Western Smoke

[thinwing]

we just got back Sac to Mccall ID....at 13/14 k....ifr both ways with intrument approach and departure.Our view outA was exactly as shown above....the only incident was while on approach to Mccall.We were cleared for visual (2 to 3 mile vis)anouncing were inbound when on short final i noticed a biz jet taxi out and immediately spool up for takeoff in the opposite direction straight toward us!All i could think was ,if the smoke was a little thicker I would never have seen him...white against a smokey background....well my other pilot friends had stronger comments than my comment to the biz pilot in a hurry was "thanks a lot pal!!...moral to story ..beware uncontrolled airports claiming vfr but in low vis conditions.

 

[larryb]

Today TRK to RHV

[LevelWing]

@Ragsf15e How is the smoke out your way now?

[Jetrn]

Yesterday the Central Valley smoke layer tops were 6500-7000 on our flight to Pomona from sacramento region.  Last Friday the layer was solid ifr from 2500-10500.

[Ragsf15e]

3 hours ago, LevelWing said:

@Ragsf15e How is the smoke out your way now?

All clear in Washington!  You can still find a little haze in places near fires, but much better.

Down near Tahoe and central Nevada is still bad.

[Niko182]

Anyone flown around socal to SLO? Trying to get an idea of the smoke. Presume it shouldnt be bad, but one of my passengers is very sensitive to smoke due to asthma?

[ilovecornfields]

50 minutes ago, Niko182 said:

Anyone flown around socal to SLO? Trying to get an idea of the smoke. Presume it shouldnt be bad, but one of my passengers is very sensitive to smoke due to asthma?

I did it last week. East of San Diego (Julian, Palm Springs) was pretty gross. LA Basin was pretty hazy but not too bad. SLO is clear.

Smoke/haze tops seem to be around 8-11k so I just flew over the top, but then my passengers don’t mind oxygen. 
 

Don’t take this as medical advice, but sometimes taking a couple of puffs of the rescue inhaler (with spacer) before the flight can help. Hopefully it doesn’t make them too jittery.

[LevelWing]

3 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

All clear in Washington!  You can still find a little haze in places near fires, but much better.

Down near Tahoe and central Nevada is still bad.

Thanks! Any idea how it's looking either east towards Idaho/Montana or south towards Oregon/Idaho?

[Ragsf15e]

4 minutes ago, LevelWing said:

Thanks! Any idea how it's looking either east towards Idaho/Montana or south towards Oregon/Idaho?

East is ok at least to the Montana border.  South is fine toward Boise.  Outside that, I’m not sure.

[jaylw314]

21 minutes ago, LevelWing said:

Thanks! Any idea how it's looking either east towards Idaho/Montana or south towards Oregon/Idaho?

In Oregon, it's clear north of Roseburg.  When I flew Friday, smoke is up to 7000' MSL southeast of Roseburg

[aviatoreb]

We are still getting significant smoke here in upstate NY Adirondacks region, from the western fires I understand, on and off depending which way the prevailing winds are blowing.  And this is the first year it seems to be reaching us.

[carusoam]

East of the Mississippi is going to be cleared out this week…

Hurricane ida is going to wash the air pretty well as it moves from NOLA to NJ…

PP thoughts only, not a weather guy…

Best regards,

-a-

[Igor_U]

On 8/29/2021 at 1:46 PM, Ragsf15e said:

All clear in Washington!  You can still find a little haze in places near fires, but much better.

Down near Tahoe and central Nevada is still bad.

Rags, not really.

Yesterday we flew back KALW - KPAE and while Walla Walla was clear further west towards ELN was really smoky. Tops were 9500-10,000ft. We were at 10,5 kft and I couldn't see the airport that was few miles away from it. There's a large fire with TFR just west of Yakima and was spreading heavy smoke that would move further East... Past Cle Elm, it was all clear, though...

 

[Igor_U]

Which reminds me:

Few years ago I started a new job at KMWH; field was IFR, with 1.5 visibility due to smoke. A firefighting DC10 was taking off, disappearing into smoke before lifting off (13500 ft runway!). How do they find a drop zone in IMC conditions?

[Ragsf15e]

2 hours ago, Igor_U said:

Rags, not really.

Yesterday we flew back KALW - KPAE and while Walla Walla was clear further west towards ELN was really smoky. Tops were 9500-10,000ft. We were at 10,5 kft and I couldn't see the airport that was few miles away from it. There's a large fire with TFR just west of Yakima and was spreading heavy smoke that would move further East... Past Cle Elm, it was all clear, though...

 

Yeah, that’s fair.  I flew KGEG to KBFI last week and saw that fire near yakima is still going.  The smoke does seem much more localized around yakima than 3 weeks ago when the entire state was covered, but I’m sure it’s spreads east some.  It’s actually a little hazy in Spokane today, but not bad.

Im flying KGEG to Portland tomorrow, so I should have a front row seat on the fires, but I’ll be at FL220 in the work airplane, so hopefully I can’t report the tops!

[Will.iam]

2 hours ago, Igor_U said:

Which reminds me:

Few years ago I started a new job at KMWH; field was IFR, with 1.5 visibility due to smoke. A firefighting DC10 was taking off, disappearing into smoke before lifting off (13500 ft runway!). How do they find a drop zone in IMC conditions?

