My 1968 Cessna Cardinal

Trips

 

The first trip with the Cardinal was to fly it home to Torrance airport from 23R, Devine, TX, (just south west of San Antonio).

The weather was marginal VFR with low ceilings and temperatures close to freezing…

I did my check ride with an instructor and topped off with fuel. I had called the FSS for a weather briefing and a suggested route. They said I had a 2 hr window to sneak as close as possible to the Mexican border in order to avoid even worse weather. Basically south of the I-10 and specifically south of Fort Stockton.

 

I took off and leveled at 1500ft, in order to stay VFR. I headed west through the barren wasteland of western Texas. I was thinking to myself that if I was to ditch the plane here, nobody would find me for years. I had hoped to get flight following, but I was not high enough to get the controllers on the radio and not high enough to get VOR reception either.

I was totally relying on dead reckoning and my old GARMIN III Pilot, which I had had since 1998.

I encountered some light rime ice just east of El Paso. I tried to navigate away from the darker, more moist areas ahead of me, but still got a little ice.

I had some really heavy headwind flying over western Texas and eastern New Mexico. At one point my groundspeed was no more than 62kts..

I did a quick re fuel stop at Fort Stockton and then headed west.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My day ended in the city of  Deming in New Mexico. It was dark when I landed. I parked and got a cab to the “Grand hotel”. It was not the kind of “grand” hotel that I have been to in the past, but sufficient for my needs.

 

Got an early start the following morning and took off in drizzling rain and headed west over Arizona. The weather was beautiful and I was cruising along between 8,000 and 10,000ft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stopped and re fueled in Blythe, which is in the eastern part of California. It was very windy still, but I was able to make a reasonably good landing. I had the plane refueled and bought some snacks and water and took off for the final leg of the trip –Torrance ,CA.

 

The weather was nice all the way up to French valley as there was a solid layer of clouds from 4000ft to about 10000ft.

I decided to file IFR for the duration of the flight.

I ended up in the clouds over Corona at 10,000ft and continued. After about 15 minutes I was getting ice again. This time it was more than just rime ice.

I called the controller and told him I needed to get down fast.

He cleared me to 6,000. Still getting ice. Called him back and told him I needed to go further down. He cleared me to 4,000ft and when I got to 4,000ft I just got out of the clouds and the ice was shedding off. What a relief….

 

I passed the PDZ VOR and headed for SLI VOR and got vectored to the ILS for 29R at Torrance.

 

I parked the Cardinal and made arrangements for a permanent tie down, which I had discussed with the airport prior to picking up the aircraft in TX.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Various trips

 

Catalina Island

 

I have made numerous trips to Catalina island together with friends and family.

It is a great place for lunch and even for scuba diving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Death Valley

I attended a Cardinal fly-inn at Furnace Creek in Death Valley in March 2006. Nice to meet other Cardinal owners and to exchange experiences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Various other trips

 

I have made trips to Sonoma, San Diego, Oceano, Santa Ynez, Las Vegas and various local flights to the airports in the LA basin.