buffdriver
New member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2004
- Posts
- 4
So there I was...
A young CFI ferrying a Cherokee six from SMO (Santa Monica) to SBA (Santa Barbara). They told me "Don't fly it IFR, the instruments aren't reliable." Ok, I can live with that. Oh yeah, it was 2500 OVC and raining at SMO, and about the same at SBA, so I'll just fly it up the coast, no problem I said. 25 miles SE of Pt Mugu NAS, the clouds drop down to 1500 AGL/ASL. No problem I said. 15 nm SE of Mugu, the clouds dropped down to 500 AGL/ASL. No problem I said. I need the flight time, ya know? And then all at once, I'm IMC, over the ocean, next to a 3000 foot mountain range. It was raining pretty good, so I couldn't really see the cloud coming in the 1 SM visibility. Exactly 1 SM inspector, I measured it. So after I'm in the cloud for an eternity (15 seconds or so) I said a quick prayer. "Lord Jesus, please don't let me die for being stupid." And then, there it was, clear as day. A hole in the cloud, big enough for a Cherokee Six to be sure, but bright runway lights on the highest setting like a miracle from God (this miracle was known as Runway 24 at Pt Mugu NAS). By this time I was well within the Class D at Pt Mugu, and had been monitoring their freq for a while. I might have requested a transition, I don't remember.
"Mugu tower, Cherokee XXX, I need to land."
"Cherokee XXX, are you declaring an emergency?"
"No, but I need to land right now!"
"Cherokee XXX, cleared to land any runway, wind blah, blah, blah."
Everything he said after that went in one ear and out the other. This was pre-Sept 11 kids, so no one shot at me. Nice landing, like I remember that. Anyway, they had the Ventura county Sheriff come out and let their drug dog sniff the plane. They took me to base ops and started to ask a lot of questions. At some point in the conversation, it was revealed that I was a card-carrying military member. Long story short, some PPR paperwork was done and I took off the next morning for SBA after a well-needed night sleep in the BOQ.
A young CFI ferrying a Cherokee six from SMO (Santa Monica) to SBA (Santa Barbara). They told me "Don't fly it IFR, the instruments aren't reliable." Ok, I can live with that. Oh yeah, it was 2500 OVC and raining at SMO, and about the same at SBA, so I'll just fly it up the coast, no problem I said. 25 miles SE of Pt Mugu NAS, the clouds drop down to 1500 AGL/ASL. No problem I said. 15 nm SE of Mugu, the clouds dropped down to 500 AGL/ASL. No problem I said. I need the flight time, ya know? And then all at once, I'm IMC, over the ocean, next to a 3000 foot mountain range. It was raining pretty good, so I couldn't really see the cloud coming in the 1 SM visibility. Exactly 1 SM inspector, I measured it. So after I'm in the cloud for an eternity (15 seconds or so) I said a quick prayer. "Lord Jesus, please don't let me die for being stupid." And then, there it was, clear as day. A hole in the cloud, big enough for a Cherokee Six to be sure, but bright runway lights on the highest setting like a miracle from God (this miracle was known as Runway 24 at Pt Mugu NAS). By this time I was well within the Class D at Pt Mugu, and had been monitoring their freq for a while. I might have requested a transition, I don't remember.
"Mugu tower, Cherokee XXX, I need to land."
"Cherokee XXX, are you declaring an emergency?"
"No, but I need to land right now!"
"Cherokee XXX, cleared to land any runway, wind blah, blah, blah."
Everything he said after that went in one ear and out the other. This was pre-Sept 11 kids, so no one shot at me. Nice landing, like I remember that. Anyway, they had the Ventura county Sheriff come out and let their drug dog sniff the plane. They took me to base ops and started to ask a lot of questions. At some point in the conversation, it was revealed that I was a card-carrying military member. Long story short, some PPR paperwork was done and I took off the next morning for SBA after a well-needed night sleep in the BOQ.
