a day of summer flying with friends! fly with me to get lunch & ice cream

A four-airplane meetup, lunch in Solvang, ice cream across the street from the ramp, and about two hours of hand-flying a 1952 Bonanza over Southern California. This is the full route, the radio work, the checklist flows and the planning logic behind a perfect-weather day trip: KCMA → KIZA → KSZP → KCMA.

What you'll learn

• How to plan a short cross-country over Santa Barbara's Class C without ever talking to them
• The pre-start, run-up and pre-landing flows used in a straight-tail Bonanza
• Real-world CTAF technique at a non-towered field, including watching for no-radio traffic
• Why a $100-hamburger run works better as a group activity than a solo one
• How an owner schedules an annual inspection around a trip to Oshkosh

The airplane and the plan

The airplane is a 1952 Beechcraft C35 Bonanza, N5921C. The pilot is Stevie — a full-time product manager in tech, plus pilot, aircraft owner and flight instructor.

The route out is short and simple: depart Camarillo (KCMA) on a right crosswind departure, pick up the Santa Ynez bridge, head up the coast, climb to 6,500 feet — completely above the Santa Barbara Class C — then cross the ridgeline near the Santa Ynez VOR and descend into the valley to Santa Ynez (KIZA).

The social plan matters as much as the route. Max and Anna are coming in a Super Decathlon, plus friends Ryan and Ariel, for four airplanes on the ramp. As the description goes: it's what people with fun cars do when they drive somewhere to meet up — just with airplanes.

It's also Memorial Day weekend, and the freeway traffic is terrible everywhere. Flying over the top of it is part of the appeal.

Pre-start flow

Before the engine turns, the cockpit flow runs in a fixed order:

• Seat belts secure
• Doors and windows closed and latched
• Circuit breakers in
• Electrical switches off except the beacon
• Avionics master off
• Fuel selector on the left tank (full mains, a little in aux — the plan is to run off the left the whole way up)
• Cowl flaps open
• Carb heat off
• Mixture rich
• Prop auto
• Garmin Pilot ready to transfer the flight plan
• Keys on both, "Clear!"

First move after start: get out of the hangar row so the neighbors don't get blasted, then pick up the weather.

Camarillo ATIS Yankee (1955Z): wind 270 at 10 gusting 17, visibility 10, few clouds at 2,700, temperature 20, dew point 11, altimeter 29.95.

"Camarillo Ground, Bonanza 5921 Charlie, east end with Yankee,
 ready to taxi for right crosswind departure."
→ "Runway 26, taxi via Golf, Alpha."

Run-up

At the run-up area, the checklist is worked item by item:

1. Fuel selector on the left tank, fuel in both mains
2. Flight controls free and correct
3. Trim set for takeoff
4. Mixture rich
5. Throttle back for the mag check; check the top, mags good
6. Oil temperature and pressure good
7. Fuel pressure and fuel flow checked
8. Throttle good
9. Flight instruments checked and set
10. Radios and transponder set — tower frequency in
11. Flaps set, switch in neutral
12. Doors and windows one last check
13. Lights on shortly before departure

Then the pre-takeoff items that repeat all day: gas on the left tank, undercarriage light indicator, mixture full rich, propeller full forward, prop auto, seat belts.

Camarillo Tower puts 21 Charlie in line behind an Archer, clears the Bonanza for takeoff runway 26 with a right crosswind approved, and calls a helicopter north of the field below 500 feet — with someone else on final south of the field. Runway clear, helicopter in sight, and go.

Climbing to 6,500 over the Class C

The air is a little bumpy on climb-out, and there's traffic 300 feet above; staying on the current heading keeps the Bonanza well clear.

Passing 3,400 for 6,500, the plan puts the airplane entirely above the Santa Barbara Class Charlie — no clearance, no frequency change, no complications. Cruise works out to 142 knots true.

One nice detail of the airplane: it trims out so cleanly that the entire day gets hand-flown, including holding altitude while pointing the camera out the window.

The cloud situation is backwards from the usual Southern California pattern: instead of a marine layer over the water, there are clouds sitting over Santa Barbara, apparently stopped by the mountains, with clear air over the ocean.

Annual inspection and Oshkosh planning

There's a reason for the recent run of Bonanza content: the airplane is going down for its annual this week, scheduled earlier than strictly required so there's plenty of margin before Oshkosh. If the annual checks out, 21 Charlie is the airplane for the trip.

The Cessna 140 stays home this year — the trip is a hike, and there isn't enough time off work for it. (The 140's Oshkosh trip remains the most memorable flight to date.) Expect plenty of 140 flying while the Bonanza is in maintenance; the comment section swings between "where's the 140?" and "where's the Bonanza?" depending on which one shows up.

