Night Xcountry KAPV KCCB

The flight for our night xcountry was schedule for Friday, at 7:30.  For this flight we had to go further than 100 miles, and I still needed 4 landings to complete the requirements of 10 night landings.  So we were going to fly to Apple Valley and perform 3 landings there.  While in route we would do some hood work to get the requirements met.  That would put the 92 mile trip well into 100 with the hood work we were doing, and changing course to compass headings.   Then come back to Van Nuys and do the 4^th landing there at our home field.  I think he chose Apple Valley for a few reasons.  There is terrain around there that I need to be wary of, there is KVCV airspace right up on KAPV.  Additionally one of the runways is closed at night, so that should make it a little easier (I don’t think mike expected me to know that.  He was impressed when I told him that they runway was closed at night).  The proposed flight would take us from Van Nuys, north to Magic Mountain (VPLMM), then track the 053 degree inbound radial to the Palmdale VOR (PMD), at which point, we would the track the 081 degree outbound radial, to just past Southern California Logistics (KVCV).  Once out of KVCV airspace we would descend, while entering crosswind into the pattern, then I would continue downwind, at which time our altitude should be pattern altitude.

So by 6:30 I had the weather.  There were thunderstorm cells all over the place.  But they were at 15000’, so we were going to be well below them.  Most of the storms should be just north of our route, or to the west, and I was fine with both of those.  I’m glad we have the g1000 for this trip, as it has topology, so I can see if I’m close to any terrain around us, and we have the NEXRAD as well, so we would be able to monitor the weather.  I was at first iffy about the trip, as I was not comfortable with the weather, but mike ensured me it would be fine, and at first sign of deteriorating weather we would turn back.  We did not want to climb over mountainous terrain with downdrafts from the storms.  So we had it as a readily available option to turn back at any time.  So I felt better about it at that point.  I also did not hear once during my call to WXBRIEF “VFR NOT RECOMMENDED”.  They just told me about all of the thunderstorms around the area, and any Sigmets/Airmets that were current. 

I met mike at the airport at 7:30 and soon I was doing my preflight.  The plane was fine, although it was hard to see the oil level in the dark with a flashlight.  I think the oil was just changed, as it was almost clear color.  Although with the touch of my finger I could feel the oil was between the 6 and 8 on the dip stick.  I was also using just a blue/green/or red light as I did not want to look at or have a bright white light anywhere close to me to screw up my night vision, so that might be why it was so hard to see on the dipstick.  Soon we were inside to start her up, and I took an extra 5 minutes to get the AFD in the front pocket, all pens and flashlights in a place that I could easily find in the dark, as well as getting my flight plan, and sectional charts in order and in the correct places.  I got my checklist in the front pocket as well.  Ran through the checklist, and we were ready to go.   Contacted tower and was told to stand by for landing traffic.  Once I heard that, I turned off the taxi lights and just kept on the beacon and nav lights.  I did not want to blind the landing traffic. 

We were cleared for a right downwind departure at the flood basin.  We climbed to 2000’ and maintained altitude until we were out of Burbank’s airspace.  Then we initiated a climb up to 5500’.  This would get us over the mountains and leave us with sufficient room of buffer from the mountains.  At the Newhall pass, we turn to start and follow the 14 freeway.  It is the lowest point going through the mountains, and if we lose an engine, we have something to land on, rather than mountains and darkness.  This is one of mikes biggest things about xcountry is making sure to ALWAYS have somewhere to put her down if needed.  He is always telling me on my xcountry solo’s to always have somewhere in mind at all times, that I can put her down if needed.  Because you never know when to expect a failure and you always want a way out in those cases.

During this entire time, we are seeing the lightning strikes everywhere in the sky.  Just about everywhere you looked, you would see lightning cutting through the clouds and lighting up the sky like it was day time for a slight moment.  Then back to darkness.  It was unnerving, surreal, and beautiful all at the same time.

Once we got to 5500’, Mike tells me, put on the hood.  I ask him to take control the aircraft as I put it on.  But we have to make sure who has the airplane.  Once I asked him he said “Sure.  I have the airplane”.  I then repeated “You have the airplane”, and then he repeated “I have the airplane”.  You ALWAYS want to do this 3 step procedure, as to ensure positive transfer of control of the aircraft by someone.  I told mike, he had the airplane, he told me he had the airplane, and I repeated so he knows I heard he has the plane.  Then I let go of the controls.  I did not release until that was complete, as I wanted someone to have control of the airplane at all times.  This is a MUST in your check ride as well.  The examiner likes to see that someone is in control of the plane at every moment, and that you both know exactly who is controlling the aircraft.

I put the hood on and he gives control of the aircraft back to me.  He then puts a little twist on it.  He takes a wash rag, and covers the PDF and says I just had a failure of the PDF.  I don’t think he was expecting what I did next as it caught him off guard.  I push the red reversionary mode button and brought the PDF to the MDF screen.  He tells me that’s cheating and takes a wash rag and puts it over that one as well.  CRAP.  Now to the standby gauges.  Now all I have is the Attitude indicator, airspeed, altitude, and the compass. 

