Love Training in the LA Basin

O

OCviaMotorCity

Filing Flight Plan
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Newport Beach, Calif.
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B. Stanton
Only in Southern California and the LA Basin can you train amongst some of the busiest airspace in the world -- guaranteeing some pretty cool views of visual encounters caught by GoPro during flight.

We were practicing Ground Reference Maneuvers in the Long Beach Practice Area at around 1,200 feet. Photo is a nearby and passing JetBlue (I think Boeing 737) en route to KLGB just west of Huntington Beach.

Jet_Blue_B_737_Visual_near_Huntington_Beach.png
 
Yep the LA airspace is pretty busy. When taking off or in the pattern at my home airfield CCb I often see airplanes climbing out from Ontario Intl. Fun stuff. Teaches you to be keep your eyes outside and pay attention to where you are at all times.
 
Definately pilots in the So Cal area won't ever be accused of keeping their eyes in the cockpit.;)
 
Glad you're enjoying the LA skies! I fly out of Santa Monica KSMO.

Have you done the Special Flight Rules Area over LAX? It's quite cool flying straight over the top of LAX & seeing an A380 land underneath you...
 
I am from Nor Cal but get to fly in and through the LA basin several times a month and love every minute of the complexity, shared airspace, scenery and ATC intensity.

But I am weird that way!
 
I service my plane at Hawthorne, which is very close to LAX and has parallel rwy. It's fun to be on long final with a Qantas A380 right by your side going into LAX.

Def do LA Special Flight Rules in late afternoon or early evening to see all the jets landing below you.

LGB's ATC - not so much. Such sticklers. I never enjoy going in there.
 
I was flying North just before going through the special flight rules area and ATC pointed out a 380 a mile or so away from me. I laughed and said to my friend that I was not sure how not to see that thing.
 
Love flying through the LAX SFRA, definitely a unique experience. It's also fun every time I head north getting to watch departures from SNA, LGB, and LAX all in one short flight.
 
I hear you. I fly out of KTOA, work at KLAX. SFR lets me look at the "office" from a different angle :)
 
OCviaMotorCity said:
Only in Southern California and the LA Basin can you train amongst some of the busiest airspace in the world -- guaranteeing some pretty cool views of visual encounters caught by GoPro during flight.



We were practicing Ground Reference Maneuvers in the Long Beach Practice Area at around 1,200 feet. Photo is a nearby and passing JetBlue (I think Boeing 737) en route to KLGB just west of Huntington Beach.



Jet_Blue_B_737_Visual_near_Huntington_Beach.png
Click to expand...


Only there? No.
 
I got my private out of CRQ, lots of bizjet traffic there. Took my long solo x/c to burbank (never felt out of place), and was doing my instrument out of MYF. I love the busy complex airspace. I feel very prepared when flying into a bigger airport.
 
CRQ is always a good "go to" from TOA - nice flight down the coast. Never have figured out if they have transient parking though :)
 
Thanks - I shall. I have a friend that works adjacent to CRQ, she's always offering to buy me lunch - just could never figure out where to park.
 
I learned to fly at Fullerton in the mid-late 1960s. Airspace in the L.A. Basin then was a free-for-all; you could go wherever you wanted NORDO except into the "Airport Traffic Areas" (what we call Class D now) of towered airports, and the few military restricted areas. The first "Terminal Control Area" (now "Class B") appeared in September 1971. Even when President Nixon was in residence at the Western White House in San Clemente, Prohibited Area P-25 was only a one-mile radius and up to 4,000' MSL.

Smog was worse then than it is now. Many a day during my training we would stare through burning, watering eyes at Fullerton Tower's rotating beacon, which indicated visibility was still under three miles. As soon as the beacon went off (the tower guys were very optimistic on their visibility estimates -- they were bored, too) we would fire up.

