Trona; HOT and windy!

Over the Memorial day weekend the fine folks a Trona Airport held a bit of an "Open House" and display day.

As it turned out, it was the first of it's kind there.

many moons ago I landed it trona and found it to be nearly dead. It seems some folks are trying to breath life back in the place, and I say more power to them!

We arrived on Monday AM, The flyer said Sunday & Monday, the 30th & 31st. But the big day was actually Saturday, when they gave rides to some kids and had a barbeque!

Why anyone would fly to Trona is a mystery, except the hospitality is fanastic! The people ther are real wing-nuts, and everyone was super freindly. The treated us to lunch cooked to order, and the hangar flying was the best I have enjoyed in years!

Getting there from KTSP meant shooting the dreaded "Trona gap", a narrow corridor between two restricted areas that are never "cold". and dealing with 85+ degree heat and sone pretty wicked winds. The runway at Trona is always a crosswind, and anything cooler than 80 is considerd freezing.

The place needs a bit of publicity so I offersd to set them up a blog site, you can find it at www.Trona-L72.blogspot.com Lee Phillips is the guy to contact.

Labor Day flying

On Memorial day weekend we did two flights, one to Catalina Island (KAVX) and one to "romantic" Trona (L72).

Flying to Catalina is always special. Not so much because of the overwater part, or the challenge of the odd runway. but rather,the bus ride to town and the great seafood!

A brief stop a Fullerton (KFUL) to pick up PAX (Brother-in-law & Girlfriend) and a quick check of W&B, I figured that with he fuel burned off on the way there from Tehachapi that I was about two pounds under gross! The box of chocolates smuggled aboard were not counted.

Wheels up, frequency change to Los alamitos and we were "feet wet" in ten minuets. I climbed to 4500' and aimed for Two Harbors, which is a good entry point as it sets you up for a good 45 to downwind, and everyone knows where you are when you report in. At this point the "horror stories" about landing at AVX start coming out. Ok lets check it out...

Landing on 22 will be Right Traffic. this puts the visual field in the hard to see side, and once you pass the touchdown zone (numbers) pretty much all the visual ques go out the window. The field is aver 1400' MSL on a plateau, and there are no over-runs, just drop offs at each end. You turn base and final over the water. The trick is to (1) get the altimeter setting off the AWOS, and once you pass the numbers, descend to 800' above runway elevation, then turn base, and descent to 500' above the runway. Now then, ignore what you think you see, and set yourself up on the numbers, cross checking the PAPI (if its working that day) and make a NORMAL "soft field" approach and landing. Ignore the illusion of the runway suddenly appearing very short, stay off the brakes, cuz your gonna crest the rise and discover another 2500' in front of you.

Once you are down and parked, proceed to the flight office upstairs and pay your landing fine, (er,, landing "fee") which at present is $25.00. You can also get your tram tickets to Avalon, which are also $25.00 per person. OK, the trip is setting us back $75.00 plus fuel etc. Now you see why we don't fly there every weekend.

The tram to Avalon is well worth the price and the ride is just short of an "E-ticket" experiance. The "road" is onlyone bus wide, with switchbacks that make you think the buss will have to tie itself in a knot to make the turns. The view is great, and with luck you may see some of the Buffalo the Island is famous for. (Which by the way they serve truly fantastic Buffalo Burgurs at the airport resturaunt).

Avalon is definatly a tourist trap of a village, but the food is always great, the there is generalysomething going on inthe summer. Jusp plan on dropping more than a few dollars. sort of re-defines the "$100.00 hamburger", If you make it the seafood combo, its $250.00+