Back to Home page  Trip menu

                                                          USA ROAD TRIP - CALIFORNIA / NEVADA

 

It was time for the summer hols and I thought we would visit the States for a couple of weeks, this being a "Non-spotting" trip with the odd bit sneaking in!! The trip began with an overnight at LHR followed by a Virgin B744 flight(G-VROC) to San Francisco, arriving at 2pm on the sunday afternoon after a 10 hour cruise over Iceland, Greenland and Canada. The flight was smooth with an arrival over the coast at SFO with an excellent view of the Golden Gate bridge, followed by a swing round and landing on runway 28L. A steward had noticed me with my bins through the window and kindly asked if I wanted to meet the Captain "upstairs"!! so everyone disembarked and we headed to the flight deck, the crew were closing down the systems but spent 15 minutes showing me around as well as giving me a copy of the flight plan!! Good start. 

Flight Deck

Flight Plan LHR-SFO

 

SFO 14/6/09          
           
N 307AT Boeing 737 7BD AirTran Airways 34862
N 772AS Boeing 737 4Q8 Alaska Airlines 25105
N 31412 Boeing 737 924 Continental Airlines 30129
N 73275 Boeing 737 824 Continental Airlines 31593
N 687DL Boeing 757 232 Delta Airlines 27586
N 801FR Airbus A318 111 Frontier Airlines 1939
N 591NW Boeing 757 351 Northwest Airlines 32991
N 676SW Boeing 737 3A4 Southwest Airlines 23288
N 737JW Boeing 737 7H4 Southwest Airlines 27869
N 836AW Airbus A319 132 US Airways 2570
N 523VA Airbus A319 112 Virgin America 3181
N 624VA Airbus A320 214 Virgin America 2778
N 628VA Airbus A320 214 Virgin America 2993

On approach to SFO we passed the following fields -

Moffett Field

Palo Alto Field

The next 2 days were spent in San Francisco, well recommended. We then headed back to SFO to pick up the hire car that would get us to Las Vegas, managing an hour spotting around the field -

SF0 16/6/09          
           
N 752QS 1126 G200   152
N 841UA Airbus A319 131 United Airlines 1545
N 806UA Airbus A319 131 United Airlines 788
N 476UA Airbus A320 232 United Airlines 1508
N 898QS BAe 125 800XP   258593
N 489EV Boeing 747 230B Evergreen International Airlines 23393
N 187UA Boeing 747 422 United Airlines 26876
N 517UA Boeing 757 222 United Airlines 24861
N 588UA Boeing 757 222 United Airlines 26717
N 799AX Boeing 767 281 ABX Air 23432
N 799UA Boeing 777 222ER United Airlines 26926
JA 783A Boeing 777 381ER All Nippon Airways 27940
N 535DT Cessna 525B     525B-0069
N 901MV Cessna 525B     525B-0114
N 996QS Cessna 750 X   750-0196
N 90AR CL601 R   5137
N 52N Falcon 100     197
N 801WW Falcon 2000EX     021
N 42SK Falcon 50EX     290
N 650KA G 2     50
N 888MF G 4 SP   1268
N 495QS G 4 SP   1295

N650KA G2 at SFO

I had planned to route down the California coast and then cut inland, our first night stop was in Carmel about 100 miles south. The route took in a few fields, the first being Salinas which is what they call "Municipal" and consisting on GA and a few twins etc. These interesting Bell 47 crop sprayers were parked near the perimeter -

N4427F Bell 47G at Salinas

N811EV Rotax Sportstar at Salinas

N222UT Bell 222 at Salinas

 

SALINAS 16/6/09        
           
N 222UT Bell 222     47559
N 811EV Rotax Sportstar     811
N 4427F Bell 47G     7971
N 7914S Bell 47G     7848

Carmel and Monterey are close together and I had noticed a fairly large field at Monterey so Mrs R went shopping the following day and I drove to Monterey. Its an average sized field with services by Skywest, Allegiant and also has 2 FBOs.

MONTEREY 16/6/09        
           
N 150NC BAe 125 800XP   258293
N 855QS BAe 125 800XP   258355
N 208AM Cessna 208     20800323
N 762FE Cessna 208B   Federal Express 208B0255
N 688DB Cessna 525A     525-A0192
N 400TB CL601     5120
N 290SW EMB 120 ER Skywest Airlines 120317
N 73MR Falcon 20 F   449
N 870CM G 5 G550   5076
C FSDL LJ 45     45-255
N 96NC Raytheon Premier      RB-86

 

N870CM G5 at Monterey

N762FE C208 Caravan at Monterey

N290SW Brasilia at Monterey

After hugging the coast for 4 hours we came across the town of Santa Maria, just off highway 101 was the obligitory airfield!! It obviously is an old USAF base and had a small museum next door. Other than light GA there is feeder freighters parked up all day.

SANTA MARIA 17/6/09        
           
N 985FE Cessna 208B (F) Federal Express / Westair 0117
N 475AF SA227 Metro III Ameriflight AC-475

Santa Maria Museum

Santa Maria Museum

Santa Maria Museum

N475AF Metro at Santa Maria

N985FE CE208 Caravan at Santa Maria

Our next night stop was the coastal town of Santa Barbara, aboy 80 miles north of Los Angeles and home of the rich and famous. The field is next to highway 101 and seemed busy, with a mix of light, Biz and airliners up to 737 size. Its easy to see everything and the field is split into two parts with the terminal on the south side.

SANTA BARBARA 17/6/09      
           
N 801G 1125 SPX   081
N 912FX ATR 42 300 Federal Express 047
N 330AF Beech 1900C   Piedmont Airlines UB-38
N 702NV BJ400A     RK-120
N 601QX Canadair RJ700   Horizon Air 10009
N 801PJ Cessna 525     525-0092
N 350BV Cessna 525A     525A-0186
N 394QS Cessna 560 Ultra   560-0394
N 888KG Cessna 650     650-0119
N 511CM DHC2 Mk111     1627
N 562SW EMB 120 ER Skywest Airlines 120336
N 939KM G 3     492
N 492RM LJ 35 A   35-492

 

N511CM DHC2 Turbo Beaver at Santa Barbara

N912FX ATR42 at Santa Barbara

Click to PART 2 

 

Back to Home page    Trip menu

Hit Counter