This was my first time flying with the compass.  He tells me to turn to a 050 heading.  I turn to what direction I think I need to turn to get there on the compass and the compass goes the opposite way.  So the compass is backwards.  If the number is to the right, you need to go to the left to get to it.  Then he asks me when the compass is accurate.  I told him in un-accelerated straight and level flight.  Correct.  Then he asks if I turn to different headings what the compass would do.  I knew of ANDS and NOSL but did not know about UNOS.  These are the deviations of the compass during flight.  *Note these are for the northern hemisphere:

ANDS: Accelerate North, Decelerate South.  So if your speed up it will show a heading change to the north.  And decelerate will show a heading change to the south.

NOSL: North Opposite, South Lead.  If you turn from a north heading, the compass will initially show a turn in the opposite direction, and then catch up.  If you turn from a south heading, the compass will initially show a turn in the correct direction, but at a much faster rate than is actually occurring.

UNOS: Undershoot North, Overshoot South.  If we turn to a north heading, we need to undershoot our compass heading by about 30 degree for north.  If we wanted to turn to 45 degree heading we would undershoot by about 15 degree.  And on east/west we do not under/over shoot.  If we turn to a south heading, we need to overshoot our compass heading by about 30 degree for south.  If we wanted to turn to 225 degree we would overshoot by about 15 degree.  And on east/west we do not overshoot.

Mike told me a good way to remember which way to turn.  It’s like a clock.  If you want a bigger number in the heading turn clockwise.  If you want a smaller number, turn counter clockwise.  That helped a lot while I was flying to think about it that way.  It much easier to remember something, when you can relate it to something you are familiar with.    We did this for about an hour, turning back and forth to different headings.  The entire time though, we stayed within 100 feet of our altitude, and stayed practically right on our headings. 

Mike asks me to take off the hood, which I do.  Then he asks me where we are.  He zoomed out the GPS screen so I can only see we are in California.  But was uncertain where we were exactly.  So I use my trusty sectional chart.  I took at a VOR that is in the area of where we are, and find out what outbound radial we are on.  Turns out we were on the 081 degree radial from the PMD VOR.  Then I tune the EDW VOR and find out we are on the 150 degree radial.  That means we were just due east of Gray Butte Private airfield.  We zoom into the GPS and sure enough, we were only a few miles from the airstrip.  Perfect lost procedure to find out where we are.  The lost procedures are pretty easy, with the exception being night flight.  You cannot use ground references as easily as during the day time.  So VOR navigation is extremely important at night.

We continue our flight over to KAPV, but cannot really see it yet.  I queue the microphone a few times to get the lights to turn on, but we are still unable to see it.  Once out of the KVCV airspace we begin our decent, but also make sure to keep some buffer between us and the ground, since we cannot see any obstructions or mountains in our way.  We get to where the airport is, and still cannot see it.  We fly what would be a normal pattern and mike tells me he sees the runway below but still no lighting.  I’m guessing one of the lightning strikes cut the power to the airport. 

So now we have a real life diversion on our hands.  We initiate a climb up to 6500, and mike tell me we are going to cable airport KCCB, next to Ontario.  He then tunes, 122.0 for flight watch, and request a updated weather briefing, as well as inform them of the power outage at KPAV.  The weather is still looking ok over in the inland valley.  So we now are going to KCCB to get my night landings in to meet the requirements.  Once at 6500’, I pull out my sectional, AFD, and start calculating some things, as well as getting frequencies, weather, runways.  I get everything tuned in, get weather from Ontario, since KCCB does not have an ATIS/ASOS/AWOS.  We are going to be using runway 24 to land, as they are using 26 at Ontario.

From where we are currently flying we would come straight in for a landing.  So once over the mountains, into the inland valley, we begin our descent so we can stay well below Ontario’s Class C airspace.  We maintain 2500.  We stay right on the edge of Ontario’s airspace until right at Cable.  It was easy to see the airport while coming in, but I could not see the runway even with the lights on.  Once we got closer thought, the runway quickly became apparent. 

I announce the position of our aircraft while in route to the CTAF, and announce each 5 miles just about.  The first landing we were high and had a little excess airspeed.  So we floated down about half the runway before touching down.  If we would have floated any longer, I would have elected for a go around, but we still had quite a bit of runway left for stopping.  Upon landing, mike had the same feeling.  He was wondering if I was going to do a go around, but said he would have landed when I did as well.  But any further and he would have initiated a go around.  Funny how both of us fly the same and have the same reactions. 

We perform a taxi back, and take back off into the pattern.  We do another lap in the pattern, and perform a second landing.  The entire time mike and I were talking.  Not sure if that means I am a lot more comfortable now with flying to where I can talk, and not have to fully concentrate on everything I’m doing, as it’s more of a second nature now.  The second landing was much better.  I dislike KCCB as the runway has dips and humps and bumps and the airplane gets moved around a lot when landing.  It also makes braking a bit more difficult and you are in need of constant rudder adjustments to keep the plane on the runway.  We take back off and perform one more lap in the pattern.  This makes 3 landings thus far, and now landing at KVNY would make 4 and complete my requirements. 

