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Following on from the Planning page, here are the reports submitted on the flying holiday. Saturday 27 March For those of you who helped plan our holiday, sorry, vacation, thanks very much, and here is the first of a series of reports (tell me to stop if you're bored...). We arrived in LA on Thursday morning, after a 11:50 flight from Hong Kong, on the first day it had rained in California since Pontius was a pilot... And I'm supposed to fly a light aircraft in this? Luckily we'd planned a day off to get over the jet-lag, so we were lucky enough to experience Disneyland on the second day it had rained since etc. etc... Fortunately the rain was so bad many people decided to stay at home so we only had to share Disneyland with 210 million others! Saturday dawned clear and bright, but by the time we woke up it was 4,000 scattered, 8,000 broken, mountain obscuration, and icing forecast above 6,000'ish. Plan 'A' was to fly VFR to North Las Vegas with a leg stretch break at Apple Valley. That sounded a bit dodgy with the hills and so on, so I filed IFR at 11,000 on V21 to Boulder City. ATC seemed quite happy with that, so after a couple of joyful hours loading Game Boys, baseball gloves, headsets, intercomms and laptops into a Cessna 182, we taxied out to rw29L at Torrance and took off at 1403, only 3 minutes after my guess on the flight plan!!! (I love it when a plan comes together). LA Departures were great - straight ahead to 3,000, left 190 to 5,000, then own navigation direct Seal Beach to join V21. To a Brit, flying in Hong Kong, it doesn't get any better than that. A 6,000 restriction to Paradise kept us clear of cloud below and a climb with Ontario Approach to 9,000 put us clear on top. Mindful of the Icing Debate on the forum, and remembering comments a few days ago about C182s being more vulnerable to carb icing than other Cessnas, I pulled the carb heat frequently but we had no problems. In fact the family went to sleep! I even remembered to pass a Pirep on the cloud tops! Vegas was wide open below 6,000 ft. We were vectored straight over McCarran to left base rw25 at North Las Vegas. My wife woke up on finals and the children on the second bounce (: Z). Oh well, down to earth with a bump, as they say. A couple of hours later we were on the strip (have you been here? it's amazing! everybody's gambling! I said to my wife "If we go into this Excalibur place, I bet there'll be people gambling!" And I was right!). Anyway, tommorow we're going to the Hard Rock Cafe for breakfast (you know, the one where the 200 ft baby tears the guitar off the roof in "Honey I Blew Up The Kid"), Circus Circus in the afternoon, and the Mirage later. Monday we fly to Cedar City, so don't miss next weeks' exciting episode! ============ Monday 27 March We were watching the dolphins in The Mirage when Michael Jackson walked past with a couple of children and some security people! Richard saw him and I said "Don't be silly, that's not Michael Jackson". As he disappeared the last security guard said to Fo "And you had your camera in your hand the whole time!". He stayed for about an hour, sitting in public for a while and going to a back pool later. When he walked out there were only a dozen or so of us who knew he was coming - we got some close-ups and a girl next to us got his autograph. Vegas was great - we did Excalibur (dinner), Caesar's Palace (Diet Coke), The Mirage (star spotting), Circus Circus (crummy) and an evening show "Splash" at the Riviera (great). Overall, we broke even (didn't gamble) The weather forecast talked about turbulence, low clouds, icing, plagues of frogs, VFR not recommended, but we flew all the way to Cedar City VFR with no snags except two sick bags used (me, twice - just kidding). Cedar City is a bit smaller than Vegas - if everybody plugged their razors in at once the trams would slow down... Two days here to see Bryce and Zion Canyons then on to Grand Canyon and Sedona. ============ Thursday 1 April We spent the last two days in the Cedar City (where?, Utah) area. The first day we drove over to Bryce Canyon - very spectacular, and the kids loved the snow. Day two we drove to Zion National Park, again, great scenery and a good opportunity to let the children wear themselves out. We had an early start today, because there had been no accommodation available in Grand Canyon when we had planned the vacation, so we had to fly to GCN, see the sights, and fly out. Kicked everybody out of bed at oh-dark-hundred, breakfast at sparrows-fart, and Cedar City airport at 0730. After loading the aircraft I walked over to the Cedar City FSS - my first visit to a real live FSS - very interesting and