Alphabet Challenge Leg 26 KTOA - K0O2
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:58 pm
Pilots,
So I was humming one of those immortal tunes from "The Little Mermaid" as I conducted this flight, "Under the B, Under the B, Down where its lower, you will fly slower, under the B..."
http://peaware.pilotedge.net/flight.cfm?id=88363
Situation: Bad singing aside, this is a very useful training flight. I decided to file VFR so I would have to face the B in all it's unsung glory. I carefully studied the TAC and the Fly Chart and unashamedly plugged in Visual waypoints on the GPS. If I were doing this for real and I had a GPS I would certainly use it. That said, you can also identify all of the visual checkpoints you need without help from any satellite. I suspect that in the real world there is quite quite a bit more traffic and frequency congestion than was reflected on my departure so I am sure the stress level would be much higher.
Lessons Learned:
Plan Ahead - Know your route. Scan that chart and make sure you know your reference points, and where those B shelves begin and end.
One small point I might make, though I certainly am no instructor, is that it's generally a really good idea to follow the recommended fly (blue) paths depicted on the aforementioned FLY chart. That said, you are not required to fly those exact routes so for example I headed NE at Fullerton to vicinity of POM and didn't go along the El Monte blue path NW to cross under the approach path of KLAX.
See and Avoid: I think you can pretty much rule out getting flight following under the real KLAX B, though I would love to be corrected on this, so you need to keep your eyes peeled to avoid traffic. One of the unfortunate side effects of these B and to a lesser extent C airspaces is that they tend to concentrate traffic into the Non-B areas. I imagined every student pilot in the basin was directly ahead of me as I crossed northeast, practicing his stalls and steep turns, and not looking for me. So I made sure to make advisory calls on 122.3 as noted on the chart...only problem...it's 123.3 My eyes are failing me fast I'm afraid.
Radio Anomaly: A gremlin seems to have returned to my cockpit. Oddly, when I was making those alert broadcasts, KTOA tower was receiving me. This was quite odd because the Carenado King Air C90 has a working COMM1 and COMM2 switch. I've used it tons and tons of times with no issues. But even after I triple checked that it was in COMM2 (and the right advisory freq dialed in on COMM2, KTOA (Dialed in on COMM1) kept receiving me)). I eventually gave up and dialed Advisory into COMM1 and selected COMM1 to end the confusion...It was probably entirely coincidental that this was the first flight I have done where I noticed the new Radio freq isolation change to PE (hearing Palomar ground at KTOA ground for example). I'll have to try to troubleshoot some more and I'm sure the trouble was entirely on my end and not the new change, but I mention it only in case some of you other guys have radio anomaly's with COMM1/COMM2 selection, especially if anyone has a Carenado King Air C90.
Over the Hill: There's a hill just west of Baker, so plan your entry for the Right Traffic Pattern ahead of time. Go south of the field and loop around for DW entry, go north (more time in the MOA), have fun.
So I was humming one of those immortal tunes from "The Little Mermaid" as I conducted this flight, "Under the B, Under the B, Down where its lower, you will fly slower, under the B..."
http://peaware.pilotedge.net/flight.cfm?id=88363
Situation: Bad singing aside, this is a very useful training flight. I decided to file VFR so I would have to face the B in all it's unsung glory. I carefully studied the TAC and the Fly Chart and unashamedly plugged in Visual waypoints on the GPS. If I were doing this for real and I had a GPS I would certainly use it. That said, you can also identify all of the visual checkpoints you need without help from any satellite. I suspect that in the real world there is quite quite a bit more traffic and frequency congestion than was reflected on my departure so I am sure the stress level would be much higher.
Lessons Learned:
Plan Ahead - Know your route. Scan that chart and make sure you know your reference points, and where those B shelves begin and end.
One small point I might make, though I certainly am no instructor, is that it's generally a really good idea to follow the recommended fly (blue) paths depicted on the aforementioned FLY chart. That said, you are not required to fly those exact routes so for example I headed NE at Fullerton to vicinity of POM and didn't go along the El Monte blue path NW to cross under the approach path of KLAX.
See and Avoid: I think you can pretty much rule out getting flight following under the real KLAX B, though I would love to be corrected on this, so you need to keep your eyes peeled to avoid traffic. One of the unfortunate side effects of these B and to a lesser extent C airspaces is that they tend to concentrate traffic into the Non-B areas. I imagined every student pilot in the basin was directly ahead of me as I crossed northeast, practicing his stalls and steep turns, and not looking for me. So I made sure to make advisory calls on 122.3 as noted on the chart...only problem...it's 123.3 My eyes are failing me fast I'm afraid.
Radio Anomaly: A gremlin seems to have returned to my cockpit. Oddly, when I was making those alert broadcasts, KTOA tower was receiving me. This was quite odd because the Carenado King Air C90 has a working COMM1 and COMM2 switch. I've used it tons and tons of times with no issues. But even after I triple checked that it was in COMM2 (and the right advisory freq dialed in on COMM2, KTOA (Dialed in on COMM1) kept receiving me)). I eventually gave up and dialed Advisory into COMM1 and selected COMM1 to end the confusion...It was probably entirely coincidental that this was the first flight I have done where I noticed the new Radio freq isolation change to PE (hearing Palomar ground at KTOA ground for example). I'll have to try to troubleshoot some more and I'm sure the trouble was entirely on my end and not the new change, but I mention it only in case some of you other guys have radio anomaly's with COMM1/COMM2 selection, especially if anyone has a Carenado King Air C90.
Over the Hill: There's a hill just west of Baker, so plan your entry for the Right Traffic Pattern ahead of time. Go south of the field and loop around for DW entry, go north (more time in the MOA), have fun.