“Arizona Red Rock Country, from the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness,” Greg’s latest Fine Art Aerial Photo Metal Print!

Hey Friends, check out “Arizona Red Rock Country, from the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness,” my latest “View from the Flying Carpet” Fine Art Metal Print!

Like all my Fine Art Metal Prints, “Arizona Red Rock Country, from the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness,” ready-to-hang pricing starts at just $135, with super-affordable shipping throughout the Continental US all the way up to the largest sizes.

Check out all my Views from the Flying Carpet aerials* and Down to Earth terrestrial photos!* (*Pages take a moment to load.)

Many thanks to all who invest in my prints, books, and pilot achievement plaques!

Greg


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“Thunderstorm with Rainbow,” Greg’s latest Fine Art Aerial Photo Metal Print!

Hey Friends, check out “Thunderstorm with Rainbow,” my latest “View from the Flying Carpet” Fine Art Metal Print, available in two variations!

I photographed “Thunderstorm with Rainbow,” from the Flying Carpet, en route from Flagstaff, Arizona, to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I’m offering this print in 2 variations: “Wide View” & “Close View.” Can’t decide which to order? Consider “Wide View” for larger print sizes, and “Close View” for smaller sizes.

Like all my Fine Art Metal Prints, “Thunderstorm with Rainbow,” ready-to-hang pricing starts at just $135, with super-affordable shipping throughout the Continental US all the way up to the largest sizes.

Check out all my Views from the Flying Carpet aerials* and Down to Earth terrestrial photos!* (*These pages take a moment to load.)

Many thanks to all who invest in my prints, books, and pilot achievement plaques!

Greg


Subscribe here to follow Greg’s latest posts, photos, and podcasts!


Introducing Greg’s 2023 “Views from the Flying Carpet” Aerial Photo Wall Calendars!

Hey All,

Check out my all-new 2023 “Views from the Flying Carpet” Photo Wall Calendar!

This year’s focus, “In the Shadow of the Peaks,” features 13 extraordinary landmarks, all within sight of Northern Arizona’s San Francisco Peaks, photographed from the Flying Carpet at all times of year.

And my 2023 “Airport Magic, from the Flying Carpet” Legacy* Photo Wall Calendar, featuring 13 captivating photographs* of diverse North American airports I’ve visited by Flying Carpet. (*Features the same great photos as last year’s “Airport Magic” calendar.)

*Click calendar images or names to preview monthly photos.

$22.06 + shipping & applicable tax.

Greg


Greg’s 2023 Fine Art Photo Wall Calendars


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“Miles and Miles of Sunflowers!” Greg’s latest Fine Art Aerial Photo Metal Print!

Hey Friends, thanks to your enthusiastic reception, here’s “Miles and Miles of Sunflowers,” my latest “View from the Flying Carpet” Fine Art Metal Print!

I was returning my wife Jean and her tennis teammate Jenny from a tournament in El Paso. Five long hours round trip by Flying Carpet, and it was too hazy to see anything special… until 15 minutes from home.

There we encountered these vivid, horizon-to-horizon sunflowers sweeping from Lake Mary toward the San Francisco Peaks. Never have we seen anything like this before! This turns out to be Northern Arizona’s most amazing wildflower year in memory, and we’re thrilled to have captured even a tiny fragment of it from aloft.

Nowhere is the power of numbers more boldly reflected than in these fields of sunflowers captured from a speeding airplane thousands of feet in the air!

Like all my Fine Art Metal Prints, “Miles and Miles of Sunflowers,” ready-to-hang pricing starts at just $125, with super-affordable 2-day shipping throughout the Continental US.

Check out all my Views from the Flying Carpet aerials* and Down to Earth terrestrial photos!* (*These pages take a moment to load.)

Many thanks to all who invest in my prints, books, and pilot achievement plaques!

Greg


Subscribe here to follow Greg’s latest posts, photos, and podcasts!


Miles and Miles of Sunflowers!

I flew my wife and her teammate to El Paso and back over the weekend to compete in tennis sectionals. Two grueling 5-hour round trips, and too hazy to see much of anything in either case, until…

Just 15 minutes from home, I encountered horizon-to-horizon gold! All that yellow is wildflowers, most if not all, sunflowers!

Talk about the power of numbers! Imagine how many plants it takes to carpet so many square miles, vividly viewed from a speeding airplane several thousand feet in the air!

