Part One: Flight from untowered airport Petaluma (O69) to Class Charlie airport Monterey (MRY)
This all started at dinner on New Years Eve. I had reserved the plane for New Years Day (starting at 11am since according to the weather briefer that was when KSTS’s TAF said the IFR conditions would clear).
The only reason I reserved the plane was because it was available all day (unheard of) and my last two flights had been scrapped due to weather (my uncle from LA’s Bay Tour and my Dad’s Bay Tour)…. So I had a few extra dollars to my name left over from the flying budget.
Over sushi I decided to try and download a free aviation app on my android to look at a sectional. Scrolling down past Half Moon Bay, I saw Monterey. That is the place (including Carmel) I used to go for a weekend getaway, so where better? Only problem: all my “cross country tools” were in my apartment, an hour away. No plotter, no AFD, no flight plan (worksheet), no nothing. I was going to have to use the internet. On the other hand, I couldn’t “get lost” since all I had to do was follow the coast, right?
Every pilot I’ve ever met says I need to quit thinking so much and “just go” so I did very little planning. I printed out the airnav airport page with the runway information, I printed the PDF from the FAA (airport diagram with taxi layout), and I talked to Teller (pep talk) who reminded me about “clearance delivery” (never done that before) and fltplan.com. I knew the nm was close to my long cross country back in training so I checked my logbook and estimated it would be the same – 3.0 hobbs hours. (And it was, almost exactly).
I woke up and decided I should have left earlier since I felt unsure about a night flight back over dark open ocean waters. That predicted morning IFR was non existent and even at 9am everyone was VFR. I called the briefer and filed two flight plans – one going there and one coming back – and got a standard, preflight weather briefing. Still the “perfect” day to fly but with a new twist – an Airmet enroute for the area (IFR) – the briefers looked at their satellites and as usual said it was “clear” which of course disagreed with the airmet, as always.
I had so much to do (printouts etc) and though I tried to rush out the boyfriend and I had to take care of the dogs, coffee, breakfast, etc. and didn’t get to Petaluma until after 11am. One thing I did was call an FBO recommended by POA to see if they had crew cars, aquarium tickets, etc. (I knew I had to pick one because I would have to tell the airport where I was parking.) There were a few unexpected events, such as a misunderstanding (they were closed and had not left a spare headset for me in the lock box) – but thank goodness a CFI showed up and unlocked the flight school for me to borrow one. If not I guess my boyfriend would have gone without a headset which would have sucked big time. I need to get a passenger headset, sheesh.
I was stoked but knew the responsibilities. I knew I’d be flying somewhat low, over open water, etc etc etc. So after a few more hold ups (the bathrooms were locked, we had to go across the airport to another bathroom, the two gas pumps were full for what seemed like forever)….
Around 11:40am I filled up with gas (self serve of course):
I was late. And I was really worried about having almost NO TIME to see the aquarium if I wanted to fly back with any daylight at all. I love night flying but I wasn't sure a long night cross country would be a good idea at this point, because a lot of the coastal areas / mountains aren't well lit at night and the fog / haze seemed to be a factor flying in. Even though I was running at least an hour behind schedule, I briefed my boyfriend that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES was he to rush me or ask why it was taking so long or wonder when the heck we were going to get there. I told him we would be there when we are there, and that there were predicted 16 knot headwinds (according to my flight plan from online).
I hopped in the plane, scrambling through way too many printouts for the things I needed and scribbled them on a tiny clipboard:
Petaluma AWOS freq (I know this one by heart)
Petaluma CTAF freq (I know this too)
Oakland Radio freq (to open my flight plan)
Oakland Center freq (to start my flight following)
The freq for the approach (purple ring around airport) even though I knew I’d probably be handed off to them automatically
Monterey tower freq
Monterey ground freq
Started the non-GPS version of Google Maps on my android to save battery (first time trying this in a plane), got out the sectional and TAF, and off we went.
Oh, and before / during all this (my “non planned” cross country) my boyfriend was saying how much work it was. I reminded him what work a REAL cross country is, fuel planning, way points, precise timing, measurements, etc…. I commented this is why some pilots never make it past the “fun” parts of training, due to “all the work”.
