Date:    Friday, January 10, 2003, 10:50:03 AM
Subject: Nice flight to AVX (Catalina Island)

Howdy all,

Wednesday, a couple of co-workers and I took an "offsite" lunch meeting to
Catalina Island. While Tuesday was beautiful and sunny, somehow, the fine
weather became a bit shy on Wednesday, and, for our 11am departure from SBA,
we had overcast at 9500 ft, with some broken clouds at 6500.  Not beautiful
flying weather, but still plenty good enough for a mid-day VFR trip.

I chose the usual "direct VTU direct AVX" route. Although it was more gray
than sunny, my passengers had a good view of Oxnard, Camarillo, and Pt. Mugu
as we passed by and over them.

Just as we were about a mile from the VTU VOR, we saw a large four-engine
propeller cargo plane departing Pt. Mugu and flying very low under us. I
don't know what kind of plane it was, but it surely recalled to me scenes
from a WWII movie.

Once we turned more southeasterly at the VTU VOR, we had good views of the
Malibu coastline, even as we flew away from it. About halfway between VTU
and Catalina Island, the clouds became more scattered, which allowed the sun
to poke through here and there increasingly, until, 10 miles from AVX, we
found ourselves in a warm bath of sunlight.  Yay!

Just about a mile northeast of AVX, a little cloud was persistently defying
the sunlight's attempt to drive it away (or at least higher). It's base was
a little below 3000 ft., so we did a bit of "scud running" or "special VFR"
as we entered the downwind for runway 22 at the pattern altitude of 2600 ft.

There was no other traffic in the air, and, during the downwind, I noticed
that there were only four planes parked (none of them were Piper's either).

My passengers enjoyed their first view of approaching to land on a runway
that ends on a cliff. I told them that we either make the runway or we hit
the cliff! I also told them that if we land too long, that there's a cliff
at the other end, too. No worries! :^)

I noticed that my "co-pilot" passenger was gripping his knees tightly as we
flared and gently settled down to a roll-on landing.  I don't think I could
have said anything to be as reassuring as was the gentle landing.

After disembarking, and paying the landing fee ($5/pax), we enjoyed the
Buffalo burgers in the "Runway Cafe" at the "Airport In The Sky".  The cafe
patio had a sunny spot, which is where we sat and held our "offsite"
meeting.

During the lunch we saw that a DC-3 came in for a landing.  I vaguely recall
hearing or reading that AVX was built by Howard Hughes specifically for
DC-3s, but that may not be accurate.

After lunch, we got back in, achieved "ignition", and began to taxi back to
runway 22. Even before leaving the parking apron, I noticed that the
windsock was indicating the wind from the north, which, to my naive way of
thinking, should mean that runway 4 should become the active one. I spoke to
AVX Unicom and asked about it, and he said that the wind was 4 or 5 kts at
010, and that I could choose whichever one I wanted.  I decided to just go
ahead and make a tailwind departure from runway 22.

That obstinate little cloud was still there, but had risen some, so that as
we climbed out on departure, and turned north, we were still some 1000 ft.
below it.  In a few seconds, though, we were back in sunshine as we headed
directly back to the VTU VOR.

When asked why fly direct to the VOR when I have perfectly good GPSes to fly
by, I showed my passengers how I use the VTU VOR as a "backup" should the
GPS become unreliable or fail. I also showed them the sectional which made
it clear that we were flying alongside the Class B airspace, and, at the
same time, avoiding the Pt. Mugu NAS MOA to the left.

After rounding at VTU and crossing the peninsula back to the shoreline by
Oxnard, I chose to fly along the coast at 1500 ft, so that my passengers
could have a very good aerial view of the familiar coastline. Carpinteria,
Summerland, Montecito, and then we're over Santa Barbara Harbor, were we are
told to follow the freeway, and report 2 miles for runway 15L.

I "slow fly" to give my passengers more time to look at Santa Barbara very
close, and spot their houses from the air. As we fly over where my home is
located, I wave the wings, in case my wife is watching -- she sometimes
turns on her Yaesu handheld to listen for me as I return from flying.

After widening out our approach to make spacing for other traffic landing on
runway 7, I turn for final, but are still pretty high, at 1000 ft. No
problem. I'm already in the whitearc, at 105 kts, so I pull 45-degrees of
flaps, lower the nose a bit, and get a really nice and steep, but
stabilized, approach.  That's one thing I really like about the Pipers --
when you pull full flaps, you can get a really steep descent without also
increasing your airspeed a lot.

With a 11 kt quartering headwind from the left side, I'm applying quite a
bit of rudder to keep our track straight. We flare, and hold, and hold, and
hold it some more, and then the mains are rolling.

Even if I say so myself, it seems that my nicest landings have been with
strong crosswinds. Maybe it's the increased attention I give to the landing?
Maybe it's a survival instinct? :^) In any case, my passengers are
complimentary about the landing, even though they don't really understand
all of complexities of it.

Another good time spent with friends and colleagues, made more exciting and
enjoyable through the privilege of flying an airplane.

Happy flying to you all, too.