Hello everybody,
And thank you for joining me on this hazy afternoon as I approach my home airport, taking a shortcut through the surrounding mountains.

My home airport is Whiteman airport, located at the north end of the Los Angeles metro area, and the shortcut I am referring to is the one cutting through the hills at the Pacoima Reservoir.

When coming home from the High Desert, this is my favorite route – saves me from going further west to the Newhall Pass, and usually provides stunning views of San Fernando valley.

The main challenge here is to approach at 4,500 to 5,000 feet MSL in order to be safe over the hills, but then descend rapidly through the canyon to below 3,000 feet MSL at the valley floor in order to avoid the Charlie airspace of Burbank airport.

The hill to the left of the reservoir is an official launching site for hang gliders, so all powered aircraft in the area must be very vigilant. Today there is no one at the site.

Listening to the Tower, I was told I am number 2 for landing on Runway 12, behind a Cessna… and in front of another fixed wing aircraft few miles to the north.

The trick here is to slow down in order to give the Cessna ample time to land and pull away from the runway, while still keeping the pace in front the fast mover coming behind me.

The gyroplane provides a wide range of airspeeds, so I never worry about my ability to maintain my distance, but sometimes when the aircraft in front of me is taking a bit longer than expected, I don’t hesitate to execute lazy sturns.

When the runway is clear, I resume my normal approach… maintaining 55 knots all the way down.

I would like to mention here that when executing full stop landings at a familiar airport, I do not aim at the numbers, but rather try to land as close as possible to my exit from the runway. This allows me to avoid long taxi on the ground with my rotor spinning.

After a very enjoyable flight and a safe landing, I call it “mission accomplished” …

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