Crew pick-up

[CBreuer]

Hi guys, and a Happy New Year!

I learned of a colleague at TCAA who seems to be 'stranded' at Tulsa and looking for a jump-seat flight to Denver.
Since I needed some more practice with my lovely F-15E I offered to pick him up at Tulsa and take him to Denver.

So first I had to fly to Tulsa. Here I am already en-route at FL290:




After about a flying time of 2:25 we were very close to the airport already and preparing for an approach to runway 18L:


On final to runway 18L


Prior to touchdown. I still have to arrest the sink rate a bit more


Picture taken from the tower showing the alpha braking of the F-15.


And finally parked on the Oklahoma ANG ramp. In the background a Southwest B737 is lining up for takeoff:


Nice takeoff


Well on a beautiful Sunday morning and after picking up Vic Alesi we walked to the F-15E and did all the required checks. The ground crew of the OK ANG did a great job and so it didn't take long that we were ready to go...




We followed an F-16C heading out for the active runway for us: RWY 26. The F-16 will fly to Duluth whilst an F-16D took my original WSO along to Boise.


Then it was time to depart. Our request for an unrestricted climb to 16000 feet was approved and now let the fun begin:




Into the cruise @ FL240:




Some data en-route.


Some nice little clouds. Nevertheless we had some really excellent weather on the flight today. Almost no clouds at all.


Colorado Springs:


And the Air Force Academy:


Oh, BTW did I mention that we don't head to Denver directly? We will shoot two touch and goes at Aspen and Eagle County, so we will fly over the mountains a bit and enjoy the view of it:


Aspen:


Short final to RWY 15:


Several feet to go:


Climbing out again.


BTW there seems not to be as many snow in Aspen as I expected


Next will be Eagle County which can already be seen in the distance. A little bit more snow there:


On the approach, the Localizer seems to be inoperative, but with this nice weather it will be a visual approach anyways.


Now heading towards Denver looking down to Eagle County on the pass.


Nice scenery around us:




Denver already below the nose:


Turning inbound runway 16L.


After we had landed and rolled out we taxied to the RON apron:


And here we are after a flying time of 1:40 and a block to block time of 1:55






Oh well, these were some really nice flights.
And now