I don’t know maybe FLIR and gps coordinates? 

[ilovecornfields]

4 hours ago, Will.iam said:

I don’t know maybe FLIR and gps coordinates? 

Or they just don’t. Minimal aerial efforts on thr Eastern side of the Tahoe fire. TVL is now closed and the entire South Lake Tahoe basin is under evacuation orders.

[RobertGary1]

On 7/26/2021 at 7:51 AM, Ragsf15e said:

The “smoke season” out west is putting a serious crimp in my summer flying plans.  I live in Spokane, WA and we’re surrounded by fires (and tfrs), but the air quality has stayed ok.  Flights to the coast have been ok because there aren’t many fires that way. I’d really like to get down to Carson City NV to see my parents, but there are huge smoke plumes filling up northern Nevada and southern Oregon coming from several fires.  
 

Ive used the ground air quality numbers and the noaa high resolution smoke forecast but I really want know the flight conditions at like 10,500’.  Last year I flew through some terrible, 1/2nm vis type smoke and don’t want to repeat that.  Has anyone crossed the northern sierras around 11,500’ or do you guys have another way to tell how high that smoke goes? I did call flight service and they were like tits on a boar…

 Thanks!

The other day I didn’t get above it until 14,000. But it doesn’t really affect flying if you can go ifr. Just means I don’t have to do an ipc if I get 6 in the summer snd 6 in the winter fog. Just got 6 friday.  

[Air pirate]

Just spoke to a friend in Reno, she said IFR all week, pulled up the wx at Stead ( we’re supposed to be racing in three weeks). Listed 10 miles visibility. Called friend lives across Hoover Gultch he said no way.  
 

we were descending into park city and we saw smoke at FL220. (Smoke from Cali).   
 

stay safe 

[Ragsf15e]

18 hours ago, Igor_U said:

Rags, not really.

Yesterday we flew back KALW - KPAE and while Walla Walla was clear further west towards ELN was really smoky. Tops were 9500-10,000ft. We were at 10,5 kft and I couldn't see the airport that was few miles away from it. There's a large fire with TFR just west of Yakima and was spreading heavy smoke that would move further East... Past Cle Elm, it was all clear, though...

 

Spokane to Portland today.  Nice at FL220, but there’s still localized smoke near the fires by Wenatchee, Yakima and Bend, OR.  Nothing remotely close to eastern Nevada/Tahoe.  Even in the smoke here, it looks vfr with reasonable vis.  Most of Washington is clear:

Central Washington:

Yakima under smoke cloud (Rainier in the background):

Smoke in the distance near the 3 sisters:

[Ragsf15e]

11 hours ago, RobertGary1 said:

The other day I didn’t get above it until 14,000. But it doesn’t really affect flying if you can go ifr. Just means I don’t have to do an ipc if I get 6 in the summer snd 6 in the winter fog. Just got 6 friday.  

I agree you can get through ifr, but I don’t like to breathe that thick stuff.  Especially with my kids onboard.  Not sure it’s great for the engine either.

[RobertGary1]

14 minutes ago, Ragsf15e said:

I agree you can get through ifr, but I don’t like to breathe that thick stuff.  Especially with my kids onboard.  Not sure it’s great for the engine either.

Not sure if it’s better on the ground. Would be interesting to see data. I think the partials fall. 

[Ragsf15e]

13 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

Not sure if it’s better on the ground. Would be interesting to see data. I think the partials fall. 

True. If you’re already in it on the ground, flying out isn’t much worse.  I guess I just don’t like leaving somewhere with reasonable air and blasting through 1 mile vis smoke for 2 hours.

[JohnB]

I fly this area frequently during smoke season, and will be likely doing it again next week. Typically from Long Beach CA to S21 or nearby. Last year smoke was very bad in the valley. I was solid IMC in smoke at 10,000 mostly clear at 12,000, but at 14,000 completely clear. In south area it seems worse from north of Paso Robles to San Francisco, usually better along the coast.  VFR flight would absolutely not be recommended.  I like to do whatever it takes to get out and above the smoke as fast as possible under IFR clearance in case visibility goes away which can happen in an instant.  IFR rating and currency essential, oxygen essential. I also like to keep extra fuel on legs, face masks on standby, but as someone mentioned above,  I've never seen any smoke above around 13 k. On the way back, I stopped at an airport around an hour away that was reporting MVFR not as smoky to get that extra fuel reserve as the California valley was all solid IMC smoke.  Asked for a circling airport departure to 10,000 feet, broke out of the smoke at around 9k and I was on my way. 

This years challenge will be to see if our dog will be able to wear his oxygen mask the entire trip, fingers crossed, doing test flight with him tomorrow. (his mask is apparently certified up to 25,000 feet, better than my cannulas!) 

[amillet]

On 8/29/2021 at 7:53 PM, carusoam said:

East of the Mississippi is going to be cleared out this week…

Hurricane ida is going to wash the air pretty well as it moves from NOLA to NJ…

PP thoughts only, not a weather guy…

Best regards,

-a-

@carusoamwere you affected by NE flooding?  I was thinking about you watching the weather reports