Hour 83 - Pismo with Olivia, Tony and Melch

Hour 83 was sort of last-minute.  I hadn't flown in a few weeks due to the Portland trip.  Some of Melch's co-workers had expressed interest in flying on Sunday, so I reserved a plane for then.  Come Sunday they were no longer free, so I started looking for others.  Tina and Emilio enjoyed their last flight, but they "slept in" until way after noon.

Flying on a pretty day in Santa Barbara is too attractive of a proposition though.  A quick post to Facebook and I had some willing takers.  Tony had flown with me before.  Twice actually - hour 64 was a quick jaunt in the 152 and hour 70 was a trip out to Santa Monica for some Malibu coast and airport restaurant.

Olivia rocking out in the back seat.  Thanks to her for all of these photos.

For Olivia, it was a first.  Olivia is an awesome person that I knew from ultimate frisbee - years ago.  She had moved to Pittsburgh with her boyfriend, gone on to graduate school and... graduated.  I'd seen her the week before at pick-up on the beach in SB and she responded to my Facebook post with excitement.  She asked what time, and I said "15 minutes from now."  Lucky for us both, she was that flexible on a Sunday afternoon.

Pre-flight was straight-forward from start-up to taxiing for gas... right up to the point where a worker at Above All Aviation came running out to say that the plane we'd reserved, rented, and gotten going was actually grounded waiting for a test to come back from its 100 hour inspection.  They hadn't put any notes to that effect, they let me reserve it... but they caught me just in time.

Lucky for us, 4637G was free as well, with just the perfect amount of gas.  Too much and we'd be over max gross weight, too little and we wouldn't have the range.  7593X was free too, but that plane and I always seem to get ourselves into a little TOO much adventure.  Speaking of 7593X, a student pilot just landed her on the 101 last weekend - presumably out of fuel.  No word on what exactly caused the off-airport landing, but yet another adventure for 7593X.

4637G and I have a history as well, but a generally more positive one.  We've been to Pismo a few times before.  Hour 59 with Oura, and hour 30 with Vadim and Kyle, my instructor (I was still as student then).  Other than some quick pattern work, I hadn't flown in her for a bit, but I did all my solo cross countries in 4637G and we were old friends!

Looking happy in 411BP - but it was not to be...

Anyway, we moved our gear over to 4637G did a quick pre-flight and took off for Pismo.  The weather was good but windy, the rare down-canyon winds that have SBA using runway 33.  We almost never take off in that direction - it was the first time I'd done it since getting my license.

Departing SBA for L52

There was a bit of chop on the way out of the SBA area, but once we climbed above the ridge line it smoothed out just fine.  Winds were calm out at the destination and we did the usual Rock N' Roll Diner for dinner.

Here are some shots of the approach to Oceano:

The flight back was the same thing in reverse - not just the geographical reverse but the weather too.  Nice and calm until we dropped below Gaviota Pt, then choppy all the way in.  Landed on 33 as well - I think for my first time ever.  

Although there was some anxiousness due to the winds, Olivia and Melch both help up okay and it appears that good times were had by all.  In summary - another successful aerial adventure!