No, I didn’t come up with that line on my own. We’ve been listening to Tom Selleck’s autobiography cleverly titled “You Never Know.” It’s great, and he’s the one that reads it, which makes it is fun to hear his voice telling his stories. Several times he says, “Always expect the unexpected,” and I thought, “That can apply to flying as well.”
We had our first ski trip of the season, and it was okay. Well, the skiing was okay, but the trip was great! Winds were favorable and we could have made the flight in one hop from Fullerton (KFUL) to Pagosa Springs (KPSO) at just over 4 hours. We would have landed with my personal minimum 10 gallons but decided that there was no rush to get there and split it in half making a fuel stop in Williams (KCMR).
Three hours is the sweet spot for me but by four I really want to get out and stretch my legs and give my backside a break. Two-hour legs go by really fast. The weather was perfect, the visibility unlimited, and the high desert in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico never disappoints from the air.
Too Hot to Ski
I know some people like “Spring Skiing” conditions. I guess I’m not some people. I like it cold, down in the teens where the powder stays light and fluffy. The snow at a lot of resorts has been very thin, or non-existent this year. Fortunately, Wolf Creek had a 30” base, which is enough to ski the groomers but far from the amount needed to head off into the trees. It was 27° F when we got to the resort Thursday morning and we called it quits at 1pm when it was 47° F. No, that isn’t a typo, and 47° is way too warm for me to ski.
The forecast for Friday was more of the same so we took a drive on the Million Dollar Highway from Durango through Silverton to Ouray. It was absolutely gorgeous. There are some different theories why it was named the Million Dollar Highway, but I’m going to go with the Million Dollar Views. If you love the mountains, which I do, it is a must-see scenic drive. It was made even better with the Guide Along app that we downloaded telling you what you were seeing as you drove, little side adventures to take, and bits of interesting history.
Million Dollar Highway to Ouray
Saturday was another warm day at Wolf Creek, but we were able to get in some fun runs in the morning before it started to get a little slushy. Hopefully by the time our next trip rolls around in January it will be a lot colder, and they’ll have a couple big storms dump before we get there.
Sunday morning, we got up and headed to the airport early. It was cold overnight and the expected frost was there on the plane. Everywhere except the cowling where the engine heater put out enough heat to keep it clean. It was in the 20’s outside but the cylinder and oil temps were in the low 70’s.
Picking up IFR Enroute
I got out the little hand broom I keep in the plane and brushed off as much of the frost as I could and then loaded up the plane. I pushed it back from the tiedown to point directly at the sun so there wouldn’t be any shade from the fuselage on the wing. By the time I borrowed the crew car to run our car back to the house and returned the sun and warming temp had eliminated all the frost on the dark blue of the tail and leading edges of the wings. There were still some small areas of frost just back from the leading edges.
It was a balmy 34° F outside now and we got in, started up, and I went through all the pre-takeoff checklists while waiting for it to warm up enough to perform the runup. The transient ramp is sloped away from the sun. My little mind thought that if I could get more direct sun on the wings it might speed up the frost melt, so taxied down to the departure end of the runway and pointed the plane at the sun. (No, we weren’t sitting on the runway but at the end of the taxiway.)
I watched as the frost slowly receded and after about 10 more minutes the wings were clear. This delay would turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
We again made a stop halfway at Williams to refuel before embarking on the final leg of the trip. The weather briefing I got before we started the day showed that by noon Fullerton “should be” clear even though it started out the day with fog and ¼ mile visibility. We wouldn’t be arriving until about 1pm.
I checked the weather in Fullerton before taking off from Williams and it was still overcast at 500 with less than a mile of visibility. That is below my personal minimums and minimums for the approach, but we had two hours of flight time ahead of us and in the LA Basin a lot can change in 20 minutes, so we launched and headed west. If it didn’t clear up there were options for landing. My old home base of Corona, Chino where I did all my PPL flying, and Riverside where I’ve been many times were all VFR conditions.
