https://www.breeseaircraft.com/

Breese Aircraft Company, Nipomo, CA (2025)

03/13/2024

Spring Forward.

I have driven to the monthly meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Association chapter 170 in San Luis Obispo (SBP) for the past several months due to weather and when I woke up Sunday to blue skies I was excited to fly.

For me the destination is the excuse to fly and an EAA meeting is a great excuse with the meeting in a friends hangar on the field.

I love the simple twenty two nautical mile flight to SBP and have found many ways to make it into a ninety mile round trip flight.

The meeting’s speaker is a friend with great stories about his Wittman Tailwind and flying in Alaska started at noon so I wanted to launch by 11:00 even though the meeting seldom starts on time.

I live just five miles from the Santa Maria Public Airport and was disappointed to see overcast skies and the beacon still going around when I arrived at the gate at 9:40. SMX went VFR at 9:51 but the temperature/dew point spread was just one degree. My personal minimum is four degrees so I looked forward to the ATIS (local current weather) update at 10:51. I checked the San Luis Obispo ASOS and it was still IFR.

I feel it is important to have limits and stick to them as a way to curb my desire to get there.

I cleaned up the hangar after doing a careful preflight and when information Qbec came out reporting winds variable at 3 visibility 10, eighteen hundred scattered and a temperature/dew point spread of 4.1 degrees C. I checked SBP and it was still IFR with 600 overcast. In my optimism I pushed The Predator outside and worked through my startup check list. She burst to life at the first push of the starter button and settled into a steady idle as I worked through the rest of the startup check list.

I called ground for a taxi to runway three zero and warm up was slow on my long taxi to the run up area.

The Predator seemed eager to fly and I certainly was.

I had to wait a bit for the oil temperature to come up before doing my magneto check and working through the rest of my pre-takeoff check list.

I called the tower and soon heard the magic words; “Experimental 142 Mike Golf, runway three zero clear for takeoff, slight right approved.”

I was at 120 rotor rpm before reaching the centerline and was soon over 200rpm. She lifted off nicely at around 45kts and I was soon at eight hundred feet pulling the power back and trimming for a 65kt cruise at 11:20.

The air felt cold, moist and clean intensifying my aviation experience.

I picked up the new ATIS for SBP and it was wind 270 degrees at seven knots with six miles visibility in mist and a one thousand two hundred foot overcast. The temperature/dew point spread was a comfortable 6.8C and a visual approach for runway two nin-er was in use. YIPEE!

The visibility seemed to be decreasing as flew north.

Turning east the Edna Valley was surprisingly clear as I made my way over the vineyards. The nearby hills were a velvety green. The air felt clean and crisp with the scent of moist earth. I had the airport in sight eight miles out.

The airport was busy and ATC said “142 Mike Golf runway two nin-er clear to land” when I was still three miles out with a “caution for wake turbulence from the departing Airbus”. The left downwind aircraft had me in sight. I asked for a long landing with a taxi to self-serve and I was cleared to land at Mike and taxi to self serve via taxiway Mike.

I waited for the rotor to stop before taxiing around the corner to the EAA hanger only to find I was forty five minutes late. I followed my shut down check list quickly to minimize the distraction. It seems I had missed the beginning of daylight savings time.

My friends were happy to see me flying and realized I would driven my automobile if I had the time right and applauded my error. Several were concerned I might get trapped by the weather.

Next month’s speaker is a woman who works for Sikorsky aircraft in human factors. She asked what would be we be interested in and I suggested a better understanding stupid pilot tricks.

After sampling the hors d’oeuvres and visiting with friends I worked through my preflight and asked for a taxi to runway two nin-er full length and was given fairly complex taxi instructions with a hold on the compass rose behind the Navion before crossing runway two nin-er. I didn’t have to wait long and was across quickly.

Run up went well and I heard; “gyroplane 142 Mike Golf. Runway two nin-er clear for takeoff, left turn out approved.”