Fullerton was busy then. More than once during solo pattern work I was "number 10" on the downwind to the single 3200'x60' runway, and told to extend downwind to St. Jude's Hospital. St. Jude's is three miles from the airport. Fullerton has never been an easy airport to spot from the air on a clear day. But turning final for runway 24, into the setting sun, when visibility was "three miles" :wink2:, it was impossible. This was before the runway 24 localizer at FUL, too. Turning final was more a matter of faith and local knowledge than being able to see the airport.

Oh, and pattern altitude was only 800' MSL then. One would be well advised to remember the 760-foot-tall KFI radio tower two miles northwest of the airport, not far from where one would normally make the turn from crosswind to downwind. :eek:

We had no shortage of places to go within an hour's round trip in a Cessna 150 ... museums at Chino and Orange County; sporty Meadowlark with its 1750' runway, San Juan Capistrano -- even Catalina.

It was a great place to learn to fly.
 
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I have fond memories of Meadowlark, growing up in HB it was a popular destination for kids on bikes. My son got a ride in a Grumman AA-1 when he was less than 2 (still in diapers) back when that didn't automatically trigger a SWAT response :)

Had a business partner in the 80's that would fly over my house in his Tri-Pacer, run the throttle up and down to get my attention - I'd meet him at the airport and we'd go FLYING....
 
Is the cafe still open at CRQ? I did my ppl and IA there.
 
I flew a Citabria out of Meadowlark in the late 70s early 80s. Great little airport with big trees and a church steeple on short final. Great little cafe with good food and always a bunch of pilots sitting at the tables outside critiquing landings. Too bad it went away like a lot of the cool airports all over the LA area. The smog was a lot worse in the 70s and I think the tower guys at SNA would call three miles even though it was about 1 into the sun. Got real good at navigating looking straight down. Don
 
Great to see Socal pilots here in this thread. I'm flying out of Whiteman and about to buy a Cherokee 180 and base out of KVNY.

The L.A. SFRA is fantastic- great fun flying through it on the way to Catalina. It's been a great place to train with all the different airspaces and terrain.

Since y'all are here, I'm looking for recommendations for a good A&P at Van Nuys for the cherokee...
 
I heard Miles Square airport is totally gone now. When I was taking my PP Checkride the DE asked me to find Miles Square airport, WTF, I had never heard of it and I had flown into them all in the surrounding basin. I look on my chart and sure enough, there it is, but it's closed which is why I hadn't heard of it. I look around, look at the chart, look around... Throw the plane into a hard slip and point straight down at it lol. The three runways were still there if you ever needed them in an emergency.
 
Henning said:
I heard Miles Square airport is totally gone now. When I was taking my PP Checkride the DE asked me to find Miles Square airport, WTF, I had never heard of it and I had flown into them all in the surrounding basin. I look on my chart and sure enough, there it is, but it's closed which is why I hadn't heard of it. I look around, look at the chart, look around... Throw the plane into a hard slip and point straight down at it lol. The three runways were still there if you ever needed them in an emergency.
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Mile square is now a park.
 
sferguson524 said:
Mile square is now a park.
Click to expand...

It was a park then as well, I remember seeing Jefferson Starship play a free outdoor concert there, but the runways were still there. Someone told me the runways are gone now, is that accurate?
 
FlyingMonkey said:
Great to see Socal pilots here in this thread. I'm flying out of Whiteman and about to buy a Cherokee 180 and base out of KVNY.

The L.A. SFRA is fantastic- great fun flying through it on the way to Catalina. It's been a great place to train with all the different airspaces and terrain.

Since y'all are here, I'm looking for recommendations for a good A&P at Van Nuys for the cherokee...
Click to expand...

Yes. SoCal is well represented here. I fly out of Cable CCB. Currently a member of Foothill Flying Club. About to be checked out in their Remos. (Once the runways are open again - currently being resurfaced.).
 
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Pilawt said:
I learned to fly at Fullerton in the mid-late 1960s. Airspace in the L.A. Basin then was a free-for-all; you could go wherever you wanted NORDO except into the "Airport Traffic Areas" (what we call Class D now) of towered airports, and the few military restricted areas. The first "Terminal Control Area" (now "Class B") appeared in September 1971. Even when President Nixon was in residence at the Western White House in San Clemente, Prohibited Area P-25 was only a one-mile radius and up to 4,000' MSL.

