100 ft OVC and 1 mi visibility

I made a wonderful trip through Northern California in August. Following an in-promptu golf-outing with two friends on Friday afternoon, I departed KPAO in the SR20 from West Valley Flying Club that I have been flying lately, on an IFR flight plan to San Luis Obispo. Taking off around 6.30, it was a wonderful evening flight with the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean as I was cruising over the mountainous terrain. South of San Jose, I was called out as traffic to an airliner, whose smart-mouth pilots responded with 'if only he'd pull his chute, we'd be able to see him!' Oh well...

I had installed my portable collision avoidance gear (the Zaon XRX) and hooked it up to my Garmin 396. This allowed me to see nearby traffic, and in fact I was alerted to traffic once, which was easy to spot, thanks to the yellow traffic indicator on the Garmin. ATC never called the traffic for me, despite the fact that it came relatively close, was visible to ATC (it had its transponder on, otherwise the Zaon would not have seen it either), and I was on an IFR flight plan. Reminds you of your 'see and avoid' duties when in VMC, even when on an IFR flight plan and under ATC control.

The approach into SBP was cool. By then it was dark, and I was being vectored over the ocean, over the marine layer that invariably forms this time of year. I had asked for the GPS approach to runway 11, instead of the more logical ILS, because I thought it would be interesting to fly this, and the MDA was not going to be a problem because the marine layer had not yet moved far enough inland to envelop the airport. There is a slight dog-leg in the GPS approach (probably because of a mountain slightly to the left of the final approach course) that puzzled me, because it obviously wasn't required for the ILS. In any case, the procedure went fine, and as I was handed over to the traffic advisory frequency I clicked the mic a few times and saw the airport light up like a christmas tree. Very cool! I was a little high, but with side slip the landing was uneventful, and I spent the Saturday roaming the coast around San Luis Obispo, which was fun.

On Sunday morning, the plan was to fly to Yosemite National Park, but that marine layer was still very much there when I arrived at the airport at around 7 am. This was expected, and I had carefully planned for a Departure Procedure (DP) out of SBP, (CREPE THREE departure, towards the west), so I could turn on course northbound to the Paso Robles VOR more easily than the eastbound departure would allow. This DP called for a climb rate of 275 ft per NM until 1700, which I had calculated to be well within the capabilities of the SR20. As long as I exceeded 500 fpm in climb, there would be no problem and I would clear the obstacles around me by at least 1000 ft.

The ATIS called it 1 mi visibility and 100 ft overcast, and that's what it looked like. I had considered the fact that I would not be able to return to the airport if something went wrong, but I knew that the layer would be thin, and that there were several airports nearby that were CAVOK. Plus, there was always the parachute! I pre-flighted the airplane more carefully than I believe I have ever done, and started up with confidence, albeit very aware that this would require me to concentrate and aviate as well as I knew how. Tower cleared me to runway 11, but when I asked if I could depart westbound they agreed without fuss. The take-off roll was as you'd expect, and with 1 mi visibility this was not a problem. As soon as I rotated and lifted off, I concentrated on the gauges (well, the PFD - it being a glass display Cirrus), and made sure I kept the wings level, and the airplane climbing more than 500 fpm. The CDI was surprisingly sensitive, and deflected more than I liked. Since this was the first time I had programmed a Departure Procedure in the Garmin 430 I was a little concerned that I might have done something wrong, but with some course correction things turned back to center. Within a minute (that seemed much longer) I broke out on top of the marine layer, with mountain peaks left, right and in front of me sticking through the clouds. A wonderful sight, that again reconfirmed the beauty of flight, and why I love doing it! Since I was now in VMC, I started looking around and slacking off the climb rate a little, causing my Garmin 396 to call out for the terrain ahead of me with a loud 'Terrain! Terrain! Pull Up' warning. That's the first time I ever heard that, and it was reassuring to know that this little box was looking out for me. There was of course no danger, as I had the rock clearly in sight and wasn't going to hit it in my climb. I took some pictures, and enjoyed the trip.

I had wanted to go to Mariposa-Yosemite (MPI), which was the closest to Yosemite that I felt comfortable with, but I checked the club rules and found that I was not supposed to land at an airport at greater than 2000 ft elevation without a mountain checkout. That, plus the fact that it would likely hit 100 degrees F made me decide to land at Modesto, which has a really long runway that would allow me to leave in the late afternoon, even with high temperatures. The downside was that I had to drive for 2 hours before I got to Yosemite, but it was worth it! I had been there in 1990, and it was as impressive now as it was then! The take-off from Modesto, with tanks half full and only me in the plane, was indeed rather long, but not a problem, since I was well under gross weight and things had cooled down a little. I took off right at sunset, and the short hop to PAO was again beautiful.

Parking 725SB at Palo Alto in the dark, I looked back on a really fun weekend exploring California, and enjoying 'getting there' as much as being there. I wish I could afford more of these trips!