N393A's Adventures in Nevada.

Ben Favrholdt says that Elizabeth Collins is probably the most active Mite owner in WAMM, and we believe him. Elizabeth's really been "living it up" since she bought N393A last summer. Lucky for us, she's photo-prolific as well as photogenic, and generous with photos she's taken along the way. We're pleased to present a few of them here, along with her comments.

The Mite loves playas*!! We fly onto the Black Rock, and also onto some smaller, "secret" playas.

This is actually at a little playa north of Black Rock that we call Secret P. It is a beautiful playa. I love the photo because you can see the texture of the surface: cracked, but really smooth. (Black Rock Desert is about 80 miles N of Reno. Taken August, 2006).

N393A took me to Burning Man on the Black Rock Desert. Lots of planes and good friends to be made. That's C-150 Dave Barrett, a "Mitey" good friend and excellent flying buddy. (Taken September, 2006).

During the event, there is an FAA sanctioned temporary "airport" set up on the playa, complete with Unicom and safety briefings, manned entirely by volunteers. There were well over 100 aircraft tied down at the airport during the week, ranging from the Mite to an amphibious C-185, to jump planes.

Burning Man is an eight-day-long festival organized by Black Rock City, LLC, under the guidance of founder Larry Harvey. The festival is held annually and ends on the American Labor Day holiday in September. It takes place on the playa* of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, 90 miles (150 km) north-northeast of Reno.

For more information on Burning Man, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Man

Winter flying - over a partially frozen mountain reservoir - in celebration of the end of 2006! (Taken December 31, 2006).

Near Stead, NV, a suburb of Reno and the home of the Reno Air Races. December 31, 2006.

This is a picnic on "Secret P" with my two favorite aviation pals, C-150 Dave Barrett and Rans S-6 Rob Lober. Rob had just purchased the Rans and the three of us and Dave’s son Luke headed to Secret P for lunch. As I like to say, friends don’t let friends fly alone!!

*The American Heritage Dictionary says a playa is a nearly level area at the bottom of an undrained desert basin, sometimes temporarily covered with water.

2007-02-13