I was taking off with a bit of a tail wind but she climbed out nicely and the rotors over the hills made for a series of stair steps slowing to fifty knots to enjoy the view.

The Edna Valley is always beautiful and even more so after some rain.

Too soon we had cleared the ridge and I could see the shoreline in the misty distance adding a mysterious quality and equally stunning.

I love the way my world view expands as we gain altitude.

Frequency change was approved and I checked the ATIS at SMX. Winds were 270 degrees at 14kts with visual approach for runway three zero in use.

I watched the cars heading south on California Highway 101; a particularly lovely drive and found joy in my expanded view. The Pacific can be seen from the 101 as it passes Pismo Beach and soon winds inland until it again joins the shoreline at Gaviota.

I could see and feel the shoreline all the way to Guadalupe. I felt immersed in the cool ocean air.

I called the Santa Maria Tower from ten miles to the north west over Nipomo and was to make right traffic for runway three zero and report midfield.

I felt a combination of the joy of homecoming and the sadness of the end of a lovely flight as I made my base turn to runway three zero.

I pulled the power back on short final and as we touched down gently nearly stopped right at the entrance to taxiway Alpha Six I let out a whoop.

It seemed like the perfect end to a lovely flight that would not have happened if I had remembered to set my clocks forward.

03/07/2024

Back in the air.

February was a cold rainy month in Santa Maria, California and I did not fly.

An Experimental Gyroplane needs to have an annual condition inspection in the preceding twelve months done by the builder or an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic. I am not the builder and like have a second set of eyes on the condition of The Predator and my friend Dan does a through job. This requires lots of close inspection and preparation. It usually takes several days and Dan has a busy schedule.

I was well prepared and when I work with Dan it feels to me like he is protecting a friend and I value that care and friendship.

To fly with a transponder the transponder needs to be checked and certified in the preceding twenty four calendar months. My transponder tells Air Traffic Control my altitude. The equipment to check the accuracy is very sensitive to moisture so I have been having to wait for dry weather on a week day when Coastal Valley Aviation have time to get her done. Tuesday morning I was excited to get a call from Sara from CVA to let me know the inspection was done and my log book entry was completed.

It was a lovely day to fly with light winds and clear skies so I put everything on hold to seize the flying opportunity.

The Santa Maria Public Airport wants the aircraft in their hangars airworthy and flying and charge more rent if it is not flying. I had received an email that they knew that my annual condition inspection was due and wanted to see the entry in my log book that 142 Mike Golf was airworthy.

I paid my bill at CVA and stopped by the airport office with evidence of 142 Mike Golf’s airworthiness.

I have not flown for more than a month and have had lots of things apart so I suppressed my excitement and spent two hours checking her over.

The winds were now two seven zero degrees at thirteen knots with clear skies and a tempera of 14.4 C (58 F) and the metal hangar was beginning to talk.

The starter groaned for a bit before the Lycoming stumbled to life, oil pressure came up right away and when I turned on the Alternator she was showing 14.1 Volts. I leaned for taxi and she soon settled into a reassuring steady idle.

I was trying out a new microphone on my helmet and when I called ground I did not get an answer. I asked for a radio check and ground came back with; “you are barley readable Vance, would I please fix your radio.”

I went back to the hangar and changed out the microphone. The weather information was now Zulu and relatively unchanged.

I asked ground for a radio check and it was five by five.

“Experimental 142 Mike Golf, taxi to runway three zero via Alpha, Alpha Eight.”

I read back the clearance and began my almost half mile taxi to Alpha Eight.

I could feel both my excitement and trepidation building.

I worked through my run up and pre-takeoff list and run up went well, I changed the transponder to mode C (altitude reporting), changed to tower frequency and I taxied up to the hold short line and called the tower. Experimental Gyroplane 142 Mike Golf, holding short of runway three zero at Alpha Eight, ready for departure, request a straight out departure with a slight left to the north west.

