May has been a great flying month for us, with trips every weekend. Last week was Maoli’s nephew Kai’s birthday, so we decided to take the Comanche over to visit her family and celebrate his birthday in Palm Desert. It just so happened that my friend Sean recently told me about Amboy, CA, a ghost town with a runway on Route 66 - which happens to be just a short flight north of our weekend destination. A plan formed…

We packed up the Comanche and headed for Palm Desert (Bermuda Dunes Airport) Saturday morning. The flight was easy, with light traffic, calm winds, and almost no turbulence outside of a few light bumps in the Banning Pass. We spent Saturday and Sunday hanging out with Maoli’s family, relaxing in the pool, playing board games, and sampling delicious snacks. A delightful and refreshing weekend, with the desert heat a welcome change from the chilly days at home near the Pacific.

We packed up and headed to the airport around 5 PM on Sunday. A couple of hours of daylight remained, as sunset at this time of year is nearly 8 PM. I’d checked the weather forecasts for the area, and discussed the landing at Amboy with Maoli. I was a little apprehensive, as I haven’t made many trips to uncharted airports yet. I’d watched Matt Guthmiller’s video, and checked the area out on Google Earth, so I felt decently prepared. The only remaining unknown was the current field condition.

We launched out of Bermuda Dunes and proceeded north toward the Twentynine Palms VOR (TNP) to skirt the eastern edge of the R-2501 complex. The winds were much stronger today, and the ride over Joshua Tree was quite bumpy. Maoli was a trooper and maintained an iron stomach through the drops. We kept an eye out for landmarks, identifying Dale Lake and remaining east of the road as we proceeded north toward Bristol Lake. Bristol Lake is covered in interesting excavations, part of the active salt mining operation. Around the middle of the lake, we identified buildings on the north side which we guessed were Roy’s. Around five miles out, we were able to make out the town and runway. I made appropriate traffic announcements on MULTICOM (122.9), and set up for a pattern altitude pass over the area. There’s a windsock in good condition (as of May 2020) on the roof of the dilapidated T-Hangar on the south-eastern end of the runway.

The runway looked clear from the pattern (Runway heading is approximately ¹²⁄₂₀), so I made a second lap of the pattern, this time descending to around 50 AGL for a low pass, offset from the landing surface so I could get a good look for obstructions, plants, ditches, etc. Aside from some small scrub at the ends, and a berm on the east side of the approach end of “12”, the runway looked to be in good shape, with a smooth set of tracks running down the center of the runway. I added power, went around one more time, this time committing to the surface. I used full flaps and planned a soft field landing, aiming just beyond the berm at the approach end. Touching down, the gravel surface was smoother than I expected. I kept the plane running along the center tracks, and gently slowed, as there is plenty of room (the overall landing area is approximately 3700 feet long).

At the end of the runway, there’s an area to park, but there’s also an opening to the gas station parking lot and the road (Route 66). It is narrow, but was wide enough to taxi the Comanche through, even with the low wings. We kept on rolling, and taxied over to the Roy’s sign to shut down. After securing the plane, we hopped out to take pictures and explore! One of the travelers who watched us land walked over to chat briefly, and shot some pictures for us (it’s his yellow Mustang in the background).

There was more traffic on the road than I expected for such an out-of-the-way location. The town currently includes a tiny post office, the inn / motel, and the gas station. The gas station does sell snacks and fuel, but the hours can be erratic. We wandered around and checked out the empty bungalows, along with the retro lobby area. We finished exploring, and on the way out Maoli got a sweet shot of the Comanche taxing on Route 66. Back to the runway, the winds now a direct cross wind, we powered up and climbed out to the west toward the Hector VOR (HEC), then south toward San Bernardino.

The remainder of the flight was uneventful, though a low marine layer crept over Hawthorne, and as we passed Ontario the Hawthorne ATIS begin reporting IMC conditions on the field. The controllers were great and gave us a simple clearance (direct POWUP, join the localizer) and deftly worked us into the flow, spacing the traffic into LAX. Wheels down, put the plane away, and head home to toast to another adventure!