Flight to the elusive Big Bear, L35

Michelle and I have been trying to fly to Big Bear forever. Once I bought my Skylane, I felt more comfortable flying into high altitude airports. We tried flying down several times with N951CC, but didn't make it until today. Previous attempts were foiled by weather of course, fuel pumps inop at IYK, Michelle started feeling sick half way there, some others I don't remember, then I cancelled a trip with some friends to go there on Saturday due to an airmet for turbulence.

I want to fly into Big Bear for 2 reasons. The first reason is just to go there since it seems like a really neat place. The second reason is to tackle a high altitude airport. The airport is at 6,752 feet and has a single runway that is 5,850 feet long. Density altitudes can go above 10,000 feet in the summer, but shouldn't be too bad today. I want to go and visit my Uncle in Utah, but he lives in the high terrain so this will give me the confidence in my and the airplanes ability to land at high altitude airports. I also want to become more comfortable in higher terrain since I want to take a route through Colorado some year flying back to WI. This airport is a good practice airport and today I finally get my chance.

Today the winds were calm here, across the desert, and at Big Bear and forcasted to stay that way. There were very few clouds even visible in the sky but they were 20k or higher and hundreds of miles away. There were no airmets, sigmets, TFRs, or adverse conditions. There was only 1 notam and that was for the unmanned vehicle west of Victorville that has been there for the last year and a half. Long story short, it couldn't have been a nicer day. I had plenty of gas to get to Big Bear, but assuming their gas would be expensive way up there, I added some fuel (15 gallons) so I could make the round trip without more gas.

The air was cool and the flight was smooth as glass; I really love flying in the winter. As we passed over Hesparia I was looking at the map and the GPS and trying to compare to the mountain ridges I was seeing in front of me. I couldn't tell if I was supposed to fly around the near set of ridges or right over them. I decided to peek around them and found that I should have gone right over. Not a big deal, we just added 2 minutes to the flight time, but we did get a better view of the ski area.

Mugshot

Lake Arrowhead

Ski runs

The winds were light out of the east and the traffic was using runway 8, which is right traffic. I flew east to the south of the airport and descended to the pattern altitude of 8,000 feet. It didn't take long to descend only 1,500 feet from cruising altitude to pattern altitude! I swung around and entered a 45 degree right downwind for runway 8 once conflicting traffic had me in sight and gave me the right away. The were further behind and slower so I was able to cut ahead of them with no problem.

45 to enter right downwind

I knew that I would need higher power settings for flying the pattern and landing, but I didn't know how much more. I usually use 2000 RPM in the pattern and 1500 RPM on the descent to land (with low power settings and the RPM at the high-speed stops, it's just like a fixed pitch prop and I use power to control the RPM). I found myself using more and more power to maintain level flight and 80 kts. I ended up around 2300 RPM. I extended the downwind a bit so I'd have more time to play with my descent on final. I set the RPM to 1800 and started down. I soon realized this was way more than I needed and I was very high on the approach. No problem, I put in full flaps and that put me on a perfect path to landing. The landing was just fine, but I did drift just a little.

A little high, but under control

As Michelle and I were walking towards the pilot lounge and restaurant, I noticed they had fuel at $3.50 per gallon!!!!! I just paid $5.19 at IYK expecting it to be more here, stupid me for adding gas before the flight. After we ate, I pulled the airplane over to the pumps and filled it to the brim with 35.9 more gallons, this saved me $60.67 over buying that gas at IYK.

It was pretty cool up at 6,750 feet, but I was comfortable in a sweatshirt. Regardless, the restaurant had indoor seating with big glass panel windows to see the ramp and the airplane traffic. I thought the food was very good, I had a bacon cheeseburger and a side salad. Michelle thought hers was only OK, she had strawberry crepes, but she thought they were too drenched in sauce. She was expecting them to be too drenched and wanted to order the apple cinnamon ones instead, but they were all out. I guess we'll have to go back for the apple cinnamon ones someday! They even gave us a coupon to come back.

On the flight back, we continued east instead of returning to the west and the high terrain quickly fell off. The approach to Big Bear is definitely easier from the east, but not too difficult from the west. It took us a few miles before I could establish communications with Riverside Radio to open my flight plan and LA Center for flight following. I lost contact with LA center before they handed me off and other traffic had to relay the hand-off. We were approved through Edwards restricted airspace above 6.000 feet on the way back and were home quickly.

