Clear skies but very hot in Phoenix, quite different from the heavy rain and near-thunderstorm I encountered last night (well, it was hot last night, too, but it was raining). An airliner was on the way in as I taxied out to runway 8; I held short for a while until he was down and out of the way.The flight was uneventful. Much cooler once I was well off the ground. I did a pretty good job of holding altitude (4500) in the C182, which has only a single-axis autopilot. I used the Nav-O-Matic most of the way, and I was in no hurry.
I'm used to the route. After a left downwind departure from Sky Harbor, I continued west, passing north of Goodyear and following Interstate 10 west. At the “crook in the road,” where the Interstate dips south briefly, I turned south to follow State Route 85 to Gila Bend. I turned a bit east as I descended and then lined up for runway 22, the usual runway at E63.
Landed without incident, parked on the ramp, went to look for my pax.
