The Leading Edge

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DECEMBER 2000 NEWSLETTER VOLUME 31, NUMBER 12

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CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEWEST SOLO PILOT:

Praveen Gopinath has done it on his own; under Mark Hernandez's wing

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HAPPY DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS TO:

Roger Spaeth on the 3rd, Kelly Harrison on the 23rd, Larry Edelson on the 27th and Todd Townley on the 28th.

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FLYING TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

For the final installment of John Nogatch's article see pages 3 and 4

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ALL MEETINGS CANCELED FOR DECEMBER SO WE CAN ALL COME TO THE:

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ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY

Friday, December 8th. "Christmas Feast" at Mister Steer Steak House on the corner of El Camino and San Tomas in Santa Clara.

CHOICE OF 7 ENTREES:

Coulotte Steak, Half B.B.Q. Chicken, Shishkabob, Deep Fried Prawns

Porterhouse, New York, Filet Mignon available for $5.00 extra

INCLUDED WITH EACH ENTREE:

Fresh Salad, Choice of Potato or Rice and Rolls, Non-alcoholic beverage

Special Dessert

NO HOST BAR 6:30 TO 7:30, DINNER AT 7:30

DOOR PRIZES TO BE AWARDED AT END OF EVENING

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Cut off.and send with check by the 5th for $5.00 and $15.00 prices.Cut off

After the 5th add $2.50 and call Doug at 831 475-6868 for late reservation

Member Name ..................................No of Guests..............

Circle: Premium Steaks Coulotte steak B.B.Q. Chicken Shishkabob Prawns

Amount Enclosed: ........ Members $5.00, Guests $15.00, Steaks add $5.00

Douglas C. Groom              ali@cruzio.com
Owner, Apple Lane Inn        http://www.applelaneinn.com
Manager, Flying Aces, Inc   http://www.applelaneinn.com/flyingaces
  (831) 475-6868   FAX (831) 464-5790
6265 Soquel Drive   Aptos, CA 95003
 
Flying to Southern California:
(Parts 1 & 2 covered SJC->MIT->RAL. Part 3 described flying an amateur-built Cozy.)

After preflighting N48425, we pushed it out of Madeleine's hangar, said our goodbyes, and I
got ready to taxi. I had already copied ATIS, so requested and received "taxi to runup for 27"
from Riverside Ground. After a successful runup, I was cleared for takeoff, and departed left
crosswind toward Lake Matthews. This is away from the LA basin, where I had plenty of time
to get trimmed out, climb up to 6,500', and get the COM and NAV frequencies set. 4 circuits
around the lake gave me time to watch the day brighten up, and I snapped a few pictures.

Reaching 6,500', with the VOR set 292 TO POMona, I started calling SOCAL Approach. It
took several tries because there was lots of other traffic, but then I was given a squawk code
and cleared to proceed. After a few minutes, I was handed off to another SOCAL frequency,
whom I called, and he shot a query at me. I gave a brief status, to which he replied with an icy,
"All I wanted was your altitude intentions."

A few minutes later, I was told to steer 270 to avoid jet traffic coming out of Ontario, so I
checked the compass, verified that the Heading Indicator was still in agreement, and turned
left to 270. After 10 seconds or so, I was told that I was heading 300, instead of 270. The
compass and HI both said 270, and I could see that I was at a small angle to the 210 freeway,
which runs true east-west. I decided not to argue the point, simply turned my HI to 300, and
then turned left until it said 270. SOCAL announced that he was satisfied, and soon the
airliner climbed quickly through my altitude, and I was told to resume my previous course.

After another handoff, they were happy with my intention to stay north of the freeway and
south of the San Gabriel mountains. I saw a vintage warbird flying low below me. The Mt.
Wilson observatory was near eye level on my right, and I spotted Caltech without too much
difficulty. I was not able to pick out the Jet Propulsion Labs, but the Rose Bowl was easy.

