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Well, that was different. Just look at all that water:

Okay, just kidding. The water had no import on the flight, however the Bravo was on the bucket list for a while. And surprisingly, they even cleared me into it, albeit on the way back.

You can tell it wasn't like Denver, where a controller once told me: "I don't have the time to deal with you", after the usual "Squack VFR, remain clear of Class Bravo". I went into Glendale (KGLU), and thought better than zig-zag around without knowing the landmarks. Instead I squeezed on top of the Scottsdale Delta at 4800 and then dived down under a shelf at 2800, from where it was smooth sailing to a 45 degree entry for right traffic at 16. Score!

On the way back it was another story, as I had to gun 2700 r.p.m. all the way from Metro Center and contemplated a careful switchback to climb on top of Deltas. Speaking of Metro Center, I never saw it on either way there or back. So much for a supposedly prominent landmark.

Another funny thing happened on departure, too. Since I went left crosswind for a north-east departure out of GLU, I checked in with Phoenix at 120.7, who immediately told me to contact Luke at 118.15. That was despite me hearing how they called me as a traffic to someone else. When I got through to Luke, they bounced me back to Phoenix, while also advising another aircraft about me. Fortunately by that time was almost at Metro and Phoenix agreed to deal with me.

It felt like both controllers were confused by my attempt to get on top of Scottsdale. Apparently locals take north and go around Deer Valley in such circumstances. Oh well, it was Sunday. I never saw another airplane except in the pattern at Glendale.

Oh, and one other thing. While the scaremongering about thraffic and ATC turned out to be overblown, the airspace is complex indeed. I had to resort to flying by the terminal approach chart, because Phoenix sectional was just too dense with symbols. In Denver, TAC only made me confused due to scale being twice off, but here I had to suck it up and focus on hitting pre-planned altitudes carefuly (which would be impossible even to write on the sectional).

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at 01:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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