Interesting Flights

I'll use this page to record some interesting flights, as I progress through my Private Pilot training and after. I'll get GPS tracks and ATC records for some flights, if I can. I'll post pictures via Picasa:

Flying

Interestingly, you can get live feeds of air traffic control frequencies, and even archives of ATC conversations via www.liveatc.net. I looked up my first solo flight, and actually found the recordings. It is kind of hard to hear most of the planes, especially those on the ground, as I think that these recordings are made from ham radio volunteers (not necessarily in line-of-sight).

I made a couple of radio errors, so it is a little embarrassing. I flew N96575, a Cessna 172. My three takeoff/landings all happened between 10am and 10:30am (1700Z-1730Z) on Sunday August 23.

00:00 - clear for takeoff 96575
03:03 - clear to land
03:45 - resequencing, call base
04:55 - turn base
06:15 - cancel landing clearance  ?!?!
06:45 - clear to land
08:45 - say request, taxi 21

10:50 - clear for takeoff
13:50 - extend downwind, "call my downwind" ?!?!?
15:10 - clear to land
19:23 - contact ground

21:35 - clear for takeoff
24:45 - clear to land
28:30 - contact ground

03:03 - position and hold
04:14 - clear for takeoff
07:07 - clear to land, short approach (Tim)
09:33 - contact ground

Tower requested "fly through final approach" while I was on base on my first landing. I thought he meant to overfly the runway (through final), but he really meant to continue base (head north over 405/10 interchange) and then make a right 270 back to final. Because I turned torward the runway, he made me do a left 360.

13:33 - clear for touch-and-go
15:30 - "fly through final approach"  ?!?!?!
17:50 - maintain visual separation with citation

Solo touch-and-goes at SMO in 96575 (which has become my favorite 172, due to its GPS with traffic). Today was one of the first times I really felt comfortable by myself in the sky, and I did seven touch-and-goes (six were very good, one had a little bounce), one go-around (a short approach were I was too high), and one full stop. The first circle of the included the longest downwind that I've had so far, and I could actually see the Blue Whale. I was happy with the landings, and I think that the key is careful control of airspeed on the approach (especially short approach). Aiming for a speed slightly less than 65 knots helps. The ATC archive is here (starting while I was on an extended downwind on my first circle) and here.

Flight planning and trial cross-country southeast across Los Angeles, to Palomar airport, in Carlsbad (near San Diego and Legoland). It was dark at about 7:30pm, when we took off. We flew the Mini-Route from Santa Monica (2500 ft southwest) over the LAX Class B airspace (right over LAX runway). We kept Tower Enroute, climbed to 3500 ft, and followed the Seal Beach VOR across Long Beach. Southeast, over Dana Point, and then over the water (off-shore to avoid Camp Pendleton Marine Corp base military airspace). There was some fog west of the Palomar runway, but it wasn't a factor to land on runway 24. We taxiied around to (to 6) and took off in the opposite direction, and took a left downwind departure, climbing to 2500 ft. Picked up tower enroute from SoCal Approach as we turned over the ocean, turned inland around Dana Point, for John Wayne (Santa Ana) airport. That is a pretty busy place, even at 9pm, and we had to do two right 360's on our downwind, before following a Boeing 737 in to 19R. It wasn't so busy, though, because they let us do a touch-and-go back out. They gave us a Mini-Route clearance back to Santa Monica. LAX Tower made us descend to 2000 ft, due to other traffic in the Mini-Route. I ended up a bit low after entering the SMO pattern, and the tower was closed by that time, so I was a bit thrown off, and turned base a bit early. After a right 360 (quiet unattended field!), I managed to land it on 21.

Overall, it was a beautiful night to fly, and fairly quiet in the very busy Los Angeles basin airspace. The GPS track looks pretty good, although it seems a bit off at the Palomar Airport. There are plenty of visual references at night in Los Angeles, if you figure out what they are, but the ocean and even some of dark areas south require radio navigation. My total distance was 219 miles (190 nautical miles) with a max speed of 136 mph. It was about 9:30pm when we landed, so the total flight was about two hours. (Engine time was 2.5 hrs, on the hobbes.)

Finally! I was excited (apprehensive? nervous?) about the solo cross-country flight, and considered it the best way to build confidence and abilities (when I have to do EVERYTHING with no safety-net provided by the instructor). I had hoped to do this the previous weekend, but I could not get out due to fog north along the coast. This week, the fog burned off a little after 10am, and I had 76575 reserved until 3:30pm.

I took off at 10:50am from runway 21 at SMO, right turn at shoreline. I followed the shoreline north and west, climbing to 4500 ft (careful to stay out of the Class B airspace on the SMO VOR 252 radial). Near Pt Mugu, I called SoCal Approach to get flight following (always helpful for traffic advisories). Staying north of PCH, I flew over the Ventura VOR and then tracked the 289 radial up the coast. The 289 radial goes over the ocean along the coast, and when it intersected the ground, I changed course to overfly Santa Barbara airport. I continued to follow the coast until intersecting the Gaviota VOR 0 radial, which goes north directly to Santa Inez airport. Above Santa Inez, I turned to follow the 101 toward Santa Maria. (There was a Gulfstream coming into Santa Maria from behind me, and ATC directed me to turn a bit to the right for him to go past.) I made a straight-in approach to runway 30, and had no problem with the landing (<65 knots does the trick). I landed at 12:20pm, which was about 15 minutes off my flight plan... I think I used a Cessna 172R engine deck rather than a 172P, and I also think that it was a bit windier aloft than I had planned.

After a short break to check in with my instructor, I departed Santa Maria via runway 30, and flew over to Santa Inez airport. It is an untowered airport, but was actually busier than the others on this trip. I made right turns to land, which in retrospect may have been rude, but I had wanted to avoid the departure end of the runway (gliders). I taxiied to transient parking (east of the fuel depot), tied the plane down, and then walked (trotted?) into the town to get food and water. (I got a pretty good burrito at SY Burrito in the local market.) I took off from IZA at 1:57pm (a 50 min stay), with a left downwind departure. I overflew Lake Cachuma at 3500 ft, and east through that valley, climbing as necessary due to the narrowing mountains. At a weird little greenish lake, I turned south, popping up over the hills at 4200 ft, before diving down to 3500 ft over the coastline. I did a landing at Oxnard airport at 2:30pm (to fulfil the requirement for three towered airports), with no problems, and a left downwind departure. I made Point Dume at about 2:48pm, and was happy to see my "home airport" for a right base. I was directed to make my base turn right around the 405/10 interchange, and unfortunately could get down in time, so I did a go-around with left turns, and landed with no problems at 3:07pm.

Exciting, fun, and I never felt like I was overloaded or out of control! This will be a good hobby, I think, and I imagine that I will make a similar flight again after I get my full license. The plane 96575 performed well, even though I thought that it was running a bit slow. The GPS navigation was very helpful, and my workload would have been much more without it. It ended up being 3.5 engine hours (pilot-in-command time, solo time, cross-country time). In the map below, my outbound track is green and my inbound track is blue. Total distance was about 300 statute miles.