On Sunday the 22nd of April 8 women flew in 3 planes from Santa Monica Airport to Camarillo Airport for lunch for the LA 99’s first fly-in. It was also my own very first fly-in –something I’d been looking forward to doing since becoming a pilot.

The day dawned sunny and calm … absolutely perfect flying weather! So with the trip a go we met at 2000 Zulu at the observation deck, Santa Monica Airport (that’s 1300 PT for those who don’t have their PPL’s yet). A quick hello to each other and then we were off to preflight our planes. I was flying a Piper Cherokee with two passengers. There were 3 people going in a Mooney and a further 2 going in a Light Sport Airplane. The Mooney took off first, followed by us in the Piper and finally the Light Sport.

We had all opted to fly up the coast and then cut north west towards Camarillo Airport at some point after Point Dume. It was glorious flying along the coast, a view to one side of the sea all the way out to Catalina Island and the mountains on the other side. There was plenty of traffic to watch out for and it soon became very obvious that our Piper was no match for the Light Sport behind us. They were catching up fast! While the Light Sport took evasive action not to catch us, we valiantly tried to fly fast enough to stay out of their way. We landed just ahead of them and parked in front of the Waypoint Café – very ready for lunch. It was absolutely fabulous to spend time over lunch chatting and getting to know the others in the group. Our table overlooked the airfield and our time was spent discussing airplanes, flying schools, cross-country training, pilot dreams and ambitions and………milkshakes! Yup, milkshakes. All it took was one person to cave in and the rest of us followed like skittles  n the path of a perfectly aimed bowling ball. Before long, our table groaned under  the weight of them.

And soon it was time to head back to Santa Monica. No formation flying allowed at Camarillo airport, so we each took off in our own time and headed back down the coast. The sun was starting to sink and the air was still really calm. We were a group of very happy flyers enjoying the feeling of being way up high, with a view over the world, having spent an afternoon in the company of some truly fabulous women.

 

Santa Monica Tower: Runway 2-1-, you’re cleared to land.
Me: Runway 2-1-, cleared to land, 7 Victor Papa….
….and so ends an amazing day with the 99’s!

 

Special Thanks to our member, Aryhnn Descy, for writing the blog post. Photos by Vice Chair, Vanessa Gibson.