ATC responded; “Experimental 142 Mike Golf, approved, runway three zero clear for takeoff.”

The words were magic to my ears and the beginning of a new flying adventure after so much preparation.

I took a deep breath and after repeating the clearance I gave her a little throttle and pushed the pre-rotator button.

I had reached one hundred rotor rpm before I reached the centerline and came half back with the cyclic, at a hundred and twenty rotor rpm I brought the cyclic full back, released the pre-rotator button and switched on the lights. At a hundred eighty rpm I gave her full throttle, the nose came up and I floated her nicely until she lifted off the runway at about 47 knots immediately yawing left into the wind.

It felt better than expected.

She climbed out nicely and as I neared 800 feet mean sea level I eased back on the throttle well before the end of the runway.

I felt more at home in the sky than I do walking on the ground. The Predator seemed to be responding to my thoughts more than my control inputs.

Apparently I do not have the capacity to remember the beauty of the Santa Maria after a little rain as I felt overwhelmed by the magic and texture of the sky and let out an involuntary long whoop. The hills were blanketed with a lush green and I could smell the wet earth as I was enveloped by the cool crisp air.

I made a sweep of the instruments and said aloud “temperatures and pressures in the green.”

I eased her to the left toward Guadalupe to get off the runway centerline as I had faster traffic departing behind me.

The treasured the feeling of freedom as I picked an arbitrary heading of two six zero degrees and planned a turn back to 300 degrees before overflying Guadalupe.

I descended to 600 feet as I overflew Osso Flaco Lake and turned to a magnetic heading of three five zero degrees as I crabbed into the wind up the coast with a ground track closer to 360 degrees.

Lots of people fly up and down the shoreline so I called on Oceano’s frequency to let pilots know where I was and what I was doing with my altitude, airspeed and direction of flight.

I turned to two zero zero degrees over the Oceano Dunes, checked the ATIS (weather) before calling ATC (air traffic control) ten miles to the north west at eight hundred feet inbound with Zulu.

As is often the case I was not ready for it to end when I reported left downwind mid field for runway three zero to land.

I repeated my landing clearance and wondered if I should do some pattern work just before touching down as gently as could be right at the taxiway. Usually when I have not flown for a while I feel insecure about where the runway is and was pleased with my confidence. It was a perfect ending to a perfect flight.

I fueled The Predator up and Taxied back to the hangar sitting in the afterglow for a half hour relieving the magic of the simple one hour flight.

It is raining now so I thought I would relive the flight and share the joy with my friends.

01/07/2024

I am feeling old this morning because I am driving to the EAA meeting in San Luis Obispo instead of flying just because it is 3.3C (37.9 F) with a dew point of 2.2 C at Santa Maria.

Winds are predicted to be 320 degrees at 22kts gusting to 33kts at my departure time.

I have suspect the temperature dew point spread will be over four degrees by departure time.

The last time I flew an open aircraft in such temperatures and winds I had trouble making radio calls because my lips became numb and it took me most of the evening and a hot bath to warm back up to a happy operating temperature.

12/18/2023

Maintaining currency:

When I road raced motorcycles (23 years) at the beginning of each season after a ten week layoff I would be typically four seconds a lap slower than I was at the end of previous season when racing the same motorcycle. Four seconds is a long time for someone who usually didn’t vary more than half a second a lap. It would take me three or four races to get back up to speed.

It appears to me that skills are fragile when doing something that requires complex skills and judgment.

In my opinion flying a gyroplane well takes skill and judgment and I had not been flying for over two weeks so I headed down to SMX for some practice.

I carefully went through my startup and run up check lists and called ground for taxi to runway three zero with Papa and repeated; Gyroplane one four two Mike Golf taxi to runway three zero via Romeo, Alpha five.

The Santa Maria Airport is a little torn up for construction changing my normal routine and radio calls. I was pleased that I did not trip over the changes.

