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On 6th of March my wife Marta and I arrived to San Diego to start preparations for our US coast-to-coast flying trip.
Here is the link to the page with planning information for our trip.
Below is day by day progress of our trip.
| Day -4: Sun 6th of March 2005 |
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We arrived to San Diego at 7 pm after 21 hours of traveling. Last 3 hours was drive in a rented car from Los Angeles to San Diego, during which we tried to use Lowrance AirMap 1000 as a car navigation system. Now I can definitely confirm that car navigation is not the best application for AirMap 1000
Flight time: 14 hours as passenger in airliner - not logged
BTW. The car we rented is convertible, I have never driven convertible car before (it is not very practical in Poland), but here in California it is just perfect, I love it!
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| Day -3: Mon 7th of March 2005 |
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During the last week the weather in South California was not optimal for flying, in fact it was less than optimal for anything. However, it has changed completely just before our arrival. Right now the weather is perfect and according to the weather forecasts it is supposed to stay like that for the whole week, which is perfect timing as far as our planning is concerned. Fingers crossed that it stays like that.
Today I did the first part of company check-out in C-172. AAA instructor and I flew to practice area where I did slow flight, stalls, steep turns, then we came back to Gillespie to do some landings (standard and flap-less). Tomorrow we will continue with emergency procedures and short/soft-field take-offs and landings. And then in the evening we will go and do night flying (landings) to make me current again for carrying passengers during night flights. So far everything goes according to plan and we should be able to start our coast-to-coast trip on Thursday this week.
Flights today:
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| Day -2: Tue 8th of March 2005 |
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I was scheduled to complete my check-out, but unfortunately the weather in the practice area did not allow it. The only thing we did were gliding approaches, which I actually found rather hard. 6ZP did not want to get down and it insisted on flying, so I had couple of attempts before I figured out its glide characteristics. I guess the contributing factor might have been that it was idling at over 1000 RPM! In the evening I went up to do 3 full stop landings to be current for carrying passengers (Marta mainly) over night. I always enjoyed night flying and this time I wasn't disappointed either.
Flights today:
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| Day -1: Wed 9th of March 2005 |
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No flying today Tomorrow the other C-172 is coming back and the 6ZP is supposed to be exclusively mine. This way I should be able to complete the checkout and also go to Big Bear airport for high altitude airport checkout. Which is nice, however we are already 1 day behind original schedule. On top of that 6ZP needs 200hr inspection before we leave, which means that the earliest we can leave San Diego is Friday or possibly even Saturday The good side of not being able to fly today was that we went to San Diego beaches and saw Pacific Ocean (quite angry today). We found some surfers enjoying big wave, however I was a bit disappointed to not find any kitesurfers.
Flights today:
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| Day 0: Thu 10th of March 2005 |
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Today I completed my company checkout and also checkout at a high elevation airport (went to Big Bear). The flight to Big Bear was awesome! Later (maybe tomorrow) we will add some pictures that Marta took on the way there. Tomorrow is the big day. Everything is ready and we are planning to depart to Tucson,AZ - our first destination!
Flights today:
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| Day 1: Fri 11th of March 2005 |
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We've made the first leg of our trip! The flight was spectacular. There was some haze in the mountains east of San Diego, but it disappeared as we crossed the mountains and from then on the weather was just perfect. Most of the trip was along the Mexico border, we were a bit scared of ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone or simpler a border with Mexico in this case) and TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction - sport event or flight show we are not sure) very close to our route near El Centro. However combination of GPS, VOR navigation and pilotage allowed us to remain relatively calm and constantly aware of our position. Out of Gillespee we contacted SoCal Approach and requested VFR flight following, but ATC was very busy with serving traffic in San Diego class B and rejected all VFR flight following requests. When we reached Yuma we were more lucky with ATC there and got flight following all the way to Tucson. Upon arrival to Tucson we saw on the other side (south) of Tucson a towering cumulus clouds, which couple of hours later developed into a local thunderstorm (still south of Tucson though). Once on the ground we headed to local FBO at Marana and found out that it was too late to get a rented car at the airport. There was rent-a-car in the town, but it was also closing in 1 hour. Calling cab was not really an option (too far away and too little time). Luckily a local pilot (retired from army and PanAm) offered as a lift to town.
