Trip Day 4 – Tuesday, August 22

Since there was more than one beer involved during my flight planning, I again got up at 5:00 to check weather, get a briefing and make sure that my work from the night before was correct.  I did make a few adjustments and was glad that I reviewed my work.  I was all done by the time my coffee, orange juice, and muffin arrived.

The weather at Ashland was cool & beautiful and I took us towards the coast to Crescent City, California.  The forecast there was for ground fog.  A marine layer covered the coast, and indeed, as we crossed the coastal mountains, we could see the entire coastline was shrouded in cloud.

I listened to the ATIS[1] and it reported weather below minimums, visibility 1/8 of a mile and clouds 100 ft up.  This was not important to us as we planned to miss the approach anyway.  So, we flew the ILS-DME approach.  We entered the clouds only 2000 feet off the ground, so it was quite a thin layer, but once we entered it, boy was it thick!  It got dark inside the plane, and I was having trouble keeping up my scan.  I slowed the plane down to give myself a little more time, but it wasn't helping.  I was definitely not in the groove that I needed to be in to successfully land here.

The missed approach point arrived and it was absolutely amazing to look up and see nothing!  I began to climb out, actually fearful, knowing that I was only 200 feet off the ground, unable to see the runway and knowing that I couldn't let the plane sink any further than that 200 feet.  I was terribly relieved to pop out of the clouds a few seconds later.  Incredible!

But after that, I was feeling right in the groove.  We flew to Arcata, where the reported weather was ¼ mile and clouds 200 feet up.  It would be tight!  There were several other planes trying to get into Arcata, three commuters flights on their scheduled run and a Gulfstream V simply looking for real IFR experience.  We were all stacked in the hold, waiting our turn.  The controller was also in a good mood and I was having a great time.  It was so cool to see the planes pop out of the clouds with a little wisp of cloud on the wingtips after they missed the approach. 

Finally it was my turn.  It's not a particularly difficult approach, but you do need to be careful not to drift to the northeast, as the mountains rise pretty quickly and there are also a couple of step-downs where you need to make sure you don't drop below a specified altitude because of a 2000 foot hill in the early part of the approach.  The adrenalin is pumping as I'm cleared for the approach.  Again we enter the clouds, just as dark as before.  I'm trying really hard to stay on my scan.  Field is coaching me occasionally, keeping me right on the glide slope.  We cross over the marker, I look up and at first all I see is nothing!  I start to worry about the ground seeing me before I see the ground, so I begin to climb-out.  But then off to the left, all I can see are the flashing approach strobe lights!  Even more incredible!  I sidestep over a little and set the plane down gently on the runway.

The visibility truly is poor, and we inch our way to the airport terminal.  As we taxi, we watch a United Express commuter miss the approach.  Hah!  Of course, he's coming in lots faster than I had to, but I'll take my small satisfaction wherever I can get it.

The terminal had great coffee and muffins!  After the short break, I crawled into the back with my coffee and enjoyed the great view as John flew us to Ukiah.  Back inland, the weather was clear again, and it was great to relax in the back, watch John fly & review my upcoming flight.

Small Surprise #5:  It turns out that you can learn almost as much by watching someone else fly as you can from flying yourself.  It was great to be able to watch John fly while all I had to do was listen to the controller's directions and follow along on the approach plate.  I had some eye-opening experiences as John negotiated his way through some approaches.  He caught some things that I think I would have missed and I wanted to cry out when he missed things I think I would have caught.

After Ukiah, John flew us down to Santa Rosa for lunch.  He was on a nice ILS approach into the airport and the chatter got pretty busy.  There was lots of VFR traffic coming in and out and a Cessna Citation Jet, unable to land ahead of us decided to come in behind us.  Field turned around to look at me with a quizzical look.  I was confused by this, as was the controller.  He asked, "Are you sure?"

So, we're coming in on the approach, doing about 90 and I see the Citation show up as a target on Skywatch.  I turn around and see the jet start to catch up with us.  We're still quite a way from the airport, so the Citation transitions into slow flight.  It's slowed down with a big nose up attitude, probably close to its minimum controllable airspeed.  They do this for a while and still continue to catch up with us, so they eventually ask for a side step to another runway when we're on short final.

Dick Peck, a West Coast Adventure survivor who has opened WestShares, a fractional share aircraft ownership program in the Bay Area, met us.  His company owns several Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.  I banged my head hard against the wing when he called out to us.  Ouch!  Field introduced me as the poster boy for good ATC communication and that flattered me. 