A different voice was on tower and gyroplane one four two Mike Golf was cleared for takeoff at Alpha Five and I was to make left closed traffic and report abeam with intentions. Sometimes I have trouble understanding a female voce but hers was nice and easy to understand.

My log book has over five thousand takeoffs and landings so it is not like I didn’t know how to do it just as I did not forget how to ride a road racing motorcycle in the off season.

In The Predator (two place tandem with a 160 horsepower Lycoming IO-320 with a free castering nose gear and a weak pre-rotator) once the rotor reaches 180 rpm I go to full power and soon the nose will come up and I began continuously moving the cyclic forward to balance on the mains. I steer with the pedals until she lifts off and then she steers with the cyclic.

In a good takeoff she is on the centerline and the nose tire is around an inch off the ground. She will lift off on her own around 45kts indicated air speed and I keep the nose down accelerating to 50kts to climb out. Pattern altitude at SMX is 800 feet so at 750 feet I began to reduce power leveling off at 800 feet.

Sometimes this will happen before my cross wind turn and sometimes after depending on conditions.

Wind is seldom calm or steady at SMX.

During a good power on landing I reduce power to 1,400 rpm, maintain 50kts until I began my roundout at 20 feet above the ground and continually bring the cyclic back until I flare at less than a foot touching down gently on the centerline at near zero ground speed.

My first takeoff the nose came up a little higher than I would like after giving her full throttle and I lifted off at around 40kts.

With a gusting wind at two seven zero degrees at fifteen knots she wandered a little to the left on lift off with her nose pointed left.

The magic of the first takeoff always exceeds my expectations as she leaps off the ground despite my piloting being less than perfect.

I felt my cross wind turn roll out was a little sloppy and I had to correct my heading about five degrees left.

Mid field, downwind I requested and received runway three zero cleared for the option.

I let my altitude get a little low turning base.

Round out was nice and right at fifty knots but I felt insecure about just where the ground was just before touchdown.

Touchdown was nice but slightly right of the centerline as I gently let the nose tire touch down.

I vowed to do better and most of my nine patterns were progressively a little better in the details and I felt a little more confident about where the ground was at the end of the hour.

A couple of times I drifted right of the centerline just before touchdown.

I feel I am still a little sloppy exiting some of the turns on heading.

My airspeed and altitude are defiantly improved.

I debriefed myself as though I was a learner and after filling up I sat in front of the hangar in the afterglow enjoying replaying various parts of the flight.

I downloaded my GoPro and reviewed the flight and my radio calls.

I was now more comfortable with my currency.

12/07/2023

I have been working at adjusting my life to fit my advancing years (74).
I never expected to last this long as my father died at 69 so I had planned to expire at 70.
I have recently spent a lot of time downsizing my expenditures so I don’t outlive my money.

My doctor recently died and the doctor selected by my health conglomerate to replace him is a 65 year old woman who has spent her entire career helping indigenous people (Indians) get old gracefully.
Perfect I thought, as I find I am often emotionally aligned with indigenous people.

I met her for the first time Monday and after some conversation about my file (I was pleased she had read it) she said; “ I am amazed they let you fly because you are blind in one eye, you have had a severe traumatic brain injury, and you are 74.”
I explained that a highly qualified neurologist had encouraged me to fly and the FAA carefully considered my application for a medical over two years creating a file that can be measured in pounds.

I spent the next day trying to find a doctor who had graduated from a good school as she had and would accept Medicare.
I was not successful so I wrote her a letter explaining how important I felt learning was to maintain my cognitive skills, how important passion was to maintain my happy attitude and how important regular exercise was to keep my heart and muscles working.
Flying and being a flight instructor requires me to continue to learn and I am regularly tested to see that I have retained my proficiency.
It adds order and purpose to my life.
It is something I love to do.
I love my wife and that too helps my attitude about new aches that occur with aging.

The idea of being a couch potato has no appeal for me and I have seen it destroy some friends and ruin some marriages who retired and didn’t have a hobby.
Hopefully I will be able to address this divergence of opinion successfully.