The third landing was the best one yet, although I’m a fan of being above glideslope at night rather than below or on glide slope.  I like to give myself some extra buffer for the, what if.  We land and mike commends me for that landing, and then we take back off to come home to KVNY.  We initially climbed to 4500 to stay above other airspace, and once at KEMT we started our descent to 2500 to stay below the outer ring of Burbank at 3000’.  Contact Burbank about 5 miles out and request westbound transition to KVNY.  They vector me in for a left base for runway 16R.  Then hand me off to KVNY just before the Budweiser factory, and I get cleared to land on runway 16R.  Landing there was awesome too.  Good airspeed, good glide slope.  The airplane was flying the approach by itself without me intervening.  I set it up and didn't really touch anything except to round out and flare.


Mike liked my progress through the flight and liked how i kept within PTS limits during the hood work.  I'm suppose to do one more night flight tomorrow, and do some additional hood work so i get my requirements close to being complete.  We are also suppose to land at Burbank.  This will be my first time landing at a class c airport.  I did some reading on this, and it is practically the same thing, except i have to contact approach control and they will hand me off to tower to land.  So it's not too much different than a normal flight into a class D airspace.  Then i have my last long xcountry the Sunday after that.  Stay tuned!

Long Cross Country Solo 154NM

This past weekend I did my Long XCountry Solo.  It was a wonderful experience, and shows me, that I can be pilot in command and navigate just about anywhere I want with little to no problem.  It shows me that on the fly I can come up with other plans of action, and be able to find information quickly and accurately. 

The morning of my flight, I was planned to go from KVNY, and fly to the FIM VOR, then to the RZS VOR.  This would bring me right by Santa Ynez.  Then I would fly off the RZS VOR and once at Santa Maria, would turn north and head to the Paso Roblos (KPRB) airport to land.  Then I would take back off, and go back to Santa Maria, and land for lunch.  Then I would take back off and fly back to RZS -> FIM -> KVNY.  Pretty simple and normal flight plan I had for the trip.

There was still some overcast/fog on the route, since it was near the coast.  KIZA was forecasting overcast until noon.  And my flight was at 10:30.  I needed to be back by 4 and my flight was planned to take 1 ½ hour each way with a lunch in there somewhere.  So leaving at noon was not going to cut it.

Upon talking with mike for my briefing, he had something completely different in mind, but it worked out for the best, because it allowed me to leave for the destination and miss the overcast marine layer completely.  He wanted me to go towards Bakersfield and then fly north, then track over west to KPRB, then go to KSMX, and then back to KVNY.  This would take me over the desert, which was clear now, and leave more time for the marine layer to dissipate while I was on my way to Paso Roblos.  He said to follow the 5 freeway to the grapevine to get over to Bakersfield, and told me I would need to be at 8,500 to clear the mountains there. 

I quickly got to work to get a new flight plan in order.  My new proposed route would take me from KVNY, to VPLMM (Magic Mountain).  Then I would follow the 5 freeway over to the Gorman VOR, then would track from the Gorman VOR to L17 (Taft-Kern Co), then to the AVE VOR, then I would track west to KPRB.  This route looks good and promising. 

I get all the calculations together and show it to mike.  He likes it.  He suggested I take this route there, and then use my other flight plan for the return route, just reserve it.  The new route was 154 NM and had landing at a controlled and uncontrolled airport.  It had 3 landings total, and with one of the legs greater than 50 miles as well.  This would definitely qualify as the long xcountry trip for the PPL requirements.

Shortly after I get handed the keys and start my preflight inspection.  Half way through, mike comes over, we talk for a few minutes, then he tells me to text him at each airport, and when I get back to KVNY, and to call him if I have any questions or issues.  He is now gone, and it’s just me, KVNY, and N889LB.  During the preflight, we only had 6 quarts of oil, and since this was going to be a long xcountry, I added a quart just to be on the safe side.  The plane looked good other than that.  I get in and get situated. 

I purchase a little GoPro type camera so I can film my landings.  Only problem is, I mounted it pointed to high up, so in the video you see the top of the propeller, and that’s it.  All of the video is like that too.  None of it is useful, and you never really see the ground in the video.  Even on the landings.  So I had to scrap the video, and use the pics that I took.  Next trip, I will definitely have it mounted correctly so you can see what I see.  Not just blue sky the entire time.

I get cleared for takeoff for a right downwind departure.  I get up in the air, and get on the downwind.  Mind you I need to stay below 2,500 until out of Burbank airspace.  Then I initiate a climb to get up to 8,500 before I get to the mountains.  It takes about 15 minutes to get up to 8,500’.  As I climb, I contact SoCal Approach and request flight following to KPRB.  Write down squawk frequencies, change altimeter, and many other things while im climbing.  The trim makes this easy.  Trim for 74 knot climb speed, and frequently glance at the airspeed, and vertical speed indicator, along with OUTSIDE.  ALWAYS LOOK OUTSIDE!!!  This will make it to where you can do other things you need to do, while still in a climb.

