The El Monte forecast has changed a bit and now is showing “Sunny” for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Our heat has started to break, so now the marine layer is affecting us more. Fullerton (KFUL) was overcast until about 930 local this morning, but it didn’t extend to EMT – the worst we had was lower visibility (7sm), but no clouds. Overall, this forecast seems a little better for VFR departure on Saturday, but subject to a lot of change.

Monterey is now showing morning clouds, afternoon sun on Saturday, which is more consistent with what they have been experiencing (though they cleared by 800 local today). This brings a chance of clouds on arrival, though looking unlikely.

There’s still no indication of major weather coming our direction:

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Overall, no major change in the outlook. Looking at the 48 hour prognostic chart shows nothing major moving our way, but still too far out to give much insight.

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My Packed Flight Bag

What to put in your flight bag and how to organize it is a topic I’ve never really covered in depth during training. I just tell students ‘you need this’, ‘you might want this’, ‘you need a way to organize it’ and move on. However, I have changed what I carry and how in the last few years, based upon my flight instructing experience.

As a flight instructor, I carry more than most pilots need to carry, but some of the items may be of interest and trigger you to evaluate what you carry. I am amazed to see that students and other pilots are often carrying more stuff (at least by volume and weight). Continue reading →

A common question is whether little airplanes flown by private pilots can land at large airports like LAX. The short answer is a qualified “yes”. The largest airports in the US are known as Class B or Bravo airports; examples include Los Angeles International (LAX), McCarren International (LAS), San Diego International (SAN), and San Francisco International (SFO). I’ve personally flown into two, LAS and SAN, and there’s a number of things you should do before attempting to fly into one of these airports. Continue reading →

The Practical Test Standard for private pilots specifies for normal and crosswind approach and landings:

Touches down within the available runway or water landing 
area, within 400 feet beyond a specified point with no drift, 
and with the airplane’s longitudinal axis aligned with and 
over the runway center/landing path.

The distance requirement for a forward slip to landing is the same, but for short field landings, the distance is only 200 feet. To get an idea of that distance, you could find the length of a runway and estimate, or load up the area in Google Earth (or similar tools) and draw a 400 foot line. Try to then find a reference point.

At El Monte Airport, that means that when using Runway 19, the midpoint of taxiway charlie (C) is about 400 from the landing threshold. I’ve generally found that examiners give a little leeway on these distances, but no leeway in landing prior to the landing threshold.

If you don’t feel confident of making the necessary touchdown point, a go around is recommended (and heck, that’s a required maneuver on the checkride too).