KELP - KTEX
El Paso International Airport - Telluride Regional Airport
Texas is awesome, and I really miss the time I’ve spent there in my past. We are currently in El Paso, which is right at the border with Mexico.
We take off from El Paso on a southwest departure, which puts us right at the Mexican border. From here, we get nice views of the Rio Grande (the main river to divide Mexico from the United States) and Ciudad Juarez, the big Mexican city right at the other side of the border.
From the sky, it all looks the same. Just one city, endless buildings and streets. This is how the planet really is, borders are imaginary things. But once on the ground, there is a big difference from being on one side of the line vs the other, and that is a difference which is hard to reconcile when you look at the big picture. It should all be the same, but it isn’t.
Telluride is a regional airport in the state of Colorado. At 7,111ft, it is the highest commercial airport in the United States. The airfield lies in a plateau surrounded by deep basins cut deep by the erosion of rivers. It’s beautiful:
It must be a difficult approach and landing in real life. But on this flightsim day, the weather is perfect and the landing is simply awesome.