Fortunately my Basic Med doctor does not agree with her assessment and saw no reason to ground me during my last physical.

10/01/2023

Paso Robles Airport was having an airport day to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Paso Robles buying the airport (PRB) from San Luis Obispo.
My friend Mark Dart invited me to bring my gyroplane that I use for flight training (The Predator) to the event and I made a commitment to him before I realized that it conflicted with the Ken Brock Freedom Fly In at El Mirage Dry Lake.
I love spending time with pilots and it is fun to introduce aviation enthusiasts to gyroplanes so I decided going to Airport Day at Paso Robles was a good plan.
There have been some big fires up north and the smoke has drifted down our way sometimes limiting visibility to as little as six miles and we often have fog in the morning at Santa Maria (SMX) where I am based so I headed to PRB Friday afternoon so I could be there at nine o’clock when the event started.
Mark was kind enough to give me a place to stay and a ride from and to the airport as well as inviting me to a lovely pilot’s party Friday evening.
I recently installed a new battery in The Predator and the starter made that low battery unhappy starter noise before she kicked over and settled into an unsteady idle. I shut her down and she started right up so I made the decision to go ahead and fly the 47 nautical miles to Paso Robles despite the unhappy starter. It would have been smarter to spend a few hours fixing the problem and headed to the event Saturday arriving around 1:00 after the fog burned off.
Visibility was supposed to be seven miles but in the picture I am seven miles from the San Luis Obispo airport (SBP) at 3,500 feet and I see no hint of the airport.
I asked the San Luis Obispo tower for a transition through SBP’s airspace and it was approved as requested.
I climbed to 3,500 feet over the Cuesta Grade to avoid the strong winds and turbulence lower down.
With the grade behind me I discovered that I could not see PRB so I checked my sectional and plotted a compass heading doing my best to spot landmarks. I feel I have better situational awareness when I use a chart in additional to a GPS to navigate even though the open cockpit adds to the challenge of using paper charts.
I checked the weather at PRB and the winds were 220 degrees at 17kts so I felt runway one niner would be the best runway for me.
I called on the common traffic advisory frequency from ten miles out; “Paso Robles area traffic; Experimental Gyroplane one four two Mike Golf ten miles to the south descending through two thousand feet inbound for left traffic runway one niner to land, 75kts, Paso Robles.”
PRB appeared out of the smoke and there were only two other aircraft in the pattern so I announced Downwind mid field, turning base, turning final and touched down at the taxiway reporting clear of runway one niner as I crossed the hold short line. The engine died and I had a hard time starting her with the starter making the low voltage clicking. After a little coaxing she started right up and I made my way to transient parking.
As I was securing my aircraft Mark showed up and said he would send my ride by shortly.
I explained about my battery challenges and we did not have a viable back up plan so I hoped for the best.
It is not a small job getting to the battery and I did not have the special charger anyway.
Tony showed up and we exchanged phone numbers and he gave me a ride to the motel.
As is often the case when taking another parties unused reservation there was some confusion that was eventually sorted out.
My ride to the party showed up and it was two remarkable Frenchmen who had flown a Fouga Magister Jet from Mojave. Frederic was a flight instructor and the François owned the jet but was not yet rated in it.
We had a lot of fun and the food at the party at the California Coast Brewery was great.
The event started at 9:00AM so I turned in early agreeing to meet with Frederic and Francois at 7:45 for a ride to the airport.
Mark figured out where he wanted The Predator and provided me with a helper to push her into place.
I am always anxious when involved in a party that no one will come.
We were off to a slow start and it was fun to watch the event grow.
I am always surprised at the number of people that are interested in flying and started to learn and never earned a pilot’s certificate (license). There lots of great stories of life getting in the way.
There were also lots of aviation enthusiasts and pilots and I never tire of hearing their stories.
I gave out a lot of cards and likely I will get together with some of them and teach them to fly a gyroplane.
