Interesting places to fly to in the USA
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Best North American Continental flight destinations IMHO:
Almost everywhere is friendly, well equiped and inexpensive (and I've flown there quite a bit, both coasts, the bit in the middle, Bahamas/Caribbean and Canada) - you won't see half as many miserable old men sipping coffee in prefabs whilst their elderly cessnas rust outside as you do over here. In fact, I think this flying club style is unique to the UK!!
Anyway try these:
Fly in to Oshkosh WI during the show
Fly to sun 'n fun during the show
Sporty's pilot shop, Batavia, Ohio
Lake Havasu City AZ - check out the old London Bridge and the island built specially for it
Peachtree County Atlanta - lovely place
Las Vegas - Henderson/McCarran - to play a few tables / meet the Mafia (and experience architectural vulgarity in its purest form - if you irritate the local mob you may become part of the vulgar architecture)
Santa Monica airport for a walk down the boulevard to check out the beautiful people
Nassau Bahamas/Staniel Cay - it'll make you feel like James Bond in Thunderball (where it was filmed) - especially if you adopt a schlightly Schean Connery sctyle accschent!
Oceano County CA - to dip your toes in the pacific - it's right on the beach.
New Orleans Lakefront - take a cab to Bourbon street (check the wx first though!)
Van Nuys CA - to see what busy airspace with superslick controllers is really like - parallel runways, lots of jets, lots of training
Kerrville Texas - to collect your new Mooney from the factory (of course! - you weren't thinking of buying anything else were you?)
Carmel/Monterey CA (via the golden gate bridge)- 'cause Clint is/was the Mayor and Arnie is the governor, (best behave yourself at this destination)
Meig's field Chicago used to have a very cool approach over lake Michigan til that dumb mayor bulldozed it.
You can get a similar experience at Toronto Island Airport, Ontario CA
God bless America, better weather (with occasional exceptions), cheaper, newer aircraft, very few landing fees, great customer service, God why do we live here???
SB
Almost everywhere is friendly, well equiped and inexpensive (and I've flown there quite a bit, both coasts, the bit in the middle, Bahamas/Caribbean and Canada) - you won't see half as many miserable old men sipping coffee in prefabs whilst their elderly cessnas rust outside as you do over here. In fact, I think this flying club style is unique to the UK!!
Anyway try these:
Fly in to Oshkosh WI during the show
Fly to sun 'n fun during the show
Sporty's pilot shop, Batavia, Ohio
Lake Havasu City AZ - check out the old London Bridge and the island built specially for it
Peachtree County Atlanta - lovely place
Las Vegas - Henderson/McCarran - to play a few tables / meet the Mafia (and experience architectural vulgarity in its purest form - if you irritate the local mob you may become part of the vulgar architecture)
Santa Monica airport for a walk down the boulevard to check out the beautiful people
Nassau Bahamas/Staniel Cay - it'll make you feel like James Bond in Thunderball (where it was filmed) - especially if you adopt a schlightly Schean Connery sctyle accschent!
Oceano County CA - to dip your toes in the pacific - it's right on the beach.
New Orleans Lakefront - take a cab to Bourbon street (check the wx first though!)
Van Nuys CA - to see what busy airspace with superslick controllers is really like - parallel runways, lots of jets, lots of training
Kerrville Texas - to collect your new Mooney from the factory (of course! - you weren't thinking of buying anything else were you?)
Carmel/Monterey CA (via the golden gate bridge)- 'cause Clint is/was the Mayor and Arnie is the governor, (best behave yourself at this destination)
Meig's field Chicago used to have a very cool approach over lake Michigan til that dumb mayor bulldozed it.
You can get a similar experience at Toronto Island Airport, Ontario CA
God bless America, better weather (with occasional exceptions), cheaper, newer aircraft, very few landing fees, great customer service, God why do we live here???
SB
Join Date: May 2001
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May I ask, How much experience did you have when you flew in the US?
), ME, CPL etc.....We flew to Vegas and other places even just after getting the PPL though- sub 100 hrs or so I think. If you have never flown there before, read up on the rules and regs (Google FAR AIM), and expect 5 hrs with an instructor - not because you need it legally, but probably because you will feel more comfortable. If you go to the West coast make sure this time includes a mountain checkout, and if the LA area, get a Catalina checkout. Catalina Island - great, hill top airfield - do not get low and slow though!
Regarding rentals...If you say to a flying school you want the plane for 3 weeks, you might be able to negotiate 15 hrs per week. I'd also negotiate a "dry" rate as it makes it easier, rather than having to keep all the fuel receipts to knock off the rental costs when you get back.
I recommend this place, so long as you don't want to fly sh*t
:www.californiaflightcenter.com
have fun!
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If you go to the West coast make sure this time includes a mountain checkout, and if the LA area, get a Catalina checkout. Catalina Island - great, hill top airfield - do not get low and slow though!
