Flying my Bonanza to Lake Tahoe! 10,500 ft Over the Mountains

It's 4th of July weekend and we are going to Lake Tahoe. We're going to be flying my 1952 C-35 Bonanza from Camarillo, California to Carson City, Nevada where we'll head to Lake Tahoe for the weekend. It'll take us about two and a half hours to get there at 10,500 feet. I've never really been to Lake Tahoe before so I think it'll be a really fun trip. We'll be meeting up with some friends there. Should be a really good flight. I'm gonna go ahead and pre-flight the airplane and then we'll skip all the 4th of July traffic and head up to Tahoe. Excited for this weekend. Seat belts are secure, good. Doors and windows, latched. We'll get the window shortly, leaving that open for now. Circuit breakers are all in. Our electrical switches are off, except for our beacon. Avionics master's off. Cow flaps are open. Carb heat's off, mixture rich. Prop is good. Throttle, two turns. Make sure our trim's set. We're on the left tank. We'll be running all three tanks today. And our keys are on both. We've got our flight plan ready to transfer over. Okay, let's go. And we have full tanks. 53 usable. Clear. Alright, hello. Okay, flight plan going over. So fast. Great. Okay, we're at tower. Mission Victor, time 2155, Zulu, wind 230. Camarillo Ground, Bonanza 5921 Charlie, east end with Victor, ready to taxi for a right downwind departure. Bonanza 35 Fox, you can continue taxiing now, appreciate the help. 35 Fox, roger, thank you. Bonanza 5921 Charlie, Camarillo Ground, runway 26, taxi via Gulf Alpha, say direction of departure. 26 via Gulf Alpha, 5921 Charlie, will be a northeast bound departure. Roger, you can take a right downwind, thank you. Camarillo Ground, we're docked on a Cessna 49202, caliber 926 at Bravo, request a restaurant. Cessna 49202, Camarillo Ground, taxi to the restaurant via Fox. We are flying into Carson City, which is in the Tahoe area. We're not flying into, like, Tahoe proper, but flying into Carson City. My friend Ryan is based in Carson City, so we'll be parking in his hangar, which is super nice of him to let us take a spot in there. And it should be about two and a half hours. We'll go up to 10,500 feet. I've never flown into Tahoe, so it should be a very scenic and good flight, I think. I'm super excited. Camarillo Ground, Bonanza 30828, done with run-up, ready to taxi. Bonanza 828, you can continue taxi number 2 in sequence, contact tower, you are at number 1, have a safe flight. Time for a run up. Yeah, request taxi to air 7, warrior 3032. Fuel selector, we're on the left, fuel quantity, full, flight controls. On the other side of the tower. Okay, thank you, sir. Taxi to air 7, via Fox, warrior 3032, thank you. Trim is set for takeoff, mixture is rich, mag check. This is the A5, July, I apologize if I missed it, can you say the direction of departure one more time for me? Yeah, we'll just take a, yeah, we're in town. Fuel pressure, fuel pressure, and fuel flow, all look good. Flight instruments checked and set, no red X's, no red X's, we've got 10-5 plugged in. Radio transponder, we've got tower in, that's good, I believe we're going to be going to 1-2-4-7 for Magoo. Flaps are set, switch is in neutral, doors and windows closed and latched, lights will turn on in a minute, gas is on the left tank, undercarriage light indicator, mixture full rich, prop full forward, auto and seatbelts. Bonanza 5-9-0-2-1 Charlie, run-up complete. Bonanza 2-1 Charlie, you can continue taxiing and contact tower, have a safe flight. Do it Charlie. Camarillo Tower, Delta 6-7-9, Delta Bravo, Santa Cruz Ridge, 6-0, full stop. November 6-7-9, Delta Bravo, Camarillo Tower, make right traffic, runway 2-6. Right traffic, 2-6-9, Delta Bravo. Camarillo Tower, Bonanza 5-9-0-2-1-Charlie, holding short 2-6, ready for departure, right downwind departure. Bonanza 