Dual to Catalina Island

[Beefitarian]

I'm hoping to attempt this on Wednessday morning.

[burhead1]

says dual? so you need a friend to help out?
Hello friend

[Beefitarian]

I'm going to use their plane, it's american registered. If you've got an american license and you're current at that AFI place I'll pay the rental.
Let's do it!

[bizjets101]

Great flight, wish I was there!!!

I actually had a house for a while not far from Fullerton Airport (Peacock Lane)!!- lived in Newport Beach for 8 years, and Rancho Palos Verdes for 8 years - loved every minute of it.
Ironically in RPV we had real Peacocks everywhere - you should hear them land on your roof!!

I see Wednesday's weather is calling for blazing sunshine all day!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Young_%28swimmer%29 First person to swim there!!, a Canadian in 15 hours 44 minutes. Jack Lalanne at 75 wanted to swim it - underwater with a 6 foot snorkel!!, but his wife wouldn't let him!!

I miss Catalina bigtime - I lived at 2814 West Ocean Front in Newport Beach - and used to watch the sunset behind Catalina everyday - even when you couldn't see it in the smog!!, you'd see the silhouette as the sun sank below the horizon.

[Beefitarian]

Nice. Did you fly out there much? There's a casino appearently, I just want to zip over to say I did during the "Let's take the kids to Disneyland." trip. I hope to get through all the walking ok.

[bizjets101]

One of my neighbours in Newport (also a Canadian) owned a house on Catalina - so we'd usually go over by boat.


Airport in the Sky Airport Terminal and Control Tower!!!

http://www.ourairports.com/big-map.html ... 9,type=Map

http://www.catalina.com/airport.html

Been there many times - just breathtaking. http://www.visitcatalinaisland.com/avalon/Tours.php

[Beefitarian]

Those links are great, thanks. I suspect I'll wish I could stay there for a while.

[trey kule]

Beefie.

I have flown in and out of Catalina, literally a hundred times.

Tips for Canadians.
1. On the bus ride down from the airport to Avalon, when the bus driver/tour guide is pointing out the buffalo (bison) and all the touristos are taking pictures dont make the comment that "we eat those in Canada"...tough for international relations
2. There is a great "local" bar in Avalon. It is the front part of a ship inside a building. Bathrooms are a bit sketchy but beer is cheep, and the locals are a hoot.
3. It is a good idea, this time of year, if you plan to stay to book room(s)
4. Geting there from the mainland can be interesting. There is a VFR corridor runs along the coast and particualrily on weekends there are brazzillians of little rascals going up and down there, which makes going across a neck damaging exercise to say the least. You can see the approach path to LAX to the north a bit....lots of traffic around there.
Enjoy...it is a great place

[Beefitarian]

They must have figured out just how delicious them furry beasties are.

-No fuel is for sale.
-The Runway Cafe, with both indoor and outdoor seating, is open from 8:30 am until 4 pm daily. Try the famous buffalo burgers!

Thanks for the tips Trey. I won't be there long if I manage to do it. Hopefully one day I might get a second chance.

[V1RotateV2]

Enjoy the flight.
Try to go using the VFR corridor above LAX and then continue South to the Zamperini / Palos Verdes area, then across to the island. Great views!
I used to fly from Whiteman and it was top notch sightseeing every time!
On an IFR day at AVX too!

[Beefitarian]

Nice pictures, thanks.

I phoned today and booked a plane and instructor for Thursday 8 AM. I'll have to talk to him about how he wants to go about it. The person I was talking to said we might not be able to go over because of time constraints.

[Beefitarian]

I just got back to the Happiest place on earth™. The flight went perfect, we didn't go to the airport in Catalina, just flew around the island and checked it out, no time to stop really.

I flew it all, not my best landing but I'll give it a solid 6.5, I was nice and high on final and did a fairly beautifull slip down to the numbers with full flap no crosswind. Light chop over the ocean with a decent down draft as we neared the island and again near long beach I stayed within 300' on my altitudes, most of the time out by less than 125' some of the time on it, kind of sloppy but it's starting to come back to me. We even got to see a cub take off just before I landed then land just after.

Have a great week everyone!

[burhead1]

I can tell you had one of those days you just want to tell everyone about. Those are the flights that keep ypu coming back for more. Congrats, the landings get better then just when you think you got them perfect you get that one that just ^(*^('s up