Flying Into Writing: Last Photo Mission Of The Year
By Eric McCarthyThe last day of the year started as a mostly clear day, a little haze visible on the horizon, but a good 20-25 miles visibility. The marine layer, so prevalent along the southern California coast at this time of year, had receded. My son, Mike, and I departed Palomar (KCRQ) around 9:30am headed north to our refueling stop at Los Banos (KLSN). Depending on the winds aloft, the flight usually takes two and a half to three hours – naturally, we got the three hour flight.Passing through LAX’s Class Bravo via the Coliseum Route at 8,500-feet, I usually continue on course to Van Nuys VOR (VNY) and then, for no particularly good reason, my northbound route of flight usually takes us to Fillmore VOR (FIM), then northwest along V107 to Avenal VOR (AVE) and beyond. This time, however, the massive Thomas Fire, which had been burning for almost a month at this point, eventually consuming more than 280,000 acres, and its equally massive TFR necessitated a change of plans: we’d fly north to Gorman VOR (GMN), then to Avenal. Not a big change, but a change nonetheless.Crossing into the Central Valley at Grapevine, it became clear – that it wasn’t anymore; as far as the eye could see, the valley was filled with low-level haze. I think this may be known as Tule Fog, but it really wasn’t ground-bound fog – just a thick haze that filled the valley. You could see the ground if you looked straight down, but slant-range visibility was very limited. The haze topped out at about 2,500-feet, so we weren’t concerned cruising along at 8,500-feet. But that would change soon enough…The Los Banos AWOS was reporting VFR conditions, but as we descended approaching the Panoche VOR (PXN), still in the clear, I could see that this wasn’t going to be an easy VFR approach. The haze hadn’t lessened; in fact it may have thickened! I was talking to NorCal at the time and requested a practice GPS 32 approach, just to make sure I would be pointed in the right direction. The approach calls for a turn to the north at 3,600-feet from Panoche, so we were still above the soup until we reached the initial fix at ILESE; from there we began our descent into the haze. Forward visibility dropped considerably, although, as before, we could look straight down and see the ground beneath. The airport made its appearance right where it was supposed to be, visible right at the three mile VFR limit, and we made an uneventful landing.Even though the sun was peering through, I was a little concerned about the possibility of the haze morphing into a thicker fog, so we refueled quickly and headed out to our photo site. Located on the other side of the low hills that bound the western edge of the Central Valley, the photo site was in the clear, with very little haze at all. And farther south at our second fuel stop, Paso Robles (KPRB), it was a beautiful, “big sky” kind of day with a few puffy clouds dotting the blue sky. The flight from Paso Robles back to Palomar usually takes about two hours, and with the shortened daylight of late December, I knew we needed to get on our way quickly to avoid a mountain crossing in the dark.
Our route home required another diversion due to the Thomas Fire TFR; again, we would travel to the Gorman VOR before turning south toward Los Angeles. Our flight took us over the massive solar arrays in the Carrizo Plain and the stark white Soda Lake with its tentacle-like “fingers” carved into the surrounding parched terrain. Lonely silos cast long shadows across the ground and the moonrise over the Tehachapi Mountains was mesmerizing.After Gorman we headed south over the mountains to the San Fernando Valley where we would join the Coastal Route through the Class Bravo. With the sun starting to set, I wanted to maintain my 9,500-feet altitude until we cleared the most hostile of the mountainous terrain. This would mean a fairly rapid descent to get down to the 5,500-feet required by the Coastal Route. Manageable, but a little more abrupt than usual.
