Date: Friday, November 23, 2001, 1:51:55 AM Subject: : Nice flight from SBA to Montgomery Field (MYF), San Diego and back When you live in Southern California, and occasionally drive in and through greater Los Angeles, you really, really, really appreciate the times when you can just fly over it all. Yesterday was just one of those days. My daughter needed a ride home to Santa Barbara from UCSD, and I needed to fly somewhere, so instead of forcing her to have another Real Life Lesson on the Costs of Travel, I decided to fly down to San Diego and bring her back. I started planning the night before, working out basic details: like route, expected weather, time, fuel, and logistics for picking her up once I got there. The forecast weather looked good, but as the day dawned in Santa Barbara, the day actually grew more cloudy until at around 2pm the low-hanging cloud bank moved offshore again. A call to FSS confirmed that the fog bank and low-lying clouds were "no factor" for both ends of both the outbound and return flights. It would be a relatively short 1 hr 20 min flight down, The only wrinkle in my plans, other than those that occur naturally when God makes us more humble than we act, was whether or not ATC would approve the LAX shoreline route or not. If not, I would fly the LAX SFRA right over the runways, at 3500 down, and 4500 back. On a lark, instead of using the Jepp FlightStar to plan and print my route, I decided to use AOPA's flight planner -- which I used for many years until I bought FlightStar. I used the "VOR-direct auto-routing", which created a fairly decent route, but without real consideration, apparently, for either the shoreline or SFAR corridors. The route was: SBA DEANO VTU SADDE LAX HERMO WILMA FERMY ALBAS MINOE BAYER PACIF REDIN MYF. I programmed this in, but left out LAX, since the shoreline route doesn't really go over it -- it goes 1/2 mile offshore. So, I'd fly by GPS steering until the shoreline route began, then by heading bug until the shoreline route ends, and then resume the GPS steering flight until past REDIN. The LAX TAC says to keep the plane from .5 to 1 mile of the shoreline, but ATC requested that I keep it tight at .5 mile. I guess they are paranoid about a VFR plane at 3500 possibly being in the climb path of the jets that depart from LAX to the west. The 3500 ft. view of Los Angeles was gorgeous in the late afternoon, with the warm, orange-red light of the setting sun throwing long shadows. Passing off the west end of LAX, I could see the majestic airliners lined up and slowly descending in their approach for straight-in landings from the east. Looking down at the freeways, I'm again feeling that sense of freedom, as I zip along in the sky while the little cars and trucks down below inch along their little strips of concrete, sometimes not even moving as they jam up. My exhilaration from flying is accompanied by a profound sense of relief that I'm also not down there, inching along with the rest of them. I pull away from the shoreline again, as I head direct to REDIN, a waypoint just offshore, outside of the San Diego Class B, which is where I'll turn inland and start descending for Montgomery Field (MYF). ATC clears me for the approach through the Class B, though I'm really not actually in the Class B airspace more than a number of minutes. As I'm downwind for rwy 28R, a King Air is approaching from the east for a straight in landing, and MYF tower first begins to ask me to extend downwind, then stops in mid-sentence, and asks if I can make short approach. I'm just past the numbers, and the runway is long enough, so I say sure, and that's my assignment. So, as I turn sharply to the left, my airspeed drops below 120mph, and I pull flaps all the way, and drop the manifold pressure down to 15. I'm dropping very nicely yet with 100mph on the airspeed, and I end up having to add a little power so as to not land on the very long displaced threshold. A gentle bump and we've transitioned from a graceful flying vehicle to an ungainly rolling aluminum can with wings. It was actually a night landing, since the sun had gone down somewhere between LAX and REDIN. I really don't like taxing in the dark at unfamiliar airports to someplace I've never been. But, MYF ground is helpful and gets me to Gibbs Aviation Service, where I am able to obtain fuel as well as a courtesy car. The folks there are really nice; even though I arrived just before closing, they said to just drop the courtesy car keys in the drop slot. Which I do after we get back after picking up my daughter from her dorm in UCSB. In the future, there are some logistics to consider when departing from an FBO after its closing hour: there are no bathrooms available. Fortunately, my plane is prepared for those kinds of situations, with its handy plastic "johnny on the spot", complete with an attachment for women. We get our taxing instructions for 28R, do a brief run-up, and then we're off -- headed back the same way, on the reverse of the GPS course that we flew in on. Of course, this is a night departure and flight, which, in some ways, especially over Los Angeles, is even more beautiful than the late afternoon flight down. Seeing a large, well-lit city at night from 4500 feet is really a beautiful sight. Besides that the night air is generally calmer, it is much easier to see airplanes in the dark. So, it was easier to spot the planes that corresponded to those Ryan-TCAD generated targets that appeared on the Garmins. As usual, my daughter fell asleep for the second half of the flight, and only woke up (when I nudged her) for the landing -- which was interesting. At first, I got the usual "follow the freeway for 15R" instructions. But, as I got within 3 miles, and started preparing for the turn to final, the tower asked me to "widen out, and square my turn to final". Which is controller-speak for "slow down, I'm landing a plane before you on runway 25." The problem with this particular situation was that I was almost abeam runway 15R when he told me to "square" my turn -- I couldn't be any squarer. He should have suggested that I do a slow 270 degree turn to the right, which would have kept me in place and allowed sufficient spacing for that Brazilia to land on 25 before I got close to landing on 15R. Instead, he actually cleared me for landing on 15R. Now, here is the picture: I'm about 2 miles to the north, on long final for 15R. I'm way high at 1500 ft., because, in the dark, I err on the side of altitude, especially over the rising hills toward the north of the airport -- where they like to send pilots on extended downwinds. And, that Brazilia is still a ways off, and it appears that our landings will intersect. Either I've got to slow down, or he's got to speed up. So, I start my descent from out of the hills north of the airport, but keeping a wary eye on that Brazilia's approach. The wind is 050 at 9 kts, so the Brazilia has a tailwind, and for me, it's a left, quartering tailwind. Because of our original height, and the tailwind, I'm having trouble getting down, even with full flaps, in time to make the runway, without also increasing my airspeed -- and without intersecting that Brazilia. So, at about 300 ft., I go around: power up, pitch up, and flaps down. At this point, I report the go around, and request and receive clearance for the right base rwy 7. This time, the landing is just great (even my daughter said so), despite the irritating nuisance of all those blinking strobes and overly bright approach lights at the end of rwy 7. We taxi back to Stratman's, and tuck away the plane. While driving back to the house, I have this very strange, disconnected feeling of having just been in San Diego less than 2 hours ago, even though my usual time-distance sense tells me that San Diego is at least 4 hours of LA freeway traffic driving away. This is when is dawns on me: my airplane is a kind of time machine. Sometimes, it steals time away; sometimes, it gives it back. This time, it felt like I got some time back. May you all be able to spend more time in your own flying time machines, and have that same feeling! -- Best regards, Alan K. Stebbens , N4184R, PA32-300, SBA