AndreiC Posted January 18 Report Posted January 18 I don't know if this is the appropriate forum for it, but I feel the need to brag about my recent flight. Madison-Santa Fe-Death Valley-Concord CA (MSN-SAF-L09-CCR), those were the main stops. Three days, 14:20 total flight time. The little N9351V (a 70E) performed flawlessly. Not so much myself -- forgot the keys on a campsite table in Death Valley National Park and cursed my life for over 3 hours looking for them Had to battle pretty strong headwinds all the way especially over the Grand Canyon at 14500, where I saw cruise speeds around 100 kts... oxygen came in handy. Landing at L09 is an experience I'll never forget -- not a trace of wind in Death Valley, with high rising mountains on all sides and the flat desert sand below. No wonder they filmed Star Wars there. The next day the booms from the F35s flying formation were deafening. Now I'll be in California for the next 4 months, looking for recommendations of places to fly to. 10 Quote
N201MKTurbo Posted January 18 Report Posted January 18 Why 14500 over the canyon? You can do the transitions at 11000. 1 Quote
Marc_B Posted January 18 Report Posted January 18 That looks like a fun trip! Did you camp there at L09? Right off the airport, or was that pic from somewhere else with the tent? How was the runway condition? I like the report (from AirNav) "runway is in poor but stable condition." Not sure what that means!? it's so bad it can't get any worse?!?! 1 Quote
AndreiC Posted January 18 Author Report Posted January 18 3 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said: Why 14500 over the canyon? You can do the transitions at 11000. No idea. I asked ATC as I was getting close to the Grand Canyon, and they said there were plenty of restricted areas at the time going all the way to 14500. I guess maybe there were some narrow corridors that would have allowed me to go lower, but I wanted to see the canyon from above, so I went to 14.5. Quote
AndreiC Posted January 18 Author Report Posted January 18 1 hour ago, Marc_B said: That looks like a fun trip! Did you camp there at L09? Right off the airport, or was that pic from somewhere else with the tent? How was the runway condition? I like the report (from AirNav) "runway is in poor but stable condition." Not sure what that means!? it's so bad it can't get any worse?!?! The runway was just fine. I talked to a ranger before hand and they said the runway at L09 (Stovepipe Wells) was much better than at L06 (Furnace Creek), the other airport near Death Valley. It had small rocks and many cracks, but my prop did not get chipped and I didn't have any problems with the landing gear. I camped at the National Park campground, about 1/4 mi away from the runway (I had my bike with me in the plane, which made for excellent transportation). There were more RVs than tents, but it was nice that they had a special area for tents only, with very fine sand to put your tent on. All in all an excellent experience, except for the cold at night (they forecasted 46ºF at night, but it felt much colder -- I had a good tent and an OK sleeping bag, but froze nonetheless) and of course losing the plane keys... 1 Quote
N201MKTurbo Posted January 18 Report Posted January 18 7 minutes ago, AndreiC said: No idea. I asked ATC as I was getting close to the Grand Canyon, and they said there were plenty of restricted areas at the time going all the way to 14500. I guess maybe there were some narrow corridors that would have allowed me to go lower, but I wanted to see the canyon from above, so I went to 14.5. You should check the SFRA chart next time. If you are using ForeFlight, just zoom in to the chart over the canyon and it will show you the SFRA chart. Quote
EricJ Posted January 18 Report Posted January 18 10 minutes ago, AndreiC said: No idea. I asked ATC as I was getting close to the Grand Canyon, and they said there were plenty of restricted areas at the time going all the way to 14500. I guess maybe there were some narrow corridors that would have allowed me to go lower, but I wanted to see the canyon from above, so I went to 14.5. +1 that if you go there again consider using the Grand Canyon VFR chart and use one or more of the corridors. The "Flight Free Zones" go up to 14.5, but there are corridors in between them that are shown on the VFR chart. The corridors allow passage at 11.5 or 13.5 going north, and 10.5 and 12.5 going south. Not an issue going through any of them without O2, as even the high ones don't take close to a half hour to get across in a Mooney. A good trip is to use either the Fossil Canyon and/or Tuckup corridors, both of which go along Havasu Canyon on the south side. It's all pretty spectacular, though, you can't pick a bad route across. There are VFR GPS waypoints on each end of all of the corridors, so it's easy to pop them into an EFB or navigator and not worry about getting into the forbidden zones. 1 Quote
Bolter Posted January 18 Report Posted January 18 A non-exhaustive list of California airports I liked while I lived there, and generally can get somewhere with a bike or on foot KOCN - Oceanside, you can ride your bike to the beach on designated bike route KAVX - Catalina, few airports like this - recommend researching the challenges of landing there or go with someone who knows L52 - Oceano, cool little strip, easy walk to beach and restaurants KCMA - Camarillo, great tri-tip on the ramp. KSBA - Santa Barbara, also can bike to the beach and get some good views L45 - Bakersfield, good diner on the ramp KMER - Castle, former B52 base, walk to big air museum on the base, was shortened to an 11800' runway KMMH - Mammoth, fly in and ski (public transportation to hotels and the mountain are availble) 2O1 - Quincy, easy walk to small downtown from the airport KTVL - Tahoe, fly in and ski (I think there is public transportation to hotels and the mountain availble) 4S1 - Gold Beach, OR - easy bike to hotels, beach, and restaurants KLLR - Little River/Mendocino - you can rent a car from a local pilot to see the town 3 Quote
Flash Posted January 18 Report Posted January 18 (edited) Sounds like a great trip, and welcome to California. Oceano is a nice place to fly. Runway isn't long, but it's very doable. Half Moon Bay is fun, with a restaurant on the field but also restaurants (Barbara's Fish Trap is where I go) a short walk through the fence from the south ramp. There are some good aviation museums of varying sizes (Santa Rosa, Chino, San Carlos, Santa Monica, to name a few). The Columbia State Historic Park is a short walk from the Columbia airport. Fun fact: Cinco de Mayo celebrations appear to have begun in Columbia, California. Flying in the Sierras can be fun/scenic, but they're worthy of a pilot's respect. The northern coast has some fun places to fly, including Shelter Cove, which has a lighthouse and a scenic coast, with sea lions on the beach and the occasional whale offshore. Catalina is unique, and its runway is now in good shape. Edited January 18 by Flash 1 Quote
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