Alphabet Challenge Leg 9 KIFP - KTRM

[flyingdrill]

Flew this leg VFR in the Malibu. I was at the hold, when I was told to hold for landing traffic! Whaaat???? It was Milan in a King Air, who was (I think), just completing the last leg. So, off I went (and, yes, I still flew the ODP), and was whizzing along at 190+KTS when, somewhere around halfway, I could hear Milan speaking to LA Center. He was doing this leg, and was overhauling me. The controller wondered whether we were doing this together, but Milan told him it was coincidence. Anyway (through ATC), I suggested he overtook me and landed first, so I didn't hold him up. I arrived as he was entering the pattern, so I did an orbit for spacing, and landed after he had cleared the runway. Then I parked alongside him. The immersion factor definitely ramps up with this sort of "contact".

[milank]

Hi,

I was just completing the leg from Lake Havasu and was told to report a 3 mile final. Just when I wanted to make that call, the Malibu called in and got instructions to hold short, and I got my clearance to land. Moments like this make me really enjoy pilotedge, this makes it just that more realistic.

As I looked at the pilotedge map after landing, and saw the Malibu on the next leg of the alphabet challenge, I couldn't let the opportunity go to waste and had to fly the next leg as well.

After landing in Thermal, I felt a bit guilty to let you wait for me on two occasions, but you were a good sport about it. And for the record I would as easily let you go first and watch your landing from the pattern.

As a final thought, I really like the professionalism of PE and its staff, but that there is always time to let of a bit of steam trying to land at the famous 46CA.

[zerofay32]

Completed this leg today. Flew it IFR and by the end of the flight the network was pretty dead. I got to about 12 miles out of TRM and I think the center controller kinda forgot about me. I was gonna just request the visual anyways so I called him up and cancelled IFR since I had Thermal in sight as soon as I crossed over the mountains. A few circles to decend and I came in to land. On to leg 10 tomorrow, maybe.

[stevekirks]

Looks like Andrew and I are chasing each other a bit...

The Runway 16 departure procedure makes it easy--take off at hdg 164, intercept the Needles 334 radial, then climb to assign altitude. In the case of the Lancair, I set it for "best climb" to the assigned 7000, hoping to avoid the hold at Needles. The controller noticed, got me my final assigned altitude of 10,000 right away. Even better: they also gave me a shortcut to skip Needles after reaching 7000. It's times like this, when the controller is very engaged in the service that it makes it the most fun for me.

The rest of the trip was very regular, and once I was below the clouds at Thermal, I cancelled IFR and enjoyed a steep descent and sharp turn to final. Fun to fly by hand for sure.

[Keith Smith]

I'm glad you enjoyed the flight, Steve. Most controllers will try to get a you a climb immediately upon radar contact to avoid the level off.

[rtataryn]

This flight was very educational for me. The weather was CAVU, so I flew this leg VFR with ATC advisories, leaving Bullhead at sunset and arriving KTRM just after dark. As I was descending into the Coachella Valley and the sky was darkening, I had the lights of Thermal easily in sight and was switched to CTAF. I continued a wide descent from the east to cross midfield for a left downwind runway 35. Turning downwind into the pattern, facing south to pure blackness of the Salton Sea, I lost all outside visual references. So I find myself at only 1000 AGL, with nearby mountainous terrain, entirely relying on instruments for orientation to keep the wings upright. I should have just climbed to the south and shot an instrument approach, but I foolishly kept turning and looking for the airport, at one time descending to 500 AGL while my eyes were off the panel looking for the airport lights. Night flying, particularly in sparsely populated areas, is equivalent to IMC, and from now on, I'll file IFR, or at least shoot an instrument approach after dark in these places.