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Mainly making you aware of things like Density Altitude and flight planning, mountain weather, showing you little tips like experimenting with climb power on downwind to make sure you'll actually climb on take off, leaning for best power on the ground, choosing abort points that "if not off by....." etc.... For Catalina it was just some circuits on the airfield, which in itself is not that difficult. The thing is it is a bit of a carrier deck (google image search Catalina Airport) so if you come in low/slow you could be in trouble, and you get some pretty strong updrafts at the end of the runway. Equally when you take off the runway is a bit humped so you think you're going to drive right off the edge of the cliff - but you're not, the runway is huge at 3000' -I suppose they don't want you to do anything stupid...
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Hi Barry
I went over to San Diego in May & June this year and ran up just over 60 hours in 3 weeks there. I was based at Montgomery Field airport, which lies just to the north of Lindbergh and within spitting distance of Miramar Airforce Base.
San Diego, be it Montgomery or further up near LA, say at Fullerton, is very handy. You can head east for 2.5 hours in wind up in Las Vegas. I flew over to Vegas one day, stayed the night and the next day, flew from Henderson, over the Grand Canyon, Page (in Arizona) and from there headed to Monument Valley and then back over the Canyon to Montgomery. Now that trip was 9 hours flying in 1 day - it is tiring and you need a day off, so be careful.
Other than that, from San Diego, you could take a 4 hour trip to San Francisco, head to Yosemite and whilst you're there, head to Catalina - that's an airport every pilot must visit. I took loads of photo's if you ever want to see any. One advantage of San Diego - Montgomery in particular, is that it lies in Class B airspace, so you have SoCAL to deal with - very useful if you're going commercial!
All the best whatever you do
If this works, the above link is takeoff from Catalina
I went over to San Diego in May & June this year and ran up just over 60 hours in 3 weeks there. I was based at Montgomery Field airport, which lies just to the north of Lindbergh and within spitting distance of Miramar Airforce Base.
San Diego, be it Montgomery or further up near LA, say at Fullerton, is very handy. You can head east for 2.5 hours in wind up in Las Vegas. I flew over to Vegas one day, stayed the night and the next day, flew from Henderson, over the Grand Canyon, Page (in Arizona) and from there headed to Monument Valley and then back over the Canyon to Montgomery. Now that trip was 9 hours flying in 1 day - it is tiring and you need a day off, so be careful.
Other than that, from San Diego, you could take a 4 hour trip to San Francisco, head to Yosemite and whilst you're there, head to Catalina - that's an airport every pilot must visit. I took loads of photo's if you ever want to see any. One advantage of San Diego - Montgomery in particular, is that it lies in Class B airspace, so you have SoCAL to deal with - very useful if you're going commercial!
All the best whatever you do
If this works, the above link is takeoff from Catalina
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When people talk about flying on the west coast it's automatically assumed that it's all about California. Come to the northwest and fly, it's great up here. Stunning coastline and mountains, and great towns and cities. Not quite as warm but there are less 'fruitcakes'. 
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For Catalina it was just some circuits on the airfield
And a local rule, no touch and goes, so each one a full stop and backtrack. Unusually a $20 landing fee too, but great value. On departure back to LAX area, take off at 1600 amsl then drop down to sea level and do some dolphin/whale watching. The PV practise area frequency will be live with reports of any sightings.
And a local rule, no touch and goes, so each one a full stop and backtrack. Unusually a $20 landing fee too, but great value. On departure back to LAX area, take off at 1600 amsl then drop down to sea level and do some dolphin/whale watching. The PV practise area frequency will be live with reports of any sightings.
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Reading these posts from the UK, makes me so happy to live and fly in the U.S. Southwest. It's great. I agree about at least a C172. Agree about staying out of SOCAL, So much to see a further east.
Las Vegas, use one of the relievers(vgt), LAS is expensive. Grand Canyon, be careful about SFAR area or better yet grab a helicopter trip. Monument valley (picture in a previous post). Sedona, watch winds at both ends (be high over end).
Many, many more--have fun
Las Vegas, use one of the relievers(vgt), LAS is expensive. Grand Canyon, be careful about SFAR area or better yet grab a helicopter trip. Monument valley (picture in a previous post). Sedona, watch winds at both ends (be high over end).
Many, many more--have fun
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USA
This thread has got me thinking now! Just wanna maybe go for a week of pleasure flying in January, things like Grand Canyon sound fab. What is the score with the weather in the states in Jan?
NM
NM
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What is the score with the weather in the states in Jan?
Here's the Death Valley weather on 4th Jan 2008:
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Other Januarys, I've been to Sacramento, San Diego, and through the Rockies to the plains, all VFR. But not this year.
Also bear in mind that N of Reno, most years everything is blanketed in snow, not so good from the survival perspective. This is Mono Lake in January 2005.
If you are thinking about the SW in January, you could contact James Dunn at Northaire, Prescott, regarding checkouts and rentals.