The sunset was beautiful, layers of mountains silhouetted against the sky tinged orange by the smoke of the distant fire. We joined the Coastal Route and cruised serenely over the Getty Museum and Santa Monica, the ferris wheel on the pier radiating its beautiful colors. But I was beginning to see a potential problem: the marine layer was readying its assault on the coastline, gathering its carpet of low-lying clouds just off the shoreline. It wasn’t a problem yet, but what about 75 miles south, and 30 minutes later, at Palomar? I loaded Palomar’s ATIS into Comm 2.Clearing the Class Bravo at Long Beach, we remained at 5,500-feet to clear John Wayne’s (KSNA) Class Charlie which tops out at 5,400-feet. I attempted to listen to the ATIS, but we were too far away – the transmission was very broken and full of static, but what I heard wasn’t good:“…Palomar…Special Observation…” Uh-oh… that’s never good news!A few miles further south, with darkness enveloping us, the transmission became clear – Palomar had gone “below basic VFR minimums…” I quickly reviewed my options and decided we were going to put down at John Wayne, now at my 10:00 position. Not only was it convenient and still VFR, but it was the closest airport to my home and my wife knew how to get there to pick us up!Me: “Socal, Cessna 99700, we’d like to amend our destination to John Wayne, Palomar’s gone IFR.”SoCal: “Skyhawk 99700, SoCal, roger, turn left to 080, remain at 5,500”
A few moments later they gave us a descent, turned us toward the airport and told us to contact tower. The field had momentarily disappeared behind some low clouds, but we were able to reacquire it and join downwind as the tower cleared us to land on 20 Left. A Southwest 737 was on final for 20 Right, so I extended my downwind to make sure that if I blew through final I wouldn’t get run over by the airliner.We rolled out on final perfectly, the runway lights beckoning us home. Mike said I made my best landing of the day that night. It was a squeaker – “like buttah!”– as someone I know would say. It was a long day, but he had enjoyed the adventure of it all, although I felt bad that we hadn’t had a chance to get lunch… Next time Mike!For a place with very little “weather,” California challenged me with two weather-related experiences within one mission!Until next time – fly safe!
Our route home required another diversion due to the Thomas Fire TFR; again, we would travel to the Gorman VOR before turning south toward Los Angeles. Our flight took us over the massive solar arrays in the Carrizo Plain and the stark white Soda Lake with its tentacle-like “fingers” carved into the surrounding parched terrain. Lonely silos cast long shadows across the ground and the moonrise over the Tehachapi Mountains was mesmerizing.After Gorman we headed south over the mountains to the San Fernando Valley where we would join the Coastal Route through the Class Bravo. With the sun starting to set, I wanted to maintain my 9,500-feet altitude until we cleared the most hostile of the mountainous terrain. This would mean a fairly rapid descent to get down to the 5,500-feet required by the Coastal Route. Manageable, but a little more abrupt than usual.The sunset was beautiful, layers of mountains silhouetted against the sky tinged orange by the smoke of the distant fire. We joined the Coastal Route and cruised serenely over the Getty Museum and Santa Monica, the ferris wheel on the pier radiating its beautiful colors. But I was beginning to see a potential problem: the marine layer was readying its assault on the coastline, gathering its carpet of low-lying clouds just off the shoreline. It wasn’t a problem yet, but what about 75 miles south, and 30 minutes later, at Palomar? I loaded Palomar’s ATIS into Comm 2.Clearing the Class Bravo at Long Beach, we remained at 5,500-feet to clear John Wayne’s (KSNA) Class Charlie which tops out at 5,400-feet. I attempted to listen to the ATIS, but we were too far away – the transmission was very broken and full of static, but what I heard wasn’t good:“…Palomar…Special Observation…” Uh-oh… that’s never good news!A few miles further south, with darkness enveloping us, the transmission became clear – Palomar had gone “below basic VFR minimums…” I quickly reviewed my options and decided we were going to put down at John Wayne, now at my 10:00 position. Not only was it convenient and still VFR, but it was the closest airport to my home and my wife knew how to get there to pick us up!Me: “Socal, Cessna 99700, we’d like to amend our destination to John Wayne, Palomar’s gone IFR.”SoCal: “Skyhawk 99700, SoCal, roger, turn left to 080, remain at 5,500”A few moments later they gave us a descent, turned us toward the airport and told us to contact tower. The field had momentarily disappeared behind some low clouds, but we were able to reacquire it and join downwind as the tower cleared us to land on 20 Left. A Southwest 737 was on final for 20 Right, so I extended my downwind to make sure that if I blew through final I wouldn’t get run over by the airliner.We rolled out on final perfectly, the runway lights beckoning us home. Mike said I made my best landing of the day that night. It was a squeaker – “like buttah!”– as someone I know would say. It was a long day, but he had enjoyed the adventure of it all, although I felt bad that we hadn’t had a chance to get lunch… Next time Mike!For a place with very little “weather,” California challenged me with two weather-related experiences within one mission!Until next time – fly safe! 