5-9-0-2-1-Charlie, Camarillo Tower, hold short runway 2-6, landing traffic. Hold short 2-6, 5-9-0-2-1-Charlie. November 9-0-0-Hotel, turn left Bravo, contact ground 0.8, thanks for your help. No problem, 9-0-0-Hotel, clear Bravo, and we'll call ground, thank you. November 6-0-4-Romeo, I'll call your base, turn for departure. You'll call our base, 6-0-4-Romeo. Bonanza 2-1-Charlie, right downwind approved, runway 2-6, clear for takeoff. Right downwind runway 2-6 clear for takeoff, final and then come back and do a challenge. Bye! November 9, Delta Bravo, send downwind for departure. 900, Delta Bravo, send downwind. November 6, Alpha Romeo, turn base, runway 26, cleared to land. Turning base, 26, cleared to land, Delta Romeo. That's the 585 Zulu, hold short. 585, correct, 70, 50, 5850, Camarillo tower, hold short, runway 26. Hold short, 26. Gear's coming up. Gear's up, and prop is coming back. Camarillo tower, 52858 over Santa Fe Bridge, inbound for runway 26 with information, Victor. Cirrus 5, Mike Lima, make a right 360, please. 5-3-Tango, on the go. 5-3-Tango, Northbound, clear for the option. Clear. Number 5, Mike Lima, climb and maintain 1,500 for me, please. Climbing to 1,500, 05, Mike Lima. Number 3, Bravo Golf, maintain pattern altitude 1,000 feet. Enter the downwind for runway 26, I'll call your base. November Niner Delta Bravo, make one left 360, you're going to be following a Learjet on about an 8-mile final. One left 360, Niner Delta Bravo. Thank you. Romeo left on Bravo, kind of ground point eight. Left on Bravo, point eight, Delta Romeo. Magoo, approach Bonanza 5921C via fire request. 5921C, Bonanza. 5921C, about five miles northeast of Camarillo, 2,900 climbing at 10,500, looking for flight following to Carson City, Charlie X-ray Papa. Come on Charlie, remind us your type aircraft and just level off at 75 please. Type is Bravo Echo 35 and we'll level off via our 7,500, 5921C. Okay. 21Charlie squawk 1030. 1-0-3-0, 5-9-0-2-1-Charlie. 2-1-Charlie, radar contact 10 miles north of Camarillo, 3.5 altimeter, 2-9-0-9-0-8. 9-0-8, 5-9-0-2-1-Charlie. Amigo approach, 7-8-5, Camarillo, climb into 2.1, VFR is climb. 5-8-5-0, Amigo. We're going to Bakersfield, Bravo. We'll do 8500 initial. 8-5-0, squawk 4-7-1-3. 4-7-1-3, 8-5-0. And we are off. Super excited. Number 2-1, Charlie, you can request higher with the next sector. Please contact them. 1-2-8, point. 28-7-5, 5-9-0-2-1, Charlie. Have a good day. Approach, Bonanza 5921C, 3900 climbing 7500, looking for final altitude of 10500, please. And what's your position? We are about 3 miles west of Fillmore, 5921C. Okay, 5921C, frequency in error, SoCal 134.2. 134.2, 5921C, have a good day. Good day. SoCal Approach, hello, Bonanza 5921C, 4300 climbing 7500. 5921C, SoCal Approach, Altimeter is 29.96, what altitude are you climbing to? 29.96, we're climbing 7500, but we'd like 10500 if able, 5921C. Vector, Jet 605, turn right heading 340, vector for sequence. Right turn 340, SoCal Jet 605. 8-5-Zulu, 4.5, climb into 7-5. 8-5-Zulu, SoCal Approach, thank you, Altimeter 29.96, say your destination. 29.96, we're going to Bakersfield Meadows today, 8-5-0. 8-5-0, roger, resume navigation, how are you navigating to Carson City, going direct or via the navaids? We'll be going over the 5 and then up towards Cameron Park and heading over to the east, 5921C. 5921C roger, contact approach 128.75, just advise to measure route. 2875, 5-9-0-2-1-Charlie. Approach, Bonanza 5921C, hello again, 5800 climbing 10500 and we will be navigating via Gorman over the mountain. Can't get rid of me. I don't think we've ever flown this way before, so it's kind of exciting. I mean, I have flown this way before in other airplanes, but never in the Bonanza by myself, and maybe once to go to New Koyama, but definitely never with all of you along for the ride. We're over Lake Piru right now, and we're about to go over the Grapevine, which is the 5, the highway. You take the 5, to the 10, to the 101, to the PCH, you know. Now we navigate around here. LA Center, 59021C, contact LA Center, 125.8. 