Smog was worse then than it is now. Many a day during my training we would stare through burning, watering eyes at Fullerton Tower's rotating beacon, which indicated visibility was still under three miles. As soon as the beacon went off (the tower guys were very optimistic on their visibility estimates -- they were bored, too) we would fire up.

Fullerton was busy then. More than once during solo pattern work I was "number 10" on the downwind to the single 3200'x60' runway, and told to extend downwind to St. Jude's Hospital. St. Jude's is three miles from the airport. Fullerton has never been an easy airport to spot from the air on a clear day. But turning final for runway 24, into the setting sun, when visibility was "three miles" :wink2:, it was impossible. This was before the runway 24 localizer at FUL, too. Turning final was more a matter of faith and local knowledge than being able to see the airport.

Oh, and pattern altitude was only 800' MSL then. One would be well advised to remember the 760-foot-tall KFI radio tower two miles northwest of the airport, not far from where one would normally make the turn from crosswind to downwind. :eek:

We had no shortage of places to go within an hour's round trip in a Cessna 150 ... museums at Chino and Orange County; sporty Meadowlark with its 1750' runway, San Juan Capistrano -- even Catalina.

It was a great place to learn to fly.
Click to expand...

I've learned to appreciate passing mile and mile of nothing while flying in the Midwest. The radio is a lot quieter and I can actually listen to music thru the intercom.
 
Henning said:
I heard Miles Square airport is totally gone now. When I was taking my PP Checkride the DE asked me to find Miles Square airport, WTF, I had never heard of it and I had flown into them all in the surrounding basin. I look on my chart and sure enough, there it is, but it's closed which is why I hadn't heard of it. I look around, look at the chart, look around... Throw the plane into a hard slip and point straight down at it lol. The three runways were still there if you ever needed them in an emergency.
Click to expand...

Yep, Its all gone now. They tore it up 10 or 15 years ago. I used to fly my RC airplanes there and free flight before that. Used to be a very active group running land sail trikes. Was a reporting point for 19R when SNA was class D. I even landed at the Capistrano airport shortly before it was closed. Don
 
I learned at Van Nuys and now fly out of Whiteman....1st thing you learn in this airspace is keep your eyes open and learn to talk on the radio.

LAX special flight rules round the Queen Mary, up to Hollywood sign, round down town LA and then back home is always my "site seeing" tour for first timers..

Love it.
 
Not for use in navigation ... but fine for nostalgia: :)

Los Angeles Sectional, 1965:

Los%2520Angeles%2520Sectional%25201965_1200.jpg


Los Angeles Terminal Area Chart, 1969:

Los%2520Angeles%2520Terminal%25201969.jpg


Los Angeles WAC Chart (CG-18), 1971:

LA_WAC_1971.jpg


1984 Olympics Terminal Area Chart:

LA_TCA_1984Olympics.jpg
 
Huh, I wonder why they painted Signal Hill by LGB on the Olympic TAC chart?:dunno: oh, never mind, that's the convention center.
 
Henning said:
Huh, I wonder why they painted Signal Hill by LGB on the Olympic TAC chart?:dunno: oh, never mind, that's the convention center.
Click to expand...
They had fencing in the Long Beach Convention Center, and sailing events in the harbor.

These airspace restrictions for the 1984 Olympics were the prehistoric ancestors of today's stadium TFRs. I should dig that chart out and look up the details of the restrictions again.
 
Pilawt said:
They had fencing in the Long Beach Convention Center, and sailing events in the harbor.

These airspace restrictions for the 1984 Olympics were the prehistoric ancestors of today's stadium TFRs. I should dig that chart out and look up the details of the restrictions again.
Click to expand...

Yeah, when I realized I was looking at it incorrectly, I realized why.
 
Pilawt, thanks for those - on the large screen today in my office at LAX :)
 
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