Where to go, in western USA?

[berlinxpress]

Hello all!

I plan to go to LA in July to build some time for my cpl\ifr. And I wanted to ask the community for some suggestions about nice airports to visit in the western states, at this part of the year. I'll stay in US for about 3 weeks and I will have a C172 for the whole stay, so I want to make some long x-country flights with overnights. There are of course some major citys on my plan (LA, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Seattle, Salt Lake City), but I would like to have some insider tips about beautiful places and airports.

Thanks for the answers in advance.

[david viewing]

Out of LA, #1 is Catalina Island. And #2, and #3 as well. But you might need a 'Catalina checkout' - ask the FBO.

On the way up to Portland recently I went to Salinas for Monterey (much cheaper than Monterey Peninsular and free courtesy car). Also North Bend (Coos Bay) Oregon, very friendly, spectacular coast. I'd also suggest Olympia for fabulous scenery on the way to Seattle. But there's no limit to the superb places you can go out there - why not route in one direction via Cody, Wyoming and visit Yellowstone?

[Tall_guy_in_a_152]

Palm Springs - take swimwear and have a dip in the Pilots Pool
Death Valley - lunch or overnight at the Ranch or (expensive) Inn
San Diego - Gillespie or Montgomery Field. Take the scenic harbour tour VFR route through Class C.
Santa Monica - great restaurant, Asian / Pacific rim

N.B. some rental outfits no longer allow overnight rentals. Make sure you pick one that does.

[dont overfil]

Sedona in Arizona. The most stunning scenery imagineable. It's like landing on an aircraft carrier 5000 ft up. Good hotels and restaurants on the field and in Sedona itself.

Mariposa. Then rent a car and drive through the Glacier Valley Yosemite.

Canyon West. Then take a helicopter trip down into the Grand Canyon.
Our pilot for that trip was the double of "Hot Lips Houlihan" from Mash and I would guess ex military.

All are 2.5 - 3 hrs from Palm Springs so you can do an overnight.

DO.

[Charlie Zulu]

It has been a few years since I did this but from memory...

Big Bear City - 6,500' AMSL - nice restaurant onsite.
Catalina Island / Avalon
Santa Barbara - Lovely contrasting scenery from the Pacific Ocean and mountains to the north.
Palm Springs - Didn't know about the swimming pool but I will make sure I take my swimming trunks next time!
Sedona - As people have said before, 5,000' AMSL and the airport is on a plateu so it feels like a carrier landing (not that I've done a real carrier landing).
Grand Canyon Naitonal Park
Las Vegas McLarren International - Don't really have to provide a reason for this one!
Monterey - On the Pacific coast - lovely town, pier etc.
San Diego International - Five minute tram ride into the city centre
Half Moon Bay
Sacramento

One of the most memorable days was spent flying from Brackett to Catalina Island and then up to Big Bear City at 6,500' AMSL for lunch before flying onto Las Vegas McLarren International for a night stop.

The western states have fantastic and varied scenery... it definitely ticks the wow factor box for me.

Have a look at AirNav (http://www.airnav.com/) for reviews of FBO's etc from users. Also includes up to date(ish) fuel prices etc.

[Airbus Girl]

Echo above.
Also, in 3 weeks you could get up to Canada if you wanted, and/or fly east to Florida and back. Then there are loads of great places to go....

My top choices for west coast would be Sedona and Big Bear and Grand Canyon (but ensure you get the full briefing pack - its high and climb rate in a light single can be dire).

[berlinxpress]

Thanks to all rsponded!
Have to do some flight planning now. :)

[Katamarino]

My favourite airport in the whole of the USA, to date, has been Shelter Cove, on the coast north of San Fran. Wednesday night is steak night, too!

http://www.coastalpacificproperty.com/images/img12.jpg

[englishal]

One thing to bear in mind - we just came back from a pretty good trip around the desert areas, yesterday stopping at Calexico on the US / Mexican border. It was 40C so watch the density altitude and engine cooling - we got high oil temp trying to climb to 8500. Also we got the sh*t kicked out of us due to turbulence for the past couple of days - that's what you get when you can't be bothered to get moving before mid day ;) I'd fly early if I were you - though it can be difficult after a night on the booze....

y next summer trip will be up the west coast to Washington which I hope to do in August. Should be smoother and less likely to be IFR at that time of year...

[chrisbl]

I would suggest travelling up the Pacific coast. Lots of airports nice seaside towns, impossible to get lost and the most fabulous scenery.

California, Oregon and Washington states all very different. Oregon by the way has no sales tax so things are a bit cheaper.

[SkyHawk-N]

I would suggest travelling up the Pacific coast.

Yeah, no more of these predictable Sedona and Big Bear suggestions :ok:. There are lots more interesting places to visit up the PNW in Oregon and Washington. Just watch out for the winds and the sea fog on the coast, weather changes very quickly up here. When flying more inland watch out for turbulence and DA, avoid flying from mid morning to late afternoon if you want to miss the worst of it.

[Kerosene Kraut]

Two places come to my mind:

Santa Barbara
check the Elephant Bar right at the airfield.
Elephant Bar Restaurant - Santa Barbara, CA (http://www.elephantbar.com/map.asp?Location_Id=7)

and Mojave airport. True "right stuff" territory. You might even see some Rutan Space Ship there or a private Mig-21.
Mojave Air and Space Port (http://www.mojaveairport.com)

[looptheloop]

Check out www.funplacestofly.com (http://www.funplacestofly.com) for some good suggestions of smaller quirkier places.

