Sunny Van Nuys to Sunny San Diego

After a wonderful day of flying and an evening spent in Van Nuys, it was time to head a little further south to San Diego for just one night. By distance, this should only be about a twenty-minute flight for us. But we double that in anticipation of traffic and being slowed down to land at the single runway at San Diego International Airport.

Here Gladys is on the ramp and ready to go. We are scheduled to be wheels-up at noon. They arrived five minutes early, like always.

Have I mentioned how much I love having prompt passengers? I am sure that comes as no surprise to anyone.

Fuel was necessary to make our short trip, so they pulled the truck up to our single-point fueling port on the right-hand side of the airplane.

Lookin’ good, Gladys!

This is the right main landing gear. I’m sure that you’ve laid awake at night wondering what this looks like. Now you know.

Sometimes I am amazed at how a little bit of proper lighting can make a normal shot extra nifty. Isn’t this sun-peeking-through shot pretty?

This Learjet was on the ramp with us, waiting to leave as well. We actually had to wait for their Ground Power Unit (GPU) after they left before we could plug it into Gladys to get the avionics loaded. They give some pretty intense route clearances leaving this place, so we wanted it all set up before our passengers arrived to prevent any unnecessary waiting. I really hate making them wait.

The Lear eventually left, and we only had the cart for a few moments before my passengers arrived. We had three peeps heading down to San Diego with us today.

After we fired up the engines and taxied out, we were behind this Citation X from XOJet. I actually applied to work for these guys last fall when I was searching for a new job. They have a few dozen airplanes that are chartered out for business. This particular airplane had a very narrow time window for his clearance to get out of Van Nuys, so they let him go in front of us. Airspace fills up pretty quickly in these parts.

By the way, I’m so glad that XO didn’t call back, and that I have my dream job instead.

We waited at the beginning of Runway 16R for about five minutes before we received our IFR release to enter the busy airspace. They have to plan for everyone in the sky here since it’s so busy, and sometimes we have to wait on the ground for a hole to open for us. Or a hole to be made for us.

Hurry up and wait!

Finally we were airborne and our way to San Diego! Goodbye, Van Nuys! See you tomorrow!

On our way up to 11,000 feet, which Gladys reached in no time at all, we passed downtown Los Angeles. Look at all that smog! I’m glad that I don’t live here.

And here is a shot of one of the busiest airports in the nation…Los Angeles International, or LAX. Can you see that cloud layer slowly moving over the runways? I’ve been here a lot, and I certainly prefer Van Nuys to get in and out quickly. LAX is such an airliner airport that little guys like us get last priority.

Now we’re getting closer to San Diego! Hi, Coast!

Here is Catalina Island from the sky. Hubby has been here on a short cruise with his sister, when he came to visit her while she lived in San Diego. I wish he was with me today so he could go deep-sea fishing. All that boy wants is to catch a marlin!

Gladys’ moving map is letting us know that we’re getting closer to San Diego. We are about to pass Carlsbad on the coast, which is the home to Lego Land. But I’m sure you already knew that.

Hi, San Diego! Boy, you look nice today. I think I should get out there and enjoy you for a few days. How does that sound? Oh, man. We just a clearance to expect a long downwind so they can sneak in some airliners in front of us. See you soon later, San Diego!

Just liked every other coastal city in California, San Diego is one packed place. With perfect weather year-round, I can see the appeal. This was a shot taken on our extended downwind leg in the traffic pattern. We are probably ten miles from the airport here to let everyone else in front of us.

Sometimes, being the little guy isn’t very much fun. We’re paying for fuel, too, you guys!

Finally, we are given our clearance to turn our base and then final legs. This little extension added about fifteen minutes to our flight. Awesome. They must not know that I have plans to visit an air museum after we land.

We eventually made it to land on Runway 27 towards the beautiful ocean. We pass right next to downtown San Diego, but I didn’t have a chance to photograph that today.

This is a picture of a Continental United Boeing 757. I interned with Continental when I was in school. It was a very educational (and hot and sweaty in Houston) summer, but it showed me for certain that the airlines were not for me. I wanted to go corporate aviation all the way.

See how close the skyscrapers are? Downtown is just a few miles away. I love landing here. I’ve been here several times, but never longer than landing at midnight and leaving by 7:00 AM the next morning. This was my first time here to actually have time to explore!

I was slightly stoked about this. Slightly.

