MY OPINION

ARTHUR ROSEN

VENICE BEACH-SANTA MONICA-LOS ANGELES

With various events happening in Aviation, it has been a few months since I have written about flying west of the Rockies. Last column was on San Diego and this month we take a look at Venice Beach, Santa Monica and Los Angeles (LA).

The LA area is huge. South of downtown LA is Venice Beach and Santa Monica. Santa Monica (SMO), Whitman (WHP) and Van Nuys (VNY) are 3 GA airports close to both Venice Beach and Santa Monica. SMO, WHP and VNY have GPS and VOR approaches, in addition VNY has an ILS approach. There can be a marine layer at these airports in the morning which would require you to be IFR. VNY has become more of a jet GA airport and the wait can be long to depart IFR. I would suggest using WHP if you want to be close to Hollywood and use SMO for Venice Beach and Santa Monica.The LA Basin has more controlled airspace than I have ever flown. ATC is great to work with. If you are not an IFR pilot, you will have to do a lot sectional studying to get through the airspace. It can be done. Be aware that SMO does charge a landing fee by weight for everyone, which is crazy because it cost the city around $30 to send you the bill. My landing fee in the Bonanza is $6.21. You can follow the fiascos of SMO on my blog at

http:\\aviation-myopinion.blogspot.com.

Venice Beach does not feel like part of LA. VB derived its name from the canals that flow through the city. There are some beautiful, and very expensive, homes located on the canals which are all walkable. VB is home of the famous “muscle beach” area. This is an outside gym featuring people with extremely large muscles...steroids anyone? It is a site to see. There is a board walk for runners, walkers and bikers that connects with Santa Monica. The board walk is full of shops that take you back to the 60’s, a true flashback in time. It’s a safe area for families with children as long as they are supervised.

About 3 miles north of VB is Santa Monica. SM is more upscale than VB. The restaurants and shopping are more high end. Hotels in SM are expensive on the beach running $350 and up a day. There are plenty of hotels 2 blocks from the beach that are much less expensive. Two different shopping areas exists in SM. One is an outdoor mall with chain stores anchored by the new Nordstroms and Bloomingdales. The other shopping area is a main street of local shops. They are both worth visiting. Restaurants are numerous and outstanding. SM is famous for the Santa Monica Pier. Rides and people galore are at the pier area right on the beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Movie star sightings are common in Santa Monica. The weather is outstanding in the summer. A light jacket is needed at night, and during the day it can get windy.

Los Angeles is huge. There is more to do here that I could ever write about. Disneyland, Universal Studios, Baseball, Guggenheim Museum and Rodeo Drive are just a few examples of things to do. I have family that lives in Malibu on the North side of LA. Malibu has a public beach, Zuma Beach. My best advice is to google Los Angeles and decide what you would like to accomplish on your trip.

Next San Francisco.

THIS AND THAT

I enjoy writing these columns and do not benefit financially from them. They are usually written 2 months before publication. These stories are good for an in depth look at an issue, however the information is not timely for aviation issues. For example while I am writing this we are undergoing 3 crisis in general aviation. They are the discontinuation of 100LL fuel, ADS-B requirements and the 121.5 v. 406mhz transponder. Therefore I have also started a BLOG that can be accessed at:

HTTP://AVIATION-MYOPINION.BLOGSPOT.COM

I hope you will check it out as the BLOG contains information that is current and important to GA.

IPAD AND FORE FLIGHT

CHECK IT OUT!

I love gadgets and so do many of my friends. On the day the IPad was released I knew several people who walked into the office with one. The IPad has a great future but was too big for what I wanted to do in my airplane. In direct sunlight it has to be positioned squarely in front of ones vision. When a 7 inch tablet is released I will probably buy one.

My pilot friends were talking about an aviation APP for the IPad and IPhone from ForeFlight. After 10 minutes of playing around with ForeFlight I was truly impressed. I have used RMS Flight Soft from the days of DOS on my computer. I love the program. I take my laptop with me in the cockpit of the Bonanza on long trips. I found it easier to look at charts on the computer than fold and unfold paper charts. I still print out approach plates. My Mac Book Air is bulky in the plane. My wife has to hold the computer for me if we are rerouted. ForeFlight does everything I could ask for on a flight planning and routing software. The graphics on the IPad are amazing, although I find the IPhone to be too small for the APP.

One just downloads the charts and approaches needed, and you have a true Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). ForeFlight has a great marketing program. They give away one month free and by then you are hooked. It is that good and easy to use. The cost for ForeFlight for the total US is only $75.00 a year! (excluding IPad).

With the new 3G IPad with GPS, ForeFlight now shows situational awareness on everything but approach plates.

I have resigned my AOPA-ASN position at Phoenix Deer Valley (DVT) to become the ASN at Scottsdale (SDL). I feel that I have accomplished as much as I possibly could at DVT in a positive manner. I had everything approved that was on my list at DVT excluding a new third runway. SDL is undergoing a new EA, Master Plan, Minimum Standards and other issues that will make my time serving on these committees very productive. My thanks to Carl Newman, Assistant Aviation Director for the City of Phoenix for all his support and cooperation. Honesty and integrity are the best words to describe Carl. My thanks also to Gary Mascaro who was the assistant airport manager at SDL, became Airport Manager of DVT and in May 2010, Aviation Director of SDL. I would also like to thank Toby Jones who was made Tower Manager at DVT when I was ASN there. This might be an oxymoron, but Toby was the best FAA person I ever worked with and that includes 2 FAA Administrators. Toby was recently promoted to Supervisor at PHX TRACON. Finally thanks to Ed Chauza, Past President, Deer Valley Pilots Association (DVPA). Ed, and the members of DVPA, were always there for me when I needed their support. Finally I would like to thank all the previous and current ASN Directors and AOPA Staff for their assistance on various aviation issues.

Arthur Rosen is a retired Judge living in Scottsdale, AZ. Arthur is AOPA-ASN for Scottsdale Airport (SDL), was Chairman of the Scottsdale Aviation Commission, served on the Super Bowl Committee for Aviation, past President of Arizona Soaring Association and Aviation Expert for ABC TV-Phoenix. Arthur can be reached at Judge613@gmail.com, followed on Twitter at Judge613 and his BLOG:

http://aviation-myopinion.blogspot.com