[Bushfiva]

If you head towards Grand Canyon, there's also Bryce. Isn't there a DC-3 there?

[EDLB]

If you stay 3 weeks you can do an interesting round trip.
Pacific coast north then inland over Crater Lake to Mt. St. Hellens.
Then over Salt Lake City south to Brice (nice stayover for a night in the park)
Get a Map of the Grand Canyon since there are some flying zones you can crisscross there. Preprogrammed handheld GPS is a good help. Page is a good stop. Then go to Canyonlands along the Colorado. Fly to the Monument Valley You can barnstrom there at 500 feet between the mesas. Flagstaff (perfect FBO and nice town to spent a day or two) Then go south to Tucson, Davis Montan airbase and Pima air museum worth a visit with two nights there. With a 172 and two persons and 3 weeks to spent no problem at all. You will get hot and high operations at Bryce, Flagstaff, Lake Tahoe.
See that you get an 180HP bird.

[dont overfil]

If you overnight in flagstaff make sure you are a long way from the railway.
The goods trains like to blow their horns all the way through.
DO.

[24seven]

I'm thinking of hiring a 172 from Long Beach in August and taking a couple of friends for a flight to Vegas, over the Hoover dam and to see a bit of the Grand Canyon, but the question I have is whether I'm being a bit optimistic to have three in a 172 flying around those kinds of places at that time of year?

[Kerosene Kraut]

It will be hot and high that's for sure. No luggage maybe no full fuel maybe and take the strongest engine version and best maintained bird you can get. Make sure to pre-calculate every take-off out there. File a flight plan and request "flight following" so they know where you are and watch you.

[Cusco]

W & B pretty critical : do the calcs.

And fly before midday or evening: The air gets pretty lumpy over the arid land.

I've flown in that region 2-up in a 200 HP Arrow and it was struggling over 8-9,000ft.

(Mind you we were both pie -eaters):rolleyes::rolleyes:

Cusco

[englishal]

I'm thinking of hiring a 172 from Long Beach in August and taking a couple of friends for a flight to Vegas, over the Hoover dam and to see a bit of the Grand Canyon, but the question I have is whether I'm being a bit optimistic to have three in a 172 flying around those kinds of places at that time of year?
Dodgey with 3 people unless you load half fuel I reckon. You'll be ok out of Long beach and Vegas but make sure you do the performance calculations very carefully if you use a shorter runway and don't even try Big Bear or other high alt airport. it was 35-40C in most of the desert last week and even with 2 of us on a DA40 (180) we were a bit concerned. Unnescessarily as it turned out as performance was fine, the only problem we had was engine cooling in the climbs to 8500/9500 - oil temp started to get a bit warm at one point and we had to stop the climb.

Turbulence was a killer though, I'd steer clear of the desert anytime after about 10am or go at 11500/12500'.

[Kerosene Kraut]

When you do long descents from comfortable high altitudes around 10K engine shock cooling can be a problem too. So better do easy cruise descents with some power left. Be current on slow flight, stalls and proper mixture leaning and watch out for carb icing even over the desert.

[berlinxpress]

Thanks for everyone responded!
One last question before I set off:
Can you guys suggest me a mobile phone provider in the USA to make some cheap international and local calls?
Would be thankful for any advise!

[david viewing]

The only retail outlet selling PAYG sim cards is T-mobile. You get a US phone no. and rates in the US are affordable, but they charge for 800 numbers and a single UK call used all my credit. Incoming UK calls also burn up your credit, possibly at the same rate as if you had made the call.

There's no known way (to me) to get a PAYG SIM card with Internet access although supposedly AT&T will introduce one later in the year.

You can buy disposable pre-pay phones at any drug store or supermarket, but the ones I've seen don't have removable SIM cards and tie you into PAYG voucher scheme because the renewal web sites don't like UK addresses. They burn up credit as above.

You can't get a contract phone, even if you wanted the expense, because they require a social security number. That goes for Internet USB dongles as well.

So in terms of economy you can't beat the old fashioned phone card, from any gas station, that offer good international rates and 800 number access. (So long as you have access to a land line phone with free 800 calls, unlike all the payphones and upmarket hotels! ) Also many payphones take regular credit cards.

For Internet, Wifi is plentiful and free in cheap hotels (but not in expensive ones!). For ultimate low cost calling VOIP (or Skype) might work for you (but not for me - too much fiddling about).

All based on personal research last week. It's amazing how backward the US is in this area. Of course someone else may know better.

[dont overfil]

My UK mobile on an "02 75 advance" calling plan works in the USA with reasonable charges. It uses T mobile or Cingular depending on the area.
Don't know about German ones.
DO.

[englishal]

I bought an AT&T PAYG sim in the US (Prepaid cell phone, GoPhone® - | Wireless from AT&T, formerly Cingular (http://www.att.com/gophone) - bought in an AT store) and charged it with $100 and stuck it in my Sony Ericsson W880i phone. Costs $0.10 per minute domestic / domestic mobile, free to other AT&T customers and international rates are cheaper than say using your current mobile phone provider ($1.40 per min to UK?). What we did was set up a Skype in number in the USA which then forwarded to my Mrs mobile in the UK...I called that for $0.10 per minute, she paid a few Euro per hour to receive. very cheap. You can access the net cheaply too.

If you charge the card up with $100 it remains active for up to a year before needing a recharge to keep it active. It is certainly the cheapest way to do it, in the past I used to get home and have a £300 Orange phone bill. Last tip and I spend $10 !