There were stronger than normal winds, and they were straight down the opposite from usual runway. It was strange to taxi to runup at the “wrong” end but it shot me out towards the south which was helpful. Oh and I forgot to mention, an airmet for moderate turbulence. Yikes.
I tuned in to Oakland Radio to activate my flight plan and then to Oakland Center to activate flight following.
As I climbed out I stayed clear of Novato’s pattern / area (a very close by airport), then headed towards the coast while still flying south. Saw what that Airmet for IFR was all about and got a bit concerned (I’m used to “perfect” days). This is what I saw:
I can’t even count how many times I was passed off from one frequency to another throughout the round trip, and I even asked stupid questions such as what the name was of the new people (as in “is that Nor Cal Approach also?”) so I would greet the next controllers correctly.
Then, out of the blue near the Golden Gate Bridge, they asked me if I would be taking a Bay Tour. When I said something plain English like “No, I’m flying down the coast, VFR, directly to Monterey” they CLEARED ME THROUGH THE BRAVO at 3500 feet - ! I didn’t even ask. Of course I had to read back their instructions, which were something like stay west of San Francisco and West of the something or other VOR through the Bravo. Stupidly I said (and looking back I have NO IDEA WHY I didn’t glance at my sectional) “I’m not familiar with that VOR – if I stay off the coast will that work?” I could tell immediately they were annoyed and they only repeated what they said before – stay west of the VOR. Darn it. Anyhow, this is when things got exciting. All of a sudden I see jets EVERYWHERE. The closest one, at first, was flying right above us:
That was really cool, and I continued to watch jets in all directions (and the briefers also asked me to verify I saw these other planes – how could I not), while trying my best to hold steady at 3500 and keep a pretty predictable flight path, off the coast, especially to avoid the often busy traffic pattern of Half Moon Bay, a coastal airport.
Then, in a brisk tone, a briefer asked me to climb 500 feet immediately. I read this back right away, adding that I’d be climbing 500 feet to go from 3500 to 4000. I then heard him tell me that he was RESTRICTING A JET BELOW ME – he even asked the jet to report ME in sight! This guy was making jets go around tiny me! The plane came so close but I knew I had to trust ATC and stay at exactly 4000. This was a photo – you can see every detail on the plane as it flies below us. Holy crap. I felt like a million bucks. SFO jets moving around me?!
They told me to descend back to 3500 again and never did tell me when I was clear of the Bravo but I think they handed me off to another frequency and then the new guy warned he might lose me (not voice but radar). This entire time there were between 1-4 small airplanes around me which made me nervous since they were manuevering and lower than I was. Such a busy place to fly, ATC constantly calling out traffic for me, so crazy. When he did lose radar contact he asked me to try another frequency in about a mile or two but until then to squak 1200 again. I kept trying the new frequency but then remembered when I can hear the voice of PILOTS but not CONTROLLERS it means the mountains are in my way and I either need to climb or wait. I had gone down lower for my boyfriend to take photos (and he’d been helping with maps / verifying where I was etc) but I told him I needed more altitude.
Here are some of the photos he took:
He didn’t like that but I would rather have ATC flight following than not. I went back up and sure enough they came in loud and clear. Good thing too since I kept thinking I was close to the purple circle around class C. (But in reality I’m nowhere near it and I think I’m scaring my passenger by asking to see the map / figure out where we are. I never used the cell phone map, I wanted to be old school). I wonder when / if I’ll have the airport in sight because I know it is near the Santa Cruz area and we have spotted the famous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, including roller coaster:
So now I’m worried about the runways which I don’t yet have in sight and I pull out the airport diagram. I turn the paper around to get my bearings. I have obtained ATIS (while I was without ATC) but I know it is about to switch over to the next hour’s ATIS. I hear they are landing on both the little and big runways, on the side opposite the ocean. So I’m expecting a downwind entrance. I am on again with ATC and finally have the airport in sight WAY OUT. Kind of hard to miss:
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(I’ve got to go to bed. More tomorrow and my “almost” runway incident…. Yikes)