Handed off again, I turned northwest, skirting the mountains northeast of Burbank, and
informed them that I was climbing to 8,500' 319 TO Lake HugheS VOR. Although the view
south over LA was hazy, the San Fernando Valley was clear, and I could see several airplanes
at lower altitudes heading north toward the Grapevine, Palmdale was visible far away over
the ridgeline, and several airplanes coming toward me at various altitudes and oblique angles.
The relative velocity is certainly high when they're coming toward you, and with the sun
behind me, I could see them better than they could see me! LA Center asked one southbound
airplane if he was travelling together with the airplane behind him, and when told "Yes", he
told the second to turn off his transponder, because he was having trouble tracking them, and
would instead treat them as a flight of two.

The VOR got harder to keep centered, and then I saw LHS below and just to my left, so I
began heading 283 To GorMaN. Very soon, I crossed the Grapevine and headed away from
GMN, 296 TO AVEnal. LA Center was fading and handed me off to Bakersfield on 118.8mhz,
who was very weak, and did not answer me. I switched over to 126.45mhz, which was what I
had used on the southbound leg a few days before, made contact, explained the difficulty, and
was told "stay with me". I ate a light lunch, passing Taft-Kern on my left, where large X's
were visible on the runway. I also recognized a large dry lake bed on the other side of the
ridgeline, just north of FeLloWs VOR, seen on a student flight many months before. I was
concerned that my Airspeed Indicator was reading low, even though everything else looked
OK, and then I remembered that this is normal when flying at higher altitudes.

Bakersfield then surprised me by handing me off to LA Center. I attempted to contact them,
but they were extremely weak, and did not hear me, so I returned to Bakersfield and asked for
verification that I was northbound to Paso RoBles, and asked if he really meant LA Center. He
confirmed the instructions, with only mild annoyance, and said that contact should be possible
as I continued northwest. It eventually was possible, but only for a short time, just south of
AVE, where I was handed off briefly to a very busy Oakland Radio, who I soon released
myself from, so that I could approach PRB.

I had flown over PRB once before, but that had been an approach from the south, and this
was now from the east. The VOR flipped TO/FROM as I realized Highway 101 was close
ahead, so I made a slow 270 degree descending turn to the right, watching for traffic, and
setting up for the 45 onto right traffic for 31. I spoke with another aircraft who had been
advising his straight-in to 31 for several minutes previous, and he was on short final as I
levelled off at pattern altitude.

After an easy landing, it was a long, hot taxi to find transient parking, and the most urgent
need was to find the restroom. The ramp was empty, except for one fellow gabbing away on
the pay phone, which reminded me that I had been unable to contact HAWthorne to close my
flight plan. After closing it by telephone, I refueled and started taxiing back to the runways.
31 seemed very far away, so I announced that I was taking off on 01, crabbing into the
crosswind and feeling very pleased that I was tracking the centerline so nicely. I was not so
pleased when I realized that I had forgotten to reset the Heading Indicator and latch the
passenger side window. The last leg of a long trip, and get-there-itis is suddenly a factor! A
straight line through the mountains seemed momentarily tempting, but gaining altitude just to
descend into San Jose did not seem worth it, and my flight log was all made out to parallel
Highway 101 up to SaliNaS, so stayed at 2700' and kept going. Near Gonzalez, I contacted
Monterey and was assigned a squawk code. I turned over SNS and Monterey terminated
contact as I passed over the ridgeline and turned left toward South County. Bay Approach
gave me the expected Pruneyard routing to SJC, and I made my best landing of the trip
straight-in on 29. After parking, I remembered to call for refueling.

This trip was one of my big goals when I was a student pilot. It cost 3 times as much as
Southwest Airlines with Long Term Parking, and took twice as long, but it was a lot more fun.
Dealing with SOCAL Approach was not any more difficult than learning to fly out of San Jose,
although advance planning and familiarity with Riverside and the Cajon Pass were important
factors. I am looking forward to trying the coastal route, weather permitting.

- John Nogatch, Dec-00