- Joined
- Oct 30, 2003
- Messages
- 18,363
- Location
- Santa Maria, California
- Aircraft
- Givens Predator
- Total Flight Time
- 2600+ in rotorcraft
I had been checking the weather for more than a week to try to find patterns. This time of year locally (KSMX) it is pretty simple; coastal fog in the morning until the wind comes up a little and the fog returns when the winds die down.
Santa Ynez (KIZA) has fog in the morning that usually burns off sooner than SMX because it is further inland and warmer.
Santa Barbara (KSBA) is similar to SMX but because it is on the beach the fog may linger all day although it usually burns off sooner than SMX.
Santa Paula (KSZP) has the same costal weather we have but it is warmer because it is further south and less foggy because it is further inland. There winds can change suddenly and it is not unusual to have the active runway change three times during the day.
Taft may have ugly winds in the afternoon and sometimes tulle fog so thick they have huge pile ups on highway five. The wind often comes up in the afternoon and the runway is one way so taking off with a 20kt tail wind on the 3,200 by 60 foot runway is a real possibility.
General William J Fox Field (WJF) is pretty simple, gentle winds in the morning and big winds in the afternoon.
Rosamond Skypark Airport (L00) is a lot like WJF with a little bigger more unpredictable wind.
Between Taft and the high desert the winds can be so bad they have an Automated Surface Weather Observation Station at Sandberg (KSDB). They also get snow but not this time of year.
Edwards AFB (KEDW) is the closest weather to El Mirage and sometimes even has winds in the middle of the night.
Because Ed was still sick and Bob’s dad had a heart attack I had to revamp my packing scheme Thursday morning for the no ground support flight. I headed down to the airport through the thick fog in the M as the sun was coming up with a suitcase in the passenger seat and my back pack in the trunk. I pretended it looked promising and loaded things up as soon as I finished the preflight inspection and topped off the tanks for the first leg either to Taft or Santa Paula. SMX was still below IFR minimums as 10:00 came and went. I cleaned up the hangar from the weeks projects to prepare for the flight.
I greased the shimmy damper on the nose gear and busied myself with minor items as I watched the field go from 200 foot ceilings to 800 foot ceilings and then back down to 500 foot ceilings.
Lockheed Martin had an airmet for low ceilings and mountain obscuration along the entire costal route so Taft was looking better. There were several pilot reports of moderate to severe turbulence and the briefer checked both routes.
There was a small round dark cloud over the airport that refused to move and the wind kept brining more fog.
My patience and good judgment ran out at 11:30 with the ceilings at 800 feet. I asked for special VFR and closed traffic for my maintenance flight. The ATC gave me left closed traffic and the fog looked worse from 500 feet AGL.
The post flight inspection went well so I asked for a special VFR departure to the north east. Winds were 7kts straight down runway 30 but the dark cloud refused to move. Because of the intermittent below IFR conditions they had a lot of traffic coming in on 12. ATC gave me an intersection departure from runway 12 at foxtrot. I was to report reaching VFR and leaving the class Delta air space. As I waited at the hold short line for landing I watched several airliners emerge out of the fog as if by magic.
I found taking off with a 7kt tail wind provided some interesting challenges but as we climbed out things actually looked better to the East so I asked for a departure to the East South East and it was approved as requested. I was glad I had greased the shimmy dampener. I reported reaching VFR conditions less than a quarter mile from SMX and saw blue skies in about a half mile. I asked to cross the centerline to the east and it was approved as requested. I made the decision to head down the coast toward Santa Paula and rearranged my radio call sheets. I had marked three different routs on the chart with a few alternates.
As we turned east we encountered a 15kt head wind that grew to 20kts before we reached the San Marcos Pass. Santa Ynez looked iffy with 800 broken so we pressed on. The head wind seemed to accelerate the fuel gage’s descent but I made the decision to forgo a fuel stop at SBA. Patchy low clouds pushed us inland through No Name pass and the head wind weakened to 10kts as I called inbound to Santa Paula at 10 miles.
There were two aircraft in the pattern that were giving good radio so I slipped in easily.
A Citabria lined up for takeoff as we turned final but he was off quickly.
We touched down near the displaced threshold, called clear of the active and taxied to fuel.
I filled her up and stopped by to say hello to Al Ball and see if I could get him to fly his 18A up the event. He had more excuses than I had reasons. He told me he had decided to sell his 18A that he has been restoring as long as I have known him.
I had a quick snack at the picnic table and watched the tail dragger learning process.
