I
t must ha ve be en a slow d ay at
Lem oore Naval Ai r St at io n (KNL C); it
was m id- wee k and th e M OAs were
“cold” as w e turne d o n-co urse a t A ve nal
VOR ( AVE) towa rd T ranq ui lli ty, Cal if.
(yes, I know it ’s spel led w ron g, b ut t hat’s
how th ey spel l i t...). Tr anqui lli ty li es
bene ath the Lemoore A MOA, wh ich
begins at 5,000 fee t a nd ext end s to 1 7, 99 9
feet. As we be gan our descent from 8,
feet t o slide unde r a cou pl e of t hei r ot her
MOAs, we contac te d L emo ore t o l et t he m
kno w of our plans an d to see i f th ey had th e
wea ther a t L os Ba nos (KLSN ), o ur fi rst
refue ling point about 60 m il es n ort hwest of
the Air S tat ion. The con tro ller req ueste d
that we r epor t “ on-stat io n” an d a sked h ow
long we ’d be t her e, t hen left to fi nd th e
wea ther. Af ter sea rc hin g for several m in -
utes, the cont roll er was un ab le to fi nd it but
helpfully offer ed to Google i t! Sk y cl ear,
winds light a nd var iab le – gott a l ov e tec h-
nol ogy – and helpful con tro lle rs!
We re po rt ed o ver the si te as in stru ct -
ed, ma de a f ew circ uit s over the targ et,
compl et ed o ur bu siness, and dep arted for
Los Banos. A ft er an unev en tful lan din g
and a de li cio us lun ch at one of Lo s
Ban os’ fi nest , th e B lack Bear Diner, we
de pa rte d f or th e – th ree more s ites : o ne
la rg e so la r i nstal lat ion cu rrentl y u nder
constr uc tio n and two smaller ca rpor t
so lar a rr ays at schools in Gilroy, C alif.
Co mple ti ng our fi rst site , which
in clu ded about 20 m il es of roadway i n
addit ion to the d ev el opm ent sit e it self, we
tu rne d no rt hw est over the Diablo R ang e
to wa rd G ilr oy, cli mb ing to to p th e 3, 80 0-
foot Lave aga Peak, t he hi ghes t po in t in
Me rc ed Count y. O nce clear of th e mou n-
ta ins, we began our descent. Off to the
sou th , I spotted Fr ank Chr ist ense n’ s
ho me a nd pr iv at e 3 ,000-foot airp ort in
Hollis te r. Rec en tly inducted in to the
EAA Internat io nal Aerobatic Clu b Hall
of Fa me , Ch ri stense n i s bes t kn own fo r
de velo pin g the l eg en dary Chri sten E agle
II kit-built a er obatic biplane. Often
acc lai me d as the most complete ho me -
bu ilt kit – so complete t hat th e ki ts ev en
come wi th a razor bl ade for op eni ng t he
pa ck ag in g – the Christen E ag le q uickly
be ca me a f av ori te amo ng “gen tlemen
aero bat s” wi th i ts beautiful and di sti nc -
ti ve p ai nt schemes and delight fu l han -
dl ing cha ract eri st ics. So meday...
Appr oa chin g the ci ty of Gilroy, th e
“Ga rlic C ap it al of t he World,” I did a
do ubl e t ake as we passed near an unus u-
al a irp or t – Frazi er Lak e Airp ark (1C 9).
What ma kes it unusu al are it s run ways :
on e, runw ay 5/ 23, i s a 2 ,500 -fo ot by 10 0-
foot tu rf fie ld ; bu t it’ s the o ther that
caught m y eye: runwa y 5W/2 3W , a
3, 00 0- fo ot by 60 -fo ot wa te r runw ay! I’ ve
ne ve r s een a ny th ing li ke tha t.
We sh ot ou r site s in Gilr oy a nd he ad -
ed south , pa ssing over Pin nacles Nat iona l
Pa rk a nd int o th e S ali nas V alle y. Both
Kin g C ity ’s ( KKIC ) aer oba tic pr ac tice
ar ea a nd th e Res tr ict ed Ar ea R -2504 at
Ca mp R ob er ts we re “h ot ,” so we dive rt -
ed abo ut five mil es east to avoid any c on -
fli ct. W e ne ver s aw any tr aff ic (whi ch
wa s, of c ou rse, o ur p urp ose i n d etou ring
to th e e as t) b ut Ki ng Ci ty/M esa D el Rey
air por t is h om e for Sean Tucke r’s bu sy
Tu tima Ac ad emy o f A via ti on Saf ety ,
wh ere t he y of fer aerobat ic fl ig ht tra ining
as w ell as Pi tt s an d E xtra c hec ko uts ,
an ot he r expe rie nce to add to my wis h list!
We h ad i nt en de d t o land a t Santa
Ba rba ra ( KSB A), bu t our ma neuv eri ng
ov er the p hoto s it es to ok a litt le long er
tha n an ti cipa ted , s o we diver ted t o S anta
Ma ria (KSM X) to refu el, just to be on the
sa fe s id e. Tw enty mi nut es l ate r, w e we re
ba ck in the a ir h ea ded to F ill more VOR -
TA C (FI M). Our di rect route took us over
so me v ery in ho spi table te rri to ry , wi th
mile s and m ile s o f jagge d moun tain s
re achin g up b eneat h us. In the futur e, I
wil l de fin it el y p la n m y r oute to go a lon g
the c oast w he re th ere are more an d be tteroff -fi eld la nding op tions.
Shortl y aft er pa ssin g ove r Fillm or e,
we we re cle are d th rough the C las s B ravo
via th e Co asta l Ro ut e at 5, 500 fee t. I usu -
all y d epa rt Fillmo re to int erc ep t the LAX
VO R 323 radi al at CHAT Y inte rs ec tion ,
fly dire ct t o LAX, the n a s ligh t l eft tur n
on the LA X 12 3 r adia l to e xit the C oa sta lRou te at F ER MY in tersect ion over San
Pedr o B ay. Fr om t he re, we stay a t 5,50 0
fe et to ge t ove r John W ayne’s ( KSNA)
Cla ss Cha rl ie air space , t he n it’s a s traight
shot d own the co ast t o P alomar. The s un
was se ttin g a s w e passed D an a P oint, and
we tou che d d ow n ju st before the end of
civ il twi light , r un wa y li gh ts agl ow.December 2017 http://www.inflightusa.com 17
HEL PFU LCONTR OL LER S
Flying into Writing By Eric McC arth y
Con tinue d o n Page 18
Ae rial v iew of Fr az ier La ke Airpa rk.
(Eric McCart hy)Mile s of m ou nt ain ou s t errain - ne xt tim e,
via the coa st. ( Eric McCarth y)