The restaurant at Santa Rosa has a nice menu, and the Northern California weather was superb, so we sat outside.  Unfortunately the service wasn't great, but we had a great time chatting, and of course Field had to show off the new plane!

It was my turn to fly and I was really looking forward to flying through San Francisco.  I asked if we could do what's called the "Bay Tour," but Field said we didn't have time.  That's a shame, as it's beautiful!  

Small Surprise #6:  Despite the kidding I could give Field over the (very visual) Bay Tour, he really is very flexible in accommodating our requests.  We talk about Air Traffic Control and Field offers to have us divert our trip to Oakland to get a tour of Oakland Center.

So, we flew off the coast and could see that San Francisco was pretty much shrouded in patchy fog.  As we flew abeam the Golden Gate Bridge, ATC had a Southwest 737 stay below us on their departure from SFO. 

Testosterone Approach #3 – Monterey, California LOC DME 28L

Well, I didn't get to fly this one.  The winds weren't right, so it wasn't doable.  The entertaining thing about this approach is a 5,000-foot mountain seventeen miles from the approach.  There are two intermediate step-downs required to get over that hill and Field has first-hand exposure to another pilot who tragically flew into it.

Instead I did the ILS 10R, which isn't particularly tough, except you're coming in over the water and there is some interesting wind shear as you get closer in.  The approach went well, and I did a circle-to-land to 28L.  I wound up flaring too early and made a very firm landing.  It wasn't good at all and was reminiscent of my first ones.

John took us the rest of the way home to Santa Maria, where we stay at the Santa Maria Airport Regency Hotel & Conference Center, right on the airport property.  We were able to taxi right to it and part right in front! The hotel also offered a complimentary drink at happy hour, a dinner discount & free full breakfast in the morning, so it was quite a deal.

Planning for Wednesday went pretty quickly – most of our flying would be in the Los Angeles basin and we would be given directions by the approach controllers, so there wasn't much we had to do.

Dinner at the hotel was fine.  Apparently they used to have an extensive wine cellar, but that has been dramatically toned down in recent months.  Fortunately the remaining choices were still good and Field picked a nice California Red to go along with dinner.  I was really hungry for some reason and had good corn chowder & pork chops.

Small Surprise #7:  There may be a place to do laundry, but I didn't see one – and further, I'm not sure you'll have time to do it.  I took Field's advice to heart and brought one bag that weighed twenty pounds.  I had enough clothes to "feel" clean for five days.  I wished I had foregone the jogging gear that I only used once and replaced them with one more pair of pants & one more shirt.

Trip Day 5 – Wednesday, August 23

We wanted to get the autopilot fixed, so Field thought we'd try stopping by Avionics West as soon as they opened at 8:00.  That meant we could sleep in an extra hour!  And I did!  Breakfast was good and I had some of everything.

The visit to Avionics West was somewhat of a debacle.  Field & John weren't ready for the "surfer dude" California life-style.  "I can't look at that until I've had some coffee.  Let's have some coffee while the unit cools down."  Well, he finally decided to bang on the unit for a while and couldn't find anything that he could fix quickly, so we were back on our way by 9:00.

Field gave me a little bit of grief about recommending them – I bought my Garmin GPSMAP 295 GPS from them earlier in the year and thought they were fine.  Oh, well.  I laughed.

John got to start off the day and did an ILS approach through the marine cloud layer to Santa Barbara and then on to Camarillo.  I got the first chance to fly in the busy LAX airspace and I felt like I was at home!  For the first time, the Skywatch was really busy.  It showed as many as thirty other aircraft within five miles of us.  It occasionally warned of "TRAFFIC" in a very loud voice.

Really, though, the highlight for me was when the controller asked me if I could expedite a descent by 1000 feet.  That wasn't a problem and I was able to lose that altitude in less than a minute.  Got a thank you from the controller and good vectors to Hawthorne.

I got to do a LOC approach to Hawthorne, which isn't particularly difficult, but because it's nestled underneath LAX, all of the altitudes on the approach are mandatory.  I missed at Hawthorne and entered a hold at the off coast and appropriately named LIMBO intersection.  After holding over the ocean, we got vectors to Orange County John Wayne for the NDB 19R approach.  It has a little trick.  It has minimum altitudes that have to be identified by tuning in a VOR abeam the aircraft.  I briefed that approach correctly, but originally set the wrong frequency, so was wondering why it wasn't working correctly.

Once I got the frequency set properly, the remainder of the approach went fine, and I was asked to side step to the smaller runway 19L.  No problem to do that and I was coming in for a slow approach.  Apparently it was too slow and Field added power and made the landing for me.  I was obviously losing whatever touch I had for the landing this plane.  I needed to focus on that.