Michelle had a very weird episode just as we were landing back at IYK. Just as I was turning to a 45 to enter downwind, she started screaming in pain. I didn't know if it was a pressurization thing and I should climb back up or if she needed to get down right away. I couldn't tell what was going on and she was just shaking her head so I kept on and flew a normal landing pattern. She was fine after we landed and she described it as if her tooth was about to explode. This weird though since I've heard of air pockets in teeth causing problems as you climb, but never as you land; weird. I logged 2.1 hours and finally our flight to Big Bear and back. Now I'm confident in our ability to take on the next high altitude airport, Panguitch, UT to visit my Uncle Errol. The Panguitch airport (U55) is almost exactly the same elevation and runway length as Big Bear so that should be no more difficult than today.

More pictures from this flight can be seen here.

Lisa and Matt's visit 4-5 October, 2008

Lisa and Matt stopped by on Saturday to visit. After talking for a bit and watching the Brewers win, we went out to eat at Mon Reve, a fancy French restaurant. I remember the food being very good, but expensive, but this time it was very good, but with normal prices. We hadn't gone there in years because we thought the prices were still high, but we'll probably start heading there more often now. On the way home, we stopped by Stator Bros for some beer and wine, in the parking lot we noticed an incredible spare tire cover of Jesus and the Lamb of God, you have to see this picture.


After dinner we watched the presidential and vice presidential debates. It was pretty civil considering how politically different we are. I think its good to hear opposing ideas and rationale.

Monday morning we recorded the Packers game and watched the Brewers game while Michelle cooked waffles. Matt wanted to go see the airplane and go flying so we headed out to the airport. I wasn't sure if Lisa would want to go to the airport since she's already seen the airplane, but I offered her to come anyways and offered to come flying, but knew she wouldn't. As we were getting ready to head to the airport, Matt noticed the growler we have from Laura and Steve from the Kern River Brewing Company and that was enough for Matt to want to fly to Kernville to go to the brewery for lunch. Matt also pointed out that this was the weekend of our 1 year anniversary so it would be fitting to go to Kernville.

Once we got to the airport, I let them check out the airplane while I pre-flighted it. Lisa decided that she would actually try flying! I showed them a little bit of what I was doing as I did the pre-flight. I feel that new passengers are more comfortable when you explain what you are doing. After we added some gas, we started up, did the run-up, and we were headed for Kernville. The winds were calm and the air was relatively smooth meaning a few bumps, but not too bad for Inyokern. There were a few more bumps along the way as we climbed and flew through Walker's pass, but everybody did fine. I tried to keep explaining things as we flew such as "you'll hear the engine rev down as a increase the prop pitch for cruise."


After we cleared Walker's pass I let Matt fly for just a bit. I didn't let him fly too much because I didn't want to have any sudden movements that would cause extra nervousness. The wind was a bit stronger coming into Kernville, but it wasn't a big deal. After tying down the airplane, I got a rental car from the restaurant. They gave us the "White Chevy." I absolutely love courtesy cars (although this one requires a very minimal fee to cover insurance), so I'm not complaining, just telling the story.



The car started up fine, but as soon as I put it into gear, the belts started squealing and I noticed that the rear view mirror was broken off and laying on the dash. The head liner was hanging down and the ladies had to hold it up in the back so it wasn't down to their heads. I decided to roll down my window, which only added to the adventure. As I tried to roll it back up when we got to the brewery, it came out of the tracks and fell back down into the door, you just have to see the picture for this one. For the rest of the trip, the window would slide back and forth.



Lunch at the brewery was excellent as usual, I had the Kern Burger with no pickle onion or mayonnaise and Michelle had the Olympic Pita with no olives and provolone instead of feta cheese. Michelle didn't have any beer because of her condition and I didn't because I had to fly back; no alcohol from bottle to throttle... After the brewery we drove by Ewings a.k.a. the Broken Oar and Odd Fellows where we had our reception. Then we headed back to the airport since I was warning that the turbulence gets worse as the day goes on.



The flight back was just fine as well and I kept it pretty slow. This way the turbulence would wobble the airplane more the bang it around. The wobbles tend to get more people sick, but the banging around tends to scare more people. Nobody seemed to have any motion sickness problems so slow and wobbly was the way to go. The winds were still calm in Inyokern and we were all back safe and sound.

