Diversions (KEMT, KFUL, KCPM, KTOA, KVNY)

This past weekend, since I could not fly on Saturday because of the thunderstorms, Mike contacted me Sunday morning, and asked if I wanted to fly.  “I would love to” I replied.  So I get dressed, as he woke me up with the phone call, and got all my stuff, and left to go to the airport.  Good thing the airport is only 15 minutes away from my house.  This made it easy to get there quickly so we had enough time in the air.  The sky was a little hazy, but not really any clouds like there was the day before.  It was a little breezy but not much.  A nice temperature considering what occurred the day before.

At the airport, mike tells me we are going be practicing diversions.  He asked for my TAC chart, and started to look over it.  He said he was going to give me a harder course than he gives his other students, mainly because he is confident I can do it, and he wanted to see how I did under pressure.  He didn’t disclose any information to me about the flight, where we were going, planned to go, altitudes, nothing.  He simply said.  We are flying towards bracket (KPOC).  I was a little nervous, but I knew what to do, and what to look for, and thank god I had the Garmin G1000 in front of me for this.  It made it 100% easier than I expected.  Although it was still a little difficult to perform what mike wanted, while staying safe and legal, in the small amount of time I had.

We get airborne, and once outside Burbank, we get put on flight following.   Just then mike says, “Ohh dude.  I don’t feel so well, so land at the next closest airport”.  I look on my TAC just to ensure it was El Monte (KEMT) and yes it was.  I have landed here many times before.  This should be easy.  I use the G1000 to pull up nearest airports.  Cursor on KEMT hit enter, and then BAM! Frequencies are displayed for us.  Along with a lot of other airport information that is needed.  While pulling up the info, I contact SoCal and request to cancel flight following.  They approve and tell me to squawk 1200.  I perform this, then i tune in El Monte tower, and they are non-stop on the radio.  So we have to stay just out of their airspace.  For about 5 minutes, I am flying right on the edge of their airspace.  Finally I get a radio call in.  “El Monte tower, Skyhawk 88 niner lima bravo, 5 to the north, inbound for landing, negative weather”. The controller comes back and gives me all of the weather.  SWEET! I was just expecting an altimeter setting and the wind.  Then they tell us to turn final, and we are cleared to land.  We turn right towards the runway and begin our descent down to the runway.

Half way to the runway, the controller comes on and tells us to turn right base.  I chime in and say “niner lima bravo is on final”.  She then comes back and corrects the announcement for an aircraft ending in 9LT instead of 9LB.  We land and taxi back to the active once we were on the ground.  Awesome landing! A few moments later while taxing, mike tells me where we are going.  So I stop at the hold short bars, and glance back.  No once behind us, and someone turning final 5 miles out.  We have a moment for me to look at the charts and see how we are going to get to Santa Ana (KSNA).   We need to climb to 3500 and maintain to keep out of Fullerton (KFUL), and stay under the class bravo above us.  And we need to be this high, as the route brings up over Disneyland, and the TFR is 2000’ AGL.  We would be well over this.

We get cleared to takeoff and we do.  We begin our climb to get over the hill that is just south of KEMT.  Once we reach our cruising altitude, mike breaks the silence “Dude, my stomach again.  Need to stop at closet airport NOW!”  Ok.  Use the G1000 to find the nearest airport and it is Fullerton.  I check my chart just to verify and sure enough.  I start an immediate descent.  I get the frequencies for Fullerton, and contact them just 2 or 3 miles before entering their airspace.  They clear us to land and give us altimeter setting along with wind, due to my “Negative Weather” comment.  Good for when you need to get down fast and don’t have time to get ATIS, AWOS, ASOS at controlled airports.  We were high when we were cleared to land runway 24, so I had to practically cut the power, and slip it the entire pattern to loose altitude.  We were at 2500, pattern at Fullerton is 1100, and had to lose 1000+ feet in the pattern just to be at pattern altitude.  Then need to lose another 1000’ to land on the runway.  We extended downwind just a bit to help, and we touched right at the numbers on touchdown.  Sweet!  Landing #2 perfect. 

Mike then says we need to go to an uncontrolled airport, and tells me to go west.  I look at the airspace, and its altitudes, and it seems at 4500 as long as we stay out of the class bravo from 5000 up, we could get over Los Alamitos and Long beach airspace with no problem.  So that’s what we do.  As I look at the chart I see only once uncontrolled airport over to the west and that’s Compton (KCPM).  So I know where we are going from here.  Once almost through long beach, mike asks me if I know what airport I’m going to.  I said yes.  He says, well, that’s why I mentioned it’s uncontrolled; to see if you could put 2 and 2 together.  Using any and all information, to draw the bigger picture always helps.  As we get almost out of long beach’s airspace I start my descent, contact the CTAF and announce my intentions. 

