DSC03837

While leaving the airport I paid my dues at the unoffical control tower and had a chat with the guy whom I'd been speaking to an hour or so earlier. I asked him if I could do a couple of landings and take-offs before I left, just to get a better feel for the somewhat complex environment. He said that it was fine as long as I didn't do touch ´n go´s since the airport don't allow them so I had to do full stop taxi backs instead.

 

Landing and taking off at Catalina is a really interesting experience. First of all you'd be better of coming in slightly higher than you'd normally do. This is thanks to the strong downwinds just before the runway and if you come in to low and get caught in one of those babies you'll smash right into the side of the mountain.

 

Second of all, the runway isn't flat. Runway 22 (the preferred runway) slope uphill which means two things:

 

1) There´s an optical illusion that apparently freak a lot of people out (especially if you don't know about it beforehand) that make it seem like runway is much shorter than it actually is. This makes people either pump the brakes or abort landings when they really do have sufficient runway distance remaining.

 

2) If the wind is blowing from the mainland and you hence take off and land from runway 4 the slope is downhill. A runway going downhill is obviously bad news.

 

Anyway, I had a blast at Catalina and am glad that I managed to make the trip.

Done