We are still not sure about our plans for tomorrow. After brief weather check which indicated perfect conditions for flying tomorrow to Carlsbad,NM we decided to skip visiting local attractions in Tucson and leave for Carlsbad tomorrow early morning. However, after more detailed checking of weather forecasts we found out that there are strong and gusty winds forecasted for our planned destination. We just have to wait and see how it develops.
Flights today:
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| Day 2: Sat 12th of March 2005 |
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...It didn't develop the way we expected However this gave us an opportunity to visit some of Tucson attractions: Saguaro National Park, Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, and Old Tucson Studios (used by Hollywood to shoot some of American western movies such as Rio Bravo). We are planning to leave for Las Cruses as early as before 7 am to avoid strong gusty winds, hopefully it will be possible.
Flights today:
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| Day 3: Sun 13th of March 2005 |
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We decided to skip Carlsbad Caverns (due to strong and gusty winds still forecasted for KCNM) and fly to small Ozona,TX town which will bring us closer to Corpus Christi,TX (our next planned stop). We took off from Marana at approx. 6:40 (just after sunrise) hoping to achieve this way relatively smooth ride over the mountains. This part worked indeed very well, the air was very smooth almost all the way to Las Cruses. The only drawback of taking off so early and flying east was that during the first 20 minutes or so when the sun was relatively low we could hardly see anything - pretty scary especially when flying towards 8000+ feet mountain peeks. By the time we got to Las Cruses the wind has already picked up to approx. 15 knots with gusts. After landing we had a "follow me" cart that showed us the way to the parking place. The lineman told us that this part of year is very windy (the airport restaurant was called "Crosswinds" Things got much better when we got to Texas. We landed at Ozona without major problems, although the wind was also quite strong and a bit gusty. The Ozona Municipal airport is open from Mon to Fri only, but before leaving Las Cruses we called the number that we looked up in the AF/D and arranged that someone would actually come over when we arrive, When we announced our arrival on Ozona CTAF the lady has answered that she was already on the way to the airport. We received very nice welcome, refueled the plane, got courtesy car (70's Cadillac!) and got recommendation for a reasonably priced nice motel. What more would you expect... well, the lady also recommended us a very nice local Texan style restaurant (located in the former ship barn)! Tomorrow (if the weather permits, the front is expected to come over Texas) we would like to get to Corpus Christi,TX.
Flights today:
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| Day 4: Mon 14th of March 2005 |
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Weather was very nice, although morning in Ozona was very cold and windy. We are now in Rockport,TX 30 miles east of Corpus Christi,TX. Rockport is a small town located on the peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. We originally planned to go to Port Aransas, but yesterday while doing flight planning we realized that Port Aransas and Corpus Christi are missing from San Antonio sectional (translation for non-pilots: map). So, we landed at the Sinton airport just a few miles before we run out of San Antonio sectional hoping to buy/get Brownsville (includes Corpus Christi and Port Aransas). We didn't get sectional there, but we were advised that if we fly to Rockport (just 20 miles east) we will be able to buy missing sectionals there and also rent a car at the airport. So we did. Upon arrival to Rockport we entered quite busy and fast moving traffic pattern. We found out later from FBO staff that these were 2 military student pilots practicing landings. Since the weather forecast for tomorrow is not promising we may face the fact of having to stay in Corpus Christi area for a bit longer than till tomorrow. For that reason we decided to stay in Rockport, rent a car here and if weather tomorrow is not good enough for flying use the car to visit the local attractions (possibly even go by car to Houston Space Center).