Almost to pyramid lake, I get a call from Bakersfield Approach, “Skyhawk 9er lima bravo, are you familiar with the TFR over Gorman currently?”  CRAP.  I forgot to call for a weather briefing on the new route before I left.  CRAP!  Now I feel like a moron.  I reply, “Uhhh, That’s a negative for 9er lima bravo, was not aware of the TFR”.  They give me the details and were nice enough to vector me around the TFR.  I look on the G1000 and sure enough, there is the TFR.  I almost screwed up.  GOOD THING I WAS ON FLIGHT FOLLOWING!  They not only give you traffic advisories, they saved me from getting a F16 off my wing.  I have to track a bit east to stay out of it, but no problem.  Once past I get told to resume own navigation.

So lesson learned there.  ALWAYS CALL FOR UPDATED ROUTE BRIEFING.  Also, Flight Following is a savior.  I love flying with flight following.  They have multiple times helped me out as a student pilot, with my cross country trips.  The also help to clear you through airspace you would normally need to avoid.  They give updated altimeter settings.  I think I will always use flight following when in route.

I fly to L17 in no time, using landmarks as references and marking my location on the map.  On my way I did a little test situation, where I was lost and did not know where I was.  So I used the AVE VOR along with the EHF VOR to find out where it was.  I tuned in each VOR, and then moved the OBS knob until I got a reading of from with a centered needle.  Then I would note the course and draw that on my map.  Then I did the same thing with the other VOR.  Within a minute, I can tell that I am roughly on the 196 degree outbound from EHF and the 116 degree outbound from AVE, or at the “TAFTO” intersection.  That would put me about 6 miles east of L17. 

While flying before I used the VOR’s to find my location, I leaned the engine to 100 degree ROP (Rich of Peak).  It took me 3 minutes to get it just right, as I have been reading TONS of articles on leaning the engine and engine ops in general.  I didn’t want to hurt the engine, so I feel 100 ROP is a good number to properly cool the engine, give it the needed power just in case, and prevent detonation.  I fly the G1000 NAV iii with EGT and CHT for each cylinder.  Although the manufacturer recommends 50 LOP (Lean of Peak), I feel uncomfortable going LOP as you lose a little power, and it just doesn’t have the “umph” it should.  I would rather run a little rich as well, just in case I descent and forget to set the mixture right away, I don’t want the engine to quit because of the lack of fuel to air ratio.  It cost a little more fuel, but you gain additional power, and airspeed from the richer mixture rather than LOP. Back to the flight.

I then get handed off to LA Center.  I switch over and make the radio call to check in, and wait with no reply.  I wait about 2 or 3 minutes, and then I make another call.  “LA Center, Skyhawk 889er lima bravo, with you, 8 thousand 5 hundred”.  Then I wait 2 or 3 minutes with no reply again.  I then switch back to Bakersfield to verify I have the correct frequency which they verify that I do.  I switch back over, and wait 2 or 3 minutes, then make another call.  Then I hear some faint, static.  I wait another minute, and I hear the crackle of someone saying “lima bravo, how are you hearing this transmission?”  I wait a second to make sure it’s for me and no one else, then reply “889er lima bravo, can hear you now, load and clear”.  Maybe I was in a bad reception spot, or maybe the radios were weird in that area.  But I guess they heard me, I just couldn’t hear them.  They advise me they have radar contact and give me the altimeter setting.  I continue to fly towards AVE VOR. 

Once at AVE, I already have the ASOS for KPRB loaded, and have the current conditions.  Runway 19 is in use.  I turn towards the airport, and start my descent.  I need to lose 6500’ and AVE is 30 miles away from KPRB.  So I start the descent once passing over KPRB.  But I start a shallow descent.  Since I am in no rush I loose altitude.  I set the RPM’s back to about 2200 and start a 300-400 FPM descent.  I descend for about 5-10 minutes.  This gets me to exactly pattern altitude of 1800’ by the time I ready to enter the pattern.  I have already been listening to CTAF and have made multiple calls by this time.  I enter on the 45 for left traffic runway 19.  There were multiple other people in the pattern, yet, I had no trouble getting into the pattern.  I announced my position on entry to 45, on downwind, base, and final.  The landing here was awesome.  Touched right before the 1000’ markers and got off at the 2^nd taxiway.  I flew in the ground effect for a little before touchdown, and I was a little flat on touchdown, but all in all I will take that as a good, nice, controlled landing.

I taxied back to the active runway 19.  Held short for landing traffic, then announce I’m taking position on the runway, and then depart the runway for a straight out departure.   I climb up to 5500’ as the trip over to KSMX was not that far.  It is only 47 miles from KPSB to KSMX.  I chose the altitude as there is a wilderness area that I need to stay 2000’ above and the altitude of that is 3000’.  I start to descent when L52 was directly off of my right wing, roughly 15 miles.  I needed to lose 4000’ so this seems correct.  I contact KSMX 10 miles out and announce I’m inbound for landing.  They tell me to advise them when abeam the tower, and to enter right traffic, runway 30. 

