Voyage to Catalina!
After months of planning and hours of aircraft preparation, we were finally off on our adventure…
The Flight for Sight Ultralight Benefit for the Shiley Eye Center at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center had begun. We were on our way from John Nichols Field (called Otay Field by the locals) in Chula Vista, with a refueling stop planned at Bear Creek Airport in Murrieta, and then on to Santa Catalina Island over 41 miles of open sea…
The flight consisted of four trikes and eight 3-axis ultralights. The 3-axis flyers and one triker had planned to fly to Bear Creek (about 70 miles from our home airfield, by way of Barona Airfield), refuel, and head back to San Diego before the air got too rowdy — Bear Creek is infamous for a rotor condition that increases after 11:00 a.m. due to the normal ocean breeze coming over the Santa Ana Mountains from the coast. Three of the trikers (Barry, Steve and Bill) planned to refuel in Bear Creek and head over the Santa Ana Mountains, over an uncongested corridor in Dana Point, and over 40 miles of open sea to AVX (Catalina Airport, the “Airport in the Sky”). We were hoping that four more pilots from Bear Creek (Jim, Dave, Max and Bill) would join us for the trip to Catalina, but unfortunately that didn’t work out. They were kind enough to allow us to store our fuel for the return trip in their hanger, however, and gave all of the pilots a warm greeting on arrival.
All of the 3-axis flyers had already departed when the trikers departed together at approximately 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 16 in clear but somewhat Santa Ana-ish conditions. Santa Ana is a local condition that occurs when a high pressure region stalls over the Great Basin High near Idaho and the Salt Lake, and a weak low pressure system settles just offshore of So Cal, resulting in hot, offshore winds. This one was modified and made a little unpredictable by a building high-pressure cell over So Cal.
The first waypoint was Barona airfield, where some of the other participants had flown to earlier to meet with Barona-based pilots joining the adventure as we trikers made our final preparations for the flight, had a few photos taken and enjoyed the bagels and coffee graciously provided by Dr. Kikkawa and Katie of the Shiley Center to all participants and their families before takeoff. We overflew the Barona field and waved to the pilots on the ground, then set a heading for Bear Creek.
The route from Barona took us over Lake Wholford, a favorite stop for local pilots as there is a small cafe overlooking the lake their that whips up a great breakfast and is just a short walk from the airfield. Looking down we saw another whole host of ultralights lined up colorfully along the runway. It turned out that some of the pilots had chosen this as their place to take a break, rather than Barona.
Flying over the neat rows of avocado trees that cover the rolling hills of the Fallbrook area, we experienced the first effects of the Santa Ana condition. This caused the cruising to be a little bumpier than we have experienced on this route before, particularly when flying through the pass over the Pala area and when getting close to Bear Creek. There was a strange phenomena occurring that led to a layer of turbulent air sandwiched between two layers of relatively smooth air, with boundaries roughly at 500' and 3000'. We discovered this through our radio communications, but too late — Steve, Barry and Mike had already had their workout and we were getting close to Bear Creek. I have been justly accused of putting my foot in the throttle whenever it gets bumpy, hence the new nickname Barry coined for me on this trip, “astronaut.” It did get me over the turbs this time, though, as I cruised at 3500'. Note the dead windsock in the photo — about 100" feet the story is very different.
As we came into Bear Creek, we saw that we were the first to arrive. Soon after landing, however, the rest of the pilots landed and the place really livened up. After a quick stop to say “hi” to the Bear Creekers (including Keith Lamb, the local trike instructor) and smiling Otay pilots, we refueled and hit the air again, climbing slowly in large circles to gain altitude before heading over the mountains. The fourth triker, Mike, took off with us, but headed off back to Otay to beat the thermals. The majority of the rest of the Otay and Barona pilots were planning to cut to the coast over Carlsbad and fly the coast to the Mexican border, where they would head inland back to base.
We weren’t quite sure what to expect as we headed for the mountains in a slow climb. The Bear Creekers had warned us that they had been tossed around quite a bit over these mountains — they had some pretty scary stories to tell. We were prepared to turn around at any time if things got too hairy, but we got lucky and hit only mild turbulence. We also stayed at least 1000' AGL at all times.
Still in a slow climb, we came over Dana Point at about 6500' MSL. Dana Point Harbor was somewhat quiet as sailing season had pretty much finished for the year, even though the air was quite warm from the Santa Anas and it would have made a great day for sailing along the coast. The ocean was a sparkling deep blue, with low, broken clouds starting at about a mile from shore and continuing about half-way to the island. Barry had called Catalina Airport from Bear Creek on his cell phone, and they reported 10 miles visibility and light, variable winds, so it was smooth sailing.