Flights today:
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| Day 5: Tue 15th of March 2005 |
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Well, unfortunately the forecast was correct (btw. now our favorite TV channel is The Weather Channel). We are grounded in Rockport,TX were ceilings were 800-1200 feet all day and the situation in Houston,TX was even worse (rain and CB). The worst part is that the weather forecasts for tomorrow are similar or possibly even worse Tomorrow if the weather stays as forecasted we plan to go by car (sic!) to Houston to visit NASA Space Center, otherwise we will fly as far as we can to get out of the Gulf weather as soon as we can.
Flights today:
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| Day 6: Wed 16th of March 2005 |
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The weather forecast was correct again
Flights today:
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| Day 7: Thu 17th of March 2005 |
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The weather has finally improved. The front is miles away over the Gulf. The weather reported in the morning for Houston was good, but New Orleans not so much, so we flew to T00 first, refueled the plane there (great place: fuel price - 2.20 USD plus we got courtesy car to go for lunch!). The weather in New Orleans was still not up to our expectations, so we waited a bit and then departed to Jennings,LA (3R7) which already had quite good weather. We arrived to Jennings,LA at approx. 4 PM the weather in New Orleans was already better, but in the end (it was already quite late) we decided to stay here. In Jennings,LA there is Comfort Inn hotel next to the airport and there is a small tie down area just next to hotel. So it was possible to park the plane just like a car (almost in front of the room). Tomorrow (if the weather permits!!!) we plan to reach east coast!
Flights today:
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| Day 8: Fri 18th of March 2005 |
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The weather did get better, but unfortunately not all the way to the east coast. During our first leg to Picayune (KMJD) the weather was perfect. Then after departing Picayune (KMJD) initially we were flying at 3500 feet VFR on top of a scattered layer of clouds, but after some time scattered changed to broken and we could see it changing even to overcast. We were not sure if at our destination we would find a hole to descend, so we decided to get below when we still could. Descend was pretty scary (the whole wasn't very big), additionally we had another traffic (helicopter) maneuvering near us.From then on we continued below clouds at approx. 1500 feet, which was a pretty rough ride. On top of that we lost VFR flight following (we were too low). After almost 2 hours of flying at 1500 feet without flight following and not knowing if the weather would improve we decided to land at Monroe,LA. The weather forecast indicated that the ceilings should increase later today so we decided to stay a bit longer in Monroe and finish today in Marianna,FL. After a lunch in Monroe we departed to Marianna. The ceilings were indeed a bit higher and overcast changed to scattered, but we were afraid of cloud layer becoming overcast, so we stayed under the clouds. The flight to Marianna was uneventful (just a little bumpy). In Marianna we got a courtesy car and went to town to spend night in the Hinton House bed&breakfest, which was recommended by its owner who happened to be a pilot of Mooney which landed at Marianna shortly before us.
Flights today:
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| Day 9: Sat 19th of March 2005 |
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We've made the first part of our trip! We are currently in Deltona (visiting relatives) just a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Arrival to De Land was pure nightmare. De Land turned out to be a very busy airport with skydivers being dropped in the iddle of it. On top of that when we arrived there was some sort of skydiving championship there. The weather got us again... It seems that we will only have one more day of fair weather in this area and then the whole south east is going to be covered by the front system with low ceilings and thunderstorms. It looks like another 2-3 days of waiting
Flights today:
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| Day 10: Sun 20th of March 2005 |
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Since the forecast indicated widespreaded bad weather for Mon on the entire south east US we decided to stay in Florida while waiting for the weather to improve and although the weather on Sunday was perfect. We went for an afternoon trip to Saint Augustin (by car), which was very nice. However when we checked the weather forecasts on Sunday evening it turned out that bad weather and tunderstorms were forcasted for Orlando for the whole week!
Flights today:
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| Day 11: Mon 21st of March 2005 |
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When we woke up on Monday morning the whole sky was covered with a solid layer of overcast clouds. However checking the weather reports revealed that the ceilings were as high as 4000 to 5000 feet and were going to stay like that for at least late afternoon. Since the forecasts for Florida did not improve and it was still going to have thunderstorms for the rest of the week we decided to leave Florida and get as far north east as we could. In the end we got near to Le Grange near Atlanta in Georgia. Most of the flight was at 2500 feet with overcast clouds at 4000-5000 feet and surprisingly we even had VFR flight following.
