Best Route from Camarillo CA to Montgomery

PeterNSteinmetz

PeterNSteinmetz

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PeterNSteinmetz
I will need to fly from Camarillo to Montgomery field in San Diego this coming Saturday morning for business. Just thought I would ask members here what they think would be the most interesting/fun route for a GA pilot.

I can now file IFR if need be. Flying a 1969 Cardinal which is not specially equipped in any way for over the water flight.

Thanks for your thoughts.
 
All depends on what you find interesting and how much time ya have. Right smack dab over LAX is interesting. There's the Special Fight Rules Area at 3500. If ya wanna get even lower and you like to play with controllers there's the Mini Route. If you continue on down the coast you might want to think about navigating over SNA rather than flying along the beach. They like to vector you out over the ocean to solve there problems with departures off RW 19. If you like some scenery there's always through Banning Pass and around over Palm Springs, Salton Sea and then in from the east. If it's pretty windy you might get beat up a little though.
 
If you can file IFR, that's the route I'd go. Look up the TEC route for CMA - MYF and file that and you should have smooth sailing. I miss SoCal Approach.
 
Fun and interesting, yeah I wouldn't file IFR, that's a beautiful flight, why screw it up.

I'd go along the coast line 1000AGL and below, if the might have to kick it out a hair for the restricted airspace (just bump it up to 1500' for that short stretch). Keep it low level and you'll be out of the way.

Get FF, or just dial up the couple towers with D you'll have to transition through, that's how I'd do it, should be a stunning flight.
 
James331 said:
Fun and interesting, yeah I wouldn't file IFR, that's a beautiful flight, why screw it up.

I'd go along the coast line 1000AGL and below, if the might have to kick it out a hair for the restricted airspace (just bump it up to 1500' for that short stretch). Keep it low level and you'll be out of the way.

Get FF, or just dial up the couple towers with D you'll have to transition through, that's how I'd do it, should be a stunning flight.
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I like this idea. If you don't want to go quite that low bump it up to 2500' and get the mini route or up to 3500' for the special flight rules. All this is moot if the marine layer is in. Except maybe special flight rules.
 
2500! Do you get nose bleeds way up there?
 
Use the Coastal Route, stay at its altitude, and overfly all the Class C's and D's. Follow the coast south if you like (it is indeed nice). You can't go above the SUAs at Pendleton, but you can ask for clearance through them (in each case, there is a higher SUA right above the one with low ceilings). Rumor is, clearance is very likely in the higher airspace. If that doesn't work, go around.

If it were me, I'd just follow V23 all the way south from LAX. That goes to Mission Bay VOR, very close to the destination. And pretty much right down the coast.
 
When I fly that route VFR I do 5,500' taking the Coastal Route through LAX then down the coastline all the way. You can stay just offshore of R2503 for that bit and still be in gliding distance of the land if you have a problem.

If I wanna just get there I go higher and IFR just to get through the airspace easier but would not put that in the "fun" category as much,

James331 said:
I'd go along the coast line 1000AGL and below, if the might have to kick it out a hair for the restricted airspace (just bump it up to 1500' for that short stretch). Keep it low level and you'll be out of the way.

Get FF, or just dial up the couple towers with D you'll have to transition through, that's how I'd do it, should be a stunning flight.
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You would still need to hit 2500' for the Mini Route or 3,500' for the SFRA through LAX. Still can buzz the coastline at 1000' through Bravo unfortunately.
 
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The way I see it, low level would work just find along the coast, up till the business end of LAX, not sure if they'd give you a mid field transition, I know other places will for low level crossers.
 
Not LAX...that is why they have the five VFR transitions routes which covers most altitudes (except 1000' as mid field LAX is literally sandwiched between two Deltas) Pick a published route or go around Bravo to the east are your only options otherwise they will shoo you away. West of Bravo down low you gotta go quite a ways offshore.
 
Shawn said:
Not LAX...that is why they have the five VFR transitions routes which covers most altitudes (except 1000' as mid field LAX is literally sandwiched between two Deltas) Pick a published route or go around Bravo to the east are your only options otherwise they will shoo you away. West of Bravo down low you gotta go quite a ways offshore.
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Which goes with my point about going IFR if able. You are going to have to talk with ATC at some point, might as well get the full IFR coverage and have priority over the VFR folks on FF. It's still plenty scenic.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Which goes with my point about going IFR if able. You are going to have to talk with ATC at some point, might as well get the full IFR coverage and have priority over the VFR folks on FF. It's still plenty scenic.
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The three TEC routes are all far from the coast, and one is well offshore.
 
Fearless Tower said:
So. What's your point? You don't have to take the offshore one.
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Because it pretty

And it's safer to go down in the water than dense the ghettos of LA, or the sue happy rich parts.
 
If vfr I would go special vfr area over LAX then straight down the coast
If there is imc I would decline anything that took me way out over the water. I would probably file vtun27
 
It doesnt matter, but staying close to the coast route is the prettiest. That takes your right over LAX. I wouldnt do any LA transitions without flight following thats for sure. Thats busy complicated airspace.
 
James331 said:
Because it pretty

And it's safer to go down in the water than dense the ghettos of LA, or the sue happy rich parts.
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It's LA. It's just as pretty at 6k, but less traffic.

This is obviously a personal preference thing, but this is how I look at it having flown in that area extensively in the 5 years I was based in San Diego:

SoCal is a bit different from other parts of the country. For one, SoCal airplane owners actually FLY their airplanes. That route along the coast can get busy any day of the week and you need to be looking for traffic more than enjoying the scenery. And you are pretty much going to have to talk to SoCal transitioning the LA area, so why not take advantage of IFR and enjoy the separation services?

It is a totally different experience flying along the east coast at 1000' compared to the California coast.
 
Thanks all for the inputs. Being a busy unfamiliar airspace I ended up filing IFR. Despite my request for a more coastal route I was routed back east to Paradise then south. My daughter lives near Camarillo now so I will probably be able to take advantage of the suggestions for the coastal route in the future.
 
PeterNSteinmetz said:
Thanks all for the inputs. Being a busy unfamiliar airspace I ended up filing IFR. Despite my request for a more coastal route I was routed back east to Paradise then south. My daughter lives near Camarillo now so I will probably be able to take advantage of the suggestions for the coastal route in the future.
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Yeah, if you file, you're pretty much guaranteed to get a TEC route. If you say "NO TEC" in remarks, you'll still get a TEC route in your clearance, just not by name.

I'd have done it VFR if the weather supported it. At high altitude (5500 or higher), the airspace is considerably simpler. All you have is the Class B's. And those transition routes work real nice.
 
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