Cajon Pass - SoCal

[RalphInCA]

For the SoCal pilots out there, in particular pilots with LA area experience:

I am thinking of taking a nice little site seeing flight from my home airport CCB to one of the airports near Victorville. To do this I would fly the Cajon Pass following I15. VFR.

Since the pass is pretty much North/South, what altitudes would you fly at? Anything else I should know before making my little flight?

 

[MAKG1]

For the SoCal pilots out there, in particular pilots with LA area experience:

I am thinking of taking a nice little site seeing flight from my home airport CCB to one of the airports near Victorville. To do this I would fly the Cajon Pass following I15. VFR.

Since the pass is pretty much North/South, what altitudes would you fly at? Anything else I should know before making my little flight?

There are BIG mountains on either side. Watch the winds at altitude. Expect turbulence unless it's dead calm. Go early, at least 2000 AGL. Don't go if it's above 20 knots at 9000.

It's a good practice to load lightly, 10% or more under max gross.

 

[RalphInCA]

There are BIG mountains on either side. Watch the winds at altitude. Expect turbulence unless it's dead calm. Go early, at least 2000 AGL. Don't go if it's above 20 knots at 9000.

It's a good practice to load lightly, 10% or more under max gross.

Thanks. Perhaps this is not a good idea for this low time pilot.

 

[Jthamilton]

Thanks. Perhaps this is not a good idea for this low time pilot.

Take a instructor or a seasoned pilot with you, good experience.

 

[Dav8or]

You'll be fine. Like others have said, watch the winds aloft before you leave. A few bumps build character and confidence! Site seeing implies passengers to me, is this so? There may be bumps, so let them know in advance and the reasons why and when you think they'll be over. Passengers don't like surprises. This has helped my wife on numerous trips to get through turbulence.

 

[Henning]

For the SoCal pilots out there, in particular pilots with LA area experience:

I am thinking of taking a nice little site seeing flight from my home airport CCB to one of the airports near Victorville. To do this I would fly the Cajon Pass following I15. VFR.

Since the pass is pretty much North/South, what altitudes would you fly at? Anything else I should know before making my little flight?

I fly through the Cajon pass at eye level with the trucks lol, it's hilarious seeing people's reaction.

 

[Unit74]

The helos have a tendency of crashing in the pass if that says anything. I used to live in Hesperia/Oak Hills and with the constant winds, be ready for a bumpy ride. Rarely does the wind calm down.

 

[Jeff Oslick]

The helos have a tendency of crashing in the pass if that says anything.

Summertime isn't a good time to find a smooth ride in any of the passes, except sometimes early morning. Maintain at least 2000 AGL, especially until you gain experience with the winds. Sometimes it can be perfectly smooth through 90% of the pass, then you get slammed out of nowhere. If you aren't certain about the turbulence you're going to get, fly at Va (maneuvering speed, be sure to correct for your *actual* weight).

Learn out to fly the passes, or you'll forever be stuck in the basin.
Kind of surprised a student out of CCB would never have flown the Cajon Pass.

 

[Jeff Oslick]

It's a good practice to load lightly, 10% or more under max gross.

There is a trade-off in weight in turbulence. Va goes up with weight, but climb performance goes down. Unless you're expecting really bad up/down drafts (which I've experienced far more in Banning Pass than Cajon Pass), more weight can be your friend.

 

[Jeff Oslick]

The helos have a tendency of crashing in the pass if that says anything.

You'll find at least those more recent crashes were CFITs in low visibility. I would hope Ralph has no intentions of trying to scud run the pass.

 

[Unit74]

True, very true. Mostly med flights.

 

[overdrive148]

Learn out to fly the passes, or you'll forever be stuck in the basin.

I learned to fly in Apple Valley (started in Chino but changed instructors closer to home), and I never flew the pass. We did, however, take a straight out departure from 18 and got to 7000 or 8000 feet and crossed over south of the pass. That dropoff sure is something! It got busy fast too.

 

[RalphInCA]

Kind of surprised a student out of CCB would never have flown the Cajon Pass.

