Destinations
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Different Aircraft for Different Missions, SLC Style! by Yasmina Platt
Copyright 2021. All rights reserved!
lying cross country? Trying to cover a bit of ground? Need to get somewhere fast? On a budget? Take the airplane. Want to go sightseeing? Low and slow desired? Doorless? And land on cool spots? Have a little extra cash to Yasmina Platt burn? Let’s take the “Air Jeep,” aka the helicopter. After a month in Montana and a few days in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, we spent another month in Utah this fall with the motorhome. We have gotten to know Utah pretty well over the years, but we still can’t get enough of it. Funny enough… our Utah bucket list continues to grow instead of shrink.
Salt Lake City International Airport (KSLC).
I managed to fly four times this time around, two of which were around the Salt Lake City (SLC) area: the first time in an airplane and the second time in a helicopter because there are different aircraft for different missions. Flying the airplane first gave me a great overview of SLC and its surrounding suburbs, towns and, more importantly, mountains and outdoor areas. It also allowed me to pinpoint a few areas to fly with the helicopter later: slower, lower, closer. We started out flying southeast towards the Point of the Mountain VFR checkpoint (VPPTM), but remained west of it as hang-gliders and paragliders love to fly from it. What I like most about the greater SLC area is that there are mountains both east and west of the valley (unlike in Denver, for example, where there are only mountains west of the city). However, having two significant bodies of water (Utah Lake by Provo and the Great Salt Lake in SLC) makes it easy to get your bearings correct. We then followed Provo Canyon, crossing the Wasatch 28 APRIL/MAY 2021 MIDWEST FLYER MAGAZINE
We started out flying southeast towards the Point of the Mountain VFR checkpoint (VPPTM), but remained west of it as hang-gliders and paragliders love to fly from it. Source: ForeFlight
Mountains, from about VFR checkpoint VPPVO to Heber Valley Airport (KHCR) over Deer Creek Reservoir. I chose to hug the right side of the canyon this time to enjoy views of Mount Timpanogos and have “my out” on my side of the airplane in case we encountered any troubles. According to the locals, the leaf colors started to change early this year and I sure appreciated it. I guess not all is bad in 2020. I did not land in Heber City. It did not look like a challenging airport to fly in and out of. However, it did look nice, so we’ll plan on spending some time in the area with the Heber Valley Airport, Heber, Utah. motorhome during a future trip, so we can explore Strawberry Reservoir, the Timber Lakes, and the surrounding mountains as well. And, from Heber City to Park City via Jordanelle Reservoir, a popular place for boaters and fellow RVers. Of course, we got to see a few ski resorts and the Utah Olympic Park as well. On the way back towards SLC, instead of taking Parley’s Canyon (since I’ve seen it Parley’s Canyon from the ground