A note on privacy (sponsored)

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Descent and the arrival at Santa Ynez

Fifty miles goes by fast in this airplane — ten minutes out from the destination, and the descent has to start immediately, because pattern altitude at Santa Ynez is 1,600 feet and the airplane is very high over the mountains.

Santa Ynez AWOS (2032Z): wind 240 at 11 knots, peak gust 18, visibility more than 10, sky clear below 12,000, temperature 23°C, dew point 10°C.

To lose the altitude without diving, the descent gets stretched with a couple of S-turns down the valley over San Marcos Pass — the scenic route, with the airport already in sight and Santa Barbara on the other side of the hill.

Non-towered pattern work

Santa Ynez is CTAF, and the calls go out at every leg:

"Santa Ynez traffic, Bonanza 5921 Charlie, 6 miles to the east,
 will be overflying to left traffic 26, Santa Ynez."
"...3 miles to the east, to left traffic 26..."
"...crossing midfield, left traffic 26..."
"...left downwind 26..."  "...left base 26..."  "...final 26..."

Two cautions worth copying: even with nobody heard on the radio, you keep looking for Cubs and other aircraft that aren't required to have a radio; and the gusty, bumpy air makes even taking a drink of water a "risky move."

The Bonanza pre-landing flow is run at gear speed, at flap speed, and again on base and final: gear down, gear down — gas on the left tank, undercarriage light indicator, mixture full rich, prop full forward, prop auto, seat belts.

The landing itself floats badly in the left crosswind. The honest verdict: "That was ridiculous. You can't win them all" — with the small consolation that most of the friends hadn't arrived yet.

After shutdown: gear pins in, lights off, cowl flaps open, trim set for takeoff. Second airplane on the field.

Lunch in Solvang, then a change of plans

The group drove from the airport into Solvang, the Danish town, for lunch. Good food, no schedule: "We have no plans when we land. Very unlike me."

That flexibility pays off. The original plan was a direct return to Camarillo; instead the group decides on Santa Paula (KSZP) for ice cream at the Foster's Freeze across the street. Walk out the airport gate, get ice cream, walk back, leave. The same group had done exactly this the day before.

New flight plan built and previewed in Garmin Pilot, activated, cruise altitude 5,500 — same route back, different destination.

Departure setup at Santa Ynez switches the fuel selector to the right tank; everything else mirrors the morning: cowl flaps open, carb heat off, mixture rich, prop auto and full forward, throttle two turns, trim set, ignition both.

Santa Ynez AWOS (2330Z): wind 260 at 11, peak gust 18, visibility more than 10, clear below 12,000.

Departure call and clearing scan before rolling:

"Santa Ynez traffic, Bonanza departing runway 26, left downwind departure, Santa Ynez."
Finals clear, runway clear, upwind clear. Airspeed alive.

Then left crosswind, left downwind, "departing the area," and a reduced climb rate once clear.

Overhead break into Santa Paula

Back above the Santa Barbara Class C at 5,500, the return is quick. The arrival at Santa Paula is an overhead break — flown on the outside of the turn, and expected to be bumpy. Same pre-landing flow, this time with gas on the right tank, flaps in, gear down and confirmed, landing lights off after rollout.

On the ground: fuel, and ice cream a short walk outside the airport gate.

Home to Camarillo

Frequencies loaded (262, 218 and 282), run-up done off to the side, mic check good.

"Santa Paula traffic, Bonanza departing runway 22, straight out, Santa Paula."

Approaching home, Camarillo Tower is advertising wind 280 at 15, visibility 10.

"Camarillo Tower, Bonanza 5921 Charlie, at Echo bridge with Quebec, full stop."
→ "Make right traffic runway 26."
→ "Runway 26, cleared to land, winds 260 at 14 gust 18."

Slowing down for a number-one arrival means banking and bringing the nose up to bleed the airspeed off, then the familiar flow twice through: gear down, gas on the left tank, undercarriage light indicator, mixture full rich, prop full forward, auto, seat belts, flaps in. Final clear — and with the sun low, "definitely going to need a little sun visor here."

After landing: left at Bravo, ground point 82, taxi to the east end via Foxtrot.

The takeaway

Two short legs, three airports, four airplanes, lunch and ice cream — and the whole day hand-flown. The planning that made it easy is worth stealing: a cruise altitude chosen to overfly the Class C entirely, a descent started early enough to be stretched with S-turns instead of a dive, a pre-landing flow repeated at every configuration change, and no fixed agenda once the wheels touched down at the first stop.