We didn't even really stop at Orange County – John & I did a quick switch on the ground and he flew us to Chino for a very special lunch.  We're entering into an agricultural area and you could smell the fertilizer as we descended on the approach.  Field commented on the foul smell.  I thought it was reminiscent of Madison, but I didn't say anything.

Lunch was at the infamous "Flo's Airport Café," a wonderful, terribly authentic diner.  I sucked down a club sandwich and several Diet Cokes.  Then Field insisted I have the boysenberry cobbler.  It was great!

So, after all that food, I waddled back to the plane for the 2-½ hour flight to Prescott, Arizona and then on to Sedona.  What was I thinking?  Oh, well, too late now!  I flew us on towards Prescott and we saw our first thunderstorms.  The Storm Scope started to light up and we saw lightning flashes many miles off to the side.  I tried to get ATC to allow a deviation off the airway, but we were next to a Military Operations Area (MOA) and he could not approve it.  We did drift south to avoid some cells and the controller occasionally admonished us.  The GPS said we were still outside the MOA, so I'm not sure why he was stressing – possibly because his screen accuracy wasn't close to ours and he thought we were close to entering the MOA.

We got past the storms and I made a DME arc to a VOR approach at Prescott.  After going missed there, we continued on to Sedona, just a few minutes away by plane, but well on the other side of a magnificent valley.  The runway at Sedona looked narrow, but not quite the sidewalk at Morey's.  I thought I was high & fast, but it turned out to be a perfect landing.  I was feeling good about that!

We stayed at the Sky Ranch Lodge, a beautiful and amazingly quiet place adjacent to the airport.  The rooms had windows that opened and a place to sit out front.  The cool mountain air actually made it comfortable to sit outside.

Dinner was also at the airport, at the appropriately named Sedona Airport Restaurant.  We did our flight planning after ordering, and the food was good, but amazingly I can't remember what I had.  Fish, probably.

After dinner, I studied until 10:00 and even saw parts of the Survivor finale. 

Trip Day 6 – Thursday, August 24

Crisp, cool air!  It was so nice to get up and smell sweet air. 

We met in the beautiful courtyard garden at 6:30 and walked over to the airport.  We were in the air by 7:00 and I flew us to the Grand Canyon Airport.  I did a high-speed approach on the ILS, which they made me break off before we got to the threshold.  That's unfortunate, as the published miss would have taken us right over the Canyon.  So, after we broke off the approach, we stayed just outside the restricted area, which basically meant we didn't get to see much at all.  But off to the side, we could see a little bit of the upper ridge.

I flew a little bit longer so that John could enjoy the view, and then he took over to fly us to desolate Blanding, Utah, a nasty little airport cut into the desert.

My turn again, I got to take us to Telluride, Colorado, the highest commercial airport in the country.  What a rush to fly in on a shallow LOC approach and find the runway ahead of us at 9000 feet, nestled between 14,000 foot mountains.  We did a circle on the approach to lose altitude and then did a full slip to get down for the approach.  To keep up a 70 to 80 knot airspeed, we had what looked to be and actually was a very fast groundspeed approach.  But, the plane flared well, and we touched down gently.  Cool!  Two good landings in a row!

We'd been flying at 12,000 feet before landing, and I started getting dizzy in the bathroom.  Whoa!  Fortunately the next leg was John's responsibility and we were going to be flying high enough to use oxygen.  I could sit in the back and recover.

Before our departure from Telluride, we watched a Cessna 172 come in.  I wondered how they did it!  We were in a turbocharged aircraft that has lots of power at high altitude, but this 172 was near its service ceiling.  I wondered how tough the flight was for them.  Looking around the airport, I saw lots of private jets, of course, and the piston aircraft were all beautifully maintained and, with few exceptions, looked to be turbocharged.

We departed in the same direction we came in, primarily because of the steep slope of the runway.  Even with gravity helping us, we used at least 4000 feet of the runway before taking to the air.  Field showed John how to stay close to the canyon walls to get extra lift.  I had a great view from the back of the trees rushing by a couple of hundred feet off our wing.

The other highlight of this high altitude part of the trip was when we cleared a 13,000-foot mountain by 500 feet.  Someone had dragged a monument to the top and it was clearly visible.  All too soon we were in Pueblo and our high altitude flying was over.

Lunch at Pueblo was pretty good.  We ate at the airport restaurant and they had a fair green chili enchilada.  John & Field weren't up for trying it, but I won't pass up good green chili.

On the way back to the plane, I noticed that many of the local planes had hail damage.  Some even had broken Plexiglas from the hail.

My last flight of the day was a long stretch to do the VOR DME Arc 30 at Goodland, Kansas.  We had to wait on the ground for clearance because of a Navy EC-135 transport that was doing touch-and-go practice at Pueblo.  He was tying up the airspace, except for brief periods.  I got us off on the parallel runway right after one of his takeoffs.

Then, as soon as I was away from the airport, Field disabled my gyro instruments.  I had to make the flight by hand and on a partial panel.  But, hey!  It's going okay. I'm keeping on course, talking to ATC and even keeping altitude.  Wow!  An hour into the flight I realized that I was getting a second chance to do a partial panel DME arc!  The same opportunity I couldn't do on the first day of the trip.

Well, look.  There's not much more to this story, but I have to tell you that I aced it!  I entered the arc properly and stayed at the right altitude and DME distance from the VOR without the arc.  Then I made the turn at the right place for the approach and wound up right at the end of the runway at the missed approach point.  How exciting!  And this was all with a bouncing magnetic compass, an electric turn coordinator and one navigation radio.  Wow!  Wow!

Another mid-air crew change and it was John's responsibility to take us to Lincoln, Nebraska, another long flight at the end of a very long day – not helped as we also lost two time zones!  John did a partial panel NDB approach with no-gyro vectors.  Very difficult!

The Airport Inn was not far away and we dropped our stuff off before going immediately for dinner.  Wonderful steaks & beer!  But we were so tired, we were anxious to get to the hotel & sleep.

Trip Day 7 – Friday, August 25

And here we are at the final day!  I didn't think we'd ever get here!  French toast for breakfast and then we drove to the airport.  It was amazingly foggy!  We couldn't see 200 feet in front of us.  So, we hurried up to wait at the FBO until the fog started to burn off.  That took almost two hours.

John took us to Waterloo, Iowa where he got to try another partial panel NDB approach.  And then it was my turn for the final flight of the trip; from Waterloo back to Morey's with a GPS-B approach.

We were handed off to Madison Approach twenty miles from Morey's.  I let them know I had the current weather and that I wanted the GPS-B into Morey's.  Then Field asked me to request the NDB into Madison.  So, I did.  And as I did that, Field covered up the gyro instruments.  The controller said his workload wouldn't permit it, I asked to go back to Morey, which was approved.  A couple of minutes later, the controller called back to say that he could give us the NDB to Madison.  So, I accepted and began to pull out the plates for Madison.

So, here I am, just a few miles from Madison, I've had a diversion to another airport, a vacuum failure, a VOR failure (and that was real), and both navigation radio failures.  What else could he pile on?  "Oh, let's help out the controller.  Keep up your speed."  Groovy.  Well, at the least, it would all be over with quickly.

Or, so I thought.  ATC gave me vectors to avoid VFR traffic and requested a climb from us for separation.  All of this only a couple of miles before the final approach fix (FAF), so I was just starting to get everything stabilized as we reached the FAF.

But you know, it was straightforward.  It wasn't a problem at all and I wound up right where I was supposed to be, at the runway threshold as my timer ran out.  Success!  I had the NDB mastered.

Small Surprise #8:  I was amazed at how much better I had become in one week!  I had seen the most difficult terrain & approaches and I learned how to do them safely.  The standard approaches became a snap. 

That left only one personal demon:  the sidewalk at Morey's.  I made the approach and saw Field shift slightly, ready to take control just in case I botched it.  But you know, that landing turned out okay and he didn't have to intervene.  Yeah!

John & his wife, Gina were kind enough to drive me to the airport, but not before stopping at the University of Wisconsin Babcock Hall Dairy Store for their fresh and famous ice cream made right next door in the U of W Department of Food Science.  Oh, wow!  I had a pint of the richest cookie dough ice cream ever.  By the way, if you would like to try their ice cream it can be shipped!  

I finally got on my plane that evening and let someone else do the flying.  I was tired, grubby and incredibly satisfied.

Epilogue

In short, I am a convert to the Cult of Morey.  It was an incredibly exhilarating ten days!  Extraordinarily hard work, full-on, exhausting, and yes, fun!

I got all the variety I expected and saw some amazing approaches and some incredible scenery.  I got to see how the en-route system works and understand how to make it work for me.  It made even the most difficult approaches around here look mundane.

A simply spectacular experience.  Just incredible.

Now, Field has this Graduate Trip to Alaska....  I'd like to go in 2002 and I need a partner....  Any takers?

Footnotes

[1] ATIS:  Automated Terminal Information Service provides recent weather observations, runway in use and other important information for the airport.