the briefer was helpful. The forecast was good for the morning but a cold front was expected to pass through the Western Utah / Northern Arizona late in the afternoon - possible thunderstorms - just when we were planning to fly from GCN to Sedona... Still, we leapt <g> airborne at 0830 (pretty good for my lot) and had a very smooth flight to Grand Canyon. Los Angeles Center could see us on radar easily at 9,500 and confirmed that our track was taking us clear of the no-fly areas in the canyon. A few minutes later they cleared us direct to the airport, called a few sightseeing aircraft for us, and then sent us to GCN tower. Despite a few poor reports on AVSIG about GCN tower, they gave us a good service. They recommended we stay at 9,500 until within 5 miles, which seemd like good advice with all the tours around. I descended to the pattern height before joining on a 45, #1 to land on rw21. No bounces again, I must be getting the hang of the 182! We only had a few hours on the ground, and some of that was wasted when the 1115 shuttle bus failed to appear (we'd been waiting since 1020!). Eventually we made it to the Moqui Lodge and a real, live horseback ride with real, live cowboys (I think?). The canyon itself is a wonderful sight, but overall we felt the tourism side was overdeveloped, and we were glad we'd spent more time in the quieter Bryce/Zion area, especially as we'd seen the Grand Canyon from the air on the way in. Four o'clock found us back at the airport and the weather not progressing westwards as fast as forecast. 9,500 to Sedona seemed like the right height again, LA Center (very busy) saw us and gave us flight following as they had in the morning. Overhead Williams, LA handed us over to Albuquerque who said they were too busy to give us a service... Oh, well, I stayed on frequency in case the worst happened. We started to pick up light turbulence on the last leg to Sedona and a departing aircraft reported a brisk southerly wind, gusting 15 kt and rw21 in use. I flew one pattern to a low approach to get the feel of it - no snags. Finals to land, however, next time round, we picked up a couple of more vigorous bumps which made the landing a little more interesting than normal. The family looked a little pale when we got out - I thought it was the turbulence - but it turned out they'd been watching the hill under the final approach and thought I was going to land on it! ("What a silly place to put a hill".) We're now in the Poco Diablo Resort and Sedona looks gorgeous. The plan now is to spend a couple of days relaxing by the pool before flying up to Goulding's Lodge in Monument Valley on Sunday. Until then, happy flying and computing! P.S. How can you tell how much fuel you have in a 182? The guages seem to have a life of their own. ============ We had a couple of pleasant, quiet days in Sedona, swimming, and playing tennis and golf with the boys. Two days on the ground was too much for me, of course, so I left the family in bed on the second morning and went up the the airfield on my own. Airborne by 0800 for a half an hour's sightseeing, then some practice closed patterns and short field approaches. They saw me coming, as usual, and switched on the turbulence generator on short finals. With no witnesses, I can claim 4 perfect landings...<g> Yesterday we went horse riding again, this time at the Kachina Stables. Wife and #2 son had a lesson each, #1 son and I went on a trail. Great fun, saw a lizard, crossed a river on horseback and actually *galloped* (OK, trotted!). Fully enthused with horsey things, we went to the local rodeo ("Bull-A-Rama" <!>) at Cornville in the evening. At least our cowboy hats weren't out of place there! Unfortunately, the third or fourth brave warrior got stepped on by a rather angry bull and had to go to hospital with a broken arm. This brought the proceedings to a halt for an hour until the ambulance and EMT (Emergency Medical Team?) returned. IMHO, once you've seen one cowboy fall off a bull, you've seen them all... Domestic trivia interfered with the master plan this morning - laundry. The hotel wanted $3.50 to clean a shirt, while we thought $7.00 for the family's complete load was more like it. To cut a long story short, we flew to Flagstaff to get the washing done! (Many thanks to Chris, Tom and Ern at Alpine Air Services who happily lent us a wrecked Pontiac Station Wagon to go into town in.) Airborne again at 1415 and a rather bumpy climb to 9,500 ft. Prescott Radio heard me clearly as I opened the flight plan, but the bumps continued. Up to 11,500 - no better. Albuqerque Center again said they were too busy to work VFR traffic - didn't sound too busy to me. The plan was to follow Route 89 north