It was an interesting flight from KPAO to KTRK in mid-August, to spend a scant week in the woods. (When you’re working from home, “home” can be nearly anywhere!) I was between layers at 11,500′; the ground was not exactly visible for much of the flight. Still, it wasn’t a difficult VFR flight, and the mountains remained reasonably visible. It took a rapid descent to get into KTRK after crossing the ridge at Donner Pass, but I had already reduced power and it wasn’t a big deal.
The flight back was another matter entirely.
Smoke. Lots of smoke.
(For the non-pilots reading, see the bottom of the post for abbreviations.)
We had spent most of the (scant) week, my son and I, enjoying each other’s company inside. Not what we had planned, but it was the best alternative. I worked (as planned) during the days. We cooked and chatted in the evenings. We ventured outside rarely—maybe to take a picture for an Instagram yoga challenge I joined, just for fun (Sleeping Swan [Eka Pada Rajakapotasana] on the edge of the woods? Lizard [Uttana Pristhasana] on a rock?). Even Friday, when I took the day off, we hung around together inside, venturing out for a beer run (Good Wolf‘s Bracken, a New England IPA that’s really juicy and luscious). Now, it was Sunday and time to fly home.
Smoke. Lots of smoke.
Most of the reports along the route were for marginal VFR, often with unlimited ceilings (“clear below 12,000′”) but visibility of three or four miles. Not really my idea of fun flying, especially with a mountain departure. Time, then, for an IFR flight. That meant checking the departure procedures from KTRK (which I had previously flown), ensuring adequate climb performance to comply with the procedure, choosing an altitude, and generally planning the flight.
I decided that 16,000′ was a good altitude. Normally, I would fly this route at more like 10,500′, or even lower once I cleared the Sierra ridge. This time, I wanted to stay high above the smoke. I expected ATC would ask me to start down before I wanted to, so I planned to tell them I wanted to stay high and would happily descend at 2,000 fpm when necessary (about four times faster than my normal descent rate). In sum, everything worked out well, though even with my plan I had to start down sooner than I really wanted in order to stay out of the Oakland and San Francisco arrival traffic. I did need to (get to) fly a bona fide, actually necessary holding pattern on the departure out of KTRK, and the flight visibility in the Bay Area was bad enough that I was certainly glad I was flying on an IFR clearance, and that I flew the approach into KPAO.
What about the smoke? I hit it at about 8,300′ on the way down. I was on oxygen, and not just because I’d been flying at 16,000′: I wanted the oxygen and full oxygen mask as protection against the smoke. Though I could smell smoke, I knew I was still getting a nice dose of clean air with every breath.
Abbreviations
- VFR: visual flight rules. You must fly clear of clouds and with good visibility.
- IFR: instrument flight rules. You’re allowed to fly in the clouds and in poor visibility.
- KTRK: Truckee Tahoe airport
- KPAO: Palo Alto airport
- ATC: Air Traffic Control
- Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Uttana Pristhasana: Sanskrit names for two different yoga poses