After 3 months of waiting for weather, I finally got to fly my final xc today. KLVK – KDWA – KSTS – KLVK.
Taking off from 7L I requested a left cross wind departure. Climbing to 4,500 I requested a frequency change from Livermore tower. I opened my VFR flight plan with Oakland radio and then switched to NorCal Departure after leveling off at 4,500. It took a couple of calls to NorCal to get a response and after getting a squawk code I was quickly handed off to Travis Approach. Flying up to Yolo County airport was pretty uneventful with a couple of traffic advisories from Travis Approach, which I did not have contact with.
As I approached Yolo I was asked by Travis Approach if I had the airport in site; I did not but knew I had to switch over to AWOS to get weather and then start announcing my position. I had some trouble locating Yolo until I was about 5 miles to the east of the airport. So I was just a bit off course.
After switching to the CTAF I announced my position and my intention to land on runway 34 with a wind of 360 at 4 or 5 knots. I was surprised to hear another airplane taking off from runway 16. I thought about it for a bit and decided to question the pilot. Just at that moment another airplane was approaching with the intention of landing on runway 34 as well. The pilot taking off from 16 said he would leave the pattern and reposition for runway 34.
I entered a left 45 for runway 34 and landed. This was my first landing in a couple of months and it was not my best, but not my worst either. I floated a bit and then came down a bit hard. I taxied back to 34 and had to wait for another plane taking off from 16 (what’s up; no one is listening to AWOS or looking at the wind sock?)
I took off and headed for Santa Rosa. I decided to go without flight following and just enjoy the silence and the views. I crossed over Lake Berryessa with St. Helena to my south and Mt. St. Helena to my north; a beautiful area. As I approached Santa Rosa, once again I had some trouble locating the airport. I called up and was instructed to report a left midfield for runway 19. For some reason I was totally lost. I reported a left base for 19 instead and was politely told that I was supposed to report a left midfield. I was on final for 19 when something just didn’t feel right. I had looked at the runway layout ahead of time but when looking at my heading indicator it didn’t seem like I was on final for 19. I aborted my landing and tried again. I did a stop and go and then took off heading south east back to LVK.
I again opted out of flight following back to Livermore and decide to take some deep breathes and talk myself down after getting extremely frustrated with myself.
About 20 miles out I began listening to Livermore tower and was surprised by the non stop chatter..wow it was a busy day at Livermore. I called tower over Danville and was instructed to report a 2 mile left base for 7L. The voice I heard on the radio put chills down my spine. We have a controller at Livermore who is aptly known as “Mr Grumpy”. On busy days like today if you do one thing wrong this A-HOLE will ream you a new one live on radio for anyone listening to hear. Today was my turn.
I have decided to not go into details right now about what happened because I plan on submitting a report to ASRS.
All in all it was a good flight with just a few issues.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
2'nd Solo Cross-Country - 11/4/2009
The visibility was 8 miles with haze at Livermore (LVK) and 10 miles at Calaveras (CPU); however visibility along my route of flight was only 5 miles in haze. My FBO’s minimum visibility for students is 7. My instructor and I discussed in length whether or not I should make the flight. After talking with other CFI’s and looking at the weather in more detail he thought it would be ok. I was confident as well that I would not have any problems.
After my preflight I called CPU’s AWOS and got one more weather update as well as calling to get an abbreviated briefing for visibility along my route. Again, everything looked good with no PIREPS.
As soon as I climbed out of LVK I could now see how thick this layer of haze was. On my climb to 5,500ft. I called Rancho Radio to open my flight plan. I could see the ground and my checkpoints so I wasn’t too worried. After leveling off at 5,500ft, I called NorCal Departure to get VFR advisories. I wasn’t going to take any chances on just me looking for traffic in this haze.
I flew direct to the Linden VOR and then direct to CPU. This was my first time flying to CPU and I had studied the sectional quit a bit. Traffic was light with no call outs from NorCal. At about 10 miles out from CPU NorCal asked me if I had the airport in site; I “thought” I did and confirmed. They terminated radar coverage. I tuned in AWOS and unfortunately some information was missing. Wind speed was available but wind direction was not; 8 knots with no direction.
As I got closer to what I thought was CPU I soon realized I was wrong. I descended to about 4,000ft. and finally saw the airport. I had planned a 45 right entry for runway 31. After making my initial call on the CTAF a friendly lady came on said winds were 180 at 8. She didn’t tell me “why are you using runway 31” but a nagging voice in the back of my head was telling me “I don’t think I want runway 31 if winds are 180.
