Great Day to Reach 100 hrs!
A Great Day for Flying!
Last weekend, I spent the weekend in Mexico enjoying the sights and sounds of Guadalajara in Jalisco, MX. The weather in Mexico was great, yet not so great back in the Bay. So in some ways, it was a perfect weekend to be out of town. But as always, when I am in town, I find a way to stop by the airport. This past Saturday it was absolutely gorgeous, so I did my usual weekly walkaround and decided that I’d reserve N343MM for Sunday afternoon and just fly somewhere. I sent my roomie, Bradley (aka B-Diddy), a text message and suggested that we setup a fly-in somewhere since I had my plane reserved for 6 hrs and it would be absolutely gorgeous.
Sunday morning, B called and asked if I want to go along for his IFR practice run and I said…”Ah…I wanna fly!” But after thinking about it for a minute, I said…”Hey, why don’t we go in your plane for a bit and then hop in my plane and head to Columbia (O22).” And with that…it was set!
We met at the airport at about 1:30p and it was truly a standard day…well at least temperature-wise. The altimeter was around 30.18″ and the winds were a lil high at around 10-12 kts with a slight crosswind. B needed to complete his IFR currency, so we headed out of PAO towards the Central Valley. There he completed a couple of holds near the Manteca VOR and an ILS approach into Stockton. Then we climbed out, turned to 180, and headed to Tracy for a GPS approach into runway 26. And after a quick missed approach, we called over to NorCal for an ILS approach into Livermore (LVK).
Unfortunately, we had to do a couple of holds before heading into LVK but by the time we neared LVK, we understood why. It seems EVERYONE was flying in or around Livermore. It took us about 5 minutes to finally get a word in over the radio after being transitioned from NorCal. What’s even more ironic is that the Tower at Livermore allowed B to setup for the ILS on Runway 25R even though they were landing traffic on runways 7L/R. At about three miles from the approach end, B asked the controller, “What would you like me to do?” The controller immediately said to climb out and head to PAO. I guess that was enough for him.
Nice IFR work, Bradley...now it's my turn!
We arrived back into PAO about 1.9 hours later and I was pretty tired. It’s hard work being a safety pilot…especially when the sun is beaming down on you for 1.9 hrs and it’s a lil bumpy. We took a quick break and had lunch at McDonald’s, and then headed back to the airport. On the way back, I called FSS for an abbreviated briefing and they mentioned moderate turbulence down to 1600 ft near the Sierras. Given that Columbia’s elevation is 2100 ft, right at the foot of the Sierras, and the airport is completely surrounded by trees…I decided that I didn’t “have to go.” So instead, with it being such a beautiful day, we decided to take the Archer down to Monterey and enjoyed the coastal views.
Let's ahead to Monterey.
The flight to MRY was yet another PERFECT flight in the Archer. B commented numerous times at how smooth it was in climb and level flight. On the way to MRY we cruised at about 135kts groundspeed and at 5,500ft. And as I always do when landing into MRY, I requested the big runway…28L. Like always, I came in high but the approach and landing settled well.
Monterey Airport
We took a quick break to catch our breathe and receive departure instructions and just like that we were off. After a steady and slow climb to 6,500 ft, we settled into a cruise speed of this time only about 98kts. Obviously, we had quite a headwind.
Approach into PAO....so beautiful in the evening!
We flew over Watsonville and then up the 101 Valley (just like the airliners on approach into San Jose Intl’) and then began our descent. Coming from the south, ATC generally vectors aircraft over Moffett Field at 1500 ft and then over the Shoreline for a straight-in approach into PAO. And this flight was no different. After a calm approach and brief flare…we were back on the ground again…this time 1.7 hrs later. And with those two flights, I’ve now reached 101 hrs. Boy, it feels good to be a pilot…I can’t wait until the next flight. Thanks for a fun day, B!