Dallas to Los Angeles (KEMT)

DrMack

DrMack

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DrMack
Our youngest daughter is about to start her PhD program at City of Hope in Duarte so it looks like we'll be spending a lot of time out there in the next five years.

Looking for advice on routes between the two. We own a Diamond DA40 with 50 gal. tanks, 135 KTS TAS, burns 9.0 gal/hr, like to stay 10,000 and below, and I always fly IFR. We're thinking one stop to an overnight about halfway and then one stop the following day for a total of four legs in each direction.

I have never flown west of Texas so any advice any of you could offer would be most appreciated. I have not had any mountain training so I don't want to get myself into anything stupid. Living in tornado alley has taught me to have a healthy respect for convective wx and we get enough LIFR in the Texas Hill Country to learn what fog is about, but otherwise IMC is not an issue for us so we don't need routes that are high probability VMC.
 
Dr. Mack

While I know this goes against everything a pilot stands for :) you really should look at making this trip once to see what it's like then fly commercial after that. Rough estimates are it will cost you as much in fuel as will for two tickets on southwest for this flight. 1000 miles is just a really long trip for a 135 knot plane.

But do it at least once because it would be a heck of a trip.
 
Just a real quick starting point off the top of my head: El Paso, Phoenix (or suburb thereof), El Monte. No major terrain along that route that you can't easily circumnavigate.
 
When I flew the airplane and the dog out to LA when my wife started a job at City of Hope in 2010 I stopped just north of the Dallas area at Sherman [GYI] for fuel and bbq.

We did GYI-ELP - and then ELP-POC [Brackett - which is about 10nm east of El Monte.

That said we had 155ktas and 86 gallons to play with - those legs might be a little ambitious at 135kts and 50gal . . . but it should work out. Assuming you can do 125kts over the ground with a headwind its 4 hours to ELP and figure less than 40 gallons - so its doable.

The Next leg is the long one - and its ELP-POC/EMT - and at those speeds its closer to 4hr 45' min - which ends up being a long day.

You pass to the south of Phoenix and north of Tucson - so you could stop there for the night - I can't recommend spending the night in ELP for any reason.

Remember - you can add the 10 knots to the trip generally east bound so its not as painful and you can do EMT-ELP / ELP Dallas area pretty easy in a long day.

You can do the 10k and under in Texas - but when you fly out from mid - May - October 1 you will want to be around 11 due to the desert turbulence unless you fly at night.

The big problem every single trip will the turbulence in Banning Pass . . . I've never been through there and had it be smooth. Ever.

[edit] taking the northern route has much more terrain, turbulence in summer- and fewer options to stay. But once or two you can always stop at ABQ, or up to SAF, hit Roswell, and a few remote places on the way, or stop at PSP or Salton Sea [ok, well, not really] and even Las Vegas, or Laughlin.
 
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That's exactly what I did during the time we had the house in Palm Springs. Non-stop in 2.5 on AA using FF miles vs. all day (or two) in our plane while spending real money. What's wrong with this picture?

jtheune said:
Dr. Mack

While I know this goes against everything a pilot stands for :) you really should look at making this trip once to see what it's like then fly commercial after that. Rough estimates are it will cost you as much in fuel as will for two tickets on southwest for this flight. 1000 miles is just a really long trip for a 135 knot plane.

But do it at least once because it would be a heck of a trip.
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If your criteria is IFR below 10k, you are going to have a tough time of it from an MEA standpoint. You can't do the northern route via Albuquerque below 10k....MEAs wont support .....because you wont be able to talk to Albuquerque Center between ABQ and PHX. So you are limited to the El Paso route....and depending on the time of year, you may well get the crap beat out of you on that route. I've done Corpus to San Diego in a 177RG (140 kts). It took me most of day 1 to get to Tuscon and I completed the trip on day 2. That was a lot of flying. I enjoyed the trip, but I was solo.....my wife would not had the same enthusiasm.
 
KADS > KPRZ > KINM > KVNY. I've done this route more than a dozen times. You can shop for fuel, but this is about as good as it gets. The highest rocks are just SE of ABQ, and you can divert a bit south to stay below 8000' if you like. A few rocks over by Sedona. This trip is much more scenic than the southern route as well. Usually good VFR, if there's a storm it moves well east quickly.

I suggest west in the early am to avoid head winds, and go east in the afternoon to take advantage of them. Lower going west, higher going east. Favorable winds can make a huge difference in cost, and time.
 
docmirror said:
KADS > KPRZ > KINM > KVNY. I've done this route more than a dozen times. You can shop for fuel, but this is about as good as it gets. The highest rocks are just SE of ABQ, and you can divert a bit south to stay below 8000' if you like. A few rocks over by Sedona. This trip is much more scenic than the southern route as well. Usually good VFR, if there's a storm it moves well east quickly.
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I'd second the recommendation to do it VFR. The weather is almost always VFR in that neck of the oods. I just flew east bound in the Baron between San Diego and Norfolk and went through ABQ. If you do IFR, odds are the only people on the freq will be you and the controller. You'll hear more radio traffic on Guard.
 
tlglenn said:
Incidentally, I've never encountered turbulence in Banning Pass when I've been at the MEA or higher. I guess I've been lucky.
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I've been through Banning from El Paso 5-6 times and never had TB at any altitude through Banning (was held low by FF one time). Now near Lordsburg NM and Wilcox AZ is another story.
 
Where is KINM? Can't find it on AirNav or Foreflight.
 
Sorry, KINW. I got it upside down.
 
docmirror said:
Sorry, KINW. I got it upside down.
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Kewl. Thanks and thank you to everybody for the great advice. I have flight planned it along victor airways and calculate it to be 8 hrs of flying time. We're semi-retired so we'll probably make a two-day trip out of it, 4 hours each day. Should be fun.
 
ON your way west, drop down after you go over the ridge south of Flagstaff after Winslow. Look to the right past the Sedona airport and fly along the SE ridge. Your wife will be amazed. If you happen to catch it during a storm over that ridge the colors are out of this world. You could also stop in Sedona for a meal.

On your way east, as you get near ABQ, you can divert north and follow the Rio Grande valley as it winds up into central NM. Stop at Taos and check out the Native Amer town, then go back south and return to your eastern trip over Santa Fe. Spectacular scenery in that part of the country, and not far off your route.
 
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