What started for me as simply an interesting thing to listen to while studying or driving to the airport eventually became a large part of my life. Aviation Podcasts were my gateway into the internet pilot community, because they not only supplied me with discussion on topics I enjoyed, but also they used their home-made, user-created-content methods to reach out to me, to other listeners, and to other podcasts. Over time I became familiar with many members of the community, and as I added my occasional feedback to the discussion boards as well, I felt more involved and eventually connected directly with several of the people I'd been listening to. The result was that I started to change from an audience member to a participant.
So the natural progression beyond making personal connections over the data lines was to eventually start meeting some of these people, who I'd strangely come to know already from their writings and recordings, in person. And the first chance I had to do that was yesterday.
Rico Sharqawi, who is involved in making an aviation documentary with long-time podcaster, Will Hawkins, organized a weekend fly-in halfway between their home of the San Francisco Bay area and Southern California, at the tiny private airstrip of Harris Ranch. The event was created online through Facebook and Twitter, and everyone was invited. Some of the pilots already knew each other, and some like me had only met the others online. I booked the R22 a few weeks in advance, and when the day finally rolled around the weather cooperated and Dane and I headed north.
Our trip to the little known airstrip took us over new areas we'd never flown through. Actually the most direct route was not an option because the mountains to our north are covered with Condor Sanctuaries where pilots are requested not to fly; at least not at any altitude that would be practical for our R22. So we headed west to Santa Barbara with the intention of hopping over those mountains to Santa Ynez.
As we approached, however, we saw the tops of those hills were the start of a low overcast cloud layer extending to the north. So we transitioned through Santa Barbara's airspace and followed the 101 through it's canyon, just as we'd done for our long trip up the coast last fall. In the valley around Santa Ynez the clouds were low over our heads, but not so bad that we couldn't safely head in and land at the airport. While our fuel tanks got a refill for the long leg ahead, we studied the weather in the FBO. Surprisingly, it didn't look good - our departure and our destination were clear, but this area we had to fly through was overcast.
As we departed north I was reluctantly admitting to Dane that we might have to cancel and turn back, but progressing along the conditions didn't get any worse, and eventually bits of sunshine started to break through and the terrain started to descend beneath us. In fact, we were finding that we'd stumbled upon probably the best time of year to fly through these empty rolling hills! Mile after mile we were treated to a stunning soft landscape of new spring grass and flowers, which from the air blended into colorful brushstrokes of a watercolor painting. With no one around but a few happy cows, we marveled at how California can sometimes surprise you with it's secrets.
Harris Ranch, which is cattle ranch turned-oasis on the side of the 5 freeway, has probably the thinnest runway I've ever seen, at least for one that's paved and lit. At 30 feet wide, I was glad we weren't in an airplane. But helicopters weren't the normal visitors to this airport, and so with no helipads marked I brought us in and parked over an airplane tie-down. I saw the group of pilots we were meeting who were standing there watching us land... unfortunately though that meant they were close enough to be dusted with our rotor wash! Sorry guys!!
After shutting down Dane and I headed into the restaurant where the others had already grabbed a table. We spent a very enjoyable lunch meeting, talking, and exchanging stories. A lot of people asked us questions about helicopter flying, but I was just as fascinated by the things I learned from the aviation magazine editor, the pilot who works at Apple, and the airline pilot sitting next to me. Also it was a pleasure to finally meet Rico and talk with him a bit about the projects we're both doing. With luck there will be a chance to collaborate in aviation filmmaking sometime soon.
After the lunch we all made our preparations to fly back home, which for Dane and I meant refueling the helicopter at the Self Serve station. Unfortunately, though a lot of our new friends seemed to envy us for flying helicopters, I don't think any of them were jealous of all I had to do just to move the helicopter to the fuel pump: a complete start up check and warm up, hovering over to the fuel, and setting down and cooling off for shut down. Add to that the tight spacing of the small ramp between other planes, the tail wind coming at us through bushes and trees, and the fact that I did this without the familiar weight of two (Dane didn't ride along) and with the eyes and lenses of a half dozen spectators, and I'm sorry to say I brought the helicopter up into the least graceful hover of my career. Ha! And if that wasn't enough to make us vow to bring the skid wheels next time, we discovered that after all that, the static line for the fuel pump was too short to reach our skids where I'd set it down (on the painted mark). We had to borrow someone's tow bar to touch the metal to metal! What an ordeal...
On the way back home Dane suggested we stop in one of those gorgeous fields in the open painted hillside. A long-eared hare scurried away as we set down in a meadow of tiny flowers. Dane got out and picked some for his girlfriend, and then we headed onward to Santa Ynez and then on home to Camarillo.
All in all I was very happy that we were able to join the event, especially because I've been wanting to make stronger connections in the aviation community and with the pilots I've met online. And in addition to putting 5 more hours in the logbook, I can surely say I've learned something... park in a better spot next time! (and maybe bring some wheels...)
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