San Diego is busy busy busy. And they get some big boys in here. I am sure these airliners were all packed because of the big events going on in town this week. Though I know nothing about it, Comic Con was going on while we were here!

I don’t know why there is only one FBO here, but they certainly get all of the private aircraft landing at the airport. This is a gorgeous (I want that) Bombardier Global Express. Huge, fast, beautiful. More expensive than I could ever afford, but it’s fun to admire on the ramp. They pulled in right behind us.

They parked us right behind a Bombardier Challenger that had its APU running in anticipation of arriving passengers. This ramp was packed and busy and fun!

Well hello, Giant Falcon Jet. I love you.

We made it safely to San Diego and got the passengers on their way. Now it was my turn to play! Woot woot! I love my job!

From North to South(ern) California

Our flight to Bremerton was just half of the work day. Once we got some fuel, some bags, and some people on board, we were headed south on our way to Van Nuys for the night.

As you can see from the dreary skies, we had no problem fighting dozens of people in the traffic pattern today. I love weather like this…curl-up-with-a-good-book-and-hot-chocolate-and-fireplace weather.

I wanted to cool down some drinks for the passengers in case they got thirsty on the ride. It would take us about two hours to fly from the Seattle area to the Los Angeles area. Cold drinks were a must.

Gladys almost looks depressed in this shot of the dreary sky. Don’t worry. She knows that a good tan and sunshine are just a few hours away. Isn’t this airplane the most beautiful thing that you’ve seen today?!

I lucked out and got to fly over Mount Everest again!

I also got to fly right over Lake Tahoe. Can you see it on the far left? And just to the right of it is the Tahoe Truckee Airport. I’ve landed there, too. When I tried to eat lunch at the airport café, they were closed because a bear had broken in the night before and helped himself to most of their food supply.

You can’t make this stuff up, people! A bear!

We are getting closer now. These are the lush farmer fields near Fresno. They grow everything here from oranges to pistachios to avocados. I guess you could say that I have a great love and appreciation for this part of the state.

As always into busy airspace, we were given a clearance for an Arrival into the Los Angeles area. I still managed to get some short cuts out of it, but that was only because we were landing in between their air traffic rushes.

See how Gladys can display our approach charts so large? Man, it’s great. We also have the iPad to back them up. You can see the Van Nuys Airport to the bottom-right of the chart, but these things are not to scale.

We fly right through this mountain saddle every time we come to Van Nuys. Which is a lot, actually, so I’m starting to become familiar with this area. We are facing south in this shot. Los Angeles is in the far distance (near all that small hog smog). We landed just past these little mountains.

But first we passed a mine. I think mines are so neat to see from the air. You can pick up more detail from here! Well, of the mine, anyway. Those tiny specks down there are probably giant dump trucks.

Once we passed the little mountains, the population really started getting crazy. Look at all those houses! People way up here commute to LA, which would be about an hours drive in no traffic from here. Yuck.

Hi, Van Nuys Airport. Can you see it? We are doing the Visual Approach to Runway 16R, which is 8,000 feet long. Plenty of room for us to land.

So we did. Land, that is.

And, like always at Van Nuys, this place was hopping! They have two runways, thankfully, so the little guys use the parallel runway to practice their landings without taking up valuable time on the big runway. Because some big airplanes come in here about every twenty seconds! It is a very popular corporate and famous-people airport to use.

In fact, just after we arrived, so did the Saints quarterback Drew Brees (I found out later that he was in town for the ESPY Awards), and Britney Spears. Neither of them came into the FBO, but it just shows what a happening place this is.

Drew came in on a tiny Citation, which made me like him. He brought six of his buddies, which was just admirable to stuff seven big football players into a tiny Citation. Oh no. What if he is just cheap?

Britney arrived on a big Challenger. Not so cheap.

The Pentastar Aviation ramp is always packed with airplanes of all sizes. It is a fun place to visit, I tell you. Here are a few Gulfstreams, some Citations, and even a Phenom 100.

After arriving, I opened the airplane door and ran out to open the baggage compartment. A car-and-driver were waiting for us, so I loaded the bags into the car and helped him get back out the gate to the treacherous roads of Los Angeles.

Then I cleaned up Gladys and got her ready for a night under the stars in Van Nuys.

