The Lights of Los Angeles

The city of angels not only has a lot to offer on ground, but also looks great from above – especially at night. The lights of more than 10 Million people living in the area do spread to the horizon.

There are many airports in the area, we chartered from an airport located in the south, Long Beach International Airport (KLGB), since we wanted to fly a DA40-180 to just like feel at home in the cockpit.

Unfortunately we were too heavy to fly all together, since the planes were limited to 1150 kg, the 1200 kg modification had not been performed on them. Thus, due to the weight and balance we needed to do two flights. On the first flight we flew to downtown Los Angeles.

The flight mainly followed the Los Angeles River.

Back to Long Beach via the harbor…

For landing at KLGB, which is a rather busy airport with three crossing runways and jet traffic.

On the second flight we flew up the coast via Los Angeles International Airport to Santa Monica.

Crossing the Los Angles International Airport Class B airspace via the LA Special Flight Rules Area is great. One can see the incoming traffic lined up for the different LAX runways like pearl necklaces in the sky.

Flying over Los Angles International Airport (LAX) is fairly simple, despite the Class B airspace. The LA Special Flight Rules Area defines a corridor over the Airport, which can be used without contacting ATC. One has to set a listening squawk and make blind calls broadcasting the position. Essentially one followed the radial of Santa Monica VOR.

Different altitudes are used to cross from North-to-South and South-to-North. Santa Monica Airport is a good place to turn around and to fly back through the corridor.

Safety

Of course one might think that flying over a congested area with a single engine piston aircraft at night might not be a good idea. Indeed there is some planning required. From Long Beach Airport towards LA Downtown one can follow the riverbed of the LA river. So you at least don’t have to land on someones home.
Flying along the coast is a lot easier, since there are a lot of airports underneath you. As an alternative you can ditch the plane in the water.

 

Useful Links

For aircraft rental you can contact:

Angle City Flyers – Long Beach Airport

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