The Leading Edge

The annual election of Aces officers was held: Christoph is now President, in addition to continuing as Financial Officer. John Gould is now Activities/Program, and John Nogatch continues as Secretary.

Long-time Aces member Tom Gerkens made a "swan song" appearance, reminiscing over several long cross-country flights that he had made. Tom is planning to sail to Hawaii, the South Pacific, and Indian Ocean over the next couple years.

In June-1999, Kevin Shawhan and I were on the long cross-country dual, about two thirds of the way through the Aces Private Pilot Syllabus. We had flown alternating legs, San Jose -> New Jerusalem -> Columbia -> Fresno -> Bakersfield (where we stayed overnight) -> Oceano -> San Ardo.

San Ardo had been the oddest up to that point. Coming up the Salinas Valley from the south, Kevin at first had said, "There it is; I'll do a straight-in." But as we got closer, he realized that what looks like a perfectly good runway near some oil field pumps, has big X's on both ends. We went a little further north, and almost in the middle of a quaint little town, was a large driveway with an R painted on it. Kevin landed on it and Doug told him to stop down at the north end.

We changed places, and Doug told me to taxi back down to the south end with minimum power, turn around without stopping, taxi passed the farmhouse, and then full power takeoff to the north. This strategy was to minimize the noise impact on the farmhouse, which stands very close to the runway. About 50' off the ground, we came out from behind the row of trees that parallels the runway, and I found myself crabbing 20^o in order to proceed up the valley. As I trimmed it out, Doug told me that I was to land at Carmel Valley airport, and as soon as I found it on the chart, he demanded, "Well, when are we going to get there?"

After leveling off, I asked Kevin for the "Blue Book" and looked up Carmel Valley, but I had already, at Madeleine's suggestion, read about all the airports within 50 miles of San Jose. I still needed to look up the frequency, but I remembered that this would be hard to find, and might have pedestrians, dogs, horses, and potholes on it. I had also been through Carmel Valley several times by car, in order to access a ham radio repeater station on Mt. Palo Escrito, and knew that I needed navigation help. This area is within the Monterey airspace, so when I reached Gonzalez on Highway 101, I called Monterey and asked, for the first time, for "radar vector", which was given immediately. A few minutes later, Monterey advised me to turn slightly to the right, and then, as I was sizing up a likely looking flat spot, he told me that I should be able to see it, which I acknowledged.

As advertised, there were people walking, kids on bicycles, and some dogs running around. I overflew the field and then started a full pattern, getting right down by the trees, keeping plenty of distance between the runway and my downwind leg, trying not to duplicate my poor setup at Oceano. By the time I came around on final, the field was clear; apparently the local people know what happens next after an airplane comes over.

My first attempt was slightly too high and slightly too fast. People who don't know about flying think that a student will have trouble keeping the airplane up in the air, but student pilots soon find out that getting it down, at the right place and speed, is harder than it looks, especially at an unfamiliar airport. Doug, patient as always, asked, "WHY WEREN'T YOU AT FULL FLAPS FOR A SHORTFIELD LANDING???"

Taxiing required enough power to keep going over the bumpy surface, but not so much to be blowing gravel, twigs, dust and noise onto the nearby houses. I tried to steer between 2 of the weighted tires which are used for tiedown anchors, but Doug did not see where I was trying to go, ordered "Turn right", and I came to a stop with the nosewheel bumping up against one of the tires. I shut down the engine, we manhauled it into place, tied down, locked up, and walked to one of the nearby restaurants, where dinner was followed by a long debriefing.

We could have sat there longer, but it was getting darker, and when we got outside, we could see the wall of fog coming from the ocean. Kevin executed a shortfield takeoff, contacted Monterey, and we flew up the coast toward Watsonville, and then over Lexington Reservoir, for the last landing of the long trip at San Jose.

Carmel Valley Vintage Airpark was one of the first attempts at a residential airport, its development was interrupted by World War II, and it was graced with shops and restaurants far out of proportion with its rural setting. There was a nice article about it in the AOPA magazine within the last year. It was certainly a great lesson for student pilots, and $100 hamburgers, and it is a shame that it is no longer available.

- John Nogatch May-2002