Hurry up and wait

Whoever said that it doesn't rain in Southern California didn't try to fly to Santa Monica the other day.

At departure time, weather at CRQ was light rain and overcast but had 4 miles visibility and
1500' ceilings. Weather at SMO was reporting IFR with 1400' overcast and 2 miles visibility - easy peasy! After departure, I was immediately in the soup and with the freezing level expected at about 7500', I settled in for an easy ride at 6000' with a 15 kt tailwind and a few patches of level 3 precip.


(aside) My Cirrus SR20 has XM Radio and I generally listen to CNN on my ride up in the morning. Just wanted to say that Tony Harris has the most irritating voice/style of any news anchor I've ever heard.

About 10 minutes out, I picked up the new ATIS at SMO and they had published a special with a 700' ceiling and 1/2 mile visibility. Uh oh... Approach minimums are 680' and 1 mile visibility and the approach is a VOR-a offset about 20 degrees.

I decided to continue with the approach - planning for the missed - and when I popped out, I was right at the runway and couldn't possibly have made it down safely (or otherwise). After going missed, I decided to shoot another approach hoping that the 15 mins it takes to make the circuit would give me better weather. I had departed with full tanks and had plenty for another try + any number of alternates.

The second time around, the weather was worse if anything and I didn't even see the airport. Rather than fly back home to CRQ and miss work for the whole day, I decided to fly to Van Nuys (VNY) which is about 10-15 nm northeast of SMO and has an ILS. Before starting the second approach to SMO, I had also checked the weather at VNY and they were reporting 600' ceilings. That wouldn't have been enough for a filed alternate, but was a fine next attempt because I still had 4 hours of fuel onboard and there were a number of airports further afield showing good weather (including CRQ).

The approach to VNY was uneventful and I taxied to Signature for a $25 (ramp fee) wait in the FBO lounge. After several phone calls with work, two bags of their excellent popcorn, and a couple minute chat with Cindy Crawford (who was waiting on her G5 to Aspen) I decided that the Wx at SMO was in good shape for the trip. I wish my excellent METAR program on my iPhone reported runway in use :)

After getting my clearance and holding short for departure, VNY tower came on to tell me that there was a flow program into SMO and I should expect a 30 min delay. SHEESH! Rather than taxi back, I decided to just move over to the runup area, set the parking brake, lean up the engine and make a few more phone calls. I also popped open my laptop, fired up my Verizon card and did a little work! The delay notice came across at 10:20am and I finally got my takeoff clearance at 11:12am. It turns out that the delay was due to SMO landing on RWY 3 (which is a circle-to-land on the VOR-a) resulting in the flow control.

After a 14 minute flight to SMO (where the ceilings were now 1500' and 5 miles visibility) I *finally* landed and ended my oddessy. What normally takes me 1:05 door-to-door took 4.5 hours that day. A friend of mine once said, "experience is what you get when you don't get what you want." I wanted to get to work and instead ended up getting some great approach practice in actual conditions.

All-in-all, another excellent, fun commute to work!