We hit a peak altitude of, er, 9,500 feet on the crossing in our efforts to minimize the chance of a water landing in the event of an engine-out. It felt quite strange to be able to look down at the ocean familiar to anyone who has flown commercially from LAX at airliner altitudes — but to be looking at it BETWEEN YOUR LEGS! Damn cold, too. We later figured it to be around 35–40 degrees F, and this was a little rough on us California boys in our lightweight flying gear!
Lots of water, and a bright silver airliner, below…
As we neared the midpoint of the crossing, our GPS’s were telling us that in an area where onshore winds are the norm, the Santa Ana condition had actually given us a tailwind of 20 MPH, bringing our groundspeed to around 70 MPH. We were quite grateful for this as crossing this much water in land trikes is a little nerve wracking, even with the altitude we carried. Steve had recently watched a special on The Discovery Channel featuring sharks munching on surfers, probably not a great thing to do with this trip coming up! After years of surfing and diving the area, Barry wasn’t too worried about “finned things with teeth” being a hazard. I was somewhere in the middle, but at least had stuffed air mattresses in my trike’s wing so that I would have a personal island to run around on to avoid the man-eaters if it came to that…
Soon enough, the highest peak on Catalina, Mount Orizabo, appeared. In a few more minutes we could make out the whole island, including the isthmus at Two Harbors, and the main city on the island, Avalon. Avalon is famous for its elegant and picturesque Casino, which overlooks Avalon Harbor. Contrary to its name, the Casino never entertained gamblers at any point in its history — rather it contains an art gallery, a museum, and the fabulous Casino Ballroom. It has been the cultural centerpoint of Catalina and a favorite meeting place of wealth and royalty since its grand opening in May of 1929.
We began our descent about ten miles out. We could see the Catalina Express steaming along below us, almost matching our course from Dana Point to Avalon (that’s why our crossing was 41 miles, instead of the “21 Miles to Catalina,” like the song, btw…) . We hoped that our families had made it safely on board and might be able to see us crossing the sky from the boat. We later found out that my Dad, Les, had recruited all eyes on board the ferry for the search, but they hadn’t been able to spot us.
We were pretty bloody high to be spotted in those little aircraft.
We had been instructed to contact AVX by radio to announce our impending arrival when we were five miles from the airport, and did so. I have a feeling that they are used to aircraft showing up after their initial radio contact a lot sooner than we came into view for them! Paul at the airport FBO radioed that winds were from 230 at 6 and variable, and that arriving and departing traffic was on Runway 22, right traffic.
We had a little too much altitude to burn off for a straight-in approach, so opted to overfly the runway at about 1500 AGL and drop into the pattern on downwind. A Mooney pilot already in the pattern confirmed (AVX is an uncontrolled field), and we dropped in far enough behind the Mooney that his wake turbulence was not a factor. Following the standard pattern but with slightly less altitude and distance from the runway, we descended and hit some nasty bumps, presumably rotor from the rough surrounding terrain combined with thermals that had been developing from the clear, sunny weather that the island had been enjoying all morning.
We fought our way through the bumps and pretty soon we were down on the ground after using about one-fourth of the famed treacherous “aircraft-carrier runway” with a hump in the middle that has fooled many pilots into thinking that the runway is much shorter than it really is, at times with disastrous results. We pulled off the active runway and taxied to the transient area, tore off our helmets and headsets, and let out a round of war-whoops that surely left the curious bystanders wondering if we had lost our minds! There was no shortage of high-fives that day! It really felt great to have overcome our mental reservations about flying over so much water and to have successfully accomplished what we set out to do.
We tied down our trikes and took the tram to Avalon. During the 20 minute-or-so ride, Steve and I got to know Joe and Maria, two well-traveled and interesting business associates and friends of Barry’s who had flown their Mooney from Hayward, CA to join us in the festivities. Later we met up with our families and enjoyed the rest of the weekend wining (okay, beering) and dining, driving rented golf carts, eating great pizza, shopping and soaking in the magical atmosphere of Avalon. Barry, Sandra, and their cousin Angela got to take in a little bit of the JazzTrax Music Festival that was going on the whole weekend at the casino, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Angela even got a tour of the island by a local guy that matchmaker Sandra helped set up! Barry and Sandra’s son, Alan, wasn’t doing too badly, either. He had a couple of cute blondes move in on him at breakfast on Sunday. ;-)
Monday morning was soon on us, and it was time to go. We purchased fuel at the boat dock and headed back on the tram to the airport. While grabbing lunch before takeoff, we wondered about how those Santa Anas were going to treat us going over the mountains to Bear Creek, and on the long inland journey home. They are well known to cause wind shear and heavy turbulence along the entire route, and speaking for myself, I was a little worried.
