© C Blythe 2004

A cool night had left a lot of cloud hanging around the surrounding mountains. It was obvious as we arrived at the airport that there was going to be a bit of IMC flying today. It would be nothing too difficult once we got on top, in fact similar to the arrival the previous day.

Today’s mission was for Sharon to depart Medford and to fly to the Pacific coast, fly a practice approach to Crescent City and then land in Arcata. We would switch over and I would then take us down the coast to Ukiah ending up with a full stop landing in Santa Rosa. From there, Sharon would take us past San Francisco to lunch at Half Moon Bay (the base in the Flight Unlimited flight simulator) and onto Monterey before I completing the day by taking us to Santa Maria.

Medford (MFR) to Santa Maria (SMX) 528nm

As far as navigation went it was simple. If the sea was on the right and the land was on the left we were going in the right direction. Of course when you are above an overcast layer that rule does not work so well so it was back to the radio navigation.

On arrival in Arcata, we refuelled and made for  a quick departure for Ukiah and Santa Rosa.  It was my turn to fly a departure procedure and out of Arcata it was to be the HOCUT TWO with the Fortuna transition. It worked well. Before reaching the SEVLY intersection I was vectored onto V494, in effect cutting the corner.

The Ukiah Regional Airport is located 25 air miles directly inland from the Pacific Ocean and 62 miles north of Santa Rosa. The airport is within the Yokayo Valley, surrounded by low hills, with Lake Mendocino to the north and the Mayacama Mountains to the east, which rise nearly 3,900 feet above the 614 foot Mean Sea Level (MSL) elevation of the Airport.

The airport also has Class E airspace to the surface along with the stubs running up and down the valley the airport sits in.

The approach was to be the LOC RWY15 starting from MERRI an intersection on V494. Turning off the Victor airway towards the localiser I thought I had plenty of time. In the end I had to hurry a bit to get myself set up for the approach. Even though the airport only has an elevation of 614 ft, the straight in minimum was 2400 ft without a DME and 1720 with a DME. Looking at the approach plate you can see the problem. Cross into the valley at 7000 ft and then step down to the minimum. The Missed approach point is nearly 2 miles before the runway threshold. It needs to be because when we went missed there was a lot of climbing to do to firstly ten degrees to the left to stay in line with the valley and reach 4000 ft and then ninety degrees right to reach 6000 ft and the Mendocino VOR. Of course there is the timer as a back up for the DME, which has you flying 4 minutes 45 seconds from the final approach fix to the MAP. It was a challenging little run with a lot happening over a short space of time.

Once at the ENI VOR we executed a holding pattern with the approval of ATC.  I was happy to fly a couple of laps of the hold but having safely executed the manoeuvre Rich got the clearance to proceed to Santa Rosa aka Charles M Schultz- Sonoma County Regional Airport.

Before flying of to Santa Rosa take a minute or two to study the Ukiah approach plate and see how busy it can be. Whilst its not the most special of places the approach is difficult. I wonder what it is like in bad weather? It is also worth taking a look at the other non precision approaches to see the difficulty the location poses. The Moreys pick airports because of the challenges the pose to instrument pilots not because they are pretty. It indicates a degree of thoroughness to their approach.

The approach to Sonoma was from the north west and we asked for and got the VOR/DME RWY 14. Again it was a simple case of being vectored off V494 and shuffled across to pick up our inbound course for RWY 14. These approached were now coming thick and fast each day but they were also getting easier. Getting to understand what the charts are telling you is  important. The approach ended with a circle to land and an uneventful landing on RWY 32 despite the high wind.

Rich was keeping up a relentless pace. My flight was just 2 hours. Sharon’s was an hour and a half. It was still only mid morning.  Rich refuelled, whilst we had a visit to the restrooms and it was then for Sharon to take us to Half Moon Bay. With 528 miles to cover in the day as well as the additional time spent on the approaches its easy to see how good time planning is critical.

We rolled up into the restaurant 5 minutes before they stopped taking orders. The waitress nearly lost it as we were the fourth group of people to arrive within 10 minutes of closing. Two of the people were policemen or more correctly sheriff’s deputies. They were the fattest cops I have ever seen and really lived up to the stereotype seen often in the movies. They liked their food for sure. It would have taken a massacre for then to put down their burgers and investigate. The black and white patrol car was parked outside. There was a pair of old dears who seemed so out of place. They both had enormous meals arrive  which they seemed to polished off too quickly. I suspect their dogs did well that day. Sitting in the restaurant, I just had to pinch myself to convince myself that it was real. Maybe the Bates Motel was some place nearby.

The food when it came was just great. It had been 7 hours since breakfast and we still had a bit of flying still to do.

Lunch over, Sharon took us to Monterey. This was a pleasant fly down the coast. It still took us an hour. Monterey with it Naval facility, the marina with the expensive boats seemed a world away from the rugged northern California coast.

After landing there was just time to change seats and I was taking us to Santa Maria where we were to spend the night and for me, it was to prepare for a really challenging and varied following day.

The route from Monterey to Santa Maria was as follows: direct to PEBBS intersection on V27, BSR, MQO and then VOR RWY 12 approach starting with the transition from MQO.

This was an interesting approach because of the need to tune in three VORs to determine position, and do a dog leg as we crossed the GLJ VOR to take us into Santa Maria. (Shades of Medford the previous night) This manoeuvre was completed by a circle to land on runway 30 as the wind was given as on the ATIS 270/22G31 and was being confirmed by wind checks on the way down.  Tracking the VOR required a lot to compensate for the wind drift as well as the speed. There was plenty or turning and twisting as we did the approach.

The landing brought on a simultaneous chorus of “Nice job” from Rich and Sharon and I was well pleased. It had been a long day, the flying had been intense both as I was coming to terms with the tasks set for me and as I was watching Sharon cope with hers too.

Happily at Santa Maria you park the plane next to the hotel. You walk off the apron, through a door and you are in the hotel.

Dumping my bag in the room, I wandered down to the bar and got a pint of Guinness. Well almost a pint, an American pint. I am joined by Rich and Sharon and we go through the next day’s schedule. I am to do the LA Basin. It will be intense requiring speed and crispness on the radio. Sharon gets to take us to the Grand Canyon and then I round off the day doing the relatively short hop from the Grand Canyon to Sedona

We had an excellent dinner in the hotel and out of the restaurant window we could see planes arriving and departing. This IFR flying is really fun especially when it means I Find Restaurants. The Moreys’ certainly know how to do that. This trip has been a tremendous experience so far and it was hard to think how it could be bettered.

The following day it got better.

[Home] [Contents] [Introduction] [Preparation] [Arrival] [Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Day 5] [Day 6] [Day 7] [Day 8] [Day 9] [The Checkride 1] [The Checkride 2] [Conclusions] [Photo Gallery] [Links]