Interesting things to do in Los Angeles

[Pilotage]

I'm in LA at the end of September for a week's conference, after which I was intending to extend my stay and do a long-overdue IMC rating at UKFT(Long Beach). However, UKFT have rather confounded this plan by just announcing that they're moving to Pennsylvania in August.

Now, it would be a shame to be there and not get some flying in, but they seem to be the only school in the immediate vicinity doing the course.

One option of course is just to hire a cheap aeroplane and explore the state from the air for a few days. Another is to possibly go to one of the schools at LB advertising aerobatic courses which might be fun ((1) do I need a visa for that?, (2) any recommendations?).

But, it might be that some of you good chaps and chapesses know something I don't and can suggest a fun, not too extortionate, and aeronautical way of spending somewhere between 4-7 days in LA?

P

[FlyingForFun]

Why would you want to go all the way to the US to do an IMC course? There is some fantastic scenery out west, I certainly wouldn't want to be under the foggles the whole time ;)

Far better to use your time there for some visual flying which could get messed up by the weather in the UK. Aeros sounds like a fantastic idea. Some general sight-seeing is another. (I quite liked the idea of flying around San Fransisco, but ran out of time.) You could get a tail-dragger rating, do some mountain flying, get a sea-plane rating.....

In general, I'm not sure that doing the IMC in the US is a good idea, anyway. Most of the flying you'll be doing in the UK with your IMC rating will be in Class G, there is very little Class G in the US, so the ATC environment will be very different. There is very little use of NDBs in the US compared to here. Basically, there is no US equivalent of the type of flying an IMC holder would typically do. At least, that's my uneducated opinion - don't know if others would agree or not.

Have fun, whatever you decide to do!

FFF
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[englishal]

3F's is probably right, I wouldn't do the IMC rating as such in the USA. Sure you can shoot approach after approach for free, and learn to control the A/C by ref to the instruments, and it will be cheaper, but you probably miss more of the procedural stuff [if there is any....I have an IMC by virtue of the FAA IR] that you will learn in the UK.

What do I mean by that? Well as an example, if you want to go up and practice an approach in VMC in the US, you take off an once airbourn request a practice approach, which they will give you. I tried the same thing the other day, well NDB holds actually, in the UK and ended up having to book a beacon slot...WTF is one of those I thought to myself :D What I would do however is get the IMC in the UK, then go to the states and shoot another 50 approaches, all different types to hone my newfound skills.Rainbow air are at LGB they're great, see previous threads....

I would go out, rent a plane and travel the length and breadth of California if you can. there is tons to do and see, and chances are the weather will be VFR. Catalina Island / Big Bear / Santa Barbara / San Luis Obsipo / Montery / SFO / Columbia / Kern Valley / Laughlin / Vegas to name but a few choice venues [all with good restaraunts as far as I remember :D].

Cheers
EA:D

[Pilotage]

Why California - well basically because I've got to go there anyway, and it was convenient and cheap, with the intention of then coming back and practicing in my own time / aircraft / with more experienced friends along for the ride to come fully up to speed on UK airspace IFR without hopefully inconveniencing anybody. (And if I'm out of the country nobody keeps distracting me with work when I want to go flying). However, I do accept that FFF's arguments are sound.

It does sound like the laid back and less expensive option of renting an aircraft and just going exploring for a few days sounds like it might be the most rewarding. However, I'm still happily open to suggestions.

P

[flyingfemme]

Do the IMC stuff in the only place it actually applies. ENJOY California - that's what it's for.
Plenty of places to visit - fly to Vegas for the weekend; much easier than driving. Take in the grand Canyon - make sure you stop for a walk along the edge.
Head north and visit Lake Tahoe - spectacular in all seasons.

[FWA NATCA]

It is easy to get VFR or IFR, Pratice Instrument Approaches in the US, unless you are trying to do them at a busy airport.

We have several flight schools that bring their students to FWA, private pilots who are training to get their Instrument Ratings, and corporate, and airlines that fly to FWA to do their pratice approaches. They receive radar vectoring for pratice approaches, as well as doing the full approach on their own.

At FWA alone we have two ILS approaches (one CAT II, once they fix it), one Back Course, three VOR approaches, one NDB, and four GPS approaches, as well as TACAN approaches (HI and normal). We also have nine satelite airports with NDB's, VOR, and ILS approaches.

Flying in the Midwest is also scenic (particularly in the fall), and there are a lot of awesome places to visit. On of my favorite places is Mackinaw Island.

Mike

[Squawk7777]

a couple of aviation-related suggestions ...

fly or rent a car to Chino airport. They have got an enormous amount of vintage planes, but beware of the cattle smell.

Santa Monica has a little air museum. Last year I saw that heli-plane out of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie (the one where he's a clone)

Hawthorne - with a bit of luck you can get to see the YF-23. It is sitting in a corner. The only piece visible from the outside of the airport is the tail.

Mojave is also worth a drive (not sure if you can land there - don't have charts with me right now) - don't get depressed by the amount of airliners there waiting to get recalled :{