What I Learned Today

The weather briefing for my flight today had an unusual feature: an upcoming TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) over my destination, the Redlands airport. It seems that Redlands is hosting an airshow this weekend, and in addition to the TFR covering the airshow itself, they blocked out an hour today from 3 to 4 p.m., possibly for the airshow pilots to practice.

Some calculations later, I determined that I should be able to get to the airport, pre-flight my plane, and fly to Redlands and back before the TFR kicked in. I was off!

(Why Redlands? It’s one of the five airports in the upcoming Flabob Poker Run. I’m doing advance scouting!)

I got flight following from El Monte and climbed to 5500′ to head east to Redlands. This is not a picture of Redlands. It’s a picture of the Santa Fe Dam area, which I flew past. It’s pretty awesome – note the stepped dams on the left to block debris flows from the canyon. Plus, golf course. I stayed north of the 210 freeway, then swung down behind the San Bernardino airport to enter the right pattern for runway 26 on the 45.

As I was about to turn base, I noticed a helicopter about to land. A few seconds later, someone on the radio said “All aircraft, use the radio for safety” which may or may not have been directed at the helicopter. I had been announcing my position, but hadn’t heard anything from a helicopter. I gave it some extra time and by the time I turned final, it was already out of sight.

On the ground, it was pretty busy at Redlands, with carts, trucks, and planes moving around in preparation for the airshow. I spotted a very pretty red biplane! But it was already 2:30 p.m. and I wanted to be sure to be out of there before the TFR kicked in at 3. I took off back to the west, turned sharply north to stay out of San Bernardino’s airspace, and got flight following back to El Monte at 4500′. It was fun cruising through Ontario’s airspace!

Here is my route today. The more northerly track was me headed east to Redlands, and the southerly one is me coming back.

Back at El Monte, I still had energy and time left, so I did some pattern work. I worked on my left traffic patterns, which tend to be weak (we’re used to right traffic at El Monte, and also at Redlands!). I worked on improving my base to final turn. I also made two very nice short-field landings despite the wind, which was gusting from 8 to 14 knots and also swinging around between 170 and 220 degrees. Great flying day!

Here is my updated airport map. I’ve now been to 8 of 26 L.A. airports since getting my license!