There was no one else at the airport.  They were quiet, and no aircraft in the pattern.  I entered on the 45 on the downwind leg.  Advised tower when I was abeam, and I was cleared to land runway 30.  I flew a normal pattern, yet the landing was a little wonky.  When I landed, it felt like I was bouncing up and down, rapidly, but only an inch or two off the ground.  I’m not sure if this was the landing, or maybe the runway surface had a few bumps in it, but it caught me off guard.  I do know, I did come in a little steep on this landing, as I had about a 600 FPM descent rate, and had to pull back a little more than normal when flaring to suppress the sink rate.  Maybe I did bounce a little a few times while trying to put her down.  After the first or second, I started trying to pull back more to prevent the nose wheel from being part of the bounce, but it seemed the elevators did not do anything, as I was already slowed down, and the nose wheel was already on the ground.  I taxied off the runway to transient parking, shut her down, and we to get something to eat as I was hungry and my stomach was yelling at me. 

The restaurant at KSMX is pretty good.  You need to leave the airport via a gate by the terminal, and then walk into the terminal to get to the restaurant.  There is no way to get to it from inside the airport.  You cannot walk past a certain point.  There is no pedestrian access past the gate to get out of the airport.  I got 3 tacos, and some soup.  The soup was really good and the tacos were decent.  Nothing fancy, but I give it 3 out of 5 stars.  Once I was done, I needed to get back into the airport.  Luckily there were 2 airport police officers in the restaurant.  I advised my waitress I needed to get back into the airport and she informed the police officers.  They escorted me into the airport, then back to the plane.  I checked fuel, just to monitor how much fuel I had vs. what I had planned for the trip.  I did a walk around of the plane, and checked the oil. 

Got her started up and back into the air.  I asked for a right downwind departure, but they approved me for a left downwind departure.  Ok.  I was ok with that, as that kept me out of other people’s way.   I then returned to my normal flight plan, and navigated via VOR’s to come back to KVNY.  On the way there was a layer of smoke from the fire at Agua Dulce that was sitting about the altitude I was at.  It then filled the cabin and the smell of fire/smoke/burning was soon very strong.  It also cut down on the visibility.  I was started to wonder if KVNY would be ok to land at.  I turned in the ATIS once I was able to, and got the weather.  They still had good visibility and were still VFR.  As I was flying I see an aircraft pass in front of me, probably 500’ in front and a hundred feet below me, and it happened out of nowhere after I had become somewhat complacent.   Just after that, SoCal approach chimes in and lets me know about the traffic.  I could hear some alarm or beeping going off in the background, which is probably the alarm for aircraft that have a separation conflict.  I reply and let them know I see the traffic.  I wish I would have had more notice though, although I know those guys are busy and FF is a Load Permitting service by ATC. 

It took me a little get back into Van Nuys, but I landed and taxied the plane to Maguire north to its home.  The landing at KVNY was a nice good landing.  Tied her down, got her all locked up, and returned the key to the class room.  Upon returning to my house, I called Mike and we talked about the flight and future plans for flights.  He was happy with the trip, and was happy it was easy for me to handle.  I told him about the radio going out and the plane crossing directly in front of me.  He brought up a good point.  Even though you’re on FF, your still need to look outside the airplane, as it’s your responsibility to see and avoid traffic and other obstacles.  We talked about my next xcountry solo to get me my 10 hours of required solo time.  We then talked about the night xcountry that we are doing this upcoming Friday. 

We are going to KAPV on Friday weather permitting, on a night xcountry.  These will fulfill my night requirements.  Once I do the xcountry to L08 (Borrego Valley), that will fulfill my solo requirements.  Then it’s brushing up on my skills, and then my check ride shortly thereafter. 

More to come soon!

Long XCountry Solo Update - Weather Blog

My long cross country solo got rained out today.  There were 10 thunderstorm cells throughout the route.  Once i got to Van Nuys, the sky was growling.  After getting an updated WX brief, i did not like or feel comfortable with the conditions.  It was VFR from what everything was showing as the thunderstorm base was at 10000'.  But with the rain, downdrafts, and wind associated with the storms, as well as lightning, i felt as if it was in my and the planes best interest to not make the flight.  There was also a mention of hail.  No good for me.  I don't want to get near that.  I would prefer to be on the ground, wishing i was in the air.  Rather than be in the air, wishing i was on the ground.  So as PIC i made the decision to hold off until the WX improves.  


Thunderstorms result from the rapid upward movement of warm, moist air. They can occur inside warm, moist air masses and at fronts. As the warm, moist air moves upward, it cools, condenses, and forms cumulonimbus clouds that can reach heights of over 20 km. As the rising air reaches its dew point, water droplets and ice form and begin falling the long distance through the clouds towards the Earth's surface. As the droplets fall, they collide with other droplets and become larger. The falling droplets create a downdraft of air that spreads out at the Earth's surface and causes strong winds associated with thunderstorms.