125.8, 59021C, have a good day. Good day. LA Center, hello, Bonanza 59021C, 6600 climbing 10500. Number 59021C, LA Center. 9-5, 5-9-2-1, Charlie. Got the music going. We are doing great. And we're over the grapevine now. 30, 93, 11, climbing 16,000. Well, the coastal flight is definitely the prettier way to go, but it's much easier for sure. So 2,000 feet to go, 310 miles. 2-1-9-0-November, contact SoCal Approach, 1-2-0.4, good day. 1-9-0-November, good day. 9-0-2-1-Charlie, contact. You'll probably be watching this after Oshkosh, but this is exactly what our Oshkosh trip is going to be like. Just climbing up super high and... Cruising along in the desert for hours. Just under 1,000 feet to go. She does not want to get up to 10.5. We're getting there, though. I know she can do it. We've done it plenty of times before. What's our outside air temperature, I wonder? 54 degrees. Really nice. And we're about to turn towards Gorman, from Gorman to Grape. Grape. And then from Grape, we will be direct to, kind of up by Cameron Park in California, it's just over the valley. Yeah, Bakersfield Approach, Cessna 858Z, 7.5. Cessna 585Z, Bakersfield Approach, Bakersfield, Altimeter 2985, make sure you're in runway 30R. 2985, 30R, C5Z. 200 feet to go, climbing. Skylane 55, Foxtrot, contact Joshua Approach, 124.55. 124.55, 55Fox, good day. 22 minutes and 55 seconds later, we have made it to cruising altitude of 10,500. We've got almost 19 inches of manifold pressure. Wow. Once we get over an airport here, we'll go ahead and switch to the aux tank for a while. But we are officially cruising. And we are approaching Grape. So funny. We're going to be going out to dinner tonight, which I think will be fun. Not really sure where. Again, I've never been to Tahoe, so I have literally no idea. Anything. The plan, again, it's very much like my Oshkosh plan. So I just plan to arrive, and then everything after that, I just go with the flow. So that is our plan today. We're about to just adjust course slightly to go direct up to our next waypoint up north. We've got two hours to go, 289 miles. We're going to go ahead and switch to the aux tank. There's the aux. Counting to 20. We're passing over Bakersfield right now, I didn't even realize. We're well above all airspace though, obviously. Skylane 850, contact tower. Hey, you got frequency for that, 850? Number 850, 118.1. Okay, 118.1, thank you for that, 850. I am leaving the cowl flaps open. I think I could close them and my temps would be fine, but once I close them in flight, it's really hard to open them back up just because of the airflow. So I think we're just going to leave them open. I'd rather keep my engine happy. So I feel like I've been doing so much flying lately. Flying the airplane is so good for it, just like running the engine, especially on these long flights. Helps the compressions and everything like that. It's really great. Stampede 1-9 traffic, 1 o'clock, 6 miles, opposite direction, 10,500, Bonanza. Bonanza 2-1-Charlie, traffic, 1-2 o'clock, 6 miles, opposite direction, 11,000, King Air. 2-1-Charlie, looking Where is this traffic? for King Air. I should be able to spot a King Air. Invisible King Air, I guess. Bonanza 2-1-Charlie, traffic, no factors, changing my frequency, 118.9. Over to 118.9, 5-9-2-1-Charlie. Stampede 1-9, traffic, no factors. MP1 then. Bonanza 5-9-2-1-Charlie on 118.9. Bonanza 2-1-Charlie, have your run, Chris. Hour 40 to go. 245 miles. Bonanza 2-1-Charlie, contact Oakland Center, 123.8. 