By Eric McCarthy

There we were, climbing out of Paso Robles (KPRB) in my friend’s Cessna 172, joining our course line to the Fellows VOR (FLW). We had completed our photo mission in the Central Valley, refueled the plane at Los Banos (KLSN) and ourselves at Paso, and now it was time to head home. We contacted Oakland Center to request VFR Flight Following for the 233nm, two-hour flight back to Palomar (KCRQ).

Our course would take us over the mountain range just north of Santa Barbara on Victor 485, to OHIGH intersection where we turn east to enter the LA basin. On a calm, clear day, you can get over the coastal range safely at about 7,500’ although I usually prefer to carry extra altitude and make the crossing at 9,500’, both to escape the orographic turbulence and to provide greater glide range in case anything goes awry–those mountains are pretty rugged and unforgiving.

Passing Fellows it became clear that 9,500’ was not going to be enough to get over the cloud layer that had developed along the coast and the mountains ahead. They began as widely scattered fair-weather cotton balls and progressed to thick cumulous billows as we got closer to the mountains. Ok, up we go! Rich broke out the oxygen cannulas as we climbed through 10,000’.