Hour building in California - Advice.

[G CEXO]

I am planning a 30 day trip in June to Long Beach, CA. I will be time building close to 100 hours and will therefore need a fair bit of advice. I have already gone through the process of JAR license verification. Here are my question:

1). I've been asked by the school to read up on FAA airspace and regulations etc. I have searched both the FAA website and google and can not seem to find the correct document to study. Would appreciate some help.

2). Also, been told that the weather in June can bring bad visibility in the morning and afternoon etc, how much can one expect in the month of June. Is my 30 day trip long enough or will I need to give a further contingency?

3). How have you found in adapting with flying in USA airspace? I ask this because it will be my first visit to the States and having done all my flying in Southern England, i'm not sure what to expect. :confused:

4). Any other further advice you believe I should either look into or consider will be highly appreciated.


Thanks very much. :ok:

[G CEXO]

Thanks SoCal App.

Appreciate your help :)

[keebird]

Save your $10 and the wait for shipping.
It's the 21st century and of course the Aeronautical Information Manual (http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/ATPubs/AIM/AIMbasic2-11-10.pdf) and other FAA publications are available online (free and without user fees):

http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications

[421C]

For us in Europe, used to buying 3rd party books (or paying $1000 for the ATPL manuals) the amazing thing is that the FAA publish free pilot knowledge books that are of a high quality, up to date with modern methods and very well illustrated. They are an excellent complement to the regulatory publications.

Take a look at
Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/pilot_handbook/)

Chapter 1 gives a good overview of the FAA system
Chapters 12-14 are probably what you need to read, plus there is some info on charts and flight planning in Ch 15. The "Cover-Preface" section has the detailed contents.

The full list of books is here: Aviation Handbooks & Manuals (http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/)

[G CEXO]

Thank you very much for your help guys. I've gone ahead and purchased the far-aim and LAX charts. The far-aim was not a big dent in the wallet and if needed, I can always refer to the PDF on FAA website as and when required.
:ok:

[KKoran]

You should definitely get a FAR/AIM book. In the meantime, here's a link to the regulations.
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations: (http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?sid=afdaf0e5287e5fad365c9667994ac573&c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title14/14cfrv2_02.tpl)

As for the weather, a common June forecast is late night and early morning low clouds and fog burning away to hazy sunshine. Mornings can be IFR.

[B2N2]

Use this website to practice with charts:
SkyVector: Flight Planning / Aeronautical Charts (http://www.skyvector.com)
Hover the mouse over the charts symbol and select which one.
AirNav (http://www.airnav.com) is good for airport info, fuel prices etc.etc.
FltPlan.com Flight Planning & Flight Tracking for General Aviation. (http://www.fltplan.com) is free to register and great to use.
Here's some stuff on the flight review that you'll need to do:



http://www.faa.gov/pilots/training/media/flight_review.pdf
http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/sa03.pdf

Here are some examples from what schools use:
http://www.coloradoflightcenter.com/files/training/FlightReviewGuide.pdf
http://www.sunriseaviation.com/flightreview.pdf
http://fdlskyport.com/files/FilghtReview-ACCheckout.PDF
http://www.skystead.com/pdf/EAA_BFR_Prep.pdf

[Little warrior]

You will love it!
The US is much more "aviation friendly" than Europe. I love flying in SoCal, put Catalina, Big Bear, Santa Barbara on your list, the VFR corridors over LAX are good fun. Listening to liveATC.net might help you anticipate the RT differences.

[aflyer100]

The AOPA (US Pilot's association) affiliated Air Safety Institute has a free online training course about US airspace.

See This link. Airspace course (http://flash.aopa.org/asf/kbyg/)

They also have lots of other good free courses.

Hope this helps.

[custardpsc]

G-CEXO - Would be interested to know how you get on, and who you chose to do your hour building with? I did my PPL at a mixture of Blackbushe and Long Beach a long time ago and it was relatively easy to swop between the two.

You shouldn't find the airspace stuff hard but the RT is not always easy. Long Beach is easy to get in and out of. Mostly they use 25L & R for GA traffic but worth being ready for the alternative runways to be in use. Left traffic on 25L is an easy join/departure. It's worth the checkout to go to catalina or big bear. You will be expected to get your own weather and notams (1-800-wxbrief) and there is nearly always radar and someone to talk to on the radio. If I remember correctly the equivalent of LARS is 'flight following'. Have a look at the VFR routes over the top of LAX on the LAX terminal chart. HTH.

Recently I have been thinking about an hour building trip based from LGB or Torrance but I am well out of touch with the schools/clubs in that part of the world. Anyone know where to find Dave Parsons? (ex rotary CFI at CSR/Everything Flyable/Rainbow Air) or if Benbow Aviation still exist ? (their website is a 'parked' domain - they used to be a good outfit at Torrance)

[B2N2]

G, anything you want to share about your timebuilding experiences?
How did the check out process go, the flight review any troubles with airspace etc etc etc?

[Gomrath]

This link suggests that G-CEXO did not go to the US for time building after all.
http://www.pprune.org/private-flying/142667-spare-seats-available-desired-40.html#post6497618

[Lew747]

Hey, I've just returned from several weeks hour building in Arizona and loved every minute of it! I was apprehensive at first but soon settled down and realised just how much better GA is over there and their facilities to pilots.

Airspace I found relatively straightforward and the charts are a lot simpler to read and nowhere near as cluttered as our CAA counterparts!