San Andreas, April 22nd, 2006

This is a VERY good example of ATC's limitations and procedures that you should use as Pilot In Command during an IFR flight.

Introduction

On April 22nd, 2006, San Andreas Airport (Calaveras County) had its annual airport days to celebrate the airport and the sport of flying.  During the day, I assisted Fred Abrams of Abrams Aviation with display table and wasn't able to take any pictures.  The day was cloudy, ceilings low, but the weather was nice and everyone had a great time.

After airport days, my wife, myself and Fred Abrams went back to his home to have dinner - a beautiful home located in Twain Heart up in the mountains near Sedona California.

I filed my flight plan from Fred's home and we arrived at the airport about 15 minutes before our actual departure.  This is when things got relatively interesting...

Preparation for Departure

After my pre-flight (by this time it was dark outside) we taxied to the run-up area near runway 31.  The flight plan I had filed was an IFR flight plan, and I was planning on using the Obstacle departure for KCPU.  Below are both the Jeppesen (found on the airport plate) and NACO (found at the front of the government approach plates) departure procedures.

Jeppesen Obstacle Departure Procedures

NACO (FAA) departure procedure

However, there is an issue here.  Both of these departure procedures are incorrect because of an FDC-NOTAM that has been published for KCPU:

FDC-NOTAM for KCPU

This NOTAM says to climb to 3,000 feet instead of 2,300 feet before turning to the Linden 029 Radial.  The reason for this are the large 'mountains' to the west of KCPU.  You could only climb to 2,300 before turning as long as you don't turn DIRECT to the LIN VOR.  If you turn to intercept the 029 radial, you will make it around the mountains instead of into them.  Why did they issue this NOTAM?  I can only assume it is because most pilots were turning DIRECT to LIN instead of intercepting the R-029 from Linden.  If you turn Direct, you WILL crash into the mountains if you only climb to 2,300 feet.  However, if you turn to intercept the R-029 of Linden, you will not.

At this point, at the run-up area, we had no radio communication with ATC, so we couldn't get our clearance.  I took out my cell-phone and called 1-800-WX-BRIEF.  I got an Arizona, Ca. FSS who couldn't get me a clearance, but was able to give me a phone number to call to get one. 

I contacted the FSS on my Cell Phone and asked for a clearance for my IFR departure.  They put me on hold for about 15 minutes, came back on, and told me no controlling agency would take responsibility for any San Andreas traffic.  This was rather strange and told the FSS representative that there were approaches at KCPU and that someone had to take ownership.  Five minutes later I got my clearance.

Departure

Once I got my clearance, I departed KCPU on runway 31.  Climbing to about 2,000 feet I contacted approach and let them know I was IFR to Livermore.  They asked me to climb to 4,000 feet and then direct to FOOTO.  Since I was in N21483, which is GPS enabled, this wasn't much of an effort.

During departure I found that IMC at Night is much different than IMC during the day.  I found myself having to work a little harder to stay straight and level during the climb to 4,000 feet.  I turned on my taxi and landing lights to lighten up the clouds I was flying through which helped quite a bit.  This was a real surprise.

En-Route

Once I got to 4,000 feet, I turned direct to FOOTO.  After the turn, ATC asked me a very interesting question:

Cessna, 21483, Norcal Approach.  Would you tell us how you got out of San Andreas in IMC?

Huh? 

I responded to ATC:

Norcal approach, Cessna 21483 departed San Andreas using the Obstacle Departure procedure published in the NACO and Jeppesen charts with the FDC Notam taken into account.

Norcal responded:

Cessna 21483, interesting because we were discussing how you departed IFR from San Andreas when there are no published departures

This was getting very interesting

Norcal Approach, Cessna 21483, the obstacle departure clearance can be found in the front of the NACO charts under San Andreas and on the airport diagram for San Andreas on the Jeppesen plats.

Norcal responded:

Cessna 21483, interesting, we'll take a look at that.

The trip back to livermore was in IMC the whole way and quite uneventfull.

Lessons Learned

Lesson #1:  Read ALL NOTAMS (L, D, FDC) before departing on an IFR flight plan

Lesson #2:  When you call 1-800-WX-BRIEF, you won't necessarily get the FSS in your local calling area.  Ask for the phone number to call while filing your flight plan if you need to call in a departure clearance via the phone.

Lesson #3:  Make sure your cell-phone can get out before getting in the plane.  If you try to call from your plane and you can't get a signal, you'll have to taxi back and get your clearance over a land-line telephone.

Lesson #4:  NEVER assume that ATC knows the procedures to be used at an airport.  YOU as pilot in command are responsible for all departure, enroute and approach navigation - NOT ATC.

This page was last modified on 12/03/2006