Hawaii - Arrival and Olomana Hike

Honolulu isn't the only city in Hawaii that accepts flights from the mainland, but it's the only one I've ever entered through.  Every time I've come, I've stopped to check out the neat little courtyard in the main terminal.

Melch and I got to share that tradition with my brother, who is on Oahu for his first time.

We're going to be in Hawaii for two weeks, but on Oahu for only 6 days before moving on to Kauai.  While we're here, we are staying in Kailua.  It's pretty close to Melch's aunt and uncle in Kaneohe and it's where we found a cool vacation home to rent.

On the way to our lodging, we stopped off at Uahi Grill to show Drayas what Hawaiian plate lunch was all about.  Rice, mac salad, poke and chicken went down just fine, washed down with a locally brewed coconut porter.

After check-in, it was time for a quick hike.  We picked a 1.5 mile trail to the top of a local mountain peak.  It turns out that it was a little more than that since the closest parking is nearly a mile from the trail head, but the walk to the trail was just a golf course cart path, so NBD.

The trail itself was a different story.  As we were walking up we saw a few couples coming down after having finished the trail.  These weren't the usual cruise ship tourist crowd.  They all looked like Crossfitters.

The Yelp review of the hike said that it was pretty challenging, with some bouldering to be done at the end, so that did kind of make sense.  We figured we'd give it a shot.

It was muddy.  It rained for a good portion of the ascent.  The last half was a steep rocky ascent to the peak, made more difficult by the fact that our mud-caked shoes had no traction on the rock.  The peak was actually a narrow ridge line, not more than a body-length wide, surrounded on both sides by steep drops into the pines and palms below.  We hadn't slept much the night before, were jet-lagged and had to get back down the mountain before sun set.

Perfect recipe for a good time!

The first quarter mile was just plain mud.  Inches deep at times

The brown mud gave way to reddish-brown mud that was a little drier

After that there was a bit of pine forest.  That was great because of the better traction

After that, it just went up.

And more up.

And more up.

And then pretty much straight up!

Melch was a little concerned about the final ascent, but she seemed to remember a bit from her mountain-climbing days in the Girl Scouts.

The views were worth it though!

Looking towards Kaneohe

Kailua

Stopping for a snack

#selfie

Crazy descent

Yeah, it was muddy.

After the hike we cleaned off as best we could and went home to take some showers before heading out for dinner.  The place we wanted to eat was closed for a fundraiser, so we went to Zippy's (Hawaiian fast-food, Melch loves it!) and then came back home to pass out.

A great start to our Hawaiian adventure.

It's 106 miles to Chicago...

Melch and I were sick of good weather, so we went to Chicago.  They have good weather in Chicago too, and bad, and ugly, and all in the span of a single week.

They also have a "bean" that looks like this:

And they have Amy, Melch's cousin:

Amy and Melch hadn't seen each other in a decade or two, so it was nice to catch up.  We were actually in town for a work conference, but there were plenty of evenings to hang out and learn about the city.

Amy is an architect and Chicago has a bunch of cool buildings, so it was pretty cool going on long walks with her pointing out interesting facts about what we were seeing.

There was a river, too:

And a zoo:

And whatever the heck this building is (it's in a park by the zoo):

And, perhaps more famously, a lake:

And more famous still, the friendly confines of Wrigley Field - home of the Chicago Cubs:

We made our way up to the John Hancock building for some cocktails with a killer view of the skyline:

And visited the Goose Island brewery:

I had a chance to get my butt kicked by River North Crossfit:

We were staying downtown, right by the Wrigley Building:

It was playoff season, so we were able to watch the Blackhawks (NHL) and Bulls (NBA) in their home towns.  Amy was a big fan of the Blackhawks and had no shortage of suggestions for places where we could see them play.  This was an awesome brewpub a block or two from the Wrigley Building:

It was a good trip.  The conference was good, it was nice to meet and hang out with Amy, and the city was pretty neat.  Cities are filled with people, with all of the good and bad that people bring.  Architecture, art, music, night life and folks with similar interests, whatever your interests might be.  But also: crime, traffic, dirtiness and, for the most part, a lack of natural beauty.

They also compress distance, a lot.  Chicago has functional public transit, but in all honesty, if you want to get somewhere that's more than 2-3 miles from where you are now, there's really no option that gets you there in less than an hour.  I wanted to take a scenic flight, but it was going to take me damn near two hours, each way, to get to the nearest airport.  I was working remote and just didn't have time for a 5-6 hour investment for a 70-minute flight.

I think it's cool in some ways to be able to live in a place with no car.  It prevents a bunch of hassles and it's better for the environment.  It might even be cheaper in many cases.  But it really shrinks your world.