I'm so glad that I was able to take Matt up and go flying and that Lisa came up for the ride. I know this was way out of her comfort zone, but she thanked me for getting her out of her box. I hope that she was able to get comfortable enough to really enjoy the flight, I know it's difficult for nervous first time passengers. I'm very happy that the weather for the most part was cooperative since more turbulence would had ruined the experience for sure. No the pictures are not edited, she actually flew!

Visit with Julie and Pancho, and the "Bay Tour"

Saturday Michelle and I flew up to Santa Cruz (landed at nearby Watsonville) to visit with Michelle's relatives Julie, Pancho, Joan, Tom, Sarah, and Shawn at Julie and Pancho's fall party. Since we had some extra time in the morning and could carry enough fuel, we decided to try to take the "Bay Tour" before heading to Watsonville.

The Bay Tour is simply flying to the San Francisco Bay where you can fly around Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and other sites in the area. It is more complicated from the pilot's point of view because it consists of entering class Bravo airspace around San Francisco (SFO) airspace and flying in congested airspace with much larger aircraft while you transition to the north over the bay. Once you get to the bay, you're flying under the class B airspace so the controllers let you "resume own navigation", but still keep an eye out for you to help with conflicting traffic.

There was a lot of activity up there while we were there, but I found the controllers extremely helpful and considerate. Since you are in such congested airspace, they need you to follow exactly what you are told and for you to understand exactly what you are told. The controllers are talking unbelievably fast and there is no spare time for inexperience. The only problem I had the controller quickly picked up on and corrected. I thought he told me cleared to enter class Bravo airspace and to remain west of the San Jose airspace, then pick up, but stay west of the 101 Bayshore freeway. The controller confirmed my read back so I heard it properly so I guess I didn't know what he really wanted me to do.

Since I wanted to start descending I turned slightly more westbound to avoid some upcoming terrain, doing so I would remain west of the upcoming San Jose class Charlie airspace. As soon as I turned, the controller questioned what I was doing and he clarified that he wanted me to overfly class Charlie then descend to 3500 ft on my current (before I turned) heading. I guess I'm not sure who got this mixed up. Thinking back, maybe I was still being vectored. While I was talking to the prior (or even the before that) controller, when I asked if I could take the bay tour, he said sure and gave me what I wanted to do. After I told him I wanted to fly up the west side over SFO to the bridge he told me a vector to follow to be in the correct position to pick up the class Bravo transition. I thought that vector was more of a suggestion in it's context and would have long been expired, but if hadn't, then I shouldn't have started my turn. The controller was very nice and we quickly got on the same page and my bay tour went without any other issues.

Back to the actual tour, as we were flying up the peninsula, there were plenty of sights to see including San Jose International, San Francisco International, Stanford, the San-Mateo bridge, the Bay bridge, The Golden Gate bridge, and Alcatraz. As we were flying past SFO, the controller advised my of nearby traffic at my 3 o'clock down low and climbing towards me. It is usually very difficult to find other airplanes when you are flying because they are small, most are white and blend into the sky, and they are usually too far away. Not this guy, here was a jet flying right towards us. He passed behind and below us, but not by much. Soon we passed the majority surface class B airspace and we were free to navigate on our own.

I descended down to 2,500 feet as we headed towards Alcatraz to make sure I maintained 2,000 ft over the area since it is a National Park. As we flew to Alcatraz, we could see sailboats everywhere. As we circled Alcatraz, we also had a great view of fisherman's wharf. Then we flew west and overflew the Golden Gate bridge. Once we passed the bridge, we circled it to the right, then got we started on our way back. I told the controller we needed to transition back through class Bravo on our way back to Watsonville and they let us fly down the coast, which unfortunately was fogged in.

Our trip from the bay down to Watsonville was pretty uneventful. The only interesting thing is that as we were flying over Soquel and we were looking down at the Redwoods, we were wondering if this is where Julie and Pancho lived. We knew it was in this area, but didn't manage to spot their house. Later when we were at their house, I fired up the GPS to mark their location with a waypoint and I noticed that we had actually flown right over their house while we thought we were in the right area.