123.8, 5-9-2-1-Charlie, have a good day. Okay. Oakland Center, hello, Bonanza 5-9-2-1-Charlie, 10,500. Bonanza number 5-9-2-1-Charlie, Oakland Center, Fresno Altimeter 29.08, bye. 85, 5-9-2-1-Charlie. Bonanza 5-9-2-1-Charlie, Fresno Altimeter 29.08, bye. 85, 5-9-2-1-Charlie. Thank you. Got a nice little tailwind now, seven knots on the tail. That's nice. Oakland Center, Skywalk 3285, level 240. Our next major airport that we pass will be in about 30 miles. It'll be Fresno, right off our right side. 611 Mike, this is Victor. Contact North Cal Approach 124.8. 2 and Charlie is like the little Bonanza that could, with its old E-225 and electric prop. Traffic 800 feet below, climbing towards us, should be no factor. 3 miles, 400 feet below and climbing, opposite direction. Nope, got him in sight. Skylar 3285, contact Fresno 119.6. 119.6, thank you, Skylar 3285. Skylar 5921, Charlie, maintain VFR at or below 10500. At or below 10500, Skylar 5921, Charlie. Skylar 5921, Charlie, thank you, I'll let you know once it's clear, should be about 3-4 minutes. Charlie, thank you. Okay. Well, we're already here. So, and an hour 13 to go. We are coming up on Fresno. I see the traffic they're talking about. 400 feet above. Oakland Center, November 1724 Papa, level at 7,000, direct to Sanco. November 1724 Papa, Oakland Center, hello, Fresno Altimeter 29.85. November Golf, change to my frequency, 123.8. Already up on 123.8. Yeah. 21 Charlie, change to my frequency, 121.25. 121.25, 5902 and Charlie. Bonanza 5902 and Charlie on 121.25. 5902 and Charlie, Bonanza taking the switch. Going to get some of our frequencies in while we're just sitting here. Carson City ATIS is going to be... AWOS is going to be 119.925. We've got that in perfect. We'll get all of our other frequencies in. Unicom will be 122.80. Looks like it's VFR 170 at 7. Get some balance close to us. How exciting. The Bonanza has such a big cabin. So nice. Like, with the bench seat, too, you feel like you're sitting on a couch. Let's see what we got here. See what's going on here. Oh, yeah, look at that. Cell over TVL. So I have a feeling we're probably going to end up landing somewhere else. Unless that thing decides to move out of the way, we'll see. Well, let's take a look at our diversion options here. If we go to Placerville, let's see, 523 winds calm, 4,000 feet, runway 5 is right traffic, they've got self-service fuel, cool, that's looking pretty promising to me. For now, we'll cross our fingers, hope it clears. We're going to be switching to the right tank here shortly, and again we're just continuing. So we can get a better idea of what we want to do here. Yeah, there's basically one big cell that's right in between where we need to go, which is probably that out the window. All right, let's put it on the right tank now. Right tank coming up on Columbia, which is where the Luscombe plane is every year. So passing that. All right, we have an update three minutes ago. Let's see what's going on. I think we'll be good. Los Angeles Center, Scott 4806, 232 descending 200. Scott 4806, Oakland. 16,000, Fresno, Daytona 298. We have, in theory, 43 minutes to go. I have a feeling we're going to be making some changes to the way that we navigate around here, which is totally fine. South 2235, simultaneously 111,000. It's pretty out here. Coast 4806, flight delay 481, 16,000. Staying close, I'm going to go ahead and cancel flight following just for now, and we are going to head to Tahoe. Center, Bonanza 5921C, I'd like to cancel flight following at this time. 5921C, no problem at all. Princess River Tower, 80 squawk VFR, transfer by the six, approved, have a good day. Thank you very much, 5921C. We're going to put 1230 in here, swap that over, put in our 12315 here, swap that over, swap over the AWOS here. There's Columbia, off the nose. Such a fun airport to fly into. We're on the right tank, 35 minutes to go. We've got 11 knots on the tail. The plan is now, instead of going around the south of the lake, we're going