Trip Reports

Please visit this area frequently to learn about our recent trips. You'll find videos and pictures of our trips. You'll also find out about our experiences, mishaps and issues we may encounter throughout our trips.

About General Aviation

Take a look at these photos. Aren't they breathtaking? I took these pictures in one of our recent flights to Big Bear Lake in California.

I was at home when one of my friends texted me. “Hey, do you want to go check out if there is a snow in Big Bear?” "Sure!" I replied and an hour later three friends, three aviation enthusiasts were in club's Cessna 172 flying from Los Angeles to Big Bear for a lunch. Sure, you might ask “why not just check the weather on your iPhone or ask Google?” That's what normal people would do. But not us. Not people who love general aviation. As they say “Journey is the destination”.

Along the way we were enjoying astonishing views like in these pictures. This was in December of 2017. This kind of weather is normal for LA, but it is a bit unusual for Big Bear. We were hoping for some snow. As you can see the slops were open, people were skiing but that's about it. We were walking around in T-shirts. The lunch was great. Naturally most of the conversations around the table were aviation related. After lunch we walked around a little, explored the surrounding and head back to LA. The flight back was equally enjoyable. Los Angeles basin with its notable cites like Rose Bowl, Santa Anita race track, LA Dodgers Stadium, famous Hollywood sign, LAX airport, Pacific shoreline were incredible. And thinking that all of these are within our reach was mind-blowing. All we had to do is decide which direction we wanted to go or which airport to land.

When we landed at our home airport in El Monte (KEMT) we noticed it wasn’t even 4pm afternoon yet. We had an unexpected, incredible experience in less than half a day. We felt rested and energized as we were just back from a week long vacation. This is definitely a day I will remember for a long time.

Experiences like these are not uncommon among General Aviation enthusiasts. And breathtaking scenery like these can only be observed by General Aviation aircraft. Sure, with airliner you will get there faster, but have you ever enjoyed your journey like this?

General aviation has many wings and you can take different part in it based on your interests. Some people like building aircraft. Others like to tinker with new ideas. Others like the freedom of flight, ability to just take a day off and clear their mind or take family vacations and go for back-country flying. General Aviation is the cornerstone of the commercial aviation. Many advancements, structural and technological, which are currently on large airliners and provide safe and enjoyable travel are due to General Aviation. GA allows a platform for people to who like to experiment and try new ideas, push the boundaries of physics and try new, uncharted waters. Keeping GA alive and ticking is important as it is the heart of our commercial air transportation.