If anyone’s interested in having one of these as a Fine Art Metal Print, please drop me a message. (See my current Views from the Flying Carpet and Down to Earth Fine Art Metal Prints.)

Greg

Top photo: Sunflowers stretch from south of Lake Mary toward the San Francisco Peaks. Below: Miles of wildflowers span northeast to northwest viewed from over Mormon Lake. (Click images to enlarge.)


Greg’s current “Sunflowers” Down to Earth Fine Art Metal Prints


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Introducing Greg’s 2021 “Views over Sedona” Photo Wall Calendar!

Check out Greg’s new 2021 “Views Over Sedona, from the Flying Carpet” Photo Wall Calendar!

This colorful 11″x17″ calendar features thirteen views over Arizona’s spectacular Red Rock Country captured at all times of year.

Few of us view calendar covers after opening, so Greg turned the cover photo 90 degrees to create an 11″x17″ Sedona vista suitable for framing. (Monthly photos are 8½” x 11″, with plenty of space for daily notes.)

You are hereby officially authorized to remove and frame the cover photo, either to remind you of past Sedona visits, or to inspire future ones!

Click here to ORDER and preview monthly photos.

$29.95 + shipping & applicable tax.

Greg


Views from the Flying Carpet Aerial Photographs


Down to Earth Terrestrial Photographs

Sunflowers-SFPeaks_KachinaWetlands_0559eSmw1200

“Tight Quarters,” Greg’s December, 2016 Flying Carpet column

gregbrownft1216_5091-1smw1200Pirate pool party

Attending a kid’s 4th birthday party might sound unimportant, but Jean and I felt high emotional stakes in flying to Alamogordo, New Mexico for the occasion.

Our son and daughter-in-law Austin and Desi and their children had recently moved there from overseas. That would make our grandson’s “pirate pool party” our first family celebration together in six years.

Alamogordo is nine hours’ drive from Flagstaff, but less than three hours by Flying Carpet. Perusing the charts, I was pleased to find manageable terrain en route. However, a 140-mile thicket of restricted airspace encompasses nearby White Sands Missile Range and Holloman Air Force Base, blocking general aviation access from the west. High mountains and additional military airspace also limit access from the east.

That leaves two flying routes from Arizona, neither direct. Shortest is to fly east beyond Socorro to JUPTR intersection, then steer 90 miles south between military airspace and the Sacramento Mountains. The longer alternative is to fly southeast to El Paso over high and remote terrain, then thread an exceedingly narrow 60-mile corridor northward between restricted areas. Both routes are comfortably flyable in good weather, but given such tight quarters each can be blocked over many miles by a single thunderstorm…

**READ THIS MONTH’S ENTIRE COLUMN, TIGHT QUARTERS**

Photo: “Massive thunderheads crown the Sacramento Mountains northeast of Alamogordo, NM. (Note malpais volcanic lava fields in foreground.)” SEE MORE PHOTOS HERE!

(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)

Greg

©2016 Gregory N.Brown


If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!

“Car Shuttle,” Greg’s October, 2016 Flying Carpet column

“Big bumps and smoke”

GregBrownFT1016_4917-1Smw1200Smoky air filled my cockpit as I navigated the final miles home. Thankfully the odor emanated from outside the airplane, but it was stressful and unpleasant all the same. Still, today had been a delightful and practical Flying Carpet mission.

Our son Austin has worked overseas the last few years, necessitating storing his car in California. While visiting Flagstaff for a few days, he’d asked that we retrieve it for his family’s pending return to the States. The pickup location was just a mile from San Diego’s Gillespie Airport (KSEE), and we’d enjoy some family piloting in the process.

After shuffling our planned schedule due to weather, we launched for Gillespie on the one good flying day during Austin’s brief visit. Jean joined us to share driving duties back to Flagstaff.

Even the nicest flying days offer surprises. Thirty minutes after takeoff, Phoenix Approach vectored us around Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University traffic holding at Drake VOR near Prescott. Then Albuquerque Center radioed asking about a possible wildfire off our right wing as we crossed the Colorado River…

**READ THIS MONTH’S ENTIRE COLUMN, CAR SHUTTLE** (mobile optimized version here)

Photo: “Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (KFLG) materializes behind a wall of forest-fire smoke.”

(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)

Greg

©2016 Gregory N.Brown


If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!

“Million-Dollar Brunch,” Greg’s September, 2016 Flying Carpet column

“All the sights we saw”

6-GregBrownFT916_1796editeSmw1200Except for two brief local hops, I haven’t flown in a month. First rain stopped me, then weeks of winds gusting as high as 48 knots.

