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I had a very interesting trip to Las Vegas this week!
I went there on Monday to meet a bunch of Navy buddies from my old squadron but the weather was not so hot for flying. I spent most of the day waiting for the storm to pass but when it was still here at 3 pm I decided to just drive there instead. Alas, after 30min of stop and go traffic and knowing that I was still facing the LA rush hour and a snowy mountain pass, I was very disgruntled.
Just as I was driving past my airplane hangared in Oceanside I noted that I could see sun hitting the ocean several miles out, though it was still raining and 1500 OVC at my location. I couldnt take the drive anymore so I loaded the plane and decided to take a look from the air. I flew several miles west over the ocean in light rain and low ceilings until the sky finally opened up enough for me to climb above the LA class B, head north to clearer skys, then catch the very frisky tail wind NE to Vegas. I didnt bother talking to anyone because 1- if you don't know how far up/down/left/right you are going to need to go to avoid the next cloud it is a real pain to try to communicate with those guys who really prefer to know exactly what you plan next, 2- I was the only guy at the altitudes I was flying at (13500) - the FBO said I was their only arrival all day. 3- those guys are always interrupting the music - and it was way too beautiful of a flight to have the music constantly interrupted.... Sunset, fresh snow on the mountains, crystal clear and clean air, scattered loafing cumulus clouds, and a tailwind giving me 235 KTS ground speed.
After arrival, I gulped down a beer while waiting for the shuttle to take me into town from Henderson Airport (highly recommended). As I left the lounge, I was approached by no less than 8 of Henderson's finest. At first they would not say what it was all about, but they proceeded to search me, my luggage, and airplane while they detained me for over an hour. Turns out that US Customs/Border patrol felt that my flight profile was suspicious for drug running across the border. Fair enough. I guess I did just pop up on radar out of nowhere several miles out to sea, then head to VEGAS. It probably also didn't help that there was no one else flying. Those guys had no one to watch but me. (if you are a hammer, everything kinda looks like a nail).
Anyway, upon return to Oceanside today, I was surprised to hear that Harold (the airport manager) already knew all about it. In fact if it were not for him vouching for my departure from OKB, I may very well have spent the night in the slammer or, even worse, on the wet cold dark tarmac removing and replacing all my inspection covers. It turns out that one of the triggers associated with my flight profile was the 235 KT GS. After all, who does that except turbo props and drug runners? :-)
BTW, it was unbelievable to see all the palm trees at Mandalay Bay covered in snow like they were fir trees. Snow was building up on the Luxor then sliding down in big sheets - that is called a desert avalanche. McClellan closed most of yesterday, not because the weather was too bad but because they don't stock the right kind of de-ice fluid and because not enough of the mechanics are checked out on the de-ice machines. I was delayed leaving HND today because they don't have a snowplow to plow the runway. Instead they just drove a bunch of vehicles up and down the runway until they had splashed most of the snow off.
Still, it would have been much worse if I had driven. I-15 southbound was closed for more than 24 hours and I was still able to leave town before my buddy who drove and had to fight nasty roads all the way home while I was treated to snowy vistas and clear skies.
Gotta love these dream machines!
--
David Leonard
Turbo Rotary RV-6 N4VY
http://N4VY.RotaryRoster.net
http://RotaryRoster.net
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