out of Flagstaff, turn right onto Route 160 at Tuba City, and then left onto heading 352 at Kayenta. Some rain over Tuba City caused us to divert north around it and we rejoined Route 160 about 10 nm SW of Kayenta. Back down to 9,500 with one sick bag used, so far. The road out of Kayenta was easy to see but I had the stopwatch running anyway because I expected Monument Valley airstrip to be hard to spot. In the event, it showed up clearly, so after closng the flight plan with Cedar City Radio, I descended in a left-hand orbit to end up left downwind for rw16. The runway (sic) is 3100' by 75', steepish uphill, with *big* cliffs 500' or 600' beyond the far end. I picked a point 200 ft in from the threshhold (i.e. the start of the dirt track) and stuck it on at 60 kt. As advertised, I then had to power up to taxy the next 1500' uphill to the apron! The hotel is Goulding's Lodge, more a motel really, set up as a trading post in 1924. It has *magnificent* views over Monument Valley. Just after we checked in, a thunderstorm came overhead giving us a most spectactular sight. But even better, as the rain eased away to the east, a double rainbow appeared over the closest mesa (Eagle Mesa, I think). What a sight! I only hope the photos do it justice! Tomorrow we're touring Monument Valley ("Are there *real* Indians there, Dad?") and Tuesday we're back south again to Scottsdale, if the Injuns don't get us... ============ Monday 5 April Took the All-Day Tour of Mystery Valley and Monument Valley. Navajo guide, lunch cooked over a real camp fire, great fun. The wind got stronger and stronger as the day passed and we got pretty well sand-blasted later on. Even so, not to be missed and well worth it. ============ Tuesday 6 April The plan was to fly from Monument Valley direct Phoenix Scottsdale, but the weather was obviously unfit when we woke up. The cloudbase was just on top of the monuments, say 800 ft, and after breakfast it was even lower and raining. The weather man said it would clear from the West in the afternoon, and, since I had no intention of filing IFR, we had no choice but to stay put. The front desk (Goulding's Lodge) had no comprehension of the problem: "You have to check out by 1100. Yes, the weather's so bad even the tours have cancelled. No, you cannot keep the room for three more hours, you'll have to wait in your aircraft or in the restaurant". Great! I got back to our room just in time to see a Twin Otter landing followed by a pair of Cessna 210s. I ran down to the strip and talked to the pilots who said 20 miles West the weather was severe clear. So I loaded up the aircraft, re-planned the first leg to take us to Page, and eventually took off at 1215 as the weather cleared at Monument Valley. The strip is downhill, away from the cliffs, 3100 ft long and 5100 ft high, and only paved for the first 800 ft. Despite four on board and all our luggage (say 2650 lb all up) we were airborne in 800 ft. I'm pleased I chose the 182 for this trip... VFR to Page was pleasant, fairly smooth, and only 30 minutes. We refuelled there, had a sandwich, and left at 1430 for Phoenix Scottsdale. By this time the bumps had well and truly developed and we had a pretty rough ride all the way. I tried 6,500', 8,500', 10,500', 1000' agl, flew upwind of mountains, everything, but no luck. Bumps, bumps, bumps. Even I was getting bored with it. A shame really, because the scenery was wonderful but we couldn't enjoy it. After 1 hr 30 I got on to Phoenix Approach and picked up a clearance into the TCA, radar vectors to Scottsdale, and a landing on rw21. After all that only one sick bag was used and Richard felt fine after using it. We enjoyed Scottsdale. We were booked into the Registry Resort so we had a pool and all the facilities. Not cheap, but a nice change after roughing it up North. The first night I took the boys to the Basketball where we saw the Suns beat the Lakers in the last second! Great stuff. Next morning we had breakfast at the Left Seat restaurant at Scottdale with a small group of PHX SigRats (Martha, Wil and Steve) and then retired to the pool. Thursday we went to Rawhide and played cowboys all day followed by Ice Hockey (Phoenix Roadrunners losing to the Rivermen) in the evening. ============ Friday 9 April By Friday I was getting withdrawal symtoms again so Steve White rescued me. I flew down to Stellar Airpark, picked him up, and off we went to La Cholla where we met Fred Potts and played with his toys (and *what* toys!) until lunchtime. A home by an airstrip, Bonanza in the hangar, a den full of stereo and computers, wow! Eventually we tore ourselves away and popped over to Ryan for lunch and then the return to Stellar. The navigation worked