Confidence Restored
My brother is visiting us in San Diego this weekend, so I decided to take him up to KCNO to see the Planes of Fame museum and grab some lunch at Flo's. After my last flight, my confidence was a bit shot, so I approached this flight very methodically.
Since neither my brother or I are small guys, I had gone to the airport Friday night and run the weight and balance on the plane (a Cessna 172 with the 180HP engine). We were fine on max gross, but very very close to the front edge of the envelope for balance. Very close. So, I decided to put some ballast in the plane. I put about 60 lbs of water (the cheap 2.5gal drinking kind you buy at the store) in the trunk and that moved us comfortably inside the evelope.
As we arrived at the airport Saturday morning, some low clouds and haze were still hanging around, so we took our time doing the preflight. We finished up just as the skies cleared, copied the ATIS, then called MYF ground requesting the northbound departure with Miramar Class B transition.
The normal eastbound and westbound departures, shown in red below, are mostly flown from 28R, with 28L being used for closed pattern, small plane arrivals, and some departures. The Miramar transition, shown in green, is normally flown from 28L. I normally request the Miramar transition on ground control when I call for taxi so that they give me 28L and to allow them time to set up the transition. As I was taxiing, ground control passed me my clearance: "Cleared into the San Diego Miramar Class B airspace, upon departure make a climbing left 270 overhead the field, cross Hwy 52 at or above 2700, upon frequency change contact Miramar tower on 135.2."
This transition is easy to fly, saves you 10 minutes or so of deviations, and sets you up for flight following.
Departure was normal, executed the transition, picked up flight following, and we were on our way to CNO. With the large number of aircraft up Saturday and the haze cutting into visibility, the traffic calls from SOCAL were invaluable. The flight up to CNO was uneventful with the exception of having trouble finding the airport visually due to haze. A timely vector from the tower controller set us up on a base leg for 26R and a decent landing followed.
After a visit to the museum and some Patty Melts at Flo's, we loaded up the steed and launched for home. Once we were stable on altitude and once again under the watchful eye of the wonderful SOCAL controllers, I let my brother follow me on the yoke for a while to demonstrate how the plane maneuvered.
We were given another Class B transition over Miramar, but they held us at 3500MSL (3000AGL) until we were almost on top of the airport. The controllers flew me overhead MYF while descending and fly an extended left downwind for 26L to stabilize my approach. I came in with airspeed right on the mark, slightly high on the glideslope, on centerline, and with some timely power adjustments managed to put the wheels down at the top of the numbers with one of those greasers that makes you wonder whether, in fact, you have landed or are still flying. Just goes to prove it's better to be lucky than good.
This flight was great because, after destroying my confidence during my last flight, this trip restored my faith in my ability to pilot an airplane in a professional manner. It also allowed me to spend some quality time with my bro and see the sights.
If you have a minute, dig into the April issue of AOPA FLight Training. In it, you will find a great article by k about her first solo. K, congrats on being published.
Y'all have a great week.
BC
Since neither my brother or I are small guys, I had gone to the airport Friday night and run the weight and balance on the plane (a Cessna 172 with the 180HP engine). We were fine on max gross, but very very close to the front edge of the envelope for balance. Very close. So, I decided to put some ballast in the plane. I put about 60 lbs of water (the cheap 2.5gal drinking kind you buy at the store) in the trunk and that moved us comfortably inside the evelope.
As we arrived at the airport Saturday morning, some low clouds and haze were still hanging around, so we took our time doing the preflight. We finished up just as the skies cleared, copied the ATIS, then called MYF ground requesting the northbound departure with Miramar Class B transition.
This is a very interesting departure.
The San Diego airspace is very crowded with Class B. MYF and sits inside a corridor under a 4800MSL shelf, with more restrictive class B north (for Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, KNKX) and south (for Lindbergh KSAN). You normally have to depart the airport eastbound staying under the shelf or westbound under an 1800MSL shelf and over the water, then pick your way around the Class B to get going in the correct direction. If you are heading up the inner valley, this is a significant deviation from DIRECT TO, so it takes a few minutes. However, the controllers around here are very friendly and will often let you transition the Class B.The normal eastbound and westbound departures, shown in red below, are mostly flown from 28R, with 28L being used for closed pattern, small plane arrivals, and some departures. The Miramar transition, shown in green, is normally flown from 28L. I normally request the Miramar transition on ground control when I call for taxi so that they give me 28L and to allow them time to set up the transition. As I was taxiing, ground control passed me my clearance: "Cleared into the San Diego Miramar Class B airspace, upon departure make a climbing left 270 overhead the field, cross Hwy 52 at or above 2700, upon frequency change contact Miramar tower on 135.2."
This transition is easy to fly, saves you 10 minutes or so of deviations, and sets you up for flight following.Departure was normal, executed the transition, picked up flight following, and we were on our way to CNO. With the large number of aircraft up Saturday and the haze cutting into visibility, the traffic calls from SOCAL were invaluable. The flight up to CNO was uneventful with the exception of having trouble finding the airport visually due to haze. A timely vector from the tower controller set us up on a base leg for 26R and a decent landing followed.
After a visit to the museum and some Patty Melts at Flo's, we loaded up the steed and launched for home. Once we were stable on altitude and once again under the watchful eye of the wonderful SOCAL controllers, I let my brother follow me on the yoke for a while to demonstrate how the plane maneuvered.
We were given another Class B transition over Miramar, but they held us at 3500MSL (3000AGL) until we were almost on top of the airport. The controllers flew me overhead MYF while descending and fly an extended left downwind for 26L to stabilize my approach. I came in with airspeed right on the mark, slightly high on the glideslope, on centerline, and with some timely power adjustments managed to put the wheels down at the top of the numbers with one of those greasers that makes you wonder whether, in fact, you have landed or are still flying. Just goes to prove it's better to be lucky than good.
This flight was great because, after destroying my confidence during my last flight, this trip restored my faith in my ability to pilot an airplane in a professional manner. It also allowed me to spend some quality time with my bro and see the sights.
If you have a minute, dig into the April issue of AOPA FLight Training. In it, you will find a great article by k about her first solo. K, congrats on being published.
Y'all have a great week.
BC
posted by Big Country at 7:57 AM
1 Comments:
Sounds like a nice day with your brother, and a great return to the air! It also sounds like you have a lot of interesting stuff nearby to take in... I may be naive, but Mirimar just sounds so inspiring! (Thanks, Hollywood!) As you know, there are lots of interesting sights over here, and it always feels a little outlaw-ish to fly over Camp Peary (CIA training grounds, "the Farm") even though the airspace isn't restricted.
And thanks for the plug ;)
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