.

- In those conditions, get a block altitude and turn the altitude hold off.

- Thanks to its longer rudder, the J model has quite a bit more rudder authority for crosswind landings than my '67C did with its shorter rudder.

Roughest damned flight I've had since one of my cross-countries (LAA-PUB-TAD-LAA) as a 16 y.o. student.  Look at that velocity trace...  To our credit neither of us puked.