See What It’s Like to Fly Around Devils Tower

We've seen UFOs flying over Wyoming. - You have to. You saw that documentary called Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. 

Well it's a good thing that those UFOs only show up at night. During the day, when the weather is nice small planes love to buzz the tower.

There are rules. They have to stay a certain distance from the tower according to the aeronautical charts. There is a blue box around the tower on those charts and a notice advising pilots, for the welfare of the pilots, they should stay 3 nautical miles from the tower.

But there are exceptions, such as this fly-in photographed by Wyoming State Senator Ogden Driskill. His family owns the ranch around Devils Tower as well as the KOA campground. Mr. Driskill took these photos of bush planes coming in to rest and refuel after buzzing around the tower, but not too close.

A video from one of these planes is below. It will put you in the cockpit as the plane flies around the tower.

I was there a few years ago to see a fly-in just like this. Pilots landed in a field just outside of the KOA. These little planes don't need much runway. With those big tires, they can land on just about any surface.

Some of these planes are homemade kit builds. Just order from the factory and all of the parts arrive. Assembly required. Would you trust an airplane you built yourself?

The frames are light aluminum. The skins are usually fabric. They don't fly very fast. Actually, they are built to fly as slowly as possible.

These guys love formation flying. On the day that they were at the tower, they thrilled everyone by flying just below the top of the tower, as a group, as they circled it.

But why stop by just looking at these fun little planes. Pilots cannot fly too low over the tower for the same reasons they can't fly too low. But they can still and do still fly over, usually on their way to the Hulett airport, which is just up the road.

Here is a video shot from inside one of these airplanes as it circled the tower. You'll find the tower scene at about 12 minutes into the video.