Last week I had to go to the bay area and instead of flying the airlines I decided to try something new: to fly my own plane across the southwestern states for a 1280NM trip each way.
I didn’t mind the the 10+ hours of flight time and I was looking forward to a little bit of adventure. I might add, that I was going VFR, as I’m not rated IFR. But you can do amazing things VFR when you’re careful and thoughtful but adventurous. All you need to remember is that you’re in charge and you decide. So don’t be stupid.
The day before the trip I packed all the stuff I might need and got a 30min personal weather briefing. VFR was not recommended – it never is: they were expecting MVFR in the morning and scattered Thunderstorms enroute. Since I was traveling by myself, luggage was not a problem. In addition to the regular bag, I brought tools, food and a cooler with drinks.
The weather looked good enough enroute for the flight, but we had a marine layer early on in AUS, which made a timely departure with the first ray of light at 7:15 questionable. I wasn’t worried with XM weather onboard and a good understanding of the Cb’s in the mountains.
After preparing the plane in the dark and getting comfortable in the cockpit I called up clearance delivery under an overcast low cloud sky. I requested a special VFR departure in the hope to find a hole in the clouds where I could punch through. They replied that the airport just went VMC and I could get a regular departure which I took. Lined up on 17L and cleared for departure I commenced the power and lifted the wheels off the ground. Almost immediately I rolled into a right turn, gunning for a hole in the low overcast towards the west. I climbed through the hole of the 1000ft thin cloud layer in short time and was welcomed by blue skies above.
The first two hours were uneventful as I tracked my progress on the moving map. Winds weren’t strong and I made good time going 135kts ground speed. Shortly after Eldorado I got rained on a little bit – the plane needed a wash anyway. I was on flight following and heard regular updates about traffic in the area, which wasn’t much. There was a C210 chasing me from behind, making ground at a rate of 7-10kts from behind, but burning 15 GPH versus my meagerly 10GPH I got from our four banger. It took him 45 minutes to finally catch up with me since he got the traffic advisory from ATC. That made me smile. The Tiger is a fast plane in its class.
My first fuel stop was Deming, NM after some 430NM. Getting out of Texas takes a full load of gas! So I was timing my fuel and knew I was down to VFR reserves when I touched down. The line man helped me to fill up and I was back climbing a short 20 minutes and $245 afterwards. Back at 10500ft I was planning to overfly Phoenix Airspace Bravo while in contact with ATC. They sent airliners left and right over and under me – Phoenix is busy! I got to inspect a 737s gear doors 1000ft above me, the plane immediately diving after crossing my path – what a show! But the best was yet to come: ATC was calling out traffic 7miles ahead opposite direction 12o’clock. I was looking hard, scanning the sky with my trained eyes. After a long minute I finally could make out something that looked like an airplane and it was pointing right at me!! He was flying in 10000ft, merely 500ft below my altitude and gunning at me. I banked hard to the right and as we were passing I saw it was my most favorite aircraft: a Piaggio pusher going 400kts in the opposite direction (I was going 135kts myself, so we passed at greater than the speed of sound!). I swear I could have touched it, it was that close. It was awesome! Maybe a little too close for comfort, but still awesome! Wow was that fast!
As I was trying to take picture through a partially opened canopy later on the wind sucked my map – a complete Phoenix sectional through the open canopy – Gone! – Ooops. Now I had to rely on the GPS and its moving map for navigation until I was on the next sectional – about 200NM away. A whiskey compass is a thing of beauty during these moments. Very reassuring to have.
I passed through some very high terrain with peaks close to 11k, so I flew next to them instead of over them. Some really big rocks out there! My plan was to stop at a high altitude airport for some cheap gas in the LA basin area. It would save me the decent and climb to altitude as well some serious money. Only problem was that at 16:00 local time it was reporting 9300ft density altitude on its AWOS. 15 miles out I decided to pass up on that fun – the POH still said it was survivable and I would get off the ground and climb with 200fpm but I wasn’t going to try after 8 hours in the cockpit. Dying for having saved $45 in gas didn’t seem to be the right trade-off. Instead I made my way to a desert floor airport that I had landed at some 15 years before: Barstow-Daggat was selling the flying juice for a whooping $6.50/Gal – oh well. When I arrived nothing had changed. It was spooky. And it was still hot – 44C. But they took my plastic card and I was back in the air 20minutes later.
While talking to Joshua Approach during my climb out they remarked that the restricted area around Edwards Airbase (that’s where the “Right Stuff” happened and where the space shuttle landed) was cold today above 7000ft. I consulted my map and couldn’t believe my luck. I could cut across, fly over the airport midfield and take some great pictures. I called them back to confirm that that was in fact the case. When I asked if I could circle to take pictures, their reply was a dry: “You’re VFR and can do whatever you want above 7000ft” – Thanks ATC! I love America. It’s hard to understand having grown up in Germany where ATC treats Airspace Bravo over Frankfurt similar to a high security prison for VFR traffic. I digress. So I got many great shots of parked U-2s (the spy plane), big cargo planes and huge salt flat runways. There’s even a compass rose etched into the salt – maybe a mile in diameter. Aliens could read it from outer space – it’s that big!
Shortly after I passed by one of the airliner boneyards which looks like a Costco parking lot for airplanes from above. From there I crossed over into the central valley and was a short 1.5h away from my final destination. Poor guys on I-5 hiding from the cops for speeding tickets. I was fire walling my little plane and going at 165kts GS with a favorable tail wind. After a few more frequency changes I was cleared for a straight in for 31R at Reid Hill Airport in the south bay. The marine layer was visible over the pacific with a solid overcast but no threat to the bay quite yet. I touched down, requested progressive taxi to my pre arranged overnight parking position and finally shut down. Quiet. After 12 hours travel and 11.7 hours Engine Time I had arrived. I was exhausted but had a big smile on my face. I flew my own plane all the way to the west coast. What a treat! And I can confirm: Texas is connected by landmass to the state of California.