Red Baron will be sponsoring a seminar on

Changes to the LA Terminal Area Chart

Presented by Steve Boothby CFI, CFII, MEI  

Steve will be leading a discussion on the recent changes to the LAX Terminal Area Chart.  Some of the changes he will be discussing are: 

Class D Airspace added to the chart

Typographic symbols were deleted

Changes to the Mini Routes

Changes to Los Angeles Special Flight Rules Area

Changes to Air to Air Communications in the LA Basin

Refreshments will be served

To sign up for this seminar please call 681-9200

Seating is limited to 40 for this popular seminar so sign up early

Chino Airport (CNO), formerly known as Cal Aero Field, is a general aviation reliever airport, which serves private, business, and corporate tenants and customers from Southern California’s Inland Empire area. Chino Airport is situated on 1,100+ acres and features three runways: 4,858′ instrument runway, 7,000′ non-precision runway, and a 4,419′ non-precision cross-wind runway. The Airport is conveniently located 3 miles south east of the City of Chino and is situated minutes from Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties.

Chino Airport is rich with history; rooted back to the early 1940′s when the airport was home to the Cal Aero Cadets. The Airport has transformed from a training facility for the war effort into a major economic engine for the Southern California region. Chino Airport has over 600 based aircraft, 100 businesses, 2 aircraft museums, the ever popular Flo’s Cafe, and 345 days of VFR weather. With room to grow, Chino Airport is your flight to opportunity.

The Planes of Fame Air Museum is an independently operated, non-profit 501(c)(3) aviation museum that is dedicated to the preservation, perpetuation and exhibition of historical aircraft, and to the men and women, both famous and unknown, who devoted their lives to flight.

The  The Yanks Air Museum is a relative newcomer, but has an impressive collection of flying and static aircraft numbering over 120 aircraft.  The focus of the collection is on US-built civil and military aircraft, and many of the aircraft are flyable.  Aircraft in the collection run the gamut from First World War-era Curtiss Jennies to such modern staples as a Grumman F-14 Tomcat, EA-6B Prowler, and E-2 Hawkeye.

Flying In

Planes of Fame Museum Fly-in visitors are welcome. Please consult current charts, NOTAMs, weather forecasts, etc., before your flight to CNO (Chino Airport).
Upon landing, request transient parking near Planes of Fame Air Museum, where you will find tie-downs.
Once your aircraft is secured, proceed in an easterly direction to the roll gate at the south end of the Museum property; there is also a walk-through gate in that fence.
Proceed to the Gift Shop (attached to the east end of the Maloney Hangar) to pay admission and receive entrance stickers.

By the way, stunning scenery flying over the Aleutian Islands. Everything was going fine until 100 miles out from Tokyo and in the descent for arrival. The first indication of any trouble was that Japan air traffic control started putting everyone into holding patterns. At first we thought it was usual congestion on arrival. Then we got a company data link message advising about the earthquake, followed by another stating Narita airport was temporarily closed for inspection and expected to open shortly (the company is always so positive).

From our perspective things were obviously looking a little different. The Japanese controller’s anxiety level seemed quite high and he said expect “indefinite” holding time. No one would commit to a time frame on that so I got my copilot and relief pilot busy looking at divert stations and our fuel situation, which, after an ocean crossing is typically low.

It wasn’t long, maybe ten minutes, before the first pilots started requesting diversions to other airports. Air Canada, American, United, etc. all reporting minimal fuel situations. I still had enough fuel for 1.5 to 2.0 hours of holding. Needless to say, the diverts started complicating the situation.

Japan air traffic control then announced Narita was closed indefinitely due to damage. Planes immediately started requesting arrivals into Haneada, near Tokyo, a half dozen JAL and western planes got clearance in that direction but then ATC announced Haenada had just closed. Uh oh! Now instead of just holding, we all had to start looking at more distant alternatives like Osaka, or Nagoya.

One bad thing about a large airliner is that you can’t just be-pop into any little airport. We generally need lots of runway. With more planes piling in from both east and west, all needing a place to land and several now fuel critical ATC was getting over-whelmed. In the scramble, and without waiting for my fuel to get critical, I got my flight a clearance to head for Nagoya, fuel situation still okay. So far so good. A few minutes into heading that way, I was”ordered” by ATC to reverse course. Nagoya was saturated with traffic and unable to handle more planes (read- airport full). Ditto for Osaka.

With that statement, my situation went instantly from fuel okay, to fuel minimal considering we might have to divert a much farther distance. Multiply my situation by a dozen other aircraft all in the same boat, all making demands requests and threats to ATC for clearances somewhere. Air Canada and then someone else went to “emergency” fuel situation. Planes started to heading for air force bases. The nearest to Tokyo was Yokoda AFB. I threw my hat in the ring for that initially. The answer – Yokoda closed! no more space.

