Big plane trip next week Nov 1->5

[Chairboy]

The wife and I are taking our longest flight together next week in the plane.  Here's the basic itinerary:

Thursday (Nov 1) morning:
77S (Creswell) -> Redding.  A little under two hours.  Stretch & gas, then onwards southbound.  We'll zip through the Bay Area (I hope to get some good shots of the Golden Gate Bridge), probably staying under Bravo for the best camera shots.  We'll land at either Half Moon Bay or Watsonville for lunch.  The restaurant at HAF is crummy according to AirNav & folks I've talked to, but there are supposed to be some good ones just off the south end of the runway.  Watsonville is supposed to have a good mexican restaurant on-field, hence my wavering.

After that, straight shot down to Santa Monica, with a little coast hugging here and there, monitoring the MOAs.

We'll spend a couple days in Los Angeles seeing friends, then we'll fly over to Vegas (Henderson) on Saturday (Nov 3).  Some friends are getting married, should be fun, plus there are other things to do there.  Haven't seen the new Star Trek thing since they added the Borg, for instance.

Monday (Nov 5) morning:
We'll take off and head to L06 (Death Valley) so I can log a landing at the lowest airport in the US.  From there, we'll fly to MEV (Tahoe, not the one on the lake) for lunch.  Then we'll pop over to Klamath Falls for a stretch and then on home (77S again).

I took the plane in for a checkup.  Good compressions, everything looked good except for one little squawk.  A main seal leak ($50 part, 2 hours labor expected) will fix an intermittent leak I've had, and I had 30 hours since the last oil change.  When I mentioned to the mechanic that I was planning on changing it, he offered to do it for no extra charge (well, except oil & filter, heh) since the engine was already warm (easy oil drain) from the compression check and the cowling was already off, that's very cool.  

So fresh oil, strong engine, great wife, fun sounding trip, and about 12 hours flying.  w00t!

Plus, it'll be my first chance to really see if my new ANR headset makes a difference.  I got the AV450 set, the rebadged Lightspeed Lites, and they seem great so far on local flights.

[FBBone]

Godspeed, Friend!:t

[FBBone]

No really, good luck.  I'm jealous!

[Wolfala]

Chair,


Leeme know around what time you plan to land at HAF. I'll hop over from Hayward and show you to the good places to eat.

Wolf

[Chairboy]

Thanks!  Depends on weather, here's hoping.  

[LePaul]

Sounds like an excellent time.

After checking around a few days ago, the closest rental Cessna to me is 43 miles away  

I've gotta take this "Winning Powerball" think seriously.  There's some lonely L-39s that need me to adopt them  

[Chairboy]

No problem, I'll take the coastal route.  Sure, maybe I'll only be a mile off shore, but I'll clock in over 150 over water, yah smarmy bastahd.  

[kamilyun]

Originally posted by Chairboy
We'll zip through the Bay Area (I hope to get some good shots of the Golden Gate Bridge), probably staying under Bravo for the best camera shots.  We'll land at either Half Moon Bay or Watsonville for lunch.

I'll be looking for yah on your GG Bridge flyby

[Chairboy]

I'll fly west of the bridge.  Ya know, years ago I looped the Golden Gate with a Cessna 172....  in Microsoft Flight Simulator.  I don't imagine the Warrior flies THAT much different, maybe I'll see if I can get some good inverted shots.  

[cpxxx]

Originally posted by Ocean27
No no no! That doesn't count! You've got to be at least 75 miles from the nearest shore line!

You mean, even though I flew across the Irish sea to Britain in a single engined Cessna several times, that still means I'm not a real pilot:cry Because I was never 75 miles out to sea at any time.

That's so unfair:furious  

I have to say there is nothing quite like the frisson of fear you get when you are over the grey waters of the sea, out of gliding distance of the land. I never suffered from the 'automatic rough' illusion in spite of expecting it. But you do start to listen to the engine very carefully. I did see a fellow pilot develop a knee twitch as he fiddled with the carburettor heat, the mixture, the throttle while staring at the oil pressure gauge, one Wintry day while returning from the Isle of Man to Dublin.

I did have an oil pressure gauge issue once but there was no corresponding oil temperature change. Nevertheless it was a little exciting.

Sounds like a great trip, Chairboy. One I'd like to make oneday.

 

[cpxxx]

Well thanks:aok  I've fallen for that low cloud looking like land thing. But it didn't really matter as you really can't miss Britain. The weather can be very interesting though. Ditching is problematical, getting the liferaft out of a sinking Cessna wouldn't be easy and the lifejacket is only really to keep the body afloat for the rescue services. Because you die in that water after 20 minutes. It's a short hop but more than one person 'was never seen again'.

[Halo]

Sounds like fun.  I went to rent a plane last weekend but they said I had to have a license.  Said Aces High is not good enough.  Hmph, $14.95 a month all these years shot to hell!  

[Chairboy]

It'll be about 6-6.5 hours flying to Santa Monica, two hours to Las Vegas, and maybe 5.5 back.  This doesn't count landings and whatnot, those add a little bit because of the climbout.

I'm figuring between 12-14 hours in the air over a 5 day period, shouldn't be bad.

[cpxxx]

Originally posted by Ocean27
Oh I don't think you'd have 20 minutes. I'm guessing more like 4 minutes in the summer, and 2 minutes in the winter.

Well a fat woman would probably last about 20 minutes. I seem to remember the sequence of expiry would be like this: Skinny men first followed by skinny women, fat men, normal women and then fat women. Women are just that bit more insulated.

[Chairboy]

Here's a photo I took Thursday:



I'll write up a full synopsis later, it was an eventful trip.  Mechanical complications, beautiful locations, weather diversions, exciting destinations...  the trip had it all.