If you have to live in a shrunken world though, you could pick worse shrunken worlds than Chicago.  There's tons to do, it's pretty clean for a city its size and the crime rate is high but apparently pretty concentrated in certain areas.  So long as you shrink your world away from them too you should be able to have a pretty good time.

Hour 95 - Pismo with Nato and Jason

I've flown into Pismo once or twice.  Or eight times.  It's actually my third-most visited airport, after Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez.  So more than anything that isn't my home base or the airport just over the hill.

Of course most of the time when I go, it's the first time for someone in the plane.  In this case, the someones making their first trip to L52 were Jason and Nathan, two of my friends from back at Softshare.

I hadn't seen them in a while due to the broken ankle followed by the Virginia trip but when I got back into town we ran into each other and decided to make it happen.  To my enjoyment, we actually followed through!

The weather was nice, the pax brought their cameras and we set out for some sky, some beach and some Rock and Roll Diner.  All was right in the world.

Climb-out over UCSB and Campus Point

Dune buggies south of Pismo

Nathan rocking the nautical shirt on an aeronautical adventure.

Nato even helped fill gas!

Departing for home 

Haze over Santa Maria

Dried out lake Cachuma

Looking towards Pt Conception

View of SB from the San Marcos pass

Hour 102 - Catalina!

Hour 102 was one of my best and worst flights yet.  I'd been recently checked out to fly to Catalina and had a 182 filled with gas and passengers.  Isaac from my rugby team, his girlfriend Rochelle, and Aaron a friend of my house mate's.

Rather than going down through LA and crossing the channel from Torrance to Catalina, I opted to fly along the coast and then turn direct for the island around Point Mugu.  This is the route used by a few of the folks at my FBO.

The advantages are that it's a shorter route, which is quicker and cheaper.  It also avoids the LA airspace which can be pretty cluttered at times.

The main disadvantage is that the distance overwater is longer, which adds a bit to the risk in a single-engine plane.  Another disadvantage is that the LA route can be fun for passengers as it goes over interesting things like Malibu and LAX.

Either way, we approached the island and flew around the back side just to see the sights before coming in to land.

Approaching the island from Pt Mugu

Twin Harbors

After checking out the northwest corner of the island, I entered the pattern to land at Catalina Airport.  After turning final, I found that I'd was a quite a bit past the runway center line.  I opted to reject the un-stabilized approach.  Rather than executing a straight go-around, I opted to continue around the northeast side of the island to view Avalon before setting up to land again.

Avalon

 I circled around the southeast side and re-established myself on downwind.  This time I judged the distance much more cleanly and the picture on final looked a lot better.

This runway is on top of a cliff.  It's famous for optical illusions (which certainly affected my first approach) and downdrafts.  The downdrafts occur as wind coming down the runway drops downward over the cliff edge.  Planes land into the wind, so that means crossing the downdraft area.

I was worried about the downdrafts, so I carried a bit of altitude and power until getting close to the approach end of the runway.  Once I felt like I had the "runway made" (that is, I felt that I could glide in), I pulled power and added flaps in order to take out the excess altitude and speed before landing.

Too soon.  A few seconds after I put in flaps, I got caught in a substantial downdraft.  Even though I had been trying to avoid it, I got into the worst situation for a pilot on landing - I was low and slow.

The response is to go around - apply full power and climb out.  In this case, I was in danger of being dropped into the ground, so time was of the essence.  With the flaps in, the plane was VERY slow and close to stall.

I wanted to pull up and turn in order to avoid terrain, but both of those things are dangerous to do when a plane is close to a stall.  Pulling up slows you down and could stall the plane causing it to fall.  Turning increases the stall speed of the plane and can cause not just a stall but also a spin.

All those risks aside, the go-around was successful.  I turned away from terrain, descended down the mountain, and circled back for a THIRD approach.  This time I applied the lessons from the first two attempts.  I lined up properly and carried power and altitude far further into the approach.  I landed a bit long, but with more than enough time to stop the plane and turn off to the restaurant.

I was pretty happy to be on the ground.  There are those moments in life where you feel a combination of pride and shame that you had just enough skill to get yourself out of a situation that you should have had enough skill not to get yourself into in the first place.  This was one of those.

I was glad that I handled the situation properly, but the fact that I was in the situation in the first place has lead me to revise how I approach landings - especially on unfamiliar fields.  This was my second landing at Catalina ever and my first from this end (the downdrafts are worse from this direction).  I've flown in to several new airports since then and I've found that my recent studies have made things far smoother.