I knew what runway to land on because of the other diversions I was performing that day.  Each one so far has been landing on runway 2* except for El Monte which was 19.  Compton has two parallel runways (Weird for uncontrolled but ok).  So we chose 25L as our runway.  A little scary as on the CTAF a few times we just hear, inbound for landing 25.  So we over flew the airport, looked for traffic, turned south west until over the blimp to resolve a traffic advisory, and then turned back to the left pattern for runway 25L.  We entered at the 45 and started the downwind leg.  Announce position on base and final.  Landing was a little after the numbers but smooth landing.  The plane wanted to stay in the ground effects on this landing.  So we floated for a little, and then touched down nice and soft.  Landing #3 perfect. 

We taxi back and hold at the hold short lines.  Check behind us and no one there.  Mike then says he wants to go check out the blimp a bit more.  So we take back off, and turn towards the blimp, we circle once or twice, and mike says “Dude, I’m not feeling so hot.  Land to the south west at the nearest airport“. I use the G1000 and see Torrance (KTOA) airport, and verify on my TAC chart.  Ok.  Good.  Contact Torrance and get cleared to land on runway 29R.  We extend our downwind to lose some altitude, and then come in on a perfect glideslope.  Touch right at the 1000’ markers, and turn off at the first taxiway.  Landing #4 perfect.  We had a lot of runway to go to reach a taxiway.  Once off the runway, we had to taxi back to the active.  This is a feat at this bigger airport.  They had taxiways everywhere.  But I managed to get through it no problem.  While taxiing we saw a piper with a dog in the copilot’s chair.  I guess in his case dog is his copilot. 

There were some people behind us so we could not sit at hold short bars and look at the charts, so we pulled into the run-up, as mike told me he wanted to go home.  He wanted to go home on the Special Flight Rules Area over LAX.  Sure I though.  I have done this a bunch of times already.  So we planned for a right downwind, while climbing, then extend the downwind, and once at 4500’ or just about, turn towards the North West and pick up the 312 degree inbound heading to the SMO VOR.  Transmit to corridor traffic on 128.55 and squawk 1201, and put on all lights.  Once out of the corridor we will descend to stay below the Burbank airspace at 3000’.  Get ATIS from KVNY and contact tower on 119.3.  They hand me off to 120.2 for the east side of the airport.  We get cleared to land #3 after a Cherokee.  We see him turn base and then final.  We are cleared to land with a jet landing on the opposite runway.  Soon the jet and I are neck and neck and he is beating me to the runway.  I do not want to get his wake anywhere near the airplane, so I elect to go around.  This was a super quick go around, as the controller advised me to climb to PA while executing turn to the left to intercept the downwind leg.  Then do a descending turn onto base, and continue my approach.  Within 1 minute we were back on the base. 

I have never got this before but it was cool.  Mike said he has never seen that either.  We come in on glideslope and come in for the smoothest landing that day.  Mike told me he was amazed at how far I have come within a few months.  (I know exactly what he is talking about.  It’s because I’m confident in the airplane now.  It’s an extension of me when I am flying.)  That and I have a good instructor.  THANKS MIKE!!!

Our day came to an end after tying down the plane, and going for our de briefing.  Mike said he was extremely impressed with the entire flight.  I had situational awareness, knew how to get around, in the muck of the airspace in LA.  Up over and under airspace, and the entire time I knew where the plane was, was in front of the plane, and had the tools and resources that I needed to get exactly what was thrown at me done.  Mike was happy with that, and said this upcoming weekend I should be able to do my long cross country solo to KSMX and KPRB.

First Night Flight

Yesterday was my first night flight.  I got to Van Nuys at 7:30pm, and Mike and I went for out for our briefing.  I had already received weather.  Oxnard was IFR but the marine layer was suppose to stay on the coast.  Camarillo is where we were initially planned to go.  It was suppose to be clear there until 10.  You don't always get what you plan!!!

After preflight we got the airplane started and taxied to the run up area.  The inside of the cockpit was dimly lit but just enough to see everything I needed, and not obscure or screw up my night view.  I do have to say, it is difficult to keep a balance of proper lighting in the cockpit.  The map light on the yoke only had one setting.  On and bright on.  It did not dim.  So when needed i would use that, but tried to limit the use of it.  It takes on a new look at night as does the land, sky, traffic, and flight.

