Peter and Debra Fly America - Again...

Peter and Debra Ceravolo in our 1973 fixed gear Cessna Cardinal off on a two week cross country trip from Ottawa to California and back in October/November 2007. This was a business trip, and because of all the trade show equipment, flying ourselves was easier than taking the tube and much more fun!

We crossed the US border in Ogdensburg, New York with our plane loaded to the max. The border guys were great, no problems with all the stuff. The printed itinerary and cargo manifest definitely helped.

We really enjoy seeing the view from above and every state looks different.


Here in Kansas there are circle crops as far as the 'bird's eye' can see. Note the few fields in the middle yet to be harvested. We had excellent VFR conditions throughout, except for overnighting it in Champagne IL to let some weather pass over us.

Flying into high country

This is where Kansas meets New Mexico. At this point the terrain gets much more interesting and colourful.

We flew over a lot of no-mans-land, so we were always on the lookout for a landing spot if we ever had engine trouble.


Our track took us over Meteor Crater in Arizona which is nearly a mile wide. Meteor Crater is important historically as it was the first impact crater to be studied on the Earth. It was eventually accepted that the hole was created by an asteroid and not by a volcano. In the late 1800's, people refused to believe that giant rocks fell from the sky. Remember Chicken Little?

We have flown over Meteor Crater before in 2003. See our first cross country trip: http://www.ceravolo.com/tll/tllaz.htm


Landing in Sedona, Arizona, red rock country with flaps full down and a 1000 ft/minute descent. We had to lose over 5,000 feet of altitude within a few miles to land on the mesa. Fun fun fun!

Debra and FZAE pose at Sedona's airport. The town is below the level of the airport, in a valley. We flew in over the hills in the background.

Sedona was a planned stop. Months before, Debra found a wonderful piece of art on the internet that was perfect for the living room. The gallery was only a block away from the hotel. The artist was amazed that we flew all the way from Canada and stopped in just to buy her artwork!


A room with a view
Peter on the hotel balcony in Sedona. Amazing scenery and a surprise at sunset.

The full Moon rising over Sedona's red rocks as seen from our hotel room.

Debra flew the plane out of Sedona. Taking off from the mesa airport is a thrill; you see the ground drop away suddenly not far off the end of the runway!

It was great having two pilots on board. We shared 47 hours of flying in total.

We made it to California in four days of easy daytime flying. We believe that to really enjoy a trip like this, the best thing to do is end the flying day at dinner time and go to a nice hotel and have a nice meal with a bottle of wine. However, we would have made it there sooner if it wasn't for the right wingtip getting damaged by a fuel truck in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It delayed us by a day or so.


The variation of topography in California is amazing. Some parts of California are very flat and arid. Soon after this image was taken, we encountered smoke from raging fires in Southern California which made the flying conditions extremely hazy at times.

The Colorado River in California starts at the Hoover Dam to the north and cuts through the mountains.

The Advanced Imaging conference in San Jose, California
Here we are showing off our new telescope designed for CCD imaging. It was a very successful and intense three day imaging conference.

Some sight seeing
A visit to the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton near San Jose, California.

This is a wide angle view of the very first large observatory to be built on a mountain.

The Lick's 36 inch refracting telescope is one huge instrument. You can tell by the chairs by the pedestal. The entire floor moves up to meet the eyepiece. This telescope was the largest refractor in the world when it was built in 1888.

More sight seeing
Peter at the art gallery in San Francisco where we visited the daVinci exhibit.

Back in the air again
Peter's turn to be pilot in command

The San Francisco Bay Tour
We learned from a local pilot in the briefing room that you can do a "Bay Tour". The controllers are quite accommodating of the tour, and there are a number of routes one can take to see the entire bay. The procedure is published; familiarizing oneself with frequencies and headings is a must.
ATC was very friendly, and let us fly over the San Francisco International airport.

Downtown San Francisco at 1000ft AGL

The famous Golden Gate Bridge

There were some clouds from a costal marine layer which made for some interesting photos ops. The rainbow effect around the plane's shadow projected onto the cloud is called "glory". Don't know what causes it but it is beautiful!


This zoomed in image was processed to reveal the secondary rainbow. You can also see the Cardinal's landing gear.

Northern California mountain range

Mount Shasta near Redding, California. Nice FBO at the Redding airport.

Glacier mountains in Nevada. Nowhere to land here.

We stopped for fuel in Winnemucca, Nevada, near a gold mine shown here.

Up to 13,500 feet.

Jackson Hole, Wyoming is at the base of the mountains under the cloud. No, we did not land there.

We liked the state of Wyoming the most for its dramatic mountainous scenery.


The Grand Tetons, Wyoming. Peter's favourite mountains. No explanation needed.

The sky was very scenic at times too. Here is a solar halo.

The last leg for home
VFR over the top. Sometimes clouds can be quite beautiful.

Sun rays over Manitoulin Island

A successful trip

We flew through 15 states: New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. We hope to be back in the air again soon on another long trip, maybe we'll see the rest of America.