speed – we we re. And just lik e th at – as
quick ly as i t h ad ha ppened – it was ove r!
The rest of o ur fli ght, even th rou gh th e
Ban nin g P ass , wa s smooth. The im po sin g
mou ntain to we rin g a bove us just wanted to
rem in d us th at it w as there...
Ou r missi on complete, we decided
to e xte nd our f ligh t, enjo y the wond erfu l
fre ed om of f li ght , and get lu nch s ome -
whe re – the qu est ion was: wh ere? I had
eate n at Mani ac Mik e’ s at Cab le Airp ort
(KC CB ) once before and knew it to o ffer
a go od ha mburger an d an interesting ai r-
port, so that’ s where we were head ed, at
least fo r the moment.
An uncont roll ed f iel d, Ca bl e is l ocat ed
in a busy are a wit h both Bracket t ( KPOC)
and Ont ar io I nter na tional (K ONT ) wi th in
abou t f ive m ile s – not to me nt io n San
Ber nardino Inter nat iona l (K SBD), Ma rch
Air Re se rve Base (K RIV ), Fl abo b (KRIR),
Rivers ide (KRAL ), and Chino (KCNO) all
addi ng tr aff ic t o t he mix – the fre quency
was busy! We’ d be cutti ng a cro ss On ta rio’s
arri val cor ridor a nd Cl ass C airspa ce t o g et
to Ca bl e –we bega n to quest io n ou r ch oi ce
of l unch de sti na tions... The S oCa l con -
troll ers we re ve ry he lpful and acco mm o-
dati ng, but w he n Rich suggest ed we h ead
to Bi g Bear City (L 35) fo r lu nch, I jum ped
at it!
We t ol d t he contro ller t hat we were
cha ngi ng ou r desti nati on to Big Bear; he
had bee n w rest ling wi th a st ud ent pil ot
some whe re in th e ar ea, trying to tu rn h er
on course wi th li mited suc ce ss. H e
see med qui te happy to have us head away
fro m t he congest io n ahead and s ug ges ted
a r igh t t ur n t o t he n ort h, then immed iate -
ly co unt ered that wit h a left 270-d egree
turn fo r traff ic. We complied and were
soon cl im bi ng again to reach Big Bear’s
pat tern alti tude of nearly 8,0 00 fe et.
Surro un de d by mount ai ns, I can imag in e
the “p uc ker f act or ” woul d be hig h d urin g
an instrument app roach h ere.
A de lic ious l unch f rom T he Barn -
storm Re st aurant under our b elts – th ank
you Mrs. Wagn er! And we were read y to
he ad ho me. I t w as a very pleasan t 6 8
de gr ee s a s w e appr oached ru nway 26 for
de pa rtu re , but at our elevation (6 ,75 2
fee t), the densi ty al ti tud e was over 8 ,3 00
feet. R ic h’ s 17 2 has the 180h p Lyc omin g
en gine , an d w e wer e pre tty lig ht –just t he
tw o o f us an d a n h ou r and a hal f wo rth o f
fu el b urn ed of f –bu t we st ill ne ede d to b e
min df ul o f th e air cr af t’s perf orma nce.
Ric h w as f lyi ng thi s l eg, an d he wise ly
lin ed up to ta ke f ul l adva ntag e of B ig
Be ar’s 5, 85 0- foot r un way.
Adv ancin g t he t hr ottle , we ch ar ge d
do wn th e ru nw ay i nto a 10 /gust ing 14 -knot wind , r eac hing f lying spe ed well
bef ore the ha lfw ay p oint. Rich coax ed the
pla ne s kywa rd, and we we re o ff. Ou r
cli mb wa sn’t exa ctl y “b risk ,” bu t it wa s
suff ici ent, c lea rin g the end of the r unw ay
at a coupl e hund red feet alti tude. By t he
time we rea che d B ig B ear L ake a hal f-
mile f rom th e runw ay, w e we re cl ose to
1,00 0 fe et AGL. Onc e you reach the end
of the lake , w ell , it’s all do wnh ill f romthe re – lit era lly! San Berna rdin o lies
mor e tha n a mil e below Big Bear, so it ’s
an easy gl ide a t t hat poin t!
An hou r la ter, aft er f lying t hrough
the Mor eno and T emecula Vall eys , R ich
exp ertly guide d us down a practice ILS to
a smooth landing on runway 24 at
Pa loma r. Goo d c omp any , goo d food, and
a fun d ay of f lyin g – hard to be at that!
Unti l next time – fly safe!December 2017 http://www.inflightusa.com 19
Fly ing I nto Wri tin g
Contin ued f rom Page 18
Bo b Hope 's desert home
(Eric Mc Car thy)