mrivc211
Well-Known Member
Our dual and solo cross country requirements are to CMA. One of my biggest frustrations is teaching students that just because the airport or its surrounding areas might be VFR, doesn't necessarily mean you should go without looking into what is going on around the airport. We often cancel students because CMA is calm and clear but OXR is 1/2 vis. If it's an experienced pilot that has an instrument rating is one thing, but launching a student pilot on his solo cross country in that area could get me into deep hot water. Nevertheless, we get the students that moan and complain about how they won't go into the IMC and they'll be careful. I simply tell them, you're wasting you're breath. You're not going.I've never brought this up before but Hunter knows what I'm talking about.
The canyons around where Kobe was killed have a micro climate of their own that can be different every time you round a corner or cross a hill. Camarillo can be 300' and a 1/2 mile. Six miles away, on the other side of a low ridge, Santa Paula is clear and 20. That's pretty much normal in that area. You don't get that in the Plains States.
I was driving on the 101 to Santa Barbara one morning. Been driving for over an hour without issue. Low OVC with a little fog but the freeway was doing 70+ MPH. I came over a hill east of Camarillo and the car windows all fogged up in 3 to 5 seconds. I couldn't get the defrosters on quick enough. As a pilot I could really appreciate what had happened.