A Lil February Flying – Mc Clellan Airfield

Posted on Feb 28, 2010
I love flying the Archer III (N343MM)!

I love flying the Archer III (N343MM)!

Today was my first flight in nearly a month and it was a day just like my last flight. It was the last day of the month and seemed to be the first good weather, weekend day – and one that I wasn’t already tied up with my hectic social schedule :).  Similar to my last flight, I didn’t really make up my mind until the day off the flight. At this point, I’m simply determined to fly at least one flight a month of at least 2-3 hrs round trip. Doing so will allow me to reach my year end goal of getting up to 125 hours , so I can begin training and flying the Cirrus.

So this morning, I logged on to AOL Instant Messenger to see if my friend Patrick was working at XOJet today in Sacramento. I figured if he was working, then I could fly up to Sacramento Mc Clellan Airfield (MCC) and hang out with him for a bit. Luckily for me (not for him) he was working today, so I decided to rent N343MM this afternoon and head on up.

It was a pretty smooth flight once I got out of the Bay Area traffic. I’d requested Flight Following from the PAO ground upon my taxi request and didn’t recall receiving a squawk code during my taxi or runup. But once I took off and hit about 500 feet,  PAO Tower called me and said…”N343MM verify your transponder is on.” Oops, I forgot to turn it from standby to altitude before  taking off. 🙂 But I switched it on immediately and radioed back…”N343MM transponder on.” Then the tower asked if I was squawking the appropriate code…and given that he read the code, I tuned it in immediately and then read it back to him. Wheew…a bit of an interesting first few minutes.

After dodging traffic, I turned north and passed by Mount Diablo.

After dodging traffic, I turned north and passed by Mount Diablo.

It was good I not only had my transponder on but it was also great that I requested Flight Following. As I neared Livermore airport prior to my turn to 357 degrees to head to the SAC VOR, I heard over the radio…”N343MM traffic alert, turn immediately 40 degrees to the left.” I turned so fast that I forgot to the tell the controller, so he repeated the request. By that time, I’d already turned 40 degrees and saw the other aircraft making a sharp turn to the left about 3 miles off at my 3 o’clock. The controller had told both of us about the other a couple of minutes earlier, but honestly, I didn’t see the other aircraft until after we were told to divert. After that incident and  one more traffic advisory, I was free to climb to 5500 feet and head to MCC.

Passing the Sacramento Delta and North Bay

Passing the Sacramento Delta and North Bay

The California State (Fiscally Bankrupt) Capitol - Sacramento.

The California State (Fiscally Bankrupt) Capitol - Sacramento.

The rest of the flight was rather benign but beautiful nonetheless. Arriving into MCC was interesting, as I had an aircraft at my 12 o’clock and about 800-1000 ft above me as a I was descending towards MCC for my midfield cross. As I crossed midfield, one of XOJet’s Citation X (yeah, I know…NICE) was landing on runway 16 after a quick hop from Van Nuys. During my midfield cross, I slid behind an aircraft that had been trailing me much of the flight since he decided to ener at a 45 degree downwind rather than midfield. Thankfully, this time my landing in MCC was a beauty. If you recall from one of my former postings, my first landing at MCC was a bit rough. But over the last year, I’ve had enough practice landing on wide runways (150 – 200 ft wide)…so my sight picture has improved.

I made the long taxi over to XOJet’s hangar and enjoyed hanging with Patrick and his coworkers for about 30 minutes. I even had a chance to tour the inside of a Beechcraft Premier private jet…one of their charter aircraft. After chatting it up with the gang for a half hour, I headed back out to my plane to get ready to leave. Just as I was heading out, the Citation X had finally made it over to the XOJet hangar. The pilots first had to deplane their passengers on the other side of the airport, and about a half hour later they taxied their Citation X over to its home.

Patrick by the Beechcraft Premier with his Warrior II in the background. Nice hangar parking, Patrick!

Patrick by the Beechcraft Premier with his Warrior II in the background. Nice hangar parking, Patrick!

It was kinda cool that these guys came over to my aircraft and chatted it up with Patrick and I. One of them was pretty impressed with the aircraft (and this guy had just flown the fastest and highest flying business jet in the world). But I guess pilots just love planes. I joked with him and said if he liked it so much, we should trade and I could fly his Citation back to PAO.

Another beautiful sunset flight...I'm so lucky!

Another beautiful sunset flight...I'm so lucky!

But alas, the sun was starting to set and I needed to get the plane back to PAO prior to 7pm. The flight back was just as smooth and beautiful as the flight to MCC. The only difference on the return was that the skies were less crowded and by the time I reached the Bay…it was pretty much dark. But I returned on time and made a decent night-time landing back in PAO. Boy, I’m lucky…I love being a pilot!

1 Comment

  1. Jarard.com - The Pilot » Hopping in the Sac for a Baby BBQ
    August 22, 2010

    […] of years, I’ve flown up to the Sacramento area a few times. However, generally I fly into Mc Clellan (MCC) or Sacramento Executive (SAC). This time, Patrick suggested that I fly into Lincoln Regional […]