Thunderstorms can generally form and develop in any geographic location, perhaps most frequently within areas located at mid-latitude when warm moist air collides with cooler air. Thunderstorms are responsible for the development and formation of many severe weather phenomena. Thunderstorms, and the phenomena that occur along with them, pose great hazards to populations and landscapes. Damage that results from thunderstorms is mainly inflicted by downburst winds, large hailstones, and flash flooding caused by heavy precipitation. Stronger thunderstorm cells are capable of producing tornadoes and waterspouts.


Here are the charts for weather for today.  As you can see from using the charts below, you can get a general idea of whats happening in each of them.  They will help us to put together an overview of the current conditions and what is going on.

From this chart, we can gather that the area's in orange with the weird looking 'R' are: A forecast containing the area(s) of expected thunderstorm occurrence and expected severity over the contiguous United States, issued several times daily by the SPC (Storm Prediction Center).


The red ones are: Weather advisories concerning convective weather significant to the safety of all aircraft, and are issued for tornadoes, lines of thunderstorms, embedded thunderstorms of any intensity level, areas of thunderstorms greater than or equal to VIP level 4 with an area coverage of 4/10 (40%) or more, and hail 3/4 inch or greater.


So from this chart, you can see that LA, and most of Southern California has thunderstorms right now.  (As I just jumped from the sound of thunder shaking my house).  Maybe a good call on not flying today.

From this chart, we can see the thunderstorm cells that i would encounter if i would have continued the flight.  They are spread out along the cost and inland.  You can see the intensity of some getting in the yellow and orange.  I would not want to be in any of these, with the associated downdrafts, turbulence, and a number of other things, i would like to stay away from.  Also since they are scattered, it shows me that the air that is over us is very unstable over a large region of the state, and the country for that fact.  Getting a weather briefing confirmed my belief.

 From this chart, we can see the general direction and vicinity of the thunderstorms.  The storms stay to the right of the green lines, and move in the direction that the arrow is pointing.  We can see it will have a circular track.  If we look at the 2nd chart down from this one, we can see why it has a pattern like this.  The low pressure systems spiral to the left, and high pressure to the right. Low pressure systems are generally associated with bad weather, and high pressure with good weather.  As you can see the thunderstorms are where the low pressure systems are current at.

This chart shows the 6 hour accumulation of precipitation, along with the current pressure isobars.  If you look at the isobars, you also see why the storms will move the way that is predicted in the convective outlook above.  It will move along the edges of the isobars. Wind flow patterns aloft follow isobars or contours where friction has little effect, and the storms are moved by the winds aloft.  So this will also give us a hint of the general path of the storms.

This chart shows the Surface Weather, and the different pressure systems that are moving though the US.  As you can see from this chart, the low pressure systems currently have thunderstorms associated with them, and the high pressure system has no storms associated. The 2 low pressure systems far left pull the storms up on their right side, the low pressure system above those pulls it to the right under it.  Once it gets close the high pressure systems in the middle, they get pulled towards the high pressure system and downwards and then to the right under the bottom high pressure system.

This is current flight conditions thoughout the US.  As you can see most of the country including where the thunderstorms are, are currently showing VFR conditions.  


Technically i could have gone to fly.  But as PIC i made the decision to not go.  Conditions associated with thunderstorms include, downdrafts, lighting, rain, hail, icing, poor visibility and turbulence.  None of these i want to have to deal with.  This is part of ADM.  Aeronautical Decision Making.  It is a very important part of aviation.


I would rather not risk my life or the plane just for a weekend flight.  Even if the weather and conditions are showing VFR, you need to do your research or you could get caught in a really bad situation. Use the internet, use 1800-WX-BRIEF, use DUAT/DUATS, and call the ATIS/ASOS/AWOS.  This will prepare you and allow you to get a bigger, better picture of what is going on with regards to the weather, and what it is going to do.  


Sure i could have gone to fly.  But the thunderstorms are moving in the same direction that i was planned to fly.  So i would have flown into them, or when i landed to get something to eat, they would have crept up and hit me by surprise.  Always make sure you have a COMPLETE PICTURE, of the conditions and what the weather is going to do, before you go out.  You should also expect it to do what you don't want it to do.  So have alternates, and ways out.


Here are some sites that will help you get a complete weather briefing.


http://www.aopa.org/wx/#
http://aviationweather.gov/std_brief/
http://www.pilotweatherbriefing.com/
http://duats.com/
https://www.duat.com/http://maps.avnwx.com/

I also have Foreflight for the iPad and let me tell you this program is sweet.  It cost a little bit of money ($75/yr for ForeFlight HD) but it gives you so much and more.  If you have an iPad or iPhone, and you are a pilot, or student pilot, this app will cut down on your workload and research that needs to be done. It is truly one impressive app.  Nothing out there can come close to this program in terms of planning flights.  Their website is: http://www.foreflight.com/


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Flight to KPSP

Mike contacted me on Thursday, to change the flight plan we had to go to Montgomery Field (KMYF).  He wanted to go to Palm Springs since it's away from the coast and we we do not have to worry about the marine layer in the morning.  So i re planned the flight to go from KVNY, to the sepulveda basin.  Then through Burbank class C airspace to El Monte (KEMT).  To the POM VOR inbound on 080 degree heading.  Once over POM fly the 085 degree outbound heading, to Banning Pass.  This was the TOD (Top of Descent).  I planned us to fly at 5500', as to pass over any busy airspace and since we are going to the east this is the correct altitude.  Then once pass the Banning pass, we would turn to the right towards KPSP.

