Day 1 diary
Sept 24, 2009
From Torrance CA. to Pinehurst OR.
9:40 am Torrance, engine start, taxi to fuel pump, topoff the tank (added 10 more gallons). Call FSS to activate the flight plan, two TFRs related to fires. I ask the briefer for advise, he said, if I fly direct toward Bakersfield, I shall be cleared from both TFRs, I happily accepted.
First time Crossing LA special-flight-rule-corridor in Rebel, over-taken by a Mooney on the left, she is fast.
10-15 knots tail wind @ 8500', I drop down to 6500' after the midway, but it didn't favor at that altitude, So, I climb back up to 8500'.
Ventura County, fire in the background
4:30PM arrived at Oroville (OVE), local FBO didn't offer much of help. I try to get the advise for the next leg, because I still have 2-3 hours of day light to go north, the guy said, I should have this planned two months ago for a trip like this, yeah! what the heck, local advise is much more helpful than two months of planning, I have learned that from X-country experience in the past (from New Jersy to California). Then I taxi accross the field to ask a guy who waved at me when I landed, the guy is working on his ultra light, after he heard my story, he refers me to Chuck his next door neighbor who is building a Long-Easy. I told him I need an advise to cross Mt. Shasta ridges, just north of Redding, he said, it's a wide valley, a couple miles wide, shouldn't have any problem.
I taxi out and takeoff on Runway 30. During my climb out, I wiggle my wings to those two guy on the ground who rendered the help.
The FBO guy's heart is as small as the sign of this Airport
Fuel price at OVE is $3.80, I purchased 30 gallons, the bill only shows 27.6 gallons, that would make up the attitude problem with the guy at FBO.
First half of the way crossing Mt. Shasta ridges was great, I got the flight following, climb to 6500' then later climb higher to 8500', I-5 is way down in the valley, I keep the Highway on my left to within the glide distance, constantly glance at it. After passing Mt. Shasta, the valley flatten out,
Mt. Shasta
10 minutes later, it comes with higher ridges, much longer and deeper, now I keep the Highway on my right with vigilence, make sure I don't lose it, I plan the path to glide down in case of engine problem, just before reach the end of ridges (by looking at the GPS and Chart), I notice the haze has covered the entire valley beyond those ridges,
(This is the picutre I took next day when flying toward the ocean to stay out of smog, approx 60 NM west of Oregon fire)
I call ATC (Seattle control) to change my destination from Roseburg (RBG) to Ashland (S03, elevation 1885') due to poor visibility, they told me there is no Wx information available for that airport, I terminate the radar service and start my descent to Ashland. I am pretty high @ 10500' and only 15 miles to the airport, Ashland is way down in the canyon. Then I noticed the haze is quickly building up in that direction too, I look toward the south where I come from, the visibility is better but seems building up with Haze as well, and the airport down in those canyons is much further away, I estimated by the time I reach there, it would be much worse. So, I pick Pinehurst (24S) 12 miles SE from Ashland and change my heading. I have to hold the altitude to clear all the peaks in that direction before making a steep descend. After within 5 miles, I start the steep descend from 9500' down to 4500', the field elevation is 3638', Haze is building up fast, I didn't hold back the speed, try to reach there as quickly as I can before the visibility goes below the limit, I also keep the Engine RPM high to prevent from shock cooling. The airport is surrounded by huge and dense pine trees, I couldn't find it until I am really close, the steep approach has helped finding it.
Looking back after I pulled off the runway, the little Cessna in the picutre is the place where I saw the boy
After spotted the wind sock on the narrow runway, I made my first attemp to drop in, but I was too high and too fast, so I executed a go-around, a teen boy was looking at me when I made a low approach and screeming-by with full throttle. The runway is 2800' long, 30 feet wide with 4 degree of climb, it's paved asphalt but the width is only as wide as my wing span. I climb out after pass the midfield, clear the trees at the end, circle around, fly a couple hundred feet over the pines, then descend down to the base leg, and then final, it's hard to keep the runway in sight during the turn and descend at the same time, I made the turn tight to be sure I am next to the runway (everything is buried in woods), when I level the wings, I was just clear the treetops, and that's exactly what I want it to be. I know if I'm too high and too fast, then I'll have the same problem as the first attempt, I come in just over the treetops, hold the speed at 65mph, full faps, touch down at 1000' (approx), the landing was a bit hair standing because I wasn't fully aligned with the runway until the last moment, more like descend, turning and align at the same time before wheel touches the ground. The boy stares at me with a wield looking when I taxi by, I kept my eyes straight pretending I'm a cool pilot and knows what I am doing. I taxi all the way down to the west end and pull onto someone's hangar drive way, the house is located far behind the hangar, I waited for a while before jump out of the airplane, hoping some one wouldn't come out to chase me away, but seems no one has noticed my arrival but the boy who is half way up of the runway. I took some pcitures of the field and my Rebel, then start to prepare for the stay before dark, I ate some fruits for dinner (bananas, peach and tomatos which I bought at 99 cent store early this morning), then went behind the trees to release the pressure in my bladder, I setup my bed in the cockpit for the first time "camping in the woods" with my Rebel.
(Sunset at Pinehurst, beautiful Rebel, isn't it)
I fell asleep immediately (around 8PM) and woke up at 1:30AM. I laugh at myself, it's funny, before the trip has started, I was so busy modifing the airplane for Alaska trip (Pictures), I couldn't even find time to rest and sleep, and now I have all the times but there is no electricity, no network access and no cellphone coverage, I have to find ways to kill time before dawn. so, I setup my PC and start this diary. At 2AM, I turn on the SPOT Satellite tracker to signal my friend to let them know I'm ok, in case they got worried. In fact, one of my friend had called 911 and FAA, FAA tracked down my last radio transmission -- landing Ashland. Next time I'll remember to call ATC even after the radar service is terminated, to inform them I am diverting to another airport.
I found an interesting paradox -- Survival gear can save you but can also kill you. It puts so much weight to the airplane and kill the performance, if I couldn't out climb the terrain, I'll be crashed for sure, if I have too little survival gear, then I couldn't survive if I made a crash landing out in the no where. I need the equipment to survie in the desolated wilderness where the rescue may be days or weeks away (up in Yukon and Alaska, if people couldn't find you, the bear will).
While laying in my little "tent", I start thinking the weight and balance issue, and how to get rid of the extra weight to climb out this field, to clear the treetops, to out climb the terrain, this airport is way down in the valley, the terrain rises very quickly. I decide to get rid of 4 gallons of fresh water (about 28 Lbs), 5 quart of spare engine oil (about 9 Lbs), what else? I have decided to ship the HF radio and hand crank generator back to Irvine when I arrive in Seattle.
It's hard to keep the airplane light for a long x-country like this, because I need the survival gear (see what I have), it's completely different than flying in the lower 48 states. Look at Shaun Lunt for all the survival equipment he carrys on his trip to Alaska, now I know how it feels like as opposed to the airplane performance. like I've just said, the survival gear can save you but can also kill you. This is exactly what my God-son told me a couple days before the trip. I was so amazed with his wisdom.