Fly In/Drive In

Southern California is a required destination for aviators and aviation buffs of all kinds. Why not make Flabob your headquarters for your Southern California visit? If the budget will allow it, stay at the beautiful and historic Mission Inn, www.missioninn.com, nearby in downtown Riverside. Even if you don't stay there, drop in and see the Famous Flyers Wall, just outside the Aviators' Chapel.

Riverside boasts many other fine hotels in all price levels www.riversidecb.com Enterprise will deliver a car to Flabob, (951) 710-5125‎.

With your headquarters airport and hotel arranged, drive or fly to Chino Airport for a visit to the Air Museum -- Planes of Fame www.planesoffame.org, or the Yanks Air Museum www.yanksair.com.

Nearby March Air Reserve Base, with a rich history back to its founding in 1917, has the superb March Field Museum www.rth.org/march/mfm.html, and the associated P-38 museum and 475th Fighter Group Museum.

Less than an hour's scenic drive and an even shorter flight is Palm Springs Air Museum www.air-museum.org. Or travel the other direction to Santa Paula Airport and its museum www.amszp.org, with stops at Cable www.cableairport.com.

If these aren't enough, or if your travel party includes some whose primary interests lie elsewhere than in aviation, it is not possible to run out of interesting things to do in Southern California. Make Flabob your home base, hang out at the historic cafe, and get all the advice you'll ever need. Who knows, some of it may even be good advice.

FIRST TIME FLYING TO FLABOB?   HERE ARE SOME TIPS.

Some pilots who fly into Flabob for the first time find it scary because of the mountain which is right in your face on downwind leg.   Friend, this is because you are too high.   Daytime pattern altitude at Flabob is 1,464 feet, which is 700 feet AGL, lower than most patterns. The reason for this is Mt. Rubidoux, which sits about where you would want to turn base. If you are at the proper, low, altitude, the "key spot" will be well inside the mountain and it will work out fine. If you are too high, the mountain is in your way. So fly the pattern altitude and it will work out well.   Flavio used to advise flying right at the cross on top of Mt. Rubidoux until "you feel an irresistible urge to cross yourself, then turn base and there you are."

At night, the pattern altitude is 1,764 feet, 1,000 feet agl, and you fly outside the mountain. This is for the obvious reason that it is harder to see at night.   The lights are pilot-controlled on 122.8, which is our CTAF and not attended.   You can get all this information and much more from that great web resource, Airnav.com.

We are very close to our friendly instrument airport, Riverside Municipal (KRAL). So close, indeed, that we are in a cutout in their Class D. If you want to go south or west, or approach from those directions, give the cheerful folks at Riverside Tower (121.0) a call.   The Riverside ATIS (128.8) is a good source of weather since we are only 2.8 nautical miles away -- heck, there are airports bigger than that -- so our weather is pretty much the same. That's why, when you click the "WEATHER" tab on our website, it takes you to the current weather for KRAL.

Our traffic pattern is lefthand for both Runway 24 (in use 90% of the time) and Runway 06.   If you are approaching from the east while 24 is active, we usually make a left upwind, x-wind, downwind and so on. From the north, we enter on a left x-wind.

A new development is the inauguration of a control tower at San Bernardino International (KSBD), the former Norton Air Force Base, which is a little over 10 nm NE. If you are coming from that direction, or going that way, call them on 119.45. They should have plenty of time to chat, since their own statistics show that they have all of 45 operations per day.

We ourselves are proud to boast that we are "tower free."

We have both an IAP and a DP, so you can get in the IFR system from here.

Flabob has an instrument approach procedure (IAP). It is an RNAV (GPS)-A, and because it is a circling approach it will work for either runway; however, 24 is the calm wind runway. The approach starts at BAYJY intersection, (where V186 intersects V363, south of Brackett) and proceeds by three GPS stepdown fixes westerly toward the airport. Minima for Category A airplanes (most of us) is 1860 - 1 1/4. This corresponds to a ceiling of 1,100 feet. The procedure is not available at night. The reason for the high ceiling and the unavailability at night is the hills in both directions.

We have never had an instrument approach, but when the ceiling is 1,000 or higher and the visibility is 1 mile or better, at Riverside Municipal, it has long been known that you can file for the ILS - 9 at Riverside, and when you break out at or above 1800 msl, cancel IFR and ask for a special VFR NW bound for Flabob, then fly up the middle of the river until you see Mt. Rubidoux and make a left base for 24. In practice, the new RNAV approach has about the same minima as this maneuver, but for the majority of us lacking an IFR-approved GPS, this should still work.

DEPARTURE PROCEDURE. For many years it was possible to depart Flabob IFR, until several years ago someone in the District of Confusion decided that it was agin the TERPs. After years of lobbying by your airport manager, we have just received, effective June 30, an instrument departure procedure (DP). It is expected that in due course it will be followed up by one or more Instrument Approach Procedures, but our remoteness from enroute navaids, and the proximity of Mt. Rubidoux and Rattlesnake Mountain will mean high minima.

Here is the text of the DP:

RIVERSIDE/RUBIDOUX, CA

FLABOB (RIR)

ORIG 11181 (FAA)

TAKE-OFF MINIMUMS: Rwy 6, std. w/min. climb of 670'

per NM to 4000 or 400-2 w/min. climb of 480' per NM

to 4000 or 2100-3 forclimb in visual conditions. Rwy 24,

std. w/min. climb of 630' per NM to 3000 or 800-2� w/

min. climb of 305' per NM to 4600 or 2100-3 for climb

in visual conditions.

DEPARTURE PROCEDURE: Rwy 6, climb via heading

064� to 4000 then right turn direct PDZ VORTAC, or

for climb in visual conditions cross Flabob Airport

Southwest bound at or above 2700 then via PDZ R-039

to PDZ VORTAC. Rwy 24, climb via heading 244� and

PDZ R-031 to PDZ VORTAC, or for climb in visual

conditions cross Flabob airport Southwest bound at or

above 2700 then via PDZ R-039 to PDZ VORTAC.

All aircraft climb in PDZ VORTAC holding pattern

(hold East, right turns, 258� inbound) to cross PDZ

VORTAC at or above MEA for direction of flight before

proceeding on course.

NOTE: Rwy 6, trees beginning 3763' from DER, 1152'

right of centerline, up to 40' AGL/1119' MSL. Rwy 24,

antenna on tank 6193' from DER, 2057' right of

centerline, 38' AGL/1237' MSL. Trees beginning 2494'

from DER, 434' right of centerline, up to 40' AGL/1519'

MSL. Pole 6261' from DER, 1950' right of centerline,

30' AGL/1230' MSL. Building 1.52 NM from DER,

1154' right of centerline, up to 29' AGL/1369' MSL.

Antenna on tank 1.26 NM from DER, 2047' right of

centerline, 54' AGL/1254' MSL. Tank 4043' from DER,

794' right of centerline, 66' AGL/961' MSL. Tree 1.79

NM from DER, 434' right of centerline, 58' AGL/1138'

MSL.

It is requested that if you are instrument current, you file for a flight using the IAP and the DP and report results.

(951)683-2309

4130 Mennes Ave. Jurupa Valley (Riverside), CA 92509