West Coast trip

[jaylw314]

Just got back from a trip down the West Coast from Oregon, with stops in SQL, MYF, SMO and MFR to visit some family and friends this summer.  Some comments and photos in no particular order:

• It was hot.  My wife got some evaporative cooling vests that worked pretty well.  It has hydrogel pellets in some pockets, so it doesn't have to be soaking wet to work, and retains enough water to last for most of the day in the heat, especially in Medford.
• Airport PIREPs:
  • I hadn't realized SQL has no self-serve fuel, so remember to call Rabbit Aviation ahead of your departure if you need fuel from the fuel truck.  SQL is a relatively short runway, and after touching down I braked firmly anticipating this, and then realized with embarrassment I still had about 1000' of runway left (8 kt headwind).  Transient parking was available on a Friday afternoon.
  • CrownAir in MYF was fantastic and they helped out with getting the rental car.  Their tiedown cost isn't cheap ($20/night) compared to transient ($9/night), but when I was last at MYF, transient was completely packed so I didn't want to worry about finding a spot.  As it turned out, of course, MYF was pretty quiet when we arrived.
  • There is no self-serve fuel at SMO either, the only SS pump is for UL94 fuel, by decree of the Santa Monica Homeowners Association.  You have to call Atlantic for the 100LL fuel truck at $8.50/gal.  Transient parking is $20/night, and there's a $24 landing fee (the best argument I've heard against touch-and-goes  )
  • I fly into Medford frequently, and Million Air there is always great.  Lot of firefighting ops going on right now, and when we were there I saw a weird sight of a Marine UH-60 and AH-1 being refueled by the FBO
• Some ATC shenanigans:
  • While on an IFR plan, I vaguely heard someone identifying themselves as "Icon" and it sounded like he was going in the opposite direction 1000' above me.  I vaguely thought that was odd, since the Icon A5 wasn't IFR capable, and wasn't sure if it was capable of getting up to 11,000' MSL either, but I was curious to see one for real.  Then ATC called me and said I had a C-17 opposite direction and would I like vectors to avoid wake turbulence, and I said "that'd be lovely."  We spotted the C-17 about 20 nm (!) away, and as we came within a couple miles, the C-17 called visual on us.  At that point, I realized he was using the callsign "Icon", so I thought it was funny I was expecting to see an Icon A5, and instead saw a C-17 up close  Anyway, kudos to ATC for offering
  • On the flight down from SQL, I picked up IFR in the air, got new routing, then realized a couple minutes later when talking to the next controller that the new route put me through a restricted area around the Hunter-Liggett military area.  I asked the new controller if the area was active, and she said yes and that I'd need to avoid it.  When I pointed out I was on an IFR plan, there was a long pause, after which we negotiated some vectors and extemporaneous routing.  I suspect my IFR plan got lost somewhere crossing sectors, and the next controller thought I was VFR.  No harm done, since we were in severe clear, but my wife got pretty nervous listening to it.
• The northern California fires continue, although the surface winds and winds aloft have been helpful, so the smoke wasn't too bad except for directly over the area.  I took the coastal detour through the Oregon/California border both ways.  Radio reception with ATC there can sometimes be a little spotty, though

Strange sight in Medford

Landing MYF

San Diego coast

San Francisco and Bay Area from the east

Landing SQL

Oregon Dunes near Coos Bay

Edited August 15, 2022 by jaylw314

[PeteMc]

Sounds like a great flight! 

We're out in the ID right now (near 66S), but came out on the big metal tube.  Plan is to do a coast-to-coast and come back in Oct in the Mooney.