G-DIGA returns to its Maker (Temporarily)
San Francisco is well known for the Golden Gate Bridge and because of this many pilots dream about flying beneath the bridge, most generally only dream, maybe sea plane pilots get to do it, also some helicopter pilots!
I no longer have to dream!
After our bit of fun we head south along the coast avoiding any nature reserves etc. Prior to the Vandenberg AFB we cut inland via Santa Maria, past Santa Barbara and towards LAX. 20NM out we call SoCal on 120.4 requesting to route via LAX to Torrance. SoCal pick us up at 6,500 ft and clearing are unaware that we are a helicopter and ask us what procedure we want to take in order to cross Class B. We respond that if we are unable an LAX crossing we want a low level coastal route. Again the controller splutters out some more procedures, again clearly not realizing that we are a helicopter. We haven't hear of the procedures and just state that we will stay outside of Class B and start a descent. The controller limits our descent to 4,500 due to Van Nuys departures. This is not going well. We
later discover that we should not have bothered calling SoCal, but gone directly to LAX twr. Oh well next time we will know. We are eventually routed around Class B via KPOC (Brackett, I have been based there before).
At Robinson the red carpet is laid out for us, Even before we could get out of the Helicopter they were whisking it away into the hangar and opening up panels. They were giving it a good inspection and updating any issues that were required, this resulted in a new oil tank, new pitch links on the tail, repairing a small crack in the Firewall and replacing all the door hinges etc. All of this was complimentary, plus they top up our fuel tanks.
While all this was happening we were given a tour around the factory before heading of to the Ramada and then dinner.
Dinner was with Kurt Robinson, Pat Cox and Tim Tucker at the Admiral Risty. These guys have been truly great and are really knowledgeable. They are aware of the tank but turn a blind eye, in fact they want to look over it and see how the Russians do it!
Back at the Hotel I catch an Uber and head out to the Pales Valdes Bowling Alley, again I am really liking Uber.
I no longer have to dream!
After our bit of fun we head south along the coast avoiding any nature reserves etc. Prior to the Vandenberg AFB we cut inland via Santa Maria, past Santa Barbara and towards LAX. 20NM out we call SoCal on 120.4 requesting to route via LAX to Torrance. SoCal pick us up at 6,500 ft and clearing are unaware that we are a helicopter and ask us what procedure we want to take in order to cross Class B. We respond that if we are unable an LAX crossing we want a low level coastal route. Again the controller splutters out some more procedures, again clearly not realizing that we are a helicopter. We haven't hear of the procedures and just state that we will stay outside of Class B and start a descent. The controller limits our descent to 4,500 due to Van Nuys departures. This is not going well. We
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| Sky Angels Owner |
At Robinson the red carpet is laid out for us, Even before we could get out of the Helicopter they were whisking it away into the hangar and opening up panels. They were giving it a good inspection and updating any issues that were required, this resulted in a new oil tank, new pitch links on the tail, repairing a small crack in the Firewall and replacing all the door hinges etc. All of this was complimentary, plus they top up our fuel tanks.
While all this was happening we were given a tour around the factory before heading of to the Ramada and then dinner.
Dinner was with Kurt Robinson, Pat Cox and Tim Tucker at the Admiral Risty. These guys have been truly great and are really knowledgeable. They are aware of the tank but turn a blind eye, in fact they want to look over it and see how the Russians do it!
Back at the Hotel I catch an Uber and head out to the Pales Valdes Bowling Alley, again I am really liking Uber.
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