I enjoyed the culture of the Paso Robles airport a lot and had a lovely day immersed in aviation despite the question of will she start hanging over me like the sword of Damocles.
The event was finished and around 3:00 I started to preflight her and by 3:45 I called CLEAR PROP and the Lycoming came to life.
I waved goodbye to my friends and the run up and takeoff were uneventful.
I looked at the mountains through the smoke and had trouble relating landmarks to my chart.
Somewhere out there was the gap that was the Cuesta Grade so I followed California Highway 101 and the gap appeared out of the smoke.
I was at 3,000 feet and reached both ATIS (weather) and air traffic control at SBP sooner than expected to request a transition and it was approved; altitude at pilot’s discretion.
The Pacific looked wonderfully blue as I passed over Shell Beach and the smoke added some mystery.
Without asking frequency change was approved as I left SBPs class delta airspace.
I was still a little higher than usual and the ATIS and Tower from SMX came in nicely.
I worked around some traffic going into Oceano (L52) and called the Santa Maria Tower over Nipomo with information Foxtrot and was to make right traffic for runway three zero and report mid field.
Before I could touch the button; Experimental two Mike Golf was cleared to land runway three zero.
It was a little gusty so I asked for a wind check and it was three zero zero degrees at 12kts. The wind socks did not agree and the landing still was uneventful.
I sat in the afterglow for a half hour relieving the flight and the event before rolling her into the hangar and hooking up the battery charger.
So as to not leave the story unfinished Monday my charger was still not blinking so the battery was not reaching full charge and I pulled off the side panel and removed the battery mount (about a two hour job working alone). I checked the connections and discovered the positive terminal had worked loose and I tightened her up and hooked the charger up.
Tuesday the charger was blinking indicating a full charge. I double checked all the fasteners and she started right up. There are five fasteners that I have trouble managing alone so Ed (my wife) came down to the hanger and helped me install the battery mount and the side panel and The Predator is again ready to fly.
Paso Robles Airport was having an airport day to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Paso Robles buying the airport (PRB) from San Luis Obispo.
My friend Mark Dart invited me to bring my gyroplane that I use for flight training (The Predator) to the event and I made a commitment to him before I realized that it conflicted with the Ken Brock Freedom Fly In at El Mirage Dry Lake.
I love spending time with pilots and it is fun to introduce aviation enthusiasts to gyroplanes so I decided going to Airport Day at Paso Robles was a good plan.
There have been some big fires up north and the smoke has drifted down our way sometimes limiting visibility to as little as six miles and we often have fog in the morning at Santa Maria (SMX) where I am based so I headed to PRB Friday afternoon so I could be there at nine o’clock when the event started.
Mark was kind enough to give me a place to stay and a ride from and to the airport as well as inviting me to a lovely pilot’s party Friday evening.
I recently installed a new battery in The Predator and the starter made that low battery unhappy starter noise before she kicked over and settled into an unsteady idle. I shut her down and she started right up so I made the decision to go ahead and fly the 47 nautical miles to Paso Robles despite the unhappy starter. It would have been smarter to spend a few hours fixing the problem and headed to the event Saturday arriving around 1:00 after the fog burned off.
Visibility was supposed to be seven miles but in the picture I am seven miles from the San Luis Obispo airport (SBP) at 3,500 feet and I see no hint of the airport.
I asked the San Luis Obispo tower for a transition through SBP’s airspace and it was approved as requested.
I climbed to 3,500 feet over the Cuesta Grade to avoid the strong winds and turbulence lower down.
With the grade behind me I discovered that I could not see PRB so I checked my sectional and plotted a compass heading doing my best to spot landmarks. I feel I have better situational awareness when I use a chart in additional to a GPS to navigate even though the open cockpit adds to the challenge of using paper charts.
I checked the weather at PRB and the winds were 220 degrees at 17kts so I felt runway one niner would be the best runway for me.