OK, despite no Loran, no GPS, and visibility down to 50 miles. I mean, why do you guys bother with IFR ratings? ============ Saturday 10 April OK, OK, I know why. After looking at the Phoenix TCA, the San Diego TCA, and the route in between, I filed IFR with a stop at Imperial County for lunch. (Funny how all the plans are built around meal times!) Scottsdale Clearance Delivery had my clearance ready as soon as I called up and we were off on time at 1000. After radar vectors through the TCA we were cleared direct GBN and onto V66 at 10,000. That gave me a chance to look at the Pilot's Guide to California Airports, which I'd left in the aircraft the previous day, and as things were going so well, I changed the plan to stop at Calexico instead. Thought it might be more interesting. We might as well have been in Mexico. The customs man walked out and took a close look at the aircraft, it was boiling hot, and no English was spoken in the restaurant. $18 for a couple of soggy tacos - next time I'll go to Imperial. Still, it felt like we'd been to Mexico. LA Centre picked us up passing 6000' and gave us our IFR clearance, San Diego gave us radar vectors to the ILS 28R at Montgomery, nobody sick, all very straightforward really (in 50 mile vis). The FBO even sent out a little electric cart to carry our bags. We're staying at the Balboa Park Inn, right next to the Zoo. We've got a suite which consists of a living room, a kitchen, bathrooom, bedroom, and patio, all for $125 a night including breakfast. Highly recommended. We spent all day at the Zoo today (not very busy, considering) and we'll be at Sea World tomorrow. Tuesday we return the aircraft to Torrance and we'll do some more tourist things in LA waiting for *FRIDAY* and Santa Maria! ============ A quick note this time to finish off the story! Having left the bumps behind in Phoenix, the flight from San Diego Montgomery to Torrance on Tuesday 13 April was nice and smooth. I elected to go VFR and follow the coast at 4,500. It took just under 1 hour and Torrance was clear on arrival. We spent two days in LA. We bought Richard some RollerBlades for his birthday and took him to the beach so he could try them out, we went to a Dodgers Game (tied 1/1 after 10 innings, <snore>), and ran around Universal Studios trying to see everything. Friday morning found us back at Torrance booking out the trusty 182 for an IFR flight to Santa Maria for the SMX Gig. Coastal fog along the route made IFR the way to go and we had a very smooth ride. Santa Maria was great. We met lots of the folk I usually only type to, Mike and Jan Busch put on a wonderful BBQ on Friday night, and as a bonus, we saw a flight of three B-25s and four P-51s take-off on Saturday morning as part of the Doolittle Celebrations. Unfortunately we had to leave on Saturday afternoon in order to catch the flight to Hong Kong on Sunday. It was a shame to leave early - we missed the famous melodrama, the wine tasting, and the Sunday BBQ - but I'm already making plans to come again next year! You won't get the Magellan Award off me *that* easily! For any C182 flyers out there, we flew 19.3 hours, excluding the trip to Santa Maria, and burned 222 gallons of fuel. That works out to 11.5 gallons per hour (including taxy time) - significantly better than I planned on. On the return flight to Hong Kong, the two SLA batteries in my PB100 lasted exactly 2 hours each. I tried recharging one battery from the AC outlet in the toilet of the Cathay Pacific B747-400 we were on, but no luck, so I went up to the flight deck and tried the AC outlet there - success! Apparently the power in the toilets is deliberately weak (shavers only), but the flight deck AC source delivered the goods. Thanks to everybody on AVSIG who helped me plan our vacation. We had a wonderful time and it wouldn't have been half as good without the help and advice I received. Thanks to Mike and Jan Busch for the SMX Gig (what stamina!), and thanks to Steve White for organising the PHX mini-gig and flying with me to Tucson. Happy landings! Chris ============ Alexis Park Resort Hotel, Las Vegas - 5 minutes from the Strip
Balboa Park Inn, San Diego - right next to the Zoo, highly recommended
Goulding's Lodge, Monument Valley - private airstrip - call ahead for permission to land
Holiday Inn, Cedar City - good for visiting Bryce and Zion Canyons
Poco Diablo Resort, Sedona -very pleasant resort - highly recommended
Torrance Marriott Hotel, Torrance - 5 minutes from Torrance Airport, 30 minutes from Disneyland
Registry Resort, Phoenix Scottsdale - pricey, good location
Rolling Hills Aviation, Torrance - FBO - contact Bill Sherwood
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A Flying Holiday - 2
