Advice on a Trip from San Diego to Las Vegas?

I live in the UK and am considering a trip from the San Diego area to Las
Vegas at the end of the year.

I'm yet to get my hands on the charts, and being low on hours I was
wondering if anyone had any advice on how easy the trip would be to make.
or any other relevant advice they could share with me.

I learned to fly in the U.S. so I'm not tooo! worried about that aspect)

Thanks

Shane
(60 hr PPL).

"Shane" wrote in message
...
I live in the UK and am considering a trip from the San Diego area to Las
Vegas at the end of the year.

I'm yet to get my hands on the charts, and being low on hours I was
wondering if anyone had any advice on how easy the trip would be to make.
or any other relevant advice they could share with me.

I learned to fly in the U.S. so I'm not tooo! worried about that aspect)

Thanks

Shane
(60 hr PPL).

Hi Shane,
It's an easy trip. You've probably already considered flying one way
along the coast and the other going inland. Going into McCarran is doable,
but simpler to use North Las Vegas or Henderson -- and cheaper, I think. If
you plan the flight to pass nearby the Salton Sea, do some research on the
geology first. Particularly the earthquake faults.

On Mon, 9 Aug 2004 21:42:11 +0100, "Shane"
wrote in
::

I live in the UK and am considering a trip from the San Diego area to Las
Vegas at the end of the year.

I'm yet to get my hands on the charts, and being low on hours I was
wondering if anyone had any advice on how easy the trip would be to make.
or any other relevant advice they could share with me.


Search the rec.aviation.piloting newsgroup for keyword "las vegas" or
"LAS" to read a lot of useful information that has already been posted
about trips the
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en

You won't be disappointed.

"Shane" wrote in message
...
I live in the UK and am considering a trip from the San Diego area to Las
Vegas at the end of the year.

I'm yet to get my hands on the charts, and being low on hours I was
wondering if anyone had any advice on how easy the trip would be to make.
or any other relevant advice they could share with me.

Late September through December is the best time of the
year to fly in the Vegas area. The weather will generally be
clear, the winds tame, and temperatures cool. San Diego area
is occasionally fogged in early in the am, but it isn't too bad
later in the year.

The trip is pretty easy, but you'll need to weave your way
around a few restricted areas. I usually fly via Thermal and
Twenty nine palms; pretty much a straight shot. The highest
terrain is no more than about 6000. Remember, it gets quite
cold up high in the winter, so make sure your plane has a good
heater.

It's also bleak out there in the desert, so file a flight plan and
take supplies to survive a night with temps in the 30's if you
have to put down. South of Goffs VOR, your nearest
airport will be over 50 miles away.

McCarran is a rip for small planes; use VGT or HND.

In rec.aviation.owning Javier Henderson wrote:
"Casey Wilson" writes:

"Shane" wrote in message
...
I live in the UK and am considering a trip from the San Diego area to Las
Vegas at the end of the year.

Hi Shane,
It's an easy trip. You've probably already considered flying one way
along the coast and the other going inland.

How do you fly along the coast from San Diego to Las Vegas?

-jav

You wait for "the big one", then buy beachfront property in Nevada.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove -spam-sux to reply.

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In rec.aviation.piloting Shane wrote:
I live in the UK and am considering a trip from the San Diego area to Las
Vegas at the end of the year.

I'm yet to get my hands on the charts, and being low on hours I was
wondering if anyone had any advice on how easy the trip would be to make.
or any other relevant advice they could share with me.

I learned to fly in the U.S. so I'm not tooo! worried about that aspect)

Thanks

Shane
(60 hr PPL).

I'll pitch in and give some advice on flying that route. I will
also assume that you will be flying below FL180, in a turboprop or
lighter, and wanting to make the trip as convenient as it is enjoyable.

#1. Don't fly the coastal route. Going off the NACO approach
plates (http://www.myairplane.com), from San Diego Lindbergh, you're looking
at PEBLE3.SLI.V394.POM.V394.DAG.CLARR2 into Las Vegas. Below FL180, this
will throw you into the thralls of the major SOCAL traffic in the LAX
basin, including all the TEC (Tower Enroute) routes between SAN, the
Coast area (LGB, SNA, SLI, TOA), LAX, the CIVET/MITTS corridor (Civet4
and MITTS2 arrivals into LAX), then the HEC/DAG corridor (HEC VOR is
the VOR used mainly for arrivals into the LA Basin from the Northeast,
while DAG is used for northeasterly departures). You'll find that
highly congested, and unless you're looking for the thrill and wanting
to run circles around the traffic, rather taxing.

