Flying Tomorrow Morning To Monterey

[kimberlyanne546]

I've never done this before, but the plane is free ALL DAY on New Years Day, and my last two planned flights have been scrapped due to weather, and I thought "what the heck why not."

It is 9pm and I just had the idea to fly South to Monterey. I've never flown anywhere that far away before since my long solo XC (It is about 100nm), and I've never flown anywhere to "do" something before (lunch, etc). The BF and I would go there, rent a car (not sure about that), and visit the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Several questions:

In my training, when planning a cross country, I always thought 3,500 and above, no matter what (even, odd, etc). But when you fly from Petaluma towards Half Moon Bay, they often tell you to stay clear of the Bravo (and DON'T give VFR pilots a transition), which puts you below 2,000 feet out over open water.

So can you simply fly the coast, below 3,000 feet? And would you? I know it might not be recommended, but it seems much more scenic, avoids terrain and airspace issues, etc. etc. etc. And if you look at the route from Petaluma to Monterey, it won't add that many extra miles. And I certainly can't get lost following the coast line.

I'm not home, so I don't have my FAR / AIM, etc. I don't even have my plotter or flight plan sheets, I'm going to have to use online tools for the first time!

Of course, I rarely go to class "C" airports, and without my AFD I'm going to rely on AirNav for frequencies etc..... this is going to be a challenge for sure but not beyond my abilities.

My "dream" flight, if weather cooperates. Fingers crossed. So far, the IFR isn't predicted to clear until after 11am but I'll keep my eyes on it tomorrow.

Anyone ever been to Monterey? Is it a pretty busy airport? I need to figure out information on where to park etc and if they would like me to buy gas I can do that too.

 

[Jim Logajan]

I notice there appears to be a small segment of Class B shelf extending out a few miles over the ocean and down to 1500 near Rockaway Beach and Pacifica (if I'm reading the TAC chart correctly.) You'll need to either fly a few miles out or go under 1500 ft there

Also, various segments will likely take you over marine sanctuaries, so you may want to fly at least at 2000 AGL to avoid annoying anyone.

Fortunately there should be a fair number of beaches on that coastal route that can be used as emergency landing sites, so if you stay within a mile or two of the coast you should have plenty of options most of the time.

My wife and I used to live in Aptos (south of Santa Cruz) and walk the beaches there. I noticed flying low along the Monterery coast seemed to be quite a popular thing to do, so keep your eyes open for traffic doing the same kind of tour. Lots of pilots flew very low over the ocean in that area - so low at times that if one was at the top of the cliffs overlooking the beaches, you sometimes had to look down to watch the airplanes pass! (The few times I witnessed that, they were low enough over surfers and boats to be illegal.)

Hope the weather cooperates with your plans!

Oh - and saw on the 100 hour test pilot thread where you got to take your dad up at least around the pattern. Glad to see he approved! He should have - as I pointed out in another thread - as a woman pilot, you're a rare bird!