Joe pulled out his charts, and we came on the idea that there were plenty of places to stop for fuel if we took the coastal route. The only two provisos were that we had to stay above 3000' and/or one mile offshore when passing the Restricted Zone at Camp Pendleton, and that we had to stay over 2500' when crossing the Class D airspace extending out into the ocean around Palomar Airport. No problemo!
We took off and circled the island between Two Harbors and Avalon to gain altitude and snap off a few pictures, then took off on a slow climb towards Dana Point. This time there wasn’t a cloud in sight, and the view was astounding! The strange winds had blown a lot of the LA smog away, and we could see from the northwestern point of the Palos Verdes peninsula almost to the San Clemente pier in one sweeping glance. Truly a view of the Southern California coastline that I’m sure none of us will ever forget.
When we were about a mile offshore, we turned south and followed the coastline at about 1500', passing San Onofre and its twin nuclear powerplant domes, Camp Pendleton, and on to Oceanside. At Oceanside we hit the deck about 500' offshore and waved at the beachgoers. We then climbed to go over Palomar airspace, continued on toward Torrey Pines (the famed hang gliding spot where Barry and Steve spent many an afternoon ridge soaring in silence in their hang gliders) and headed inland over the Del Mar Racetrack parking lot.
Not long after we headed inland, the turbs hit — a real mishmash of mild rotor effects and strong thermals from the mid-afternoon sun, which was blazing that day. We were all tossed around the sky pretty fiercely, but tried to stay relaxed enough to work through it. I remember at one point seeing Barry’s wing take a hard pop to the left at about a 60 degree bank, then another to the right just as steep. Those thermals were really pounding us!
The sight of familiar Lake Otay around the west foothills of Mt. San Miguel was a great comfort to me in my rattled state. We were almost home! We battled around the east side of the mountain, and landed uneventfully on home turf, glad to be home. We had just flown from Catalina Island to South San Diego, in an unforgettable flight that pictures cannot do justice to — you can bet the war whoops were as loud after this landing as they were in Catalina!
We raised the cold cokes thoughtfully left for us at the hanger by Mike, and posed for a victory photo taken by Chris of the hanger next to ours. What an experience! For days afterwards I was walking on air, thinking about the magnificent views we had of Catalina and the So Cal coastline. We will certainly have to do this again, and if you fly, you’re invited!
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Copyright 1999, Bill Cornelius
The Flight for Sight was conceived and planned by Barry and Sandra Palmatier of Imperial Beach, California and Bill Cornelius of Seal Beach, California to unite the local UL pilots for some great flying and to raise awareness and funds for patients needing reconstructive surgery due to birth defects or accidents through the Shiley Eye Center at the UCSD Medical Center.
Barry and Sandra had a very personal reason for choosing this charity. After a tragic car accident, Dr. Kikkawa and the Center performed a long and arduous series of reconstructive surgeries on Sandra’s eye that has completely restored her to her former beauty. She and her family hopes this flight shows in some small way the appreciation they have for the work of the Center.
Through the generous donations of the pilots and their families, corporate sponsors and other concerned individuals, the effort raised several thousand dollars for the Center, along with a free prosthetic eye for a deserving patient. Our sincerest appreciation goes out to all that participated, assisted, donated or just plain rooted for us.
The Pilots:
Otay Airfield (John Nichols Field)
John Adcock (Chainsaw)
Scott Boyer (Pancake)
Bill Cornelius* (Scanner)
Larry Faast (Scudbuster)
Mike Huckle (Raptor One)
Steve Kennedy* (*****)
Eugene McMurdy (Pogo)
Barry Palmatier* (Shifty)
Pete Siegrist (Skydiver)
Geysa
* Completed the entire flight
Barona Airfield
Bob Frazee
Harold T
The friends and family that joined us in Catalina:
Les Cornelius (Bill’s Dad)
Jill Kennedy (Steve’s wife)
William (Steve’s grandson)
Joe and Maria Neumann (Barry’s associates in the Mooney)
Clara Bailey (Barry’s Grandma)
Sandra Palmatier
Alan Palmatier (Barry’s son)
Natalia Palmatier (Barry’s daughter)
Andre Palmatier (Barry’s little son)
Angie (Barry and Sandra’s cousin)