I am a reentry pilot, earned my PPL in the 80s, but had to stop. Now getting back into it. My CFI recently signed me off to fly solo, but - obviously - I have a lot more to learn about this area.

I am thinking my next flight with him will be through one of the passes. Cajon or Banning. Banning would be a good one, since my parents live in Palm Desert, and I can foresee frequent flights to Bermuda dunes to see them.

 

[Henning]

I am a reentry pilot, earned my PPL in the 80s, but had to stop. Now getting back into it. My CFI recently signed me off to fly solo, but - obviously - I have a lot more to learn about this area.

I am thinking my next flight with him will be through one of the passes. Cajon or Banning. Banning would be a good one, since my parents live in Palm Desert, and I can foresee frequent flights to Bermuda dunes to see them.

There are days it's better to climb alongside and over the ridge over Arrowhead than to use the passes, remember that.

 

[RalphInCA]

There are days it's better to climb alongside and over the ridge over Arrowhead than to use the passes, remember that.

Interesting. How do you know when to avoid the passes?

 

[CharlieTango]

Interesting. How do you know when to avoid the passes?

Wind velocity over 20kts?

I'm vaugley familiar and my first thought would be to avoid the passes unless its calm. I would likely climb over the high terrain and avoid the venturi effect in the passes.

 

[Henning]

Interesting. How do you know when to avoid the passes?

When the winds are howling down from the desert at 70 kts. Those days it's best to stay low behind the mountains until you get right up to them, then climb tight and alongside them on the up side of the rotor current spilling over the top, you climb it up and stay low as you cross over the top, the winds will be lowest there, but keep at least 50' for bumps. When you come off the far side you'll be in a strong updraft that will climb you to whatever altitude you want.

 

[Henning]

Wind velocity over 20kts?

I'm vaugley familiar and my first thought would be to avoid the passes unless its calm. I would likely climb over the high terrain and avoid the venturi effect in the passes.

20 kts isn't worth the climb, it'll be bumpy for a bit, but you're still moving at a good clip and will clear it reasonably quickly.

 

[CharlieTango]

20 kts isn't worth the climb, it'll be bumpy for a bit, but you're still moving at a good clip and will clear it reasonably quickly.

Depends on the winds, in my light sport I often can find all the lift I need when working the terrain as opposed to heading for the pass.

Real mountains are oriented north/south so a pilot knows what to expect. I bet Cajon is sometimes aligned with the wind and sometimes is in the lee.

 

[mrindian]

I fly through there quite often. It's no real big deal. The biggest problem is radio communications. You may loose contact on ff before you get your handoff to the next controller.
Or Joshua approach will drop you half way through the pass and tell you to squawk 1200 and you have to quickly contact la approach before you hit ont airspace or dive quickly!

Last January I was returning home from Vegas but stopping at cable for the air show and ff kept me high for traffic and then ten miles out from cable I was told to squawk 1200 and ok to descend from 7,500. Talk about chop and drop. I'm glad I fly a plane with a cs prop in those instances. A nice 150-160k gs on the way down.
But hey it's all fun and shows you, that you can do it!

G.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[stratobee]

Terrain rises insidiously as you reach the desert plateau, so it's good to have some margins with visibility.

 

[Norman]

I fly through the Cajon pass at eye level with the trucks lol, it's hilarious seeing people's reaction.

Do you stop at railroad crossings?

 

[schmookeeg]

I think Cajon is nicer than Gorman or Banning passes, in terms of potential for turbulence, mischief, and uncommanded upholstery modification.

I usually do Cajon at 7500. Other than the occasional up/down draft, I've always found it benign and within the capabilities of any typical rental ship.

$0.02

 

[Henning]

I think Cajon is nicer than Gorman or Banning passes, in terms of potential for turbulence, mischief, and uncommanded upholstery modification.

I usually do Cajon at 7500. Other than the occasional up/down draft, I've always found it benign and within the capabilities of any typical rental ship.

$0.02

Oh yeah, we used to take 150s & 152s through there regularly. But then you don't get to stop at Million Air at PSP and use the hot tub.