172driver – I’m actually based in Singapore, but come to L.A. pretty often & often rent a plane while I’m here for a few days. 
You’re right, weather’s great this morning here in Santa Monica, I’m definitely giving Catalina a shot…
Well, if you fancy a beer while here, get in touch. Have a great flight and enjoy the buffalo burger!
I’ve landed a Seneca twice in Sonnen … but would not do it again ;-)
I used to fly in to Catalina regularly when I was L.A. based. Paid the annual club membership rather than the $25 landing fee. I’ve never had any drama even with the wind strength increasing.
There was a C310 crash there a few years ago. I believe an EFATO and he just shut the other engine. The aircraft was wrecked and burnt out but the occupants were OK. A few seconds later and he would have had 1600’ of clear glide to get to blue line and sort things out. I’ve also walked along that road many times out hiking on the island.
My preferred approach was a steepish glide aiming a bit beyond the numbers. Even with the slope there’s plenty of room for any SEP and the steep glide minimised the effect of any downdraught.
Wahnsinn! Just checked out Sonnen in Google Earth and find you can taxi straight up to the Gasthaus Weidinger! I will have to try this…..
That’s Thom Richard, Swedish air race pilot and used to fly Precious Metal – what a lucky escape.
1909 Signor Marconi was awarded the Nobel price for inventing the radio. Why on earth do these people, 107 years later, operating aircraft worth hundreds of thousands of Dollars use flags and hand signs to communicate. “Precious Metal – stopping on the runway” would have saved some people a lot of trouble… And please don’t tell me there are weight or power or space penalties which prevent the use of radios – the aircraft are full of cameras for which there seems to be ample power, space and weight allowance… And since the pilots are flying in a Tom Cruise costume they can also wear a headset.
That would be too easy 
And please don’t tell me there are weight or power or space penalties
It’s a comparative game so the penalty would affect every player equally…