At this point I was setup for a straight in to runway 13 so with no traffic on the CTAF I decided for this. I turned for 13 and realized I was way too high. I could have slipped it but decided on a go-around instead. I made left traffic and a great landing on my second attempt.
I taxied back and got my nav log out for my flight back to LVK. The sun was quickly setting so I had no time to waste. I took off and climbed to my altitude of 4,500ft. I quickly realized this was going to be a bit of a problem.
With the sun now directly in my eyes and the haze getting worse; I could see the ground but not very well. My first checkpoint was Linden VOR; I could see it going to CPU but heading back I could not. I waited for the flag to switch from “To” to “From” and then made my turn to home. I called up NorCal to get VFR advisories, again, knowing I would for sure need them this time.
I flew my outbound VOR heading hoping it was correct. My next checkpoint was Stockton Metro. I’m glad I had NorCal because they called out several traffic that I could not see; one of those was a jet taking off from SCK off my left wing. I saw it and knew I was getting close to Stockton. Within a few minutes of my calculated time; I saw SCK and was a little relieved.
My next checkpoint was Byron airport, shortly after passing SCK I saw the sun shining off a body of water and I knew it was the water that lies right next to C83.
Wow, this flight planning stuff is really working! Just short of the Altamont Pass NorCal terminated me and I got my ATIS info for LVK, tuned in tower and announced my position. I knew exactly where LVK was but in the haze I could not see it yet. I was told to report a 4 mile final for 25R. I had a fast plane behind me doing 170 knots on the ILS so I was asked to stay north of 580. I reported my 4 mile final and was told to keep my speed up and I was cleared to land on 25R. Another great landing and I was home!
After my preflight I called CPU’s AWOS and got one more weather update as well as calling to get an abbreviated briefing for visibility along my route. Again, everything looked good with no PIREPS.
As soon as I climbed out of LVK I could now see how thick this layer of haze was. On my climb to 5,500ft. I called Rancho Radio to open my flight plan. I could see the ground and my checkpoints so I wasn’t too worried. After leveling off at 5,500ft, I called NorCal Departure to get VFR advisories. I wasn’t going to take any chances on just me looking for traffic in this haze.
I flew direct to the Linden VOR and then direct to CPU. This was my first time flying to CPU and I had studied the sectional quit a bit. Traffic was light with no call outs from NorCal. At about 10 miles out from CPU NorCal asked me if I had the airport in site; I “thought” I did and confirmed. They terminated radar coverage. I tuned in AWOS and unfortunately some information was missing. Wind speed was available but wind direction was not; 8 knots with no direction.
As I got closer to what I thought was CPU I soon realized I was wrong. I descended to about 4,000ft. and finally saw the airport. I had planned a 45 right entry for runway 31. After making my initial call on the CTAF a friendly lady came on said winds were 180 at 8. She didn’t tell me “why are you using runway 31” but a nagging voice in the back of my head was telling me “I don’t think I want runway 31 if winds are 180.
At this point I was setup for a straight in to runway 13 so with no traffic on the CTAF I decided for this. I turned for 13 and realized I was way too high. I could have slipped it but decided on a go-around instead. I made left traffic and a great landing on my second attempt.
I taxied back and got my nav log out for my flight back to LVK. The sun was quickly setting so I had no time to waste. I took off and climbed to my altitude of 4,500ft. I quickly realized this was going to be a bit of a problem.
With the sun now directly in my eyes and the haze getting worse; I could see the ground but not very well. My first checkpoint was Linden VOR; I could see it going to CPU but heading back I could not. I waited for the flag to switch from “To” to “From” and then made my turn to home. I called up NorCal to get VFR advisories, again, knowing I would for sure need them this time.
I flew my outbound VOR heading hoping it was correct. My next checkpoint was Stockton Metro. I’m glad I had NorCal because they called out several traffic that I could not see; one of those was a jet taking off from SCK off my left wing. I saw it and knew I was getting close to Stockton. Within a few minutes of my calculated time; I saw SCK and was a little relieved.
My next checkpoint was Byron airport, shortly after passing SCK I saw the sun shining off a body of water and I knew it was the water that lies right next to C83.
Wow, this flight planning stuff is really working! Just short of the Altamont Pass NorCal terminated me and I got my ATIS info for LVK, tuned in tower and announced my position. I knew exactly where LVK was but in the haze I could not see it yet. I was told to report a 4 mile final for 25R. I had a fast plane behind me doing 170 knots on the ILS so I was asked to stay north of 580. I reported my 4 mile final and was told to keep my speed up and I was cleared to land on 25R. Another great landing and I was home!
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