POA SoCal Meetup!
- Thread starter StinkBug
- Start date
comanchepilot
En-Route
Santa Maria or Santa Monica? There is no way there is enough transient parking at SMO to host a fly-in . . .
StinkBug
Cleared for Takeoff
B17Rex
Pre-takeoff checklist
StinkBug
Cleared for Takeoff
Well I hear from friends that Flight aware didn't pick me up today, but I did make the rest of the trip home without incident. It was actually a very uneventful flight. Most exciting thing was watching someone in a Baron overtake me on the same course, 500' below. I was on flight following, and they were IFR so we both knew we were there, was just a cool view with some mountains underneath us.
Looks like Brian will get a ride in a Mooney after all! Also looks like there are gonna be at least 3 other Mooney flyers coming as well. This could end up being a pretty good sized group!
Here's a couple pics from the trip.
Looks like Brian will get a ride in a Mooney after all! Also looks like there are gonna be at least 3 other Mooney flyers coming as well. This could end up being a pretty good sized group!
Here's a couple pics from the trip.
StinkBug
Cleared for Takeoff
Great seeing everyone today! Was definitely fun swapping stories and checking out airplanes....and a gyrocopter. I got some good video from the trip up to SMO from Carlsbad that I'll have to edit and post up.
B17Rex
Pre-takeoff checklist
Was definitely a lot of fun. Thanks again for the ride in the Mooney! Definitely going to have to start looking into buying a plane now.
-Brian
StinkBug
Cleared for Takeoff
Vance Breese
Cleared for Takeoff
It was nice to fly to Santa Monica for the first time and it was a lovely day to fly with good visibility and not much turbulence.
It was the first time I was able to successfully use flight following.
I am usually flying too low to make flight following work and they cut me loose.
I stayed at 3,500 past Camarillo, Oxnard and Point Magu.
At Point Dume I was cleared to descend to 2,500 feet and then 1,200 feet at the Santa Monica Pier.
Flight following had me contact the tower a little late for my taste but ATC at SMO seemed ready and able.
When I fly into an airport for the first time there are usually some feelings of insecurity as I try to identify the airport, runways, traffic patterns and landmarks. SMO worked out as nice as could be.
I was number five in the pattern flying a right down wind for runway 21.
I followed the shoreline and turned inbound on the forty five a little past the Santa Monica pier.
I slowed for noise abatement and faster plane past off to my left about midfield.
I stayed at pattern altitude as long as possible for noise abatement and made a steep power off descent.
I was off at B3 and contacted ground. Ground seemed to have appreciated the comedic quality of my landing and told me to taxi straight ahead for transient parking as he laughed.
There were people in the bleachers who had lots of questions about gyroplanes.
I was the first there, enjoyed my time on the bleachers and after a while it began to rain Mooneys.
I felt like seven people was a pretty good turnout for a no particular reason gathering.
I was surprised at how young everyone was and enjoyed their enthusiasm for aviation as we consumed a nice lunch at the Spitfire Grill. I love hanging out with pilots.
I was not able to engage flight following on the return flight and basically flew the same course at 4,500 feet.
I burned 15 gallons of gas for the 284 nautical mile flight.
Santa Maria doesn’t have the personality of Santa Monica but we do have a couple of good restaurants and a small aviation museum.
If you are going to come up this way I feel San Luis Obispo and the Spirit of San Luis Restaurant is a better choice.
We talked about motorcycles a little and my distant past so here is a picture of the Harley Davidson I rode at the Isle of Man in 1981 and the Harley Davidson Streamliner I was injured in at Bonneville in 1995.
I road raced for 23 years and only broke one bone.
I raced at Bonneville for 15 years and only was injured once.
I have never been injured on a motorcycle on the street despite riding about 186,000 miles.
I finished 38th out of 122 in the Classic at the Isle of Man with mechanical challenges.
Best speed at Bonneville was a crash at 340 miles per hour the year before I was injured at 300 miles per hour when the high speed parachute failed to open after being deployed.
We rebuilt the streamliner but my neurologist reminded me that head injuries were cumulative and suggested I find a different hobby so I started flying gyroplanes and never ran the streamliner again.
It was the first time I was able to successfully use flight following.
I am usually flying too low to make flight following work and they cut me loose.
I stayed at 3,500 past Camarillo, Oxnard and Point Magu.
At Point Dume I was cleared to descend to 2,500 feet and then 1,200 feet at the Santa Monica Pier.
Flight following had me contact the tower a little late for my taste but ATC at SMO seemed ready and able.
When I fly into an airport for the first time there are usually some feelings of insecurity as I try to identify the airport, runways, traffic patterns and landmarks. SMO worked out as nice as could be.
I was number five in the pattern flying a right down wind for runway 21.
I followed the shoreline and turned inbound on the forty five a little past the Santa Monica pier.
I slowed for noise abatement and faster plane past off to my left about midfield.
I stayed at pattern altitude as long as possible for noise abatement and made a steep power off descent.
I was off at B3 and contacted ground. Ground seemed to have appreciated the comedic quality of my landing and told me to taxi straight ahead for transient parking as he laughed.
There were people in the bleachers who had lots of questions about gyroplanes.
I was the first there, enjoyed my time on the bleachers and after a while it began to rain Mooneys.
I felt like seven people was a pretty good turnout for a no particular reason gathering.
I was surprised at how young everyone was and enjoyed their enthusiasm for aviation as we consumed a nice lunch at the Spitfire Grill. I love hanging out with pilots.
I was not able to engage flight following on the return flight and basically flew the same course at 4,500 feet.
I burned 15 gallons of gas for the 284 nautical mile flight.
Santa Maria doesn’t have the personality of Santa Monica but we do have a couple of good restaurants and a small aviation museum.
If you are going to come up this way I feel San Luis Obispo and the Spirit of San Luis Restaurant is a better choice.
We talked about motorcycles a little and my distant past so here is a picture of the Harley Davidson I rode at the Isle of Man in 1981 and the Harley Davidson Streamliner I was injured in at Bonneville in 1995.
I road raced for 23 years and only broke one bone.
I raced at Bonneville for 15 years and only was injured once.
I have never been injured on a motorcycle on the street despite riding about 186,000 miles.
I finished 38th out of 122 in the Classic at the Isle of Man with mechanical challenges.
Best speed at Bonneville was a crash at 340 miles per hour the year before I was injured at 300 miles per hour when the high speed parachute failed to open after being deployed.
We rebuilt the streamliner but my neurologist reminded me that head injuries were cumulative and suggested I find a different hobby so I started flying gyroplanes and never ran the streamliner again.
Attachments
Timmer
Pre-takeoff checklist
Hey,
I haven't checked the site in a bit so I missed out on this. I hope to make future meet-ups, although I'm taking the next few months off from flying as I have work to do on my house. I hope everyone is having a great time flying!
- Richard
I haven't checked the site in a bit so I missed out on this. I hope to make future meet-ups, although I'm taking the next few months off from flying as I have work to do on my house. I hope everyone is having a great time flying!
- Richard