My longest flight so far.

Rykymus

Rykymus

Line Up and Wait
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Dec 24, 2014
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Allen, TX
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Rykymus
Yesterday, I flew my daughter from Stockton to San Diego, to drop her off for a few days. (She has a job interview.) Flew IFR in VMC from KSCK to L45. (Got a BALT at Rocket Shop Cafe.) Then flew IFR to KSAN. Unfortunately, when I called FSS to get my clearance at the runup at L45, they told me that I had to call back in 10 minutes, because KSAN was having a flow control issue and couldn't issue my clearance yet. So, we waited, burning fuel, called back, ready to take Montgomery/Gibbs instead, but they gave us KSAN. They also gave me SID out of L45, and a void time that was 4 minutes away! I didn't even have time to enter my flight plan into my 430. I had to quickly look up the SID and roll, then entered the first few steps of my flight plan. And of course, it was hot, with a high DA, and bumpy on the way up. Once I got on the airway, I was able to get the rest of my flight plan entered, despite the fact that we were getting slapped about by unforecast moderate turbulence going over the grapevine. (It settled back down on the other side.)

It was my first approach in IMC into a Bravo airport. Got vectored in circles for about 15 minutes waiting for a slot, then had to shoot the approach at about 130 kts!

Oh, and neither of my bank cards worked at the self-serve fuel at L45. (My bank manager and I had a serious talk today about their "fraud protection". It won't happen again.) Luckily, my daughter's AMEX did work. At KSAN, I called to clear the holds and they STILL didn't work. Daughter to the rescue again.

After a 1 hour turn around, flew KSAN to KSCK. just over 3hrs (12 kt tailwind) and even landed with about 20 gallons of fuel. (Which surprised me.) The departure from KSAN included a brief climb through the layer, which was cool. But the rest of the flight was on top, at 12,000.

Got my LONGEST clearance yet:
"Cleared to Stockton Airport, on departure fly heading 310, radar vectors Oceanside, Victor 597, Seal Beach, Victor 459, Lake Hughes, Gorman, Victor 137, Avenal, then as filed (the rest was Panoche, Manteca, Stockton) Climb and maintain 3,000, expect 12,000 in 10 minutes, (then departure freq and squawk code)"

Can't believe I actually read it back correctly.

Learned several things this trip, the most important of which was that, if properly prepared, long legs are not as difficult as I thought they'd be in my little Archer.

I also learned:
1. A little memory foam under the sheepskin really makes the seat more comfortable.
2. Seat back, right leg over on the copilot's side, a little recline, and my Archer is actually quite comfortable.
3. I need to be more organized in my cockpit. I need to have a place for everything. Trying to dig stuff out of your bag in the back seat is a PITA.
4. I need to get all my charging cables run and secured ahead of time, to make keeping do-dads charged.
5. A pee bottle is a must.
6. Water is a must. Snacks too.
7. A nose hose takes a bit of getting used to, but it really does keep you energized quite nicely over a long, high haul.
8. Whoever the idiot was at Apple that removed the headset plug on the iPhone 6 should be shot.
9. Be ready to have your route amended plenty, especially when flying through busy airspace.
10. Write down when you switch to what tank, all new heading and altitude assignments and altimeter settings as you get them, then cross the old ones off as you get new ones. It helps your SA immensely over a long haul.
11. There is no need to wear the kneeboard the entire flight. Just the busy parts. It can sit somewhere else during the long cruise.
12. It's a good idea to read the names of all the VORs, airways, and major waypoints, PRIOR to getting your clearance, cuz you might not get what you filed.

BTW: If daughter gets the job, wife says we need to buy a faster plane. :drool:
 
Too long to read... but sounds good on the skim...!!!
 
Calling whoever issued your cards ahead of time giving them a travel notice eliminates embarrassing moments. I do it all the time. And be sure to have them note your account you fly so purchases aviation related away from home are normal. Great job on that clearance! And they say the PPL is a ticket to learn. LOL.
 
Fun read- thanks for the write up! I've flown an Archer 3 hours once (but I'm hoping to do it a lot more frequently and maybe even longer legs once I buy) and I agree that if you're prepared it's not all that bad. Congrats on your Bravo approach and I hope your daughter enjoyed the experience!
 
Good job!!
Since you talked about long flight plan and frequent need to change it in busy airspace ,I want to ask you if you always enter the flight plan in GPS prior to departure ? Because I had the same experience i.e. they calling to change FP all the time and it created significant distraction from flying the plane during the busy time. I have a 530 with Apen and GPSS stearing which autopilot can follow the FP but I still could not figure out how to easily amend the plan on 530 without having significant distraction. I have stopped entering the whole FP on the GPS and now I just enter the first way point and then next and next
 
Personally, for the flight plan I enter just enough to get me about 20 minutes into cruise, assuming it's a longer flight. Since I often have to go look up the proper airway intersections to get the 530W to follow the airway it can take a bit of time for a longer routing, so it's easier to get started then handle the rest of the route in cruise as time permits.

And for the original poster, I can almost state that route verbatim now doing the MYF to MHR flight many times, So. Cal really likes having you on airways. I do find having my app notify me(I assume Foreflight will do it, but I use Garmin pilot) about my expected routing once it's filed and hits about an hour before departure is really nice, as it's usually what clearance does and up giving me. As I recall, even if you file the route they're going to give you, you'll often get the full route to GMN instead of "As Filed".
 
@blueskyMD : The first few times I had to amend my flight plan in the GPS, it was VERY distracting. I'm starting to get the hang of it now. Just like everything else with the GPS, it takes practice. And the last thing I wanted in that busy airspace was to be hand flying. When I do get bogged down trying to figure out the GPS, I just set the AP to follow the heading bug instead of GPSS, until I figure out what I'm doing. I have the Garmin app, but to be honest, it's no substitute for just doing it with the real thing.

In this flight, I was lucky that the amendments were generally adding or removing waypoints/nav aids from my route.
 
blueskyMD said:
if you always enter the flight plan in GPS prior to departure ? Because I had the same experience i.e. they calling to change FP all the time and it created significant distraction from flying the plane during the busy time
Click to expand...
Being as OCD as I am I used to be in the habit of entering the whole plan into the GPS, however, have been told my instructors and other pilots that it is not worth it because changing the plan midflight becomes a PITA, and, like you said, a distraction.. honestly I just keep hitting the "direct to" button and doing it based on that. Ofcourse I have the Foreflight ipad with me and that makes it easy to flip through the plans, etc. Since I started doing the "direct to" technique it has been easier for me

Full disclosure though - NOT an instrument pilot, but your mention of "distraction" reminded me of what a number of folks have also said

@Rykymus thanks for the write up.. I fly around the same overall neck of the woods and always appreciate these detailed reports! They're great to have for when I plan my long ish trips
 
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