Simple joy!

[Vance]

Looking out the window of my office I could see the hills clearly on the other side of the valley but I could not see the fields. There was a thin layer of fog blanketing the valley floor. Blue sky was in evidence enough for me that it feel it would be a good day to fly.

The terminal area forecasts at SMX and SBP had the winds coming up after 1:00 so I hurried through my stack of stuff and arrived at the airport at 10:00. At 10:30 I asked ground to taxi to 30 with Echo. As we rolled down Alpha I could feel the wind go from 300 degrees at 7kts as reported in the ATIS to 270 degrees at 21kts. The wind was fairly steady so it would just be a slow flight to SLO.

The blades seemed recalcitrant as we began our takeoff roll. After a certain amount of coaxing they came up to speed nicely and with very little roll we were climbing almost straight up. I saw 1,400 feet per minute on the VSI at 30kts of ground speed in the cool dense air.

We started across the Valley at 40kts of ground speed. There was very little buffeting but every now and then I would feel the tail rise and our altitude would begin to climb. I was on the path that most arriving flights from the North West take so I wanted to stay low. I found the way the wind caressed The Predator sensuous.

The Pacific Ocean looked particularly blue and peaceful in the distance. I called the San Luis Obispo tower with Foxtrot, inbound to land 13 miles to the South East at 1,500 feet. ATC asked me to ident and then said, “Experimental 142 Mike Golf I show you 13 miles to the South East at 1,500 feet, report established on the 45 for a left downwind for 29.” It is nice to know my transponder still works after the rain Saturday night at Hollister.

We headed out to the coastline, dropped down to 500 feet and saw what appeared to be a less tranquil Pacific then we saw from 15 miles away.

The mist would form a sort of halo as the smallish waves made their way to shore. There were white caps making a random pattern on the dark blue ocean.

Gulls and Pelicans seemed to be patrolling everywhere with very little wing movement.

The beach was mostly vacant except for a few windsurfers and they didn’t seem to be having much success.

The white sandy beach gives way to rocky cliffs at Shell Beach and we began to experience some turbulence from the nearby hills. As we entered the Avilla pass it was time to climb out of the turbulence. I let the tower know we would be coming in a little high because of the turbulence in the pass. We usually go through there at 700 feet to miss traffic which is usually at more than 1,200 feet.

Things smoothed out at 1,300 feet AGL and I called the tower inbound on the 45. “Experimental 142 Mike Golf, keep it a little wide because I have someone in left closed traffic that is going to overtake you.”

I flew over the Golf course and headed for the landfill when he told me I was number two behind the MD80 on a two mile final, report in sight and go ahead and turn Base. It would have been hard not to see the MD80, I reported MD80 in sight and was clear to land number two. On short final the controller gave me a wind check at 270 degrees at 24. The descent was nice and steady and the touchdown was gentle.

The fellow who guides aircraft to parking with the sticks who works for the fuel FBO was clapping in approval as I taxied across Alpha and he was anxious to show me the small aluminum chocks he had made for aircraft like mine with wheel pants that hit the wood chocks. It was a very nice thing to do.

Today’s flight seemed simple after our lovely aviation weekend flying up to Hollister and back. It was still a great way to spend a few hours.

Thank you, Vance

[scottessex]

Wow Vance you have it all out there. Very nice, I didn't see any surfers out in the water.(?)
You have Airports, beaches, and Golf courses all right there. I played my first game of golf ever, a couple of weeks ago with my Father in law, we had a great time. It was almost 100 degrees here today, I may try a morning flight tomorrow before it gets to hot.

Thanks for taking us on your adventure.

[RockyMeLad]

Once again... thank you for sharing, Vance.
Our drought continues, as does the wind. :-(

[Vance]

Hello Scott,

Glad to have you along.

The weather has been a challenge even in Nipomo with lots of wind. The earlier I fly to miss the wind the cooler it is. It didn’t get into the 60s until almost noon.

Pismo is often ten degrees cooler than Nipomo and the water hasn’t warmed up yet and it was just after the holiday weekend so the beach did not have a lot of people.

The water gets colder north of Santa Barbara so it is a dedicated bunch around here.

The surf was blown out so I only saw the two surfers with the kites.

My camera doesn’t do well if I use the zoom and I try to stay at least 500 feet AGL so people are hard to see in the pictures. There were two kayakers near the rocks that are hard to see too.

They are big on golf courses in California; we have two just in Nipomo. They are often used for reporting and it is sort of like using a McDonalds for directions, there are so many you don’t know which one.


Thank you Rocky, I am glad to have you along.

How bad are the winds?

It seems a peculiar year for weather; we are still waiting for spring weather.

There is lots of snow in the Sierras so we are not short of water in this somewhat arid Sothern California coastal area.

I feel fortunate to have such a lovely area to fly; I can point the camera in any direction and have a nice picture. It is much more beautiful in person and ever changing.

A little altitude expands the view a lot.

Thank you, Vance

[RockyMeLad]

Base winds 10-20, but mostly gusting up 10-15 from that.
I like relatively steady winds, even up to 25, but gusty winds take too much of the fun out of it.
I did get about an hour at daybreak this morning before it picked up. Evenings haven't been calming down like some years, so no "sunset flights" yet this year.

[StanFoster]

Vance- Once again, another nice read. Stan

[Vance]

Thank you Rocky,

It is the gust spread that keeps me on the ground too although bucking 30kt headwinds is a little daunting if I am any distance from home with a desire to get back.

We had a beautiful red sunrise this morning but the terminal forecasts look good.

We have a 25kt wind shear around Santa Barbara at 1,000 feet predicted to start at 8 pm. It looks like good flying weather before that with all the airports within a 50 nautical mile radius of SMX already VFR at 6:00 am and winds below 10 kts.

It is payroll today at Santa Maria Software and I have some paperwork that needs to be notarized and mailed off ASAP so I probably won’t get an early start today.

We have a big storm stalled off the coast that will probably spoil the flight to open hangar day at Santa Paula on Sunday so I have a compelling reason to fly today and ignore the ancient couplet “Red sky at morning pilots take warning.”


I am glad you enjoyed the read Stan.

It is fun to imagine flying with my friends.

I am someone who is passionate about challenge so it continues to astonish me that I can find such joy when everything seems so effortless and straightforward.

Thank you, Vance