I was looking again at the TCA after reading comments about navigating the VFR corridor over SD and decided to add some chart-caps here. The red line is my route, and the hash marks across the course are my reporting points for the corridor CTAF.
Straight out to the NALF, then I climbed in a big circle to 3500 to enter the corridor.
The corridor: not really that complicated... my turning points were also really good reporting points. Note the upper text box: it explains all about this corridor.
Skipping ahead a bit: I was thinking about continuing along the shore (the Pendleton restricted area only goes up to 2000 there), but I had a NE headwind and figured the later I waited to head back this way, the more I'd get hammered by turbulence (I was right, BTW- it was pretty bad all the way back to the city). So I headed over to Oceanside to land, only to hear the AWOS update to "variable" while a chopper was doing "photo work" south of the field near TPA. No thanks... I practiced my descending and climbing turns there and headed back home.
As I turned east to approach Brown, I could see a blanket of dust blowing off the desert from the SE. I considered asking for a straight-in for 08R, because the ATIS reported wind at 170, which is 90 degrees off any runway there. I wanted to get on the ground before the dust arrived.
But Tower was still working 26L/R, and there was quite a bit of traffic. They gave me downwind for 26L, and as I descended to TPA, I was getting batted around pretty good. As I passed the end of the runway on downwind, the C-140 in front of me reported a dust devil east of the field. Right after it moved away and petered out, Tower told the Cessna to turn around for 08R, because the wind was now 040 at 10+.
Well, at least the dust was no longer headed my way...
I reminded them that I was behind the Cessna, abeam the tower, just in case. They had me wait until the other plane was clear, turning around past where I'd normally turn base for 26L. I've never landed to the east at Brown... between that and the gusts, I was a little out of sorts flying that pattern, but I sideslipped in for a careful, floaty sort of 3-pointer. Held it off until it looked just right. I should have wheeled it on, maybe, but I wanted to try a 3-pointer with a gusty crosswind, because there's no reason to assume it can't be done.
The Champ almost immediately started to weathervane as it rolled out. I corrected that quickly... but then it almost got away from me when I did whatever the heck it is I have to do with my feet when going to the brakes (I try not to think about that too much
). Needed a lot of correction taxiing downwind back to the ramp: easy enough to "let the wind blow the stick", but when you need more rudder to prevent weathervaning while not using too much to steer, things get a little funny.
Fortunately, with the springs tensioned right, it was not too difficult.In fact, that was when I finally realized what the springs do: they create a "null zone" where the wheel will not move but the rudder itself will. Duh. ::)
The whole trip took 2 hrs on the tach, so my average groundspeed was about 50 mph.
Again, I felt a little sheepish about cutting things short, but when the wind picked up out of the NE, gusting up to 16 kts, I felt pretty good about my decision.
I made sure to keep the nose into the wind while refueling, even though Tom came over to assist me. He also brought the school's gas card... very thoughtful. It also turned out that he'd read my recent (positive) comment on AirNav, and he thanked me for that. Well, that may have been my last flight (for now) in 70E, unless I can squeeze in a weekday flight or I don't fly home until Monday... I'll sure miss the old gal, and the whole gang at First Flight.
I was toying with the idea of seeing if they could get me a job there... might still do it. Wouldn't pay much, butI could save money by living in a trailer... or in Tijuana...