This morning i called for a flight brief at 8am and they reported IFR along the way, but the marine layer was going to burn off throughout the day.  Our route was right at the edge of the marine layer, so i was informed that we should "Probably" be ok.  But of course as PIC i had to decide.  Once i got to the Van Nuys, the visibility was 3 miles, in haze.  But the route along the flight was very similar.  The marine layer was 900-1500 so it was a shallow marine layer.  So we made the call to continue, as it was warming up and conditions would just be improving from here on out.

During the briefing, mike liked my flight plan, but he brought up a good point.  If we were to fly to the POM VOR as i planned, yes we would be above the Ontario Class C airspace, and we would be legal to fly this, but we would by flying in line with the departure/arrivals into and out of Ontario.  While 500 feet above their airspace, we could do this, but why make it harder for others by being in the way?  Mike asked why i did this.  I had a valid reason, as i did not want to inner fear with the Class C airspace for March Field (KRIV) which comes up to 5500 which is what altitude we were planned to fly at.  I wanted to stay out of this area.  He asked if we were going to get flight following and i said yes. I was planning on contacting clearance delivery on the ground at KVNY.  He told me if we had flight following, we could fly though this.  It was right then i remembered that exact same thing as we would be on with socal departure.  Mike said it comes with experience of areas, but to try and stay away from areas of extreme congestion like the lines to and from a big busy airport.  

This makes total sense.  I cant believe i forgot about that.  So we decided we would fly and have flight following tell us to deviate to the north or south of the field.  We now have our flight plan down and ready to go.  So mike orders a top off of the fuel and i start my preflight.  Preflight takes about 10 minutes and we were ready to go and with full fuel.  I estimated it would take us 55 minutes out there and use 12 gallons of fuel by my calculations taking into considering temperature, density altitude, winds, and climb to altitude. 

I contact Clearance Delivery on 126.6.  "Van Nuys clearance delivery, skyhawk N889LB".  I hear back "889LB clearance delivery go ahead".  I chime in, "Clearance Delivery, 889LB would like to request flight following to Palm Springs, type is 172 slant golf, flying at 5,500".  A second later i hear, "889LB cleared direct to encino reservoir, before turning to Griffith observatory, cleared up to 5 thousand 5 hundred, contact soCal Departure prior to entering class charlie airspace, squawk 4651".  I repeat exactly what i heard, back as i am using the CRAFT acronym.  That is:

C: Clearance

R: Route

A: Altitude

F: Frequency

T: Transponder Code

I contact ground and taxi to the runway.  Perform run up and contact tower for clearance for takeoff.  Within a minute we were up in the air climbing to our 5500' altitude.  When almost to the reservoir, we were handed off to socal departure, who told us, to resume our own navigation, so we did not need to fly to the reservoir and the observatory.  We headed straight for KEMT.  On the way mike wanted to make sure i knew how the Auto Pilot (AP) worked.  Good thing i played with it during the last solo.  So he wanted me to make the AP climb to altitude and keep us on course. Easy.  Press the NAV button on the garmin screen in front of me to center the marker on our heading, set the altitude on the auto pilot unit, turn the AP on.  This sets it to ROL mode that keeps the wings level. I press the ALT button then press it again to bring up the VS setting, set 200 for a 200 FPM climb, then hit ARM, to set and arm the AP to climb to 5500.  Then i press the HDG button to set the AP to track the current highlighted heading.  Done!

We soon reach our set altitude, and now it was just tracking time, from checkpoint to checkpoint.  Recording time, making sure we are on correct speed, course.  Making sure we are hitting our checkpoints.  So far we were only 1 minute off of our time.  We had a ground speed of 114-116 knots, and that's exactly has a figured at 2500 RPMS at 5500 feet.  Right about KEMT we were asked to fly to the north of Ontario, so i made a heading correction using the heading knob.  Once intercepting the 210 freeway, i made another heading change to follow the freeway, and we tracked along the freeway for a little while.  Well away from Ontario.  

A few hand offs to other frequencies, along the trips, but most of the other time was spent, making our location on the map every few landmarks, tracking time, looking for traffic, and monitoring the engine, AP, and ATC.  Alot of sight seeing.  We were told that we would loose reception and to contact approach on the other side of the pass.  The radio then went silent..  Now over Banning (KBNG), we begin our decent.  Banning is about 16 miles away from Palm Springs, and we needed to be at 1500' for the traffic pattern.  We are at 5500 feet.  So 5500 - 1500 = 4000.  4 x 3 = 12.  12 + 3 = 15.  So banning is a good point to start.  We fly between two peaks that go up to 11000 feet.  We follow the highway though, trying to keep a good distance away from each side of the pass.  We begin to see the windmills EVERYWHERE.  They take up so much landscape out there in the pass.