By now it was a three ring circus in the cockpit, my copilot on the radios, me flying and making decisions and the relief copilot buried in the air charts trying to figure out where to go that was within range while data link messages were flying back and forth between us and company dispatch in Atlanta. I picked Misawa AFB at the north end of Honshu island. We could get there with minimal fuel remaining. ATC was happy to get rid of us so we cleared out of the maelstrom of the Tokyo region. We heard ATC try to send planes toward Sendai, a small regional airport on the coast which was later the one I think that got flooded by a tsunami.

Atlanta dispatch then sent us a message asking if we could continue to Chitose airport on the Island of Hokkaido, north of Honshu. Other Delta planes were heading that way. More scrambling in the cockpit – check weather, check charts, check fuel, okay. We could still make it and not be going into a fuel critical situation … if we had no other fuel delays. As we approached Misawa we got clearance to continue to Chitose. Critical decision thought process. Let’s see – trying to help company – plane overflies perfectly good divert airport for one farther away…wonder how that will look in the safety report, if anything goes wrong.

Suddenly ATC comes up and gives us a vector to a fix well short of Chitose and tells us to standby for holding instructions. Nightmare realized. Situation rapidly deteriorating. After initially holding near Tokyo, starting a divert to Nagoya, reversing course back to Tokyo then to re-diverting north toward Misawa, all that happy fuel reserve that I had was vaporizing fast. My subsequent conversation, paraphrased of course…., went something like this:

“Sapparo Control – Delta XX requesting immediate clearance direct to Chitose, minimum fuel, unable hold.”

“Negative Ghost-Rider, the Pattern is full” <<< top gun quote <<<

“Sapparo Control – make that – Delta XX declaring emergency, low fuel, proceeding direct Chitose”

“Roger Delta XX, understood, you are cleared direct to Chitose, contact Chitose approach….etc….”

Enough was enough, I had decided to preempt actually running critically low on fuel while in another indefinite holding pattern, especially after bypassing Misawa, and played my last ace…declaring an emergency. The problem with that is now I have a bit of company paperwork to do but what the heck.

As it was – landed Chitose, safe, with at least 30 minutes of fuel remaining before reaching a “true” fuel emergency situation. That’s always a good feeling, being safe. They taxied us off to some remote parking area where we shut down and watched a half dozen or more other airplanes come streaming in. In the end, Delta had two 747s, my 767 and another 767 and a 777 all on the ramp at Chitose. We saw to American airlines planes, a United and two Air Canada as well. Not to mention several extra Al Nippon and Japan Air Lines planes.

Post-script – 9 hours later, Japan air lines finally got around to getting a boarding ladder to the plane where we were able to get off and clear customs. – that however, is another interesting story.

By the way – while writing this – I have felt four additional tremors that shook the hotel slightly – all in 45 minutes.

Cheers, J.D.”

PS – Personal note: I did not see anyone in the news even mention anything about this problem. Which, to me, meant everyone made it ‘on deck safely’ – perhaps not where they thought they would be that night but still ‘safely on deck’.

But, I do not excite myself- I stay calm.  Excitement causes a wobbly gun barrel.  Slowly I draw up my rifle, the locking of the bolt being the only sound my prey hears of me, which serves not to scare off but rather to paralyze, and to raise the deer’s head conveniently towards it’s messenger of death, in order to align the chest and heart with my sights.  Hesitate I do not, but with a respectful acknowledgement of my opponent I pull the trigger smoothly, downing my kill.  Now excitement can be free to come out from the inside, where it has been restrained until now!  I have done it!  The thrill!  The sense of accomplishment!  Success!

It is only proper that I should feel these things as I combat machines of the sky from the other side.  I will hunt them.  My cover will be the clouds and the sun.  I will see them, and they will not see me.  I will sense their presence, yet they will not sense mine.  I will not hesitate, but I will fight with respect.  I will not be beaten, and THEY WILL KNOW MY NAME.

-M. von Richthofen

Thursday August 18th from 7pm – 9pm Red Baron will be co-sponsoring the following seminar.  It will be held at Red Baron not the visitor center.  The speaker for the seminar is Bob Crystal CFIAIM, ATP CE-500/525/560XL.

Learn proven techniques that simplify instrument scan to include glass transition instrument scan.  Control and performance instrument scan can be simplified with proven techniques with flying by the numbers or targets in the sky.  This seminar promises to simplify instrument scan with a different approach.   A must for the rusty scan or the pilot who is getting ready to start an instrument rating.  As an extra bonus all attendees will receive a free simulator demo and apply instrument scan techniques learned in the seminar.

To register please click link  -   FAA Safety Seminar – TARGETS in the Sky!

Peggy

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