Flights today:
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| Day 12: Tue 22nd of March 2005 |
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No flying today. The whole area (effectively all south eastern states) was covered by 2 moving fronts with thunderstorms, some strong with hail and tornadoes. I just saw on the weather channel that in two Georgia counties south of us tornadoes removed some roof and caused several injuries - it was really serious. Tomorrow the weather is meant to improve and we plan to fly first to Pensacola (in fact a small Ferguson airfield close to Pensacola) and visit the Naval Museum there. Then in the evening we will fly to New Orleans.
Flights today:
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| Day 13: Wed 23rd of March 2005 |
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The weather has finally improved and we were able to leave La Grange shortly after 9 o'clock. We first flew to Ferguson, which is a very small airfield next to Pensacola Naval Station where Naval Museum is located. We visited the museum, which was great (some pictures below) and then came back to Ferguson (BTW. Ferguson staff offers a free drop-off and pick-up to and from Naval Museum) to leave for New Orleans. The departure from Ferguson was a bit of adventure as they are just below (700 feet is the ceiling) class C airspace and literally 3 miles from huge naval airbase. After switching approach frequencies 3 times in couple of minutes we were cleat through class C airspace and then proceeded directly to New Orleans Lakefront airport. Upon arrival to Lakefront the towered cleared us to land on 36R while we were still 6 miles or so from the airport - nice, it was more quiet than I expected. We choose Million Air FBO, which indeed is pretty amazing. As soon as I told lineman that we needed a taxi he got one called for us, so we were on our way to New Orleans downtown literally 30 minutes after landing. New Orleans was the first "proper" big town that we visit in the US during our trip and indeed it looks much different from all the other cities we visited so far. We walked around French quarter and ate a huge seafood dinner in one of French quarter restaurants (with balcony on the 2nd floor). Tomorrow we want to leave as early as we can and fly through as much Texas as we manage. Our current plan is to get to Granbury near Dallas, which will then allow us to get to Carlsbad,TX (Carlsbad Caverns) relatively early on Friday.
Flights today:
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| Day 14: Thu 24th of March 2005 |
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We left New Orleans shortly after 10. The departure from Lakefront was very smooth and pleasant. If not very high fuel prices and ramp fees going to class Delta airports would be much better option than some non-tower airports. While flying at 3300 feet north-west over Pontchartrain Lake and still in New Orleans class Bravo controller asked us about our altitude and then ordered to descend and maintain 3000 feet, because Airbus was on the approach to land at New Orleans international and would pass over us at 3500 feet. This was awesome, Marta took a picture (see below) while this Airbus was still in front of us. The rest of the route was uneventful, at some stage we had a nice looking overcast over us (picture below). We stopped at Carthage,TX (4F2) for cheap fuel purchase (2.25 the only cheaper fuel stop than that was T00 with 2.20). Then we continued to our today's destination - Granbury,TX (routed around TFR surrounding G.W. Bush residence). We departed from Carthage at approx 2 PM and the flight lasted 2.3 hours and was not very pleasant at all, it was extremely hot and bumpy. Granbury FBO was a pure pleasure. We were greeted on the arrival. Got help with refueling plane, although it was self-service. Got a courtesy car and recommendations for very nice hotel (Plantation Inn, which we also highly recommend to everyone visiting Granbury) and numerous of places to eat. Tomorrow we plan to leave at 8 AM sharp and fly to Cavern City with one fuel stop on the way.
Flights today:
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| Day 15: Fri 25th of March 2005 |
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This was a very successful day. We woke up very early and were at the airport shortly before 8 AM. After a short chat with an FBO attendant (a very nice old man) we departed to the west. The west wind on our departure seemed quite strong. We were a bit afraid that with such strong head wind our ground speed would be seriously reduced and indeed it seemed to be like that during the first 20 minutes of the flight. However, after that (or maybe once we reached our final cruising altitude) the ground speed was almost 100 knots - very reasonable. We chosen Andrews,TX (E11) as our refueling stop (we could probably made it to Carlsbad,NM without refueling, but it is always better to be on the safe side). This airport was amazing, it had 3 runways (making approach a bit confusing) and nobody at the airport (CTAF was the key to the restrooms and pilots lounge).
During flight from Granburry to Andrews we noticed a high wing plane flying below us, very low above the ground, which seemed to us strange and dangerous. While checking the weather at Andrews for the next part of the flight another plane has arrived to refuel. We talked to the pilot and it turned out that he was inspecting gas pipes - the mystery of low flying plane we saw earlier was resolved. I was a bit afraid of arrival to Carlsbad,NM (non-controlled airport with many runways), however our approach and landing was very smooth and without any problems. We rented a car, went for lunch and then to the Carlsbad Caverns. The caverns exceeded all our expectations. They are enormous, we liked them very much.
Flights today:
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| Day 16: Sat 26th of March 2005 |
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We again woke up very early. Got to the airport before 8 AM. Called the weather brief because there were quite scary clouds west of the airport - our intended direction of flight. The weather briefer confirmed that the highest peak of the maintain ridge that we were going to pass by was obscured with clouds, but there should have been enough room for us to pass safe. So there we were flying along Guadalupe Mountains with Guadalupe Peak obscured with few clouds. After we got the flight following the air traffic controller asked us if we knew about AIRMET SIERRA (informing about mountain obstruction) and read it to us just in case. Later on he made another 2 calls to ensure that we were clear of terrain. All the way we were safe and the space between terrain and clouds was well within VFR limits. The views were spectacular, especially as we passed the Guadeloupe Peak as there was almost an overcast before and just few clouds after - it looked almost like sunrise. The rest of flight to Las Cruces (LRU) was fine except quite strong turbulence. In fact it was probably the longest continuously bumpy flight we have flown so far. We already visited Las Cruces on the way east, it was very windy then and that part hasn't changed. It was very windy this time too. After arrival we were welcomed by "Follow me" cart (as usual in Las Cruces) and the lineman (the same as before) even remembered us. We ate breakfast in the "Crosswinds" on-field restaurant. The food was good, but we had to wait for it quite a long time, which delayed our departure.
On arrival to Las Cruces the weather was very nice (high scattered clouds), but when we were ready to leave the weather over Las Cruces has changed, there were few low clouds with rain and snow showers, luckily only in the vicinity of the airport. As expected the rain/snow showers ended few miles after Las Cruces and the ceilings of clouds were well above our cruising altitude (6500 and 8500 later). however it was still very bumpy. After 1.4 hours of flight while flying over large flat terrain (with mountain ridges at some distance) I noticed that even with full power I could barely maintain altitude. It seemed to last more that just a minute. I suspected that it could be due to a mountain wave effect produced by the strong wind blowing over high mountain ridges west of us (wind was blowing from west). Since we were very close to Lordsburg,NM we decided to land there. After landing I called the weather brief and checked winds aloft and could not confirm the presence of strong mountain wave. So after refueling (to be on the safe side) we departed to Benson,AZ. Since the sky was clear we climbed to 10'500 feet hoping for a bit more smooth ride. It did not help a lot unfortunately, however we were well clear of all the mountain ridges that we were passing. Landing at Benson was yet another adventure. Quite strong head wind caused our approach ground speed being so slow that we were actually hardly moving when we reached the runway. Shortly before touch down we got a strong gust, which ballooned us several feet and resulted in a bit hard landing, luckily nothing broken. I hate so much these gusty winds! After taxing to the ramp the women from FBO came out to greet us (I called her beforehand and asked for a rental car) and she offered a courtesy car instead of car rental (we are to stay only one night) - very nice of them. Benson is yet another nice atmosphere and very friendly FBO along our route.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is perfect. Clear skies in whole Arizona! We plan to fly to Sedona,AZ. Again early in the morning
Flights today:
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| Day 17: Sun 27th of March 2005 |
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We woke up very early again and were already up in the air shortly after 8 AM. The weather en route was beautiful. Clear skies and calm winds. The ride was very smooth. It was such a difference comparing to yesterday's bumpy ride. We got flight following shortly after takeoff and had it all the way to Sedona. Part of our route was within class Bravo of Phoenix airspace. The approach to Sedona was spectacular. Sedona is definitely "a must to visit" airport in the US. The airport was very busy when we arrived, but we managed to get to the pattern and perform smooth and nice landing. After arrival we had some problems with renting a car (no cars available - Easter on top of Spring break!), however in the end we managed to get a car.
