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Georgia to California flight update.


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Thanks to everyone that helped with posts and PMs. The victor airways made flight planning easy peasy.  I planned to spend two days, possibly a third flying west, but with an odd tailwind through east texas and great weather from Mississippi to California, we did it all on one day.  Total was 2 fuel stops and roughly 12 hours of flight time. Coast to coast in a day, amazing. 

Our original plan was to stay overnight in el paso, but it was early, and we were both ready to get to San Diego. The mountains are directly east of the airport, and you have to drop several thousand feet quickly.  ATC was excellent the whole way. ATC and Gillespie tower explained using the localizer and circling to lose altitude for a visual landing. Who does that out East?  :lol:

first pic shows army helicopters landing for fuel in mississippi.  There were about 15-20 of them.  They were being relocated away from the hurricane. 

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54 minutes ago, kmyfm20s said:

From the shadows in your picture you got in a little latter than me. Just about underneath in your bottom picture is the largest wood train trestle in the country. I’ll be at KMYF all day of you need anything while in San Diego! 

We landed with about 30 minutes of daylight left. My buddy is showing me around and them it's an early flight back to Georgia. Thanks for the offer!

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3 hours ago, rbridges said:

Thanks to everyone that helped with posts and PMs. The victor airways made flight planning easy peasy.  I planned to spend two days, possibly a third flying west, but with an odd tailwind through east texas and great weather from Mississippi to California, we did it all on one day.  Total was 2 fuel stops and roughly 12 hours of flight time. Coast to coast in a day, amazing. 

Our original plan was to stay overnight in el paso, but it was early, and we were both ready to get to San Diego. The mountains are directly east of the airport, and you have to drop several thousand feet quickly.  ATC was excellent the whole way. ATC and Gillespie tower explained using the localizer and circling to lose altitude for a visual landing. Who does that out East?  :lol:

first pic shows army helicopters landing for fuel in mississippi.  There were about 15-20 of them.  They were being relocated away from the hurricane. 

 

 

The controllers here in SoCal I think are some of the best and most helpful in the nation.

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2 minutes ago, Skates97 said:

The controllers here in SoCal I think are some of the best and most helpful in the nation.

Yeah, I thought getting handed over to Los Angeles center would be hectic, but it was actually super smooth. 

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Wow, coast to coast in one day! I'm sitting at my desk reading this at lunch, and it's making me tired!

Glad the trip was smooth. It's amazing the tailwind you can get headed west above even a small hurricane like Delta.

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48 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Wow, you need to get out more....

I haven't flown as much as a lot of other folks, only a little over 4 years but I will tick over the 500 hour mark in the next week. I do fly into Salt Lake and Phoenix fairly regularly, have been up to Oregon and Idaho, and last summer went from SoCal to North Carolina and back. I'm not saying there aren't helpful controllers in other areas, but I have been consistently impressed by the controllers here.

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7 hours ago, Skates97 said:

I haven't flown as much as a lot of other folks, only a little over 4 years but I will tick over the 500 hour mark in the next week. I do fly into Salt Lake and Phoenix fairly regularly, have been up to Oregon and Idaho, and last summer went from SoCal to North Carolina and back. I'm not saying there aren't helpful controllers in other areas, but I have been consistently impressed by the controllers here.

I shouldn't be so snarky, but I've gotten more screwy handling from them than anybody else. Phoenix isn't great to GA either. 

I was flying to Gillespie IFR once and got the weirdest vectors ever, then I was cleared for the approach to Lindbergh! I told the controller I was going to Gillespie and he said "oh, ok" and vectored me all over the place then said I was cleared for the approach to Montgomery! I said "I'm going to Gillespie!" On the third try he actually cleared me for the approach to Gillespie. I went from the simplest approach ever, straight down the airway to the IAF to a 1/2 hour of crazy climbs and descents.

Just a month or two ago, I was flying to Santa Barbara IFR and they kept me at 9000 ft (I think) until over the airport. I was requesting lower for a while, but they wouldn't do it. Then they cleared me to descend heading out to sea. They didn't turn me back towards shore until I was down to initial altitude (~3000 ft). I was about 20 miles out to sea. They owe me 40 miles of fuel!

I filed IFR out of Camarillo to Phoenix (KCHD) and requested 15000 ft. That would have put me on top. They kept me below 6000 feet until I got to around Riverside and then had me climb to 15000 heading south almost to San Diego before they turned me east. They gave me 4 reroutes during that time, including one they reneged on when I was handed off. Maybe they just don't like me?

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3 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I shouldn't be so snarky, but I've gotten more screwy handling from them than anybody else. Phoenix isn't great to GA either. 

I was flying to Gillespie IFR once and got the weirdest vectors ever, then I was cleared for the approach to Lindbergh! I told the controller I was going to Gillespie and he said "oh, ok" and vectored me all over the place then said I was cleared for the approach to Montgomery! I said "I'm going to Gillespie!" On the third try he actually cleared me for the approach to Gillespie. I went from the simplest approach ever, straight down the airway to the IAF to a 1/2 hour of crazy climbs and descents.

Just a month or two ago, I was flying to Santa Barbara IFR and they kept me at 9000 ft (I think) until over the airport. I was requesting lower for a while, but they wouldn't do it. Then they cleared me to descend heading out to sea. They didn't turn me back towards shore until I was down to initial altitude (~3000 ft). I was about 20 miles out to sea. They owe me 40 miles of fuel!