About every 30 minutes I checked the weather at Fullerton. I know, they update once an hour but if there are significant changes then they do more frequent updates. Always expect the unexpected. About an hour into the flight it should have cleared up, but Fullerton was reporting visibility 1.5 miles, scattered at 600 and overcast at 1,000’. At least it was trending in the right direction. Twenty-two minutes later it was reporting 1.75 miles of visibility with mist and scattered at 1,100’.
That was doable, but now it was decision time. I was flying VFR but would need an IFR clearance to land at Fullerton. It was within my personal minimums. We had begun our descent and 20 minutes from landing. The hazy weather was keeping most of the Sunday flyers on the ground so Approach wasn’t very busy. I haven’t had them deny a popup IFR request although there are times that you get a “stand by.”
Me: “SoCal Approach, Mooney 1015 Echo, request.”
SoCal: “1015 Echo, go ahead.”
Me: “Descending through 7,000 about 12 miles north of the Homeland VOR, would like to pick up an IFR into Fullerton.”
SoCal: “Mooney 15 Echo, squawk 5223.”
Me: “5223 15 Echo.”
SoCal: “November 15 Echo, you are radar contact seven south of the Redlands airport. Traffic 10 o’clock two miles northbound descending out of fifty-four for Redlands a Skyhawk.”
Me: “Looking for traffic 15 Echo.”
SoCal: “Roger, the altimeter three-zero-zero-five and just verify you’re IFR equipped and capable.”
Me: “Three-zero-zero-five, affirmative IFR equipped and capable.”
SoCal: “November 15 Echo, you are cleared to the Fullerton Airport via direct Paradise, join Victor 388, Seal Beach VOR, direct, descend and maintain 6,000.”
Me: “Cleared to Fullerton airport via direct Paradise, Victor 388, Seal Beach VOR, descend maintain 6,000, 15 Echo.”
SoCal: “15 Echo readback is correct.”
I put PDZ into my panel nav and hit direct, dialed in 6,000’ on the GFC500, switched my tablet from VFR to IFR charts, and then programmed the rest of the route into the panel nav. Incredibly Fullerton was broadcasting the Localizer for runway 24 instead of the standard VOR approach, but I requested the RNAV 24 from the next controller. He said it was on request and the next sector vectored me to the IAF after I checked in.
Me: “ SoCal approach Mooney 1015 Echo, 4000 on Victor 388”
SoCal: “1015 Echo SoCal thank you, turn Left Direct LEYMI, cross LEYMI 3000 and cleared RNAV approach Runway 24 Fullerton.”
Me: “Left direct LEYMI, cross LEYMI at 3000, cleared RNAV 24 Fullerton 15 Echo.”
We flew over the hills of Chino Hills State Park which were green from the recent rains and looked at the haze and mist ahead. The sky was clear blue, and it looked like someone took a paint brush and dragged a line of white paint across the sky with it fading away to the ground. We were handed off to tower and I checked in.
Approach into Fullerton
SoCal: “November 15 Echo, contact tower on 119.1, we’ll see ya.”
Me: “119.1, have a great day, 15 Echo.”
SoCal: “Thanks, you too.”
Me: “Fullerton Tower, Mooney 1015 Echo RNAV 24 approach.”
Tower: “Mooney 1015 Echo, Fullerton Tower, continue on approach, report airport in sight.”
Me: “Continuing, will report the airport in sight, 15 Echo.”
I continued down the approach, descended through 1,100’ and didn’t see the airport. At 1,000’ I could make out the warehouses on short final. Passing through 940’ at about a 2-mile final I could finally see the airport. If this was my first visit there, I’m not sure I would have been able to pick it out at that point. I would have had to level off at 900’ and continue a little bit further. With almost 350 landings at KFUL and almost all of them on 24 knowing right where to look helped.
Taxiing to the hangar it was odd looking up at what appeared to be blue skies and knowing it was still IFR conditions. Over an hour later it was still IFR with haze and 2.5 miles visibility. I’m grateful to all my friends that have spent time with me shooting practice approaches to not only be current but proficient and able to put the plane safely on the runway.
If you always expect the unexpected there will be fewer surprises while you’re flying, and fewer surprises make the flights safer and more enjoyable.