It was time to head up the slot to Six Flags Magic Mountain so I called Lockheed Martin and they had winds at WJF at 6kts and even SDB was only reporting 17kts.
I have a tight schedule today so the flight to WJF will have to wait.
Thank you, Vance
Santa Ynez (KIZA) has fog in the morning that usually burns off sooner than SMX because it is further inland and warmer.
Santa Barbara (KSBA) is similar to SMX but because it is on the beach the fog may linger all day although it usually burns off sooner than SMX.
Santa Paula (KSZP) has the same costal weather we have but it is warmer because it is further south and less foggy because it is further inland. There winds can change suddenly and it is not unusual to have the active runway change three times during the day.
Taft may have ugly winds in the afternoon and sometimes tulle fog so thick they have huge pile ups on highway five. The wind often comes up in the afternoon and the runway is one way so taking off with a 20kt tail wind on the 3,200 by 60 foot runway is a real possibility.
General William J Fox Field (WJF) is pretty simple, gentle winds in the morning and big winds in the afternoon.
Rosamond Skypark Airport (L00) is a lot like WJF with a little bigger more unpredictable wind.
Between Taft and the high desert the winds can be so bad they have an Automated Surface Weather Observation Station at Sandberg (KSDB). They also get snow but not this time of year.
Edwards AFB (KEDW) is the closest weather to El Mirage and sometimes even has winds in the middle of the night.
Because Ed was still sick and Bob’s dad had a heart attack I had to revamp my packing scheme Thursday morning for the no ground support flight. I headed down to the airport through the thick fog in the M as the sun was coming up with a suitcase in the passenger seat and my back pack in the trunk. I pretended it looked promising and loaded things up as soon as I finished the preflight inspection and topped off the tanks for the first leg either to Taft or Santa Paula. SMX was still below IFR minimums as 10:00 came and went. I cleaned up the hangar from the weeks projects to prepare for the flight.
I greased the shimmy damper on the nose gear and busied myself with minor items as I watched the field go from 200 foot ceilings to 800 foot ceilings and then back down to 500 foot ceilings.
Lockheed Martin had an airmet for low ceilings and mountain obscuration along the entire costal route so Taft was looking better. There were several pilot reports of moderate to severe turbulence and the briefer checked both routes.
There was a small round dark cloud over the airport that refused to move and the wind kept brining more fog.
My patience and good judgment ran out at 11:30 with the ceilings at 800 feet. I asked for special VFR and closed traffic for my maintenance flight. The ATC gave me left closed traffic and the fog looked worse from 500 feet AGL.
The post flight inspection went well so I asked for a special VFR departure to the north east. Winds were 7kts straight down runway 30 but the dark cloud refused to move. Because of the intermittent below IFR conditions they had a lot of traffic coming in on 12. ATC gave me an intersection departure from runway 12 at foxtrot. I was to report reaching VFR and leaving the class Delta air space. As I waited at the hold short line for landing I watched several airliners emerge out of the fog as if by magic.
I found taking off with a 7kt tail wind provided some interesting challenges but as we climbed out things actually looked better to the East so I asked for a departure to the East South East and it was approved as requested. I was glad I had greased the shimmy dampener. I reported reaching VFR conditions less than a quarter mile from SMX and saw blue skies in about a half mile. I asked to cross the centerline to the east and it was approved as requested. I made the decision to head down the coast toward Santa Paula and rearranged my radio call sheets. I had marked three different routs on the chart with a few alternates.
As we turned east we encountered a 15kt head wind that grew to 20kts before we reached the San Marcos Pass. Santa Ynez looked iffy with 800 broken so we pressed on. The head wind seemed to accelerate the fuel gage’s descent but I made the decision to forgo a fuel stop at SBA. Patchy low clouds pushed us inland through No Name pass and the head wind weakened to 10kts as I called inbound to Santa Paula at 10 miles.
There were two aircraft in the pattern that were giving good radio so I slipped in easily.
A Citabria lined up for takeoff as we turned final but he was off quickly.
We touched down near the displaced threshold, called clear of the active and taxied to fuel.
I filled her up and stopped by to say hello to Al Ball and see if I could get him to fly his 18A up the event. He had more excuses than I had reasons. He told me he had decided to sell his 18A that he has been restoring as long as I have known him.
I had a quick snack at the picnic table and watched the tail dragger learning process.
It was time to head up the slot to Six Flags Magic Mountain so I called Lockheed Martin and they had winds at WJF at 6kts and even SDB was only reporting 17kts.
I have a tight schedule today so the flight to WJF will have to wait.
Thank you, Vance
Attachments
Last edited: