Hour 75

"Santa Barbara clearance - skylane 411-bravo-pop with yankee - VFR east practice area."

My radio skillz might not be top-notch, but I'm becoming a pro at asking tower for The Tour.

The "east practice area" is a bit of airspace on the eastern edge of SBA's class C that's out of the way of arrivals and departures.  It's called a practice area because folks go out there to practice things like stalls and other maneuvers either as part of their training or in order to remain fresh.

It also just happens to contain a few things of interest to sightseers: Santa Barbara, it's coast and harbor, Montecito, and some great views of the Channel Islands.  It's the perfect out-and-back flight for out-of-towners or folks who aren't sure that they'll enjoy flying in a small plane.

Hour 75 contained both.  Marco and Cristina are friends of Emilio's who were visiting from Italy.  Cristina was concerned about how her body would react to the slings and arrows of general aviation. I offered to take her up and turn right around and land if things weren't working out, but the quick return was not required.

We made it out passed Oprah's house (aka Montecito and its environs and came back to base for a passenger switch (Tina out, Emilio in).  Cristina enjoyed the first flight so much that she wanted to go up for a second time.

Cristina

Marco had been in the front on the first run and I gave him a bit of yoke time to learn how the control surfaces worked.  Cristina got to fly most of the way back, even through most of the descent to SBA.  Unfair to Marco, but when it was his turn I was worried about the smoothness of the ride for Cristina.

Marco

The weather was good but not great.  The peaks of the islands were visible above a marine layer and the area off to the west was somewhat hazy, but visibility was great to the east of the airport.  It was actually a rather warm day in SB, especially at altitude due to the temperature inversion.

Good times were had by all, and I may have heard Cristina mention something about wanting a pilot's license back in Italy...

More photos can be found on flickr.