There was no one at the airport, so it was quick to get around, and get up in the air.  Once cleared we got off the runway before the numbers.  The airplane had a lot more performance!!  You could feel the difference.  It was a bit more of a IFR departure as i was concentrating on the instruments to keep up and on course.  I could not see the mountains that i would normally see, so it was a little unnerving.  The city took on a beautiful new glow.  Filled with twinkles, hope, and uncertainly.

Mike and I started to talk about emergency landings, and asked would i rather land where the lights are, or in the dark?  I choose the lights.  As i can kinda see whats there, and there is something there.  Better than landing into just nothing.  Not knowing what's there.  Because you cant see mountains.  It just blackness.  The same with fields and flat land.  I would rather stay away from the darkness. I would rather not crash into the mountains.  Mike said he agrees.  Granted you know there may be a field down there.  But do you know where the power lines are?  Poles, Trees, Buildings?  No.  Not in the dark.

We got up to 4500', got the ATIS from KCMA, and once we tuned into KCMA tower we were informed that KCMA was now IFR conditions.  CRAP!!!  Its a good thing i already looked at the conditions at El Monte, because i sort of expected something like this to happen.  So i already knew that KEMT was clear and clear until 12 midnight local.  Here is my first diversion.  I initialed a turn towards KEMT, and climbed up to 5,500.  This will keep me above Burbank and any other airspace, except for LAX, but we were well away from LAX's airspace.

On the fly i had to get frequencies, Pattern Altitude, weather, look in the AFD, for lighting info.  It took a little work but i was able to get it all done.  It was a good crash course on diversions.  Although this was a simple diversion.  We have made this flight a hundred times.  Just not at night.

On our way we discussed a few things.  Started to plan for our way into El Monte.  Since we were going over Burbank we would need to chop and drop at the outer shelf of Burbank's airspace to make it into El Monte.  We were at 5500' and needed to be at 1300'.

Airports are also very difficult to see at night in all the lights.  The only way you see them initially is with the green and white rotating beacon.  If not for that you would pass the airport and not even know it.  El Monte has directional runway lights.  So unless you are at one of the ends of the runway you would not be able to see the runways.  But once you hit a certain angle the airports lights up and it's easy to see the blue/green/red/white lights in the sea of white and yellow lights.

We contact CTAF and announce position and someone is already about to land.  So they queued the lights before we got there.  We begin our long final at the same time they were clear of the runway.  We were about 5 miles north of the runway.  So our announcement "El Monte Traffic, Skyhawk 88 niner lima bravo, 5 to the north, turning long final, runway 19, el monte" was made on the turn to long final.  The first one was long as i didn't see where the airport was until almost the last minute.  The first landing was surprisingly perfect.  Mike was impressed.

In our briefing, he mentioned i would probably come down hard, as it's difficult to judge your distance to the runway when it's dark and black.  But i had no problems.  Didn't come down hard.  The little bit of landing lights helped me to judge the distance that we had between the runway and  the bottom of the plane.

We came to a complete stop on the runway, as we were landing as if it was short field, then did a short field takeoff.  (Since for night flight you must come to a complete stop for landing requirements.)  First one was perfect.  Then another, then another, then another.  We did 5 of these and each of them were perfect.  No comments from mike other than, "AWESOME landing dude".  I stayed above the glide slope the entire time, but used that to my advantage for the short field landings.  I would rather stay above glide slope and fly another circuit, than fly it to low, and bring our night of fun to a premature end thanks in part to a power line, or tree, or house.

After the fifth landing, Mike said he was happy with that and lets go back to Van Nuys.  He wanted to keep some of the landings for the night cross country we need to do by requirements to get my license.  But unannounced to me, Mike was going to make me have one of those bad landings.  Where you can not judge the height of the plane above the runway.

We come back to Van Nuys, and Mike on the downwind leg says, "Your landing, and taxi lights just burned out.  Bummer dude.  Have fun landing".  Ok.  This should be interesting.  The view of van nuys 16R at night takes it's own place in the book of beauty.  Once i saw what the runway looks like, i fell in love.  But back to the subject, the pattern was perfect.  Descent was perfect.  On glide slope.  Over the numbers (I didn't see the numbers but it's the green lights on the runway) i round out and flare and think im only inches above the runway.  We soon begin to fall further than i expected.  We were probably 2 - 3 maybe 4 or 5 feet above the runway when i thought we were inches.  The landing was safe, but hard.  It proved a valuable point which is what mike wanted to get through to me.  Even when you think your close. Your not.  Be cautious and use the side lights on the runway to help set you down.  Next is cross country to Montgomery field.