Third Trip to Bakersfield
My sister, who lives in New Orleans, LA, once again flew over to Bakersfield for a visit with our parents, so we decided to go see her. Just like Bakersfield trip #2. So we flew down in a plane I'd never seen before, 1209F.
And with any luck won't see again. It was kinda small and cramped, but so are a lot of 172s. This one had the added benefit of having a rudder that was out of trim, so I had to hold the opposite rudder into it the entire trip down. Imagine pushing on a brake peddle for 2.5 hours. My leg was good and tired by the end of the flight. Plus the compass off by about 10 degrees...
The flight lasted a little longer than it should have anyway. At some point, fairly close to Lemore NAS Reserve airport, I didn't turn when I should have, and wound up going too far west of Bakersfield. I thought it was taking a long time to get there, then looked down at a runway I was flying over and saw that it was Lost Hills! Which is about directly west of Bakersfield! So I knew I'd missed a landmark somewhere.
I contacted Air Traffic Control and told them I needed to know where Bakersfield was, and they guided me in. They were good about it, but I'm sure thought I was a dork! I mean, it's not like pilots don't get lost every day, and I actually knew where I was, just not how to get to Bakersfield from there in the air. I could have figured it out, but was ready to get out of the dang plane and rest my leg, so I asked them for help. :-)
Other than that it was an uneventful trip. Left the next day at about 3:30 and had a much better flight back. It was longer (or would have been if we'd not taken the scenic route down) because of a headwind, but that's happened all three trips. We got back and I did two pretty good landings, and if it wasn't for the bumpy air around the airport it would have been great. It was ok, just bumpy.
Next we're going to fly to Paso Robles airport. I've never been there. I am going to get a different plane, though.
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