KPHX dust storm

Pilawt

Pilawt

Final Approach
Gone West
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Sep 19, 2005
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Santa Rosita State Park, under the big 'W'
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Pilawt
Monday evening an ESPN reporter tweeted, "@Rangers and @Dbacks delayed in downtown Phoenix because a baboon went through town and overloaded the grid, knocking some lights out.” I wish it had been a baboon. If the D-Backs had signed him he might have been able to get some outs after the lights came back on. :(

But it was indeed a haboob, and this is what it looked like from our balcony:



This airliner broke off the approach and went missed just after I took the photo.



The wind went from dead calm to this in the span of about two minutes:



Looks like a Caravan didn't fare too well at nearby Deer Valley (KDVT): http://www.wtvm.com/clip/14527385/in...valley-airport

Before flying the next morning I had to spend some quality time with a leaf blower getting the dust from the storm off my airplane and out of the hangar. The local tribes had called and said they wanted their desert back. :confused:

Saw a haboob the first time I ever visited Phoenix, on a 1987 business trip in a rented C-172P from Van Nuys. Bugged out of there just in time, and was glad when the KPHX controller finally gave me the turn southbound so I could turn tail and run.

 
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Dude! That's some wild looking stuff.

In other news, I'm off today because thunderstorms rolled through last night and knocked power out at work.
 
Thank your lucky stars that it’s so dry in PHX, otherwise you’d suffer massive mudflows being blown into town. ;)
 
I have a lot of time in that C208 that was on its wing. Strange seeing one you've flown get damaged that bad.
 
Aaaannnd ... another one today.







We got the cloud of dust; but not the fiery horse with the speed of light, or the hearty "Hi-yo, Silver, away!"
 
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Beautiful dust storms :D
 
crossed the desert SW 4x this week; tons of smaller haboobs blowing across the farms, villages, dustland, way below me. The whole trip, including all the monster monsoon buildups, was spectacular as usual. All pilots should get a little southern NM/AZ/CA time!
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
crossed the desert SW 4x this week; tons of smaller haboobs blowing across the farms, villages, dustland, way below me. The whole trip, including all the monster monsoon buildups, was spectacular as usual. All pilots should get a little southern NM/AZ/CA time!
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So do we get a pass with experience flying over the flat lands? :)

I'm glad I learned with the mountain and high density altitude flying around here. It made steep turns a bit more difficult because I couldn't hold that rivet on the nose to the horizon but that's okay.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Remember that question when everyone else is complaining about ice and snow and can't fly in the winter. ;)
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SNOW is a four letter word, one we don't use that much in the Pacific Northwe(s)t. Now, ice is a problem if you fly in the clouds.
 
Pilawt said:
You don't have to shovel 110°F. :D

(Seriously, though ... all our kids and grandkids are here. After I retired there was nothing keeping us in the PNW.)
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You don't have to shovel rain, either. And our grandkids are in western Washington, otherwise we'd probably move, too. Just not to Aridzona.
 
Ghery said:
You don't have to shovel rain, either.
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I don't knock the PNW. We enjoyed our 21 years there. When it's nice, there's nothing like it. But our last winter in Vancouver (2016-2017) was a particularly bad one for snow and ice, the worst since our first winter there. Two weeks after being housebound for three days because of ice, and both of us slipping and falling the first time we tried to go out, we were ready to set our compasses on 'S' and start driving.
 
Pilawt said:
I don't knock the PNW. We enjoyed our 21 years there. When it's nice, there's nothing like it. But our last winter in Vancouver (2016-2017) was a particularly bad one for snow and ice, the worst since our first winter there. Two weeks after being housebound for three days because of ice, and both of us slipping and falling the first time we tried to go out, we were ready to set our compasses on 'S' and start driving.
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No argument there. Summers around here are about as perfect as summers can be. I do understand why neighbors were snow birds, however. They'd go south for the winter. We just go to other places that are warm and sunny, like Mexico and Hawaii.
 
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