As we descend, we knew before flying into this that the density altitude was high today.  So we did not want to set the mixture to full rich.  We wanted to keep it leaned out just a bit so we did not choke the engine.  Performed the pre landing checklist, and contacted approach who sent us left traffic runway 31.  By the time we got abeam the tower, we received the clearance to land.  Flew a PERFECT pattern.  We touched down a little earlier than i wanted, and we had some excess speed when we touched down.  The plane wanted to stay on the ground though.  No bounce, no hard hit.  It sat down and wanted to stay, but it overall was a 8 out of 10 for a landing, including pattern.  We were off the flight plan by 2 minutes total.  NICE.  We asked for a taxi back because they charge a fee if you get out of the plane.  So we taxied back to runway 31L and were cleared to take off once i ensured no traffic was on final by visual inspection.  

I increase the mixture just a little bit to add a little extra gas to the engine, as we are about to take off, and it's hot so we don't want the engine to get too hot, and we want to give just a little bit more power when taking off.  Hit 55 knots.  Rotate.  We take off but slowly.  Only about 300 FPM climb until we were about 1000' off the ground.  Then it increased drastically.  We were at about 600-700 FPM once we gained some altitude  .  Same as coming in, we were handed off to departure, and told we would loose reception through the pass. Get the other freq ready and just fly while climbing to our cruise of 6500'.  Once over banning we were just about at our cruise.  I contacted socal departure and checked in.  At 6500' i set the AP to ROL and ALT HOLD mode.  

Perform cruise checklist.  I then do some landing math.  Need to determine when to descend to get back to Van Nuys.  About 16 miles out.  Set the plane up, and begin the usual, scan for traffic, scan instruments, follow on map, with tick marks to signify where we are on our route, using visual checkpoints.  Mike told me he was going to be quiet the whole trip and watch me fly back "SAFELY" and "LEGALLY".  So the trip was just talking to ATC, being handed off, tracking position.  I set our course to be to the north of Ontario again, since it would make our trip a little easier.  And it keeps us WELL away from Bravo airspace.  

We were handed off a few time and no real traffic advisories.  We get one half way between Ontario and El Monte.  We could not see the traffic.  So we were asked to climb to 7000'.  So we perform our climb.  Then another traffic advisory.  We were told to keep at 7000 feet.  So i recalculate our decent as we are coming up on KEMT.  7000 - 2000 = 5000.  5x3 = 15.  15 + 5 = 20. KEMT is 23 miles away, so we  begin our descent after KEMT.  We are told to be 3000 or below by the 5 freeway.  So we have to begin a steep descent at 800 - 1000 FPM descent.  While keeping speed at a reasonable range, we were about 1900 RPM's.  We got down to 3000' by the outer shelf of Burbank, on the KEMT side.

Stop our descent at 2500 feet and we were handed off to Burbank.  Burbank turns us north towards the airport, for traffic departing.  They then bring us on the east side of the airport over runway 26.  then turn us to the west over runway 15.  And send us that way over to Van Nuys.  I have never been this way and neither has my instructor, but it was cool.  We flew over by Whiteman (KWHP), before being handed off to Van Nuys.  Contacted Van Nuys and we were cleared to land on runway 16R.  We needed to get down quick as there was someone behind us and someone had a IFR flight plan that only had a window for them to take off.  So we performed almost a short field landing.  Touched right at the numbers, and got off on the second taxiway.  (I didn't want to land it hard and bounce and take up more runway, so i tried to bring it down softly, and slowly).  We got off the runway, and taxied back to Maguire North.  We get cleared to taxi to parking, so we taxi over, get the plane in it's spot.  Tie her down.  Lock her up and walk to the class room for a debriefing.

Mike said overall, awesome flight.  Everything was spot on.  He said the landing at PSP was a little flat and fast, but overall not a bad landing.  He also suggested next time to start the descent a little earlier, so we dont have to descend at 1000 FPM, but he understand the circumstances we had with being Asked to climb to 7000.  But he said other than that, perfect flight, very smooth, the patterns are perfect, and have been perfect since the landings kinda just snapped.  After checking fuel, my flight plan was close.  But we did have a tail wind coming back, and i didn't do a flight plan for coming back.  56 Gallons total in the tanks.  12 there and 12 back is what i figured. We had 35 gallons remaining.  So that tail wind helped to not eat as much fuel and push us there.

Next week i am going out of town and mike will be in New York.  So that works out perfectly.  The weekend after that, i am going into the pattern for 1 or 2 landings with mike to ensure i didn't forget how to land, then a solo to L71.  California City over in the Mohave Desert.  We already flew there once already, so it should be a pretty easy flight.  But this time i will be by myself.