We grabbed a bite to eat at Zuniga's, the Mexican restaurant with very good food right on the airport as Tom and David (a friend of Tom and Joan's) came out to the airport to pick us up. After lunch we showed of the airplane to Tom and David then headed to Julie and Pancho's house. Once we got there, preparations were already well on the way for the party. We met lots of new people and enjoyed the live music of Terry and Terry out on the back deck overlooking the Redwood forest. It was a great party and I'm really glad we were able to make it up there. Unfortunately Lisa and Matt weren't able to make it, but they're planning on stopping by here next weekend so we'll be able to see them then.

This morning we got up at a relaxed pace and ate breakfast. There was no rush to get out to the airport since they were still reporting fog. Eventually we went out the airport around 1 and pre-flighted the airplane. Everything was good to go and I called flight service. The airport was reporting 900' scattered clouds, but as we watched airplanes taking off, we could see them climb out and turn staying below and clear of the clouds so we decided to head out. There was little traffic and light winds so we took off runway 8 instead of the normal runway 20. We took off and headed towards a corridor through the clouds. As it turns out, it was more of scattered to broken at 300 ft. The corridor through the clouds was plenty big and I was above the layer in no time flat, but I think I ended up below VFR conditions.

I wonder how this works because they leave the actual condition decisions up to the pilot not the automated recording and I had watched airplanes in the pattern not entering the clouds. I thought that this was enough to satisfy me that the airport was VFR, but I was obviously wrong. I wasn't ever worried about safety since I could see the edge of the cloud layer only a quarter mile or less off the end of the runway, but I really don't like to mess around with legalities when it comes to flying.

Flying back was pretty much normal, turbulence over the mountains and a headwind. Michelle found an airport that had some kind of field around it that had a maze carved through it, some day we'll have to drive there and do the maze. After 2 hours on the tach we were home once again.

Add KVCV to the airport map

Michelle and I flew down to Victorville today to look at new TVs. Currently we have an overhead projector that works ok on movies that aren't real dark and as long as all of the windows are covered with black-out coverings. Now that we'll be having a kid, it probably won't work out to well to have the room pitch black while trying to watch tv. This means we're looking for a new TV. Since we're used to the 99" screen we have right now, it'll be hard to step down in size.

Originally I was thinking about getting a plasma, but I can see them flicker and it drives me crazy. This leaves us with LCD (since we want to hang it on the wall). I've been looking at online reviews and seeing some at peoples houses and narrowed it down between the Samsung LN52A650 and the Sharp Aquos LC-52D64U, which are both 52" LCDs. Michelle's principal had the Sharp at their house and it looked great.

As I was reading reviews, it seemed that the Samsung had an edge in picture quality and features, but was more glossy and susceptible to glares. Since we have our house set up to eliminate all light for the projector, there should be no glare issue. Also, Best Buy and Circuit City both were out of the Sharp model and do not have the new model in stock that apparently became available this past January.

As I was shopping for prices, it was obvious that Amazon.com was by far the cheapest vendor and there was a lot of good reviews for them. Since you can't see what the TVs really look like from the internet, we flew down to Victorville to see them at Best Buy. It was a bit bumpy on the way down, but I was cleared through the Edwards restricted airspace above 6000 ft (I was at 7500 ft anyways). Million Air had a really nice Dodge Minivan courtesy car. It didn't cost anything and they didn't take a tip. They even told me to not put any gas in it! I feel bad since I didn't do any business with them, but used their car; I'll get over it quickly. The way back was much smoother and we made it home with 1.4 hours on the tach.

The final results, we're getting the Samsung LN52A650 with a tilt wall mount. This way if light glare is an issue, we'll be able to angle it down to avoid the lights. So far there has been a little glitch with Amazon, and I don't think this will work out as intended, but will still end up good. They had a deal for 2 years of no interest if you sign up for an Amazon credit card. The problem is, the limit is so low it doesn't even cover the cost of the TV. Amazon doesn't allow you to split an order between two credit cards either. After talking to customer support, they suggested buying a gift card with my personal credit card, then applying that to the purchase so that the balance that needs to get applied to the Amazon credit card is lower than the limit. Now I'm just waiting for the gift card I had emailed to myself to show up...

I'll post again once I have the TV up and running.

P.S. We also found out we'll probably have to update our receiver to handle the new HD cables. The plan for now is to have the S-video from the receiver and the HDMI directly from the satellite box both go to the TV so we can avoid HD on the receiver for the time being; one thing at a time.