I filed IFR out of Camarillo to Phoenix (KCHD) and requested 15000 ft. That would have put me on top. They kept me below 6000 feet until I got to around Riverside and then had me climb to 15000 heading south almost to San Diego before they turned me west. They gave me 4 reroutes during that time, including one they reneged on when I was handed off. Maybe they just don't like me?

Wow! That is a very unusual experience. I’m based at SBA and have never been vectored 20 miles out to sea. I think that would put you inside the Warning area.

Sorry you have that experience. SoCal is busy airspace but I agree that some of the friendliest and most accommodating controllers I’ve encountered. 

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12 minutes ago, Mooneydriver805 said:

Wow! That is a very unusual experience. I’m based at SBA and have never been vectored 20 miles out to sea. I think that would put you inside the Warning area.

Sorry you have that experience. SoCal is busy airspace but I agree that some of the friendliest and most accommodating controllers I’ve encountered. 

Ok, it was only 15 miles, but I did cross the coast at 9000.

 

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22 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

Ok, it was only 15 miles, but I did cross the coast at 9000.

 

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I generally have had favorable experience with so cal unless the conditions are IMC. Then all priority goes to the commercial flights. Nothing resembles any practice approach or IFR flight plans in VMC. Flying on V66 into Gillespie or Montgomery they will vector you slightly north and make you climb to 10K just to slam dunk you on approach. I have had reasonable success filling for V317 and them keeping me at 8K giving me a better descent profile. In the LA area they will reroute you all over the place if it is IMC. You need to get good at finding waypoints and reprogramming flight plans rapidly. 

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Ok, since I’ve been bagging on ATC. I’ll tell a story of a solid they did for me once upon a time.

well, not the FAA, but controllers none the less.

I used to compete in the Kachina Doll Air Rally until the year I got screwed.

One year (92 ish) I wanted to get accurate fuel flow numbers during a climb. This is back when Williams AFB was still operating and there was a MOA around and south of it. I wanted to climb to 12000, turn back to CHD and land and see how much fuel it used. I called Willie tower on the phone and asked them if there was anything going on that night and if I would be causing them any grief. He said “let me look at the board”. He comes Back a few seconds later and says “how about 8:00 to 9:00 tonight?” I said that will be great. He said I will make it hot for you. He said he would keep an eye out for me and keep everybody away from me.
 

Must have been 93 because that’s the year I won the preflight contest.

They took a C150 inspected it to make sure it was perfect then put 10 defects on the plane.

The FAA maintenance inspector who was competing found 12 of the 10 defects, I found 13.

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9 hours ago, carusoam said:

RB,

Thanks for the update...

I was thinking about you,  as somebody else had just started their super x-country planning in their new to them Mooney...
 

were their any good pull the handle humor moments along the way?  :)

Best regards,

-a-

We were cruising along at 10k west of el paso when the IAS started dropping and the AP started pitching nose up. We were over the eastern slope of a 7500 ft mountain.  We were actually being pulled down, and the cirrus was having a hard time out climbing the winds. We got down to 85 knots IAS, and we were about to turn around when the plane started to correct itself. 

Not a red handle moment :lol:, but it had us a little concerned. Definitely gave me more respect for flying over mountains. 

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On 10/9/2020 at 7:03 PM, N201MKTurbo said:

Ok, it was only 15 miles, but I did cross the coast at 9000.

 

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I would think that if you were outside glide distance of shore and you did not have water survival equipment, there might be a problem with that.  I would have a serious problem with it and simply call unable. 

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1 hour ago, Unit74 said:

I would think that if you were outside glide distance of shore and you did not have water survival equipment, there might be a problem with that.  I would have a serious problem with it and simply call unable. 

Even FXE Tower sent me 4nm out to sea before turning to land on 31 (I think that was the runway, it's been a while). This was after descending me to 2000 over the Everglades. 

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On 10/10/2020 at 7:24 AM, rbridges said:

We were cruising along at 10k west of el paso when the IAS started dropping and the AP started pitching nose up. We were over the eastern slope of a 7500 ft mountain.  We were actually being pulled down, and the cirrus was having a hard time out climbing the winds. We got down to 85 knots IAS, and we were about to turn around when the plane started to correct itself. 

Not a red handle moment :lol:, but it had us a little concerned. Definitely gave me more respect for flying over mountains. 

You're Cirrus definitely has better seats than my Mooney! I couldn't possibly do a 12 hour flight with my seats. (well in my defense my seats are probably much older than yours are in the Cirrus)

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4 hours ago, WaynePierce said:

You're Cirrus definitely has better seats than my Mooney! I couldn't possibly do a 12 hour flight with my seats. (well in my defense my seats are probably much older than yours are in the Cirrus)

Oh yeah, the plane is nice.  The upholstery was recently redone, and it's very comfortable. Sadly, it's not my plane, but on a happier note, his maintenance costs have been much much higher than mine. 

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7 hours ago, Unit74 said:

I would think that if you were outside glide distance of shore and you did not have water survival equipment, there might be a problem with that.  I would have a serious problem with it and simply call unable. 

In reality, there are so many boats out there, if I had a problem, I would just ditch next to one.

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On 10/9/2020 at 3:30 PM, Andy95W said:

Rich- I'm going to bet the difference is between being on an IFR flight plan and going VFR.  Separation requirements and all that.

I think you are probably correct here. I just recently upgraded my panel and doing the online stuff to get ready and take my written IFR so I have no basis for how helpful they are to the GA IFR pilot. From reading about Rich's experiences they sound "Not so helpful..." For the VFR guy tooling around what is some very busy and congested airspace they are very helpful.

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