#2. While more scenic, the coastal route will take you out of
the way. I don't know if time or money is a constraint, but it would be
out of the way. Routing wise, once again, from Lindbergh, I'd go
BRDR5.JLI.V514.TRM.V514.TNP.CLARR2. Once again, refer to myairplane.com
for the arrival chart for Vegas (CLARR2 serves McCarran, North Las
Vegas, Henderson, and Boulder City). This route will will take you
across more land, but will be less congested. You will fly over the
Coachella Valley (Palm Springs), out into high desert, across the San
Bernardino mountains, before joining the bottom fringe of the Sierra
Nevada to join the arrival. It's scenic, especially with the vew of
Redrock Canyon during the final stages of the arrival.

#3. If you fly the trip during the winter months, it may not be
an issue. But read up on Density Altitude. It will help you, should you
ever try this trip during the summer. Also, be familiar with Class B
airspace. SAN, LAX, and LAS are all Class B, with the exception of VGT
and HND, which are class D.

#4. If cost is not a factor, by all means, land at McCarran.
Signature and Eagle Flight Support are damned good, will offer good
rates, and make sure your needs are well met. Otherwise, for ease of
access, fly into VGT. There is a local FBO, supply shop (full charts),
and flying club there, should you have any questions.

Have a good flight.

BL.
- --
Brad Littlejohn | Email:
Unix Systems Administrator, |
Web + NewsMaster, BOFH.. Smeghead! | http://www.sbcglobal.net/~tyketto
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"Tony Cox" wrote in
link.net:

[snip]

McCarran is a rip for small planes; use VGT or HND.



Calling McCarran a "rip" is drastically understating the gouging you
will receive there. They gouge you on fuel, tie down, and rental cars.
(Maybe some local can identify other gouges at LAS, but I stopped looking
after I identified these three.)

I went to Las Vegas from San Jose over the July 4th weekend. In
planning where to land, I looked at AirNav for fuel prices. McCarran was
$4.35/gallon. North Las Vegas was $2.66/gallon self-serf and $2.88/gallon
full serve. (Note: These fuel prices were in effect on July 1. More
recent prices on AirNav show LAS unchanged and VGT at $2.72 self-serve,
$2.92 full serve.)

Want to tie down? Overnight at LAS for a single is $50 at one FBO,
the other charges $35 per night + $20 handling fee. Both will waive first
night fee for "quantity" fuel purchase. (I didn't even bother to call to
ask what "quantity" meant.) At VGT it is $5 per night, but no waiver for
fuel purchase. The FBO at VGT is the City of North Las Vegas and, from
what I observed, they seem to treat everyone equally well, regardless of
whether you were in a Citation or in a 172.

Want to rent a car? At LAS, you have to pay a facilities service fee
of $24 per rental, sales tax of 7.5%, government service fee of 10%, and a
recovery surcharge of 10%. At VGT, there is no facilities service fee,
sales tax is 7.25%, government service fee is 6%, and recovery surcharge is
4%.


--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)

Hi Shane,

I've done this XC in a C152 and it's not too bad. You get a nice view
of the desert : ) You will have to get around the mountains east of LA
and to do so you can:
1) hop over Julian (JLI)
2) go thru banner pass (and see the windmills).
If you're going round trip/return you can do both options. I stopped
at Palm Springs (PSP) on the way up, it's a good stop. From there head
north and thread through the restricted areas, there's only one route
really.

You've seen the other comments on prices at LAS- are you staying the
night there? If not the price isn't too bad, I paid $3.30/gal for
100LL (when prices were normally $2.50) but that's it. I just stopped
for a bite to eat and left, no landing fees, etc at Signature.

p.s. the flight out to catalina island is a nice.

-lance smith


"Shane" wrote in message ...
I live in the UK and am considering a trip from the San Diego area to Las
Vegas at the end of the year.

I'm yet to get my hands on the charts, and being low on hours I was
wondering if anyone had any advice on how easy the trip would be to make.
or any other relevant advice they could share with me.

I learned to fly in the U.S. so I'm not tooo! worried about that aspect)

Thanks

Shane
(60 hr PPL).

On Mon, 9 Aug 2004 21:42:11 +0100, "Shane" wrote:
I'm yet to get my hands on the charts,

http://aviationtoolbox.org/raw_data/...onals/current/

Sectionals as 47 MB tiffs. Hope you are not on dialup!

http://www.memory-map.com for a free manipulator/displayer for the tiffs.

Demonick

Thanks for all your advice! Especialy those who sent maps, or showed me how
to get hold of them

I will probably plan a few routes to Henderson, as for an inexperianced
foreign PPL, this looks like the easiest of the options.


Thanks again!

Shane


"Shane" wrote in message
...
I live in the UK and am considering a trip from the San Diego area to Las
Vegas at the end of the year.

I'm yet to get my hands on the charts, and being low on hours I was
wondering if anyone had any advice on how easy the trip would be to make.
or any other relevant advice they could share with me.

I learned to fly in the U.S. so I'm not tooo! worried about that aspect)

Thanks

Shane
(60 hr PPL).