Hello, welcome to my Fly Baja. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed it putting it together. My romance with aircraft and flying started as a young kid, watching the planes come and go in the air pattern where our farm was located. At 14, while my Dad was out of town on a short vacation, an instructor, thinking I was 16, offered to give me flying lessons. This was in a Piper Vagabond. Two lessons later old Dad returned and talked to me into waiting until I reached 16.

That started what has turned out to be 53-year love affair with aviation and my fascination with flying Baja. Just after my 17th birthday, in 1951, I received my private license while flying an old J-3 Cub. That same year three buddies and I, luckily came up with $800.00 and bought a 1946 Taylor Craft, DC12D. This is the plane I had my first experience.

By 1954, I had worked my way into a 120 Cessna and started fishing with Papa Dias in Los Angeles Bay (Bahia De Los Angeles). In the next 10 years, I climbed the aircraft ladder with a 170 Cessna, a Tripacer, and a 182 Cessna Skylane, flying a single engine Cherokee, and finally moving into a twin engine Piper Aztec, C Model.  The last 22 years I have been flying my 1977 Piper Aztec, F model. At present I have over 4000 hrs flying Aztecs. Over these years I have been in and out of every strip in the Baja that was safe enough. My main interests are (drop and have been) in flying, fishing, (drop water sports), and traveling with my Monaco Coach. At the same time I also love sharing my experiences by building my own web site.

This is the J-3 cub I learned to fly in in 1951 I was 17 at the time.

This is a picture of my son Jerry taking his first plane ride at 2 weeks old in 1955. Can you believe he is now flying his own plane into these same strips. This is a 120 Cessna that 4 of us bought for 1200 dollars for going to Baja 1954.

 


My son, Jerry and his Cessna 206. It was stolen while parked and locked in Mexico.

 

Jerry hitch hiking home form Mexico after his Cessna 206 was stolen.

The 3 generations of the Hahn family. Rue, Larry & Jerry

 

This was my first trip to Baja. We went as far as Los Angles Bay. There were no
Wac charts at the tine. All we had was a AAA road map showing the Islands of Baja to see 
how far down the Peninsula we had traveled. We stayed  with Papa Dias little hotel
for $5.00 dollars per day, 3 meals and a cot. The fishing was super

An early trip to Los Angles bay with two buddies I grew up with


It was so hot in Imperial valley that we had to put up some shade in order to change the oil of
the old Cessna 170

My Dad started flying Baja in 1957 in a 170 Cessna

We caught these 2 beauties in 2 hours. Those were the good old days.

This was my Mom and my Dad's first trip in 1958 to Rancho Buena Vista, east cape of Baja. I finally convinced him to learn to fly when he was 49 years old. My mother got her wings 3 years later at 50

When we moved from the 170 Cessna to the Piper Tri-Pacer it was a good jump. We used the Tri Pacer to blaze more trips farther south in Baja.

Papa Dias Hotel at Los Angles Bay-----5.00 dollars per day per room and board what a deal! Among other things, they used to serve turtle tacos. Dr. Coleman, a dentist from Banning, flew here often in his bright yellow Cessna with supplies and candy  to work on the children's teeth.

The tri pacer did a great job for us in Baja