Well like I said, sometimes they just put out AIRMETs for turbulence for an entire area. This was the case today. I checked the weather again about noon and there were 2 pilot reports of no turbulence along my route of flight. Also, the forcast for China Lake was updated and it was supposed to be calm winds. With this news I quickly asked the motel staff for a ride to the airport. The person who would give me a ride to the airport was a town meeting so I had to wait awhile for him, but I was airborne by 1:45.
The ride was pretty rough during the climb out and I leveled off at 8,500 ft since the were stronger head winds higher. There was continuous light chop at this altitude so I decided I would rather have a longer flight if it was smoother so I climbed up to 10,500 ft and it was smooth. I did lose about 12 knots of groundspeed, but it was a nice ride for the most part all the way into Inyokern.
Through the Palmdale - Mojave area, I was flying through smooth up and down drafts. I was getting + / - 1500 ft / min rates of climb / descent. It was pretty hard to keep a constant altitude. I called approach control to verify there was no conflicting traffic and to verify he was seeing the same altitude variations (so it wouldn't just be my pitot-static system). He confirmed and shortly after a Gulfstream jet flying into Palmdale reported updrafts as well. Anyways, they were smooth so it wasn't so bad. I had a tough time descending down into Inyokern because of the updrafts, but I circled for a while and eventually got down to pattern altitude.
The airplane is now tied down in it's shade hanger at Inyokern safe and sound. I'll have my mechanic take a look at the vacuum pump and door lock soon. Oh, the pilot door lock broke too. I think it might just be the retaining clip. I heard something fall inside the door and then the tumbler pulled out of the hole still on the key leaving a hole in the door. "Due to national security..." I have to have my door locked so I need to get this fixed ASAP.
I didn't take too many pictures of the trip. I guess I should have taken pictures of the airports I landed at, but I only got one of it tied down at IYK. Anyways, here is a slideshow of the pictures I did take.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jayson.brouchoud/N951CCToCA/photo#s5187462314526446306
The ride was pretty rough during the climb out and I leveled off at 8,500 ft since the were stronger head winds higher. There was continuous light chop at this altitude so I decided I would rather have a longer flight if it was smoother so I climbed up to 10,500 ft and it was smooth. I did lose about 12 knots of groundspeed, but it was a nice ride for the most part all the way into Inyokern.
Through the Palmdale - Mojave area, I was flying through smooth up and down drafts. I was getting + / - 1500 ft / min rates of climb / descent. It was pretty hard to keep a constant altitude. I called approach control to verify there was no conflicting traffic and to verify he was seeing the same altitude variations (so it wouldn't just be my pitot-static system). He confirmed and shortly after a Gulfstream jet flying into Palmdale reported updrafts as well. Anyways, they were smooth so it wasn't so bad. I had a tough time descending down into Inyokern because of the updrafts, but I circled for a while and eventually got down to pattern altitude.
The airplane is now tied down in it's shade hanger at Inyokern safe and sound. I'll have my mechanic take a look at the vacuum pump and door lock soon. Oh, the pilot door lock broke too. I think it might just be the retaining clip. I heard something fall inside the door and then the tumbler pulled out of the hole still on the key leaving a hole in the door. "Due to national security..." I have to have my door locked so I need to get this fixed ASAP.
I didn't take too many pictures of the trip. I guess I should have taken pictures of the airports I landed at, but I only got one of it tied down at IYK. Anyways, here is a slideshow of the pictures I did take.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jayson.brouchoud/N951CCToCA/photo#s5187462314526446306
UPDATE: Here is the GPS track of day 4 to CA
Congrats on the flight Jayson!!! Another fantastic accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking me up last week in Manitowoc too, I've been thinking about that trip a lot, and really looking forward to the next time.