A little business is better than none at all, and after the worst drought since I started flying for hire, I picked up a couple of nice flights this week. My regular customers must be experiencing a financial pinch, and they have passed that pinch on to me.

My first trip had me picking up three passengers in Chico in the pre-dawn light, flying down the Great Valley to Fresno to drop off two of the three. The third passenger was from Argentina and had business in San Diego before flying back to Buenos Aires, so while the other two attended a meeting, I brought him to Montgomery Field in San Diego.

The first leg was easy, but heading over the mountains into the LA Basin would be a bit more complicated. What SoCal folks call the "June Gloom" had descended upon the South Coast, a thick layer of stratus clouds that forms over the still cold waters of the Pacific, and then blows inland on the sea breeze. I was hoping the clouds would clear out before our 11:00 am arrival, but as we swept down the coastal lowlands towards the Mexican Border at 5,000 feet, a thick blanket of white obscured most of the urban areas, leaving the hills to the east in the clear.

I requested from ATC a clearance to perform an ILS approach into Montgomery Field, which is located a couple miles north of San Diego State University (SDSU.) This would allow me to descend safely though the clouds on a direct approach to the runway. The controller complied and gave me vectors (direction) to start the procedure. He handed me off to another controller in a sector closer in to the city, and this frequency was very busy. I struggled just to get enough airtime to check in with her, and she asked me to turn and fly a couple circles over an area east of the cloud layer. I began circling, and after about 10 circles I began to get concerned about my fuel supply.

The controller was still busy directing other, larger airplanes and had not spoken to me in several minutes. I called and let her know that I had 30 minutes of fuel aboard. She snidely told me that she would get me down in about 25 minutes. Okay, time for Plan B. The weather at the airport was 1400' overcast, which meant there was ample room to fly around underneath the clouds. I checked my chart for obstacles, and noticed that Interstate 8 was just beneath me. I called and cancelled my clearance, and told the controller I would proceed VFR under the layer. I dropped down to 1200 feet and followed the Interstate under the clouds. Using the GPS and visual checkpoints, I lined up and called the tower, and they immediately cleared me to land.

As we set up to land, I noticed SDSU, where Carter will be enrolled in the fall, passing off the left side. After landing, my Argentine passenger was amazed and thankful as he raved to his friend on the ground how I had circumvented the long wait. All in a day's work.

I bought fuel and quickly returned to Fresno to take the other two passengers back to Chico. A great day of flying.

Today I am standing by in Visalia on another charter. Hopefully I can stay busy this summer. It seems that I really only find time to write when away from home. I wonder why? (4 kids, 3 under 6 years old, and a wife working full time)