Redlands - Santa Paula / Cessna 182RG Skylane (N7049S) / VFR

Weather conditions were somewhat marginal for this flight. I had originally planned to go out to Catalina, but Catalina was below VFR minimums, so I settled for Santa Paula. As it was, I still had to dodge a lot of clouds along the way, especially over Van Nuys and Burbank.

All went reasonably well, though, until it was time to descend into Santa Paula. There were low clouds between me and the Fillmore VOR, so I quickly descended and zigzagged a bit to avoid them. As I crossed FIM I turned to a heading of 220, with the thought in my mind that it would be a straight line to Santa Paula. Unfortunately, I didn't bother to double-check which radial I should be on out of FIM, and 220 wasn't it.

As I flew along in the haze, I checked for landmarks proving I was going the right way. Highway? Check. Train tracks? Check. Riverbed? Check. Low hills to the south? Check. The problem here, of course, was that there are about 1,487 different airports in SoCal that would match these landmarks. I noticed that I didn't see much sign of urban blight on the way in, but I figured it was just haze blocking my view. Finally, I did see an airport—but it was way too big, and the runway was in the wrong place. I realized I was just about to bust the Class D of Camarillo airport.

I turned quickly northeast. I was above the Class D so I was safe, although I could picture ATC watching me on their scopes and wondering just exactly what I was doing. I scampered over the low hills (more low hills!) north of me, and as I flew over them, I spotted familiar scenery, and realized I now actually had Santa Paula in sight.

I made a ragged left base for runway 22 and managed to squeak in; I was already moving pretty slowly, fortunately. A crosswind complicated things further, but I got down all right, just barely staying on the runway pavement. Mission accomplished!

I considered going out to Catalina, but by then it was past six o'clock, and Avalon closes at 7 PM, so I skipped it.

Santa Paula - Redlands / Cessna 182RG Skylane (N7049S) / VFR

This flight, made just around sunset, was pretty routine, except for the weather. I had big fluffy clouds right on my route along the way, so I had to make multiple detours to avoid them (since I was VFR). In particular, a mess o'clouds right over VNY was a problem. I couldn't climb fast enough to go over them, and going under them would have put me into the Class C, which I wanted to avoid, so I made a big detour around them as I climbed from 5500 to 9500 over the hills. I finally got back on track just shortly before I had to turn towards the Pomona VOR.

I was still at 7500 after crossing Pomona, so I made a long descent beneath the haze to reach Redlands. Visibility wasn't great inside the haze, but it was still legal VFR, and I could still easily see well enough to make my landing, which was very smooth.

Santa Paula - Avalon - Santa Paula / Beechcraft Baron 58 (N3862S) / VFR

I flew one of my Barons out to Catalina island and back today, all VFR through busy airspace.

I slipped through the LAX SFRA both ways. I monitored SoCal Approach but didn't contact them (it wasn't necessary for these VFR flights). The flights went well, and I occasionally heard myself being called out as traffic to other aircraft.

I filed at 3500 on the way down to Catalina, although I climbed to 5500 briefly to get over the mountains north of Los Angeles. I zipped back down to 3500 in time to slip under the Class B and through the SFRA, and I stayed there until I was out over the water, at which point I dropped to 2500 while turning west. That put me only slightly above the elevation of Avalon, which had clear skies as I approached. The landing was quite good.

After picking up some virtual passengers eager to get off the island, I taxied back out to return to the mainland after a half-hour or so. The flight back was even more uneventful than the flight over. I'm fairly used to the airspace so I don't have to scramble as much, although it's still delicate whenever one is in the vicinity of LAX.

The landing at Santa Paula was heavier than I would have liked, but it was acceptable. I finished the flight parked in a spot only a little bit east of where I had started 90 minutes or so earlier.

Phoenix - Gila Bend - Phoenix / Cessna 182RG Skyland (N7109V) / VFR

I undertook a relaxing little flight out of Sky Harbor to dismal Gila Bend for practice, in one of my tiny Cessnas. I flew via pilotage alone, since I know the way by heart. I swing a bit north after downtown, pick up I-10 as it passes north of Avondale, turn onto State highway 85 after “the crook in the road” on the Interstate east of Buckeye, and then on down to Gila Bend, which I reached right at sunset.

About half an hour later, it was back up with some virtual friends as passengers, and I reversed the route. I was given a right downwind to runway 26, the same runway from which I had taken off earlier. All went well, with an extraordinarily smooth touchdown, and I taxied very sedately over to Cutter on the south side of the field.

Los Angeles - Phoenix / Boeing 747-4AA (N706ML) / IFR

This return flight to Phoenix was not nearly as smooth as the flight over to LAX, mainly because I was offered and accepted runway 26 at Sky Harbor right at the last minute, so I had to side-step to it by hand and, while the landing was acceptable, it was hard (about 700 fpm at touchdown, just above the threshold for a “hard” landing). Other than that, it was okay. It wasn't so long ago that I could barely hand-fly a 747 at all, so I'm improving.

Phoenix - Los Angeles / Boeing 747-4AA (N706ML) / IFR

Moving from the smallest to the biggest, today I flew one of my standard routes from Phoenix to Los Angeles in my new 747-4AA, equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines so that I could have it painted in Boeing livery (not available for the GE engines).

The flight went perfectly. I flew the aircraft by hand briefly out of Phoenix, and then again for landing. I'm happy to say that the landing was flawless (I checked it from multiple angles). I even managed to oversteer just exactly right on the taxiways in order to keep the aircraft from running off into the grass—that, too, proved to be well executed when I checked it.

I started from gate 23 at Phoenix, which I specially reserved for my use, and parked at the international terminal at LAX, also with special authorization (easy to get in a virtual world).

Saba - Sint Maarten / Cessna 182RG Skylane (N7126H) / VFR

I managed to successfully depart from Saba with one notch of flaps in my brand-new Cessna, bound for Sint Maarten and Princess Juliana Airport.

The flight was uneventful, although I didn't realize until I was into my approach that I had forgotten to fully retract the flaps. Oh well, a bit of fuel wasted. The landing was well aligned and very smooth.