1996 Flight to Catalina Island, California
| Feb. 22, 1996 Gillespie – AVX – Gillespie | N303GS; PA 28-161 |
| Departure Gillespie: 1224 local time | Arrival Catalina: 1336 local time |
| Runway 22; Wind 260/32 kts |
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| Departure Catalina: 1454 local time | Arrival Gillespie: 1541 local time |
Together with Barry Nichols and my son, Carsten, I had a great fligth to the island of Catalina, located just off the coast of California. The flight in itself was uneventful, but I do remember a very strong cross-wind component! I wasn’t sure whether I could attempt it, but Barry assured me I could… and I did! I overshot the base leg on purpose so that I could aim at an angle into the wind, then turned the planes nose to runway direction just before touching down…. it was one of my best landings!
in the middle of the picture you can just see the airfield
and here we go….
After landing we went into the terminal where we paid landing fees, which isn’t standard in the USA! That’s right, they charge landing fees there and not per weight of the aircraft but per person on board!
We had lunch at the restaurant there before taking off for the return flight. We unfortunately didn’t have time for any sight seeing and hoped to return some day, but we never did.