I called on the common traffic advisory frequency from ten miles out; “Paso Robles area traffic; Experimental Gyroplane one four two Mike Golf ten miles to the south descending through two thousand feet inbound for left traffic runway one niner to land, 75kts, Paso Robles.”
PRB appeared out of the smoke and there were only two other aircraft in the pattern so I announced Downwind mid field, turning base, turning final and touched down at the taxiway reporting clear of runway one niner as I crossed the hold short line. The engine died and I had a hard time starting her with the starter making the low voltage clicking. After a little coaxing she started right up and I made my way to transient parking.
As I was securing my aircraft Mark showed up and said he would send my ride by shortly.
I explained about my battery challenges and we did not have a viable back up plan so I hoped for the best.
It is not a small job getting to the battery and I did not have the special charger anyway.
Tony showed up and we exchanged phone numbers and he gave me a ride to the motel.
As is often the case when taking another parties unused reservation there was some confusion that was eventually sorted out.
My ride to the party showed up and it was two remarkable Frenchmen who had flown a Fouga Magister Jet from Mojave. Frederic was a flight instructor and the François owned the jet but was not yet rated in it.
We had a lot of fun and the food at the party at the California Coast Brewery was great.
The event started at 9:00AM so I turned in early agreeing to meet with Frederic and Francois at 7:45 for a ride to the airport.
Mark figured out where he wanted The Predator and provided me with a helper to push her into place.
I am always anxious when involved in a party that no one will come.
We were off to a slow start and it was fun to watch the event grow.
I am always surprised at the number of people that are interested in flying and started to learn and never earned a pilot’s certificate (license). There lots of great stories of life getting in the way.
There were also lots of aviation enthusiasts and pilots and I never tire of hearing their stories.
I gave out a lot of cards and likely I will get together with some of them and teach them to fly a gyroplane.
I enjoyed the culture of the Paso Robles airport a lot and had a lovely day immersed in aviation despite the question of will she start hanging over me like the sword of Damocles.
The event was finished and around 3:00 I started to preflight her and by 3:45 I called CLEAR PROP and the Lycoming came to life.
I waved goodbye to my friends and the run up and takeoff were uneventful.
I looked at the mountains through the smoke and had trouble relating landmarks to my chart.
Somewhere out there was the gap that was the Cuesta Grade so I followed California Highway 101 and the gap appeared out of the smoke.
I was at 3,000 feet and reached both ATIS (weather) and air traffic control at SBP sooner than expected to request a transition and it was approved; altitude at pilot’s discretion.
The Pacific looked wonderfully blue as I passed over Shell Beach and the smoke added some mystery.
Without asking frequency change was approved as I left SBPs class delta airspace.
I was still a little higher than usual and the ATIS and Tower from SMX came in nicely.
I worked around some traffic going into Oceano (L52) and called the Santa Maria Tower over Nipomo with information Foxtrot and was to make right traffic for runway three zero and report mid field.
Before I could touch the button; Experimental two Mike Golf was cleared to land runway three zero.
It was a little gusty so I asked for a wind check and it was three zero zero degrees at 12kts. The wind socks did not agree and the landing still was uneventful.
I sat in the afterglow for a half hour relieving the flight and the event before rolling her into the hangar and hooking up the battery charger.
So as to not leave the story unfinished Monday my charger was still not blinking so the battery was not reaching full charge and I pulled off the side panel and removed the battery mount (about a two hour job working alone). I checked the connections and discovered the positive terminal had worked loose and I tightened her up and hooked the charger up.
Tuesday the charger was blinking indicating a full charge. I double checked all the fasteners and she started right up. There are five fasteners that I have trouble managing alone so Ed (my wife) came down to the hanger and helped me install the battery mount and the side panel and The Predator is again ready to fly.

Breese Aircraft Company

03/13/2024

03/07/2024

01/07/2024

12/18/2023

12/07/2023

10/01/2023

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