VFR in LA Airspace

[Colin Payette]

I'm still getting my feet wet in cross country so I appreciate any help.

I didn't want to miss the inaugural event tonight so I flew KSAN to KSMO. I pulled out my LA Sectional and saw that the V25 airway would take me from the MZB VOR to the LAX VOR, and then I figured I'd descend into the airport after crossing LAX. However, I was asked how I wished to proceed around the class B and from then on I was confused. The controller explained something about going around the coast, so I just looked at my GPS and did that (though I'm trying to stick to VOR navigation). After that, it was explained to me that there are 3 VFR routes into Santa Monica and I quickly picked the one that didn't require an altitude change.

Now that I'm not in the cockpit, can someone help me understand this? Is there a link to a site explaining the routes into KSMO?

I had originally considered taking the V27 airway all the way over to Catalina, then continuing on it until EXERT before descending to the airport. Would this have worked better?

Thanks in advance for any clarification, and thanks in retrospect to the patient controllers

[Peter Grey]

Hello,

I was the controller in question tonight. The LA Class B airspace is a complicated area for VFR aircraft to travel through, as a result "VFR transition routes" have been created for aircraft to use to go through the airspace. They are listed on the LA terminal area chart (not on the sectional).

For aircraft transitioning to SMO there are generally 3 routes used to go through the bravo. Note these routes are simply South to North transitions through the bravo and are not SMO specific.

The first is the coastal route, done at 5500 or 6500 which follows V25 to LAX (LAX123R to LAX then the 323R outbound), note that this was the route you were planning to do, just by another name.

The second is the miniroute which is done at 2500' and routes you directly over the LAX airport (SMO 128R to SMO).

Finally is the SFRA which goes over LAX at 4500' on the SMO132R (and has other requirements listed on the chart).

I'd highly recommend looking over the chart for more details, also the V3 pilot rating deals with this topic as well.

[Colin Payette]

I see, so I was planning the coastal route and just didn't fully understand it.

Thanks for breaking it down for me, that's all very useful information. I'll have to get my hands on a Los Angeles TAC and check out the transition routes before next time.

[Keith Smith]

41Bravo,

You don't need to get your hands on the physical TAC chart. It's available on skyvector, in fact here's the specific link to the relevant portion of the LA TAC chart.

[Colin Payette]

Thanks for the link, Keith, that looks like a great site! I've bookmarked it. Learning a lot here on PE

[Keith Smith]

You're welcome, Colin.

I see that you've completed the first flight in the Pilot Training program. Interestingly enough, the next rating (V2) involves a flight from a Class C field to a Class C, which covers the case where you're assigned a departure heading and are eventually told to resume your own navigation (ATC provides separation between all aircraft in Class B airspace and separates VFR from IFR in Class C airspace, hence the use of departure headings in that kind of airspace to make that happen).

The next rating, the V3, covers a flight into the LAX Bravo and gives detailed information about those transition routes, along with a narrated video as we look over the sectional chart to plan the flight.

The Training Program was designed to help someone who was interested in learning these concepts, I'd highly recommend that you keep going with it. You can "go it alone" and pick up some good bits and pieces along the way, but as you saw on your last flight, it's not always a great feeling to feel behind the ball, or to be caught in airspace that you don't yet understand.

The training is 100% practical (no written tests) and by the time you finish the 3 VFR flights and 11 IFR flights, you'll be pretty comfortable executing just about any kind of flight that suits your mood on here.