Today I awoke to the first beautiful morning in forever. I long to fly! I’ve scheduled routine avionics maintenance next week in Prescott—perhaps they could take me today instead. Nope, I call but they’re too busy.

“Jean, want to fly somewhere for breakfast?”

“No, I’m playing tennis this morning.” (No kidding; she really says that to me all the time.)

Okay, if I can’t find anyone to join me I’ll go myself. No way am I letting a morning like this pass after being grounded for weeks, mission or not. I grab a weather briefing to Payson. It’s a mere 30-minute flight, but scenic, and the field’s Crosswinds Restaurant boasts great affordable food and a “million-dollar view” of the towering Mogollon Rim.

Who might consider joining me for such a mission, at the last minute on a weekday morning? It’s a long shot but I phone my nature-photographer buddy Don Hill. He and Barb are usually booked busy but today she’s out of town visiting relatives, and…

DonHill-annotatedMtn-3aeSm1200“Yeah, I’d love to go, Greg! I’ll just load my camera with a fresh memory card and battery and meet you at the airport.”

Don starts snapping photos as our wheels leave the ground. It’s bumpier than I expected, but Don says it doesn’t bother him. I guess a guy who served in Vietnamese river ships in Viet Nam has experienced worse than a little turbulence…

**READ THIS MONTH’S ENTIRE COLUMN, MILLION-DOLLAR BRUNCH**

Top photo: Don Hill enjoys the Crosswinds Restaurant’s “million dollar view” at Payson Airport, Arizona. (KPAN)

Lower photo: “Don’s email-blast photo of the San Francisco Peaks, annotated with sights from our morning flight.”

SEE MORE PHOTOS HERE!

(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)

Greg

©2016 Gregory N.Brown


If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!

“Vegas for Lunch,” Greg’s August, 2016 Flying Carpet column

“What’s that smell?”

GregBrownFT816_4878e-1Smw1200

I awoke to a text from my friend Sergio Schaar of San Antonio, asking if I’d noticed the airline-window view of Flagstaff he’d posted online. I had, and wondered at the time where he might be going.

“We’re in Las Vegas to see Rascal Flats; Deanna is a big fan.” he explained. “When I spotted the San Francisco Peaks from 40,000 feet coming from Texas yesterday, it didn’t take long to identify Flag.” I asked how long the two were staying in Vegas.

“We’re leaving tomorrow at noon,” he replied.

“Ugh. I was thinking of flying over tomorrow to meet you for lunch. You’re only 90 minutes from Flagstaff by Flying Carpet, practically in the neighborhood.”

“That’s a cool idea—how about today?!” wrote Sergio. This is what airplanes are for, right? So I texted back “Sure!” and scrambled to get up and out the door to the airport.
It proved to be a sparkling clear day, with light winds on the ground and aloft. En route to Las Vegas I entertained myself ogling vistas of the western Grand Canyon. In seemingly no time, I rendezvoused with my friends at Henderson Executive Airport (KHND).

GregBrownFT816_3726eSmw1200Jean and I first met Sergio and his son Max three years ago when they toured the Southwest in their 180hp Cessna 172, the Green Hornet. (See Flying Carpet Tour, FT 6/13.) We dined with Sergio and Deanna in San Antonio a few months later, but that’s the last time I’d seen them in person.

Sergio flies often, including numerous Pilots N Paws missions, and excitedly revealed that he’s changing careers to pursue pro piloting. He recently earned his commercial pilot certificate, and just enrolled for flight-instructor training.

Deanna backs Sergio’s dream 100%, having left a corporate job to indulge her own passion for animals with a thriving pet-sitting business. What an inspiring couple! A brief but fulfilling hour later, my friends dashed off to catch the shuttle back to the Strip.

I was cruising happily homeward through cobalt skies, when a nasty odor filled the cockpit

**READ THIS MONTH’S ENTIRE COLUMN, VEGAS FOR LUNCH.**

Top photo: The Las Vegas Strip viewed from final approach to Runway 35L, Henderson Executive Airport, Nevada. (KHND)

Lower photo: Sergio and Deanna Schaar greet me at Henderson Executive Airport.

(This column first appeared in AOPA Flight Training magazine.)

Greg

©2016 Gregory N.Brown


If you enjoyed this story, you’ll love Greg’s book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane. Autographed copies available!