In the afternoon we took a car ride to Grand Canyon. The views were indeed breathtaking.
Flights today:
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| Day 18: Mon 28th of March 2005 |
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Today we decided to make a break and not fly at all. Another reason was not so good weather - cloudy skies and strong winds. Luckily Sedona is the perfect place to spend day or even more. There are lots of hiking trails in the beautiful scenery and we took some of them. Tomorrow we are planning to fly to Las Vegas (the Sin City).
Flights today:
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| Day 19: Tue 29th of March 2005 |
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We departed from Sedona a bit later than usual. The weather in the early morning was not very good, but it was expected to improve during the day and it did. When we got to the airport the ramp looked almost deserted comparing to Sunday when we arrived. However it was still quite busy, there were 2 departures immediately before us and we could hear on CTAF yet another 2 before we left CTAF frequency. The flight was a bit bumpy especially initially when we were flying below 8000 feet. As soon as we got out of the area of clear skies we climbed to 8500 feet where it was a bit less bumpy. We flew along the west border of Grand Canyon and then turned towards Las Vegas. As soon as we were handed of from Los Angeles Center to Las Vegas Approach we could feel the pressure of class Bravo airspace. We were given a series of vectors that lead us to the downwind leg of our landing runway (very convenient). The weather in Las Vegas during our arrival was perfect, calm wind and clear skies. Recently I got used to landing into quite strong winds, so this time runway was coming a bit quicker than I was used to. However I still managed to perform a nice and smooth landing.
After checking-in at the airport we took a taxi (I should rather say cab) from the airport to our hotel (Tropicana - one of the big hotels with casino at the Strip). Rest of the day we spent walking along the Strip and gambling.
Tomorrow will probably be the last day of our coast-to-coast trip as we are planning to fly back to San Diego.
Flights today:
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| Day 20: Wed 30th of March 2005 |
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We have made it! We are in San Diego!
We departed from Las Vegas shortly after 11 AM with blue skies and strong gusty winds. The Las Vegas airspace was busy as usual, however we we cleared to class Bravo and once clear of class Bravo we were handed off to Los Angeles Center. In the middle of the flight we lost flight following (no radar response). We got flight following again before getting close to Palm Springs,CA and had it all the way to San Diego. The air got a bit smoother after Palm Springs so the rest of the ride was quite enjoyable although challenging, because we were approaching San Diego over the mountains from the direction that we were not familiar with.
Today was our the last flying day. During last 21 days we flew in C-172 N6ZP almost 60 hours and burned almost 400 gallons of fuel. N6ZP did not let us down and during this time we had not even a single maintenance. We are very grateful to Anglo American Aviation for letting us use such a nice plane. During this trip we also saw quite some of the US. We did not visit all the places we planned to visit (mainly due to the weather), but even these we did visit were worth the effort. We also met a lot of very friendly people who made us feel welcome in the places we visited, especially in Ozona,TX, Marianna,FL, and Granbury,TX.
During these almost 60 hours of flying I gained a lot more experience, especially regarding the weather. This trip also made us aware of how important the instrument rating is. It is now my first item on the flying related TO DO list (I already bought a Jeppesen Instrument Rating study book).
Flights today:
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. There was no plane available, (my) 6ZP was fully booked, because the other C-172 was still in maintenance.
We went to Houston by car to visit Houston Space Center... huge disappointment. It is mainly addressed to children (aged 6 to 12).
