Good morning from MCAS Miramar

[pacerpilot]

Yep, that's the one. I bought a Fisher 505 from a guy who flies from there. You're correct about the Chief being LSA but lets face it, a little more scrimping and saving and you can get much more airplane. Not to knock ultralights but eventually two seats become most pilots minimum desire. Remember, once you're soloed you can just go fly your plane, regardless of whether it's a Chief or a Comanche. The carrying pax part comes later anyway. I wish I'd have known you were in the market before dragging a Stits Playmate all the way back to Texas. I only paid 5k for it a while back. Some birds that come to mind in your price range are Volksplane, Flybaby, HiMax and MiniMax, Pietenpol, just to name a few (hunt down a Piet and you'll be the envy of everybody!). Just don't get discouraged and keep checking Barnstormers. A good Ultralight or experimental etc. will come along. Take it easy and if you need help bringing one back let us know!!!

[pacerpilot]

Downs, you're really close on your budget to some nice sounding/looking airplanes on Barnstormers. There's a Piet for $8500 (don't let the Corvair scare ya', I fly behind one and it runs great!) and, a Baby Ace that needs new cover in Corona which could be a real deal. Lots and lots of options. Good luck!

[Downs]

Thanks for the advice I got to meet some folk from EAA UL114 at Nichols Field and from Chapter 14 down at Brown Field.

Also got to check out some good leads. A couple of GT400s at Nichols field are possibilities. I saw a very nice bird at Brown Field. Can't remember the name of it. It had a fully enclosed cockpit, HKS 700 engine (really liked that ) but the everything was metal covered instead of fabric. Probably puts it well over the 103 limit.

Anyone have an opinion on the following birds?

The Hurricane in "high desert" is pretty close buy. Maybe have to fly it about 100 miles to get it to the airstrip
http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/spo/3937502696.html

This one is in Whittmann, AZ and would require about a 400 mile flight
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/rvs/3975538926.html

[Downs]

Seriously considering the Hurricane. If I can secure the funding I plan to go look at it this upcoming weekend and get some familiarization time on it. Here my proposed route to get it back to San Diego.

http://skyvector.com/?ll=33.46673324...8643:A.K2.0CL3

[pacerpilot]

Downs, I was just looking at your route and would like to offer a slight tweek or two. Your current plan takes you over some of the highest mountains in the area. You'd need to climb to about 6500 right out of Hesperia and even higher as you progress. I don't know how to do the link thing on Skyvector so I'll just tell you the route I'd take. It would go as follows: Take off from Hesperia-L26 and head southwest to intersect Interstate 15; 8 miles, more or less follow I15 down the hill into San Bernadino landing at Redlands-REI (steer clear of SBD airspace); 19 miles, Resume your flight direct to Hemet Ryan-HMT; 22 miles, proceed to French Valley-F70 next; only 11 miles, the next stop is as planned at Flying T; 36 miles and then your route from there. This plan keeps you at more reasonable altitudes and gives you lots of ground reference in the form of I15 and lakes etc. The only other thing you might do is try to get permission to land at Pauma Valley or Blackington for fuel etc. That would also take you along I15 further south too. It looks like a fun flight at a little over 3 hours in the air. Bring ChapStick and have fun!!!

[Downs]

I was worried about the mountains past Banning also. I was going to go grab a handheld NAV/COM before I left to pick up the bird so I could VOR navigate as needed AND take a GPS with me as well. I figured the route I had planned would require me to climb to 8 or 9 thousand feet at most.

The route I planned avoided all the yellow "congested" or "populated" areas that as far as I knew part 103 birds couldn't fly over. Let me know if I'm incorrect on that.

I linked below to what I think you want me to do. let me know if it looks correct.

http://skyvector.com/?ll=33.62879938...CA76:A.K2.0CL3

I think I could avoid the "populated" areas mostly in the north by flying over the obstruction at 3442 feet there in San Bernadino but then I would have to cut across a populated area as I took off and head south.

[pacerpilot]

I just looked at your revised route. That's the way I'd go. As for the "yellow areas"; Part 103.15 states- No person may operate an ultralight vehicle over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons. This area is a lot of industrial and houses. You're just skirting the edges anyway, which is in compliance, so you're fine. You'll be over more houses down by Otay anyway! Even landing at Hemet, French Valley, etc. won't put you over congested areas. My only concerns with your original route were the altitude you'd need to go to (if you could get that high) and safety in the event you had to put down. Mountains are rough to land on and it's hard to find you after it happens. With a portable NAV/COM you'll have no problem at all. Just be careful and best let those fires die down a bit before heading out. Let us know the outcome of the voyage-it sounds like a fun trip in the making.

[pacerpilot]

Downs, something else you should seriously consider is trailering your bird to its new roost. It may sound like a lot of work but it's really not. I was re-reading your initial post and it appears you have fairly limited flying experience. Although I'm sure your piloting skills are adequate, your cross country nav might be lacking. I haul airplanes all the time and it's actually quite easy and I've never even scratched one. I can give you some info on how to do it as well. All said and done it's quicker and cheaper to trailer when retrieving a "ultra" low and slow type. I'd fly a Piet or something with decent fuel capacity(I flew Jake Jaks Pober Jr Ace home from Florida)but might have reservations about the U/L. Just food for thought.

[Downs]

My problem with trailering is I have zero access to a truck and trailer to perform such a task. My only vehicle is a motorcycle. Renting a truck and trailer is outside the budget. The girlfriend has a Hyundai sedan. So no go there also. It would be about an hour faster to trailer by my calculations haha.

I did out a call out to the ultralight club asking if someone wanted to help but I'm waiting on responses back.

We'll see. I'm still waiting on club permission to make the flight into the field on my end of the trip. If that doesn't come through then the deal won't either.

[Downs]

Talking to some guys at the club they suggested a 20 foot U-Haul truck. I think I may be leaning that direction right now if for nothing more than to curtail stepping on toes at the UL club.