They say that you start with a full bucket of luck and an empty bucket of experience.  Your task is to fill the experience bucket before you empty the luck bucket.  This flight was definitely a transfer from one to the other.

Sorry for the long recap.  There's definitely an impulse to avoid sharing potentially embarrassing stories such as this, but I'm writing these "hour" posts not just for my loyal audience but also for myself to read as I progress through my life as a pilot.

Airport in the Sky

 For the return flight, we opted to take the LA route for sightseeing purposes.  I think I'll probably go this way in the future - it's not much longer, it's fun for the passengers, it's safer, and I really don't mind the extra radio and nav work.  It's good practice and good fun.

Long Beach on the return flight

The return flight was an uneventful one, chasing the setting sun westward toward Santa Barbara.  We touched down just before sundown and closed the books on another MrPinto Adventure.

Hour 87 - Leesburg to Luray Caverns with Mari and Melch

As a pilot and ex-Virginian, I found myself in Virginia in the fall.  Which of course means - Shenandoah Valley color viewing!

Now Virginia is nowhere near as pilot-friendly as SoCal.  As we've discussed before, it's a free country, but some places are a bit less free than others.  I was staying in the no-fly zone and it was quite the drive to even get to the you-can-fly-but-it's-complicated zone.  So I needed more time free to go up - the time for driving there and back as well as the usual preflight and time for the actual trip.

Beyond that there are also weather issues.  Virginia gets more rain and is much colder in the fall and winter.  Leesburg, my chosen airport away from home, is also prone to high winds.  Those things all impact the safety and comfortability of flying.

So actually getting out to the Shenandoah Valley took a lot of time and effort and cancelations.  For hour 87, we finally made it.  Joining me were my trusty first officer Melch and her cousin, Mari.

The trip went smoothly with good weather and good visibility (a bit of haze notwithstanding).  We had a good time following the river, pointing out airports along the way, and setting up for the small rural runway at Luray.

I started my run-up a bit close to the main building at the airport on departure, prompting a cranky response from the airport personnel, but other than that the flight was well-executed.

I've included a few photos here, but I have a small album and a large one on Flickr if you're interested.

The Shenandoah River

Typical Virginia countryside

Near Luray

Totally fake-looking typical NOVA suburban sprawl

Mari enjoying the view

Not quite as big as SBA, but it'll do!

Cousins at Luray

Mari getting a chance to fly

Hour 86 - Leesburg to Manassas with my Family

It's an experience, taking your parents flying.  These guys knew you when you couldn't hold your head upright without assistance.  They've probably come to terms by now with the fact that you can walk without their help.  They probably, deep down, have yet to concede that you might be able to operate a car safely.

Operating an aircraft within congested and restricted airspace?  That's a bit of a leap.

Yet leap we did.  I've actually done it once before, with an instructor.

We had actually booked a 172 for a cross-country flight to Luray Caverns, but plane availability and scheduling with my sister and parents kept time a bit short.  So we opted to do a shorter flight - to and from Manassas.

I cannot fit both of my parents, my sister and nephew into a 172 and have enough fuel for pattern work much less a cross-country with reserve, so we opted to split the rides up.  I'd take my mother from Leesburg to Manassas and then we'd trade off for my father, sister and nephew.

This is a "free country," but some places are freer than others.  The area around Leesburg and Manassas is less free than most places.  As a result, the route wasn't exactly direct.  We departed Leesburg heading away from Manassas in order to exit the SFRA and get ourselves far enough for Dulles that the class B airspace was high enough that we could climb to a safe VFR altitude.

From there we skirted the SFRA for a while before activating a flight plan from one of the TSA-designated "gates" in to Manassas.  I'd activated SFRA flight plans for pattern work, but this was my first gate entry.  Everything went smoothly - I activated from the air, received a clearance into the SFRA and actually got cleared direct without too much trouble.

From there it was just a normal matter of finding and landing at a new airport, and then meeting up with my new passengers.

Heading in to HEF to pick up my new passengers

Once we'd made the switch we departed on the return leg to JYO.  The procedure was the same thing in reverse - flight plan from HEF to the gate, then 1200-VFR around the SFRA, below the Dulles Bravo and in to JYO.

On the way back I gave my father a chance to take the controls.  I figured he taught me how to drive so I might as well return the favor!

Good times were had by all and we made a nice sunset landing at Leesburg.  I wish we could have found the time and weather to go for a bit of a longer or more scenic trip, but it was a blessing to be able to take my family out at all.

Every flight is a gift!

Amy and Liam on Liam's first flight!

VA Sunset

My dad, sister and nephew at JYO