After a looooooong half-hour ride to the hotel in the shuttle (I would go crazy in traffic like this), I finally arrived at my lodging location for the evening. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast at 5:00 AM, so twelve hours later meant that my stomach was growling and ready some sustenance.

The room was pretty nice, and I loved the cheap rate! Through the FBO, we can usually get a great price at local hotel rooms. Though I’ve been to Van Nuys more times than I can count, I have never been able to spend the night. So I was pretty excited for something new and fun to try.

As soon as I threw my bags in the door and changed into some shorts (it was 98 degrees. No kidding), I walked about 0.67 miles for some grub. This is the busy Ventura Boulevard, which I walked on to get to my late-lunch destination.

My choice was the California Chicken Café, after a few people at the hotel recommended it. It was within walking distance, so I headed out to enjoy a lovely meal. It certainly didn’t disappoint.

It is a cafeteria-style restaurant, where you place an order and then take a number so they can deliver it to your table when it is freshly-made. Even in the middle of the afternoon, there were several people enjoying a meal. It reassured me that the right place had been chosen.

And then this arrived. The California Chicken Salad with feta cheese and warm pita bread. Oh my heck, this was delicious. I opted for a vinaigrette to keep it healthier. And man oh man, was it good. They even had cooked rotini pasta in here. What a great idea to add to a salad! And the chicken was big chunks of high-quality white meat.

I guess you could say that I enjoyed my only meal out today!

Later, when I arrived back at the hotel, it looked like this right outside my door.

Red rum. Red rum. RED RUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMM!

Right? I’m not the only one who sees that, right?

Back to the Northwest

After a very quick day home, I was back on the road back to the great north to pick up a passenger. Being home for that time allowed me to do some laundry, and that’s about it.

When I showed up at the hangar early last Tuesday morning, Gladys was just as excited to be back on the road. Doesn’t she look good in the early-morning sun?

I’m always amazed at what a small world it can be in aviation. Like always happens when I’m near this airplane at any airport, people want to poke their heads inside to take a look. Phenom 300s are rare, and pilots get jealous. I’ll leave it at that.

This particular gentleman came over to look. We got to talking and realized that he served his mission in Poland with Hubby’s brother. This guy has lived all over the world flying really big airplanes, and I just so happen to run into him on the ramp while waiting to depart. It was cool to hear some of his experiences, and also to show him Gladys. James says hello, Steve!

What a small world!

It was a quick taxi to depart on Runway 21. Have I mentioned how wonderful it is to be based at this airport? They let corporate jets take priority and treat us so well. After being based at the main airline airport for five years at Sky Harbor, it’s nice to get such special treatment.

Jet Suite flies into Scottsdale now, for any of your chartering needs!

And there are always pretty airplanes on the ramps that we pass. Hi, Citation!

Soon, we were in the air and headed back towards the Seattle area. I never mind leaving the triple-digit heat! Goodbye, Phoenix! Cool off before I come home in two weeks, please.

Look at that! We flew right over the Grand Canyon again! It was prettier a few days before with all of the sunset lighting.

I love little puffy clouds. They look better from above, though.

Our condensed version of our checklist seemed to have found a new home after our maintenance a few weeks ago, so we have been using the big ol’ honkin’ one until I have time to make a new, smaller version that will fit on the yoke. This thing is huge and cumbersome to use for all of our checklist needs. I would rather tuck this big thing away into the side panel pocket while using a small version that is attached to the yoke right in front of me.

The crazy thing is that I will be flying so much over the next few weeks that I probably won’t have time to design a new checklist!

Isn’t this going to be fun?!

We are already starting our descent from Flight Level 430 down to 24,000 feet. We were going about 440 knots true airspeed at that altitude! Man, this girl flies!

Holy cow! Here we are at Mount Rainier again! Part of the arrival into the Seattle area takes us right next to this beautiful giant. We are direct to RATTY here before getting to turn west towards Bremerton.

It makes it easier for the Seattle controllers to handle so many busy airports in this airspace. I feel for them. It gets crazy here!

And we made it! For some strange reason, I have absolutely no pictures from RATTY to Bremerton. But with a nice, foggy layer all morning, the traffic pattern was nice and quiet for our arrival.

The ceiling came up to 1,200 feet from 200 overcast just an hour before we arrived. It’s nice to have higher clouds so that we could see the airport! We broke out of the clouds about three miles out and continued visually to land.

And then we grabbed some fuel so we could leave again just a few minutes later. Man, I love my job.