Good news: we made it back to San Carlos safely.
Bad news: no pictures. Why not? Some of the worst turbulence I've flown in. Okay, not "some of" the worst but THE worst. No taking your hands of the yoke or attention away from flying today.
We departed Palm Springs with moderate winds. The plan was to fly east through the Banning Pass and into the Los Angeles basin. But standing on the ground and looking toward the pass, we couldn't tell whether the entire pass was socked in with clouds or just a portion. So we launched, climbed a little for a better look, and determined that there was plenty of clear space to fly through. But with the strong winds, we knew the ride would be unpleasant. Staying low kept the headwinds to a minimum and we popped out a few minutes later.
Flying up the coast was the best bet for clouds and turbulence. Passing by Santa Barbara airport, we saw on the ground and heard on the radio a pilot who blew a tire upon landing and was sitting disabled on the runway. That's a good way to ruin your Sunday. And a good reminder of why we land coordinated.
From there we flew to Camarillo (KCMA) for a fuel and food stop. Incredibly, the weather at the time of landing was winds calm - a welcome change from the 1.5 hours of being beat up. But an hour later the winds picked up to a whopping 24 knots when we were ready to depart. Even though winds were strong, the ride was tolerable.
A quick fuel stop in Paso Robles, and we were on our way again flying the final leg to San Carlos (KSQL.) That airport almost always has a little tumbler wind on short final, and today was no exception. But we are all used to it and were practically giddy as we parked the new additions to the fleet of the San Carlos Flight Center in their tiedown spots.
Three days, three planes, four pilots 18.1 flight hours, several good stories and countless bad jokes. I can't describe how amazing it feels to have done this.
But I will close with my favorite personal moment of the day - use your mind's movie screen for this one... cruising along above a broken layer of puffy clouds, descending gently between a couple, looking over and wanting to reach out the window and drag my hand through the edge just to see what would happen.
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