to cut over the lake and head that way because there's some weather activity on the south side of the lake. Looks like the weather is still just kind of hanging over the south side of the lake, so we should be great. We're doing good on the right tank. We may switch to the left for landing, but I think we'll be fine on the right. Wow. What's the weather doing? Let's see. Looks okay so far. I think we'll be good. Just a little bit of rain. We are heading over the mountains. All our temps and pressures look good. Wow. Yeah, we don't want to mess with that weather over there. No, sir. Do you have me in sight? Negative. I see you now. Switching to guns. Oh, I see you. Alright, I'm just direct to the agency now. Okay. We are going direct. Carson City. We've got about 23 minutes to go. We are deviating a little here for the weather off our nose. We've got our friend Ryan ahead of us who just flew out of Carson and he said it's totally fine, but he's a local, so he knows what he's doing. We're still on the right tank. We'll probably run that for a little bit longer. Once we get past this weather system, we'll switch us back to the left and we'll land on the left tank. We should be on the ground soon for a fun weekend. We just flew. Our airplane to Tahoe, or we're about to. That is literally so cool to me. It just, I don't think it'll ever get old. I've been flying for eight years now, and it will never get old. It's my lucky number, actually. So for context, our friend Ryan, who we're kind of following in, is in an A36 Bonanza, comparable. I'm slower, obviously, but... And no weather yet, of course, lots of mountains in the way. I'm going to turn to about a 030 for the gap. Okay, everything honestly looks really, really good. Super excited. Got 17 minutes to go. We're effectively direct right now, so we're looking good. Wow, so pretty. So beautiful. I see the lake, wow. Oh, it's so beautiful. I can see my house from here. It's literally going to fly right over my house. Props coming back. We're going to do a little lake tour. So we're going down to 7,500. Wow. I see my jet ski and my boat. We'll be right back. Brian, this is amazing. Yeah, you should come up more often. I've never experienced anything like this in my life. Okay, traffic, 258. 5 miles north, right, 920, patterned work. Definitely a little bumpy. Here we go. Wow. Unreal. 6,500. We're going to go through Spooner's Summit. And then we'll be inbound to land. We are on the left tank, so we're looking good there. Wow, what an amazing, amazing flight. I just can't even believe how beautiful it is up here. Wow, so cool. Carson City Airport. Automated weather observation, 0, 0, 5, 7, Zulu. Wind, 2, 4, 0, at 1, 1 knots. Peak gusts, 1, 6 knots. Visibility, more than 1, 0. Sky condition clear below one two thousand. We're at 9,300 passing through the pass right now and gonna start our descent back down to about 6,000 for now. Little bumpy. We've got the airport in sight. Carson traffic, Bonanza 5, Niner 2-1 Charlie, 5 miles to the southwest, inbound for left 45, or 2-7, Carson. Carson traffic, Bonanza on the left 45, or left downwind 2-7, Carson. Okay, we are on the left tank, we've got plenty of gas on the left tank, we've got the airport in sight. Carson traffic, Bonanza left downwind, runway 2-7, Carson. Alright. Bonanza train, left base, 2-7, Carson. Autopilot, 7-0. Carson traffic, Bonanza base, final 2-7, Carson. We're looking good, and let's slow down. Alright, there is our gear speed. Carson traffic, Skyhawk 970R, right turn out. Gas is on the left tank, under carriage light, indicator mixture is full, not full rich, almost full rich, prop is coming full forward and seatbelts. Let's go ahead and get some flaps in. Flap range. Carson traffic, Bonanza 21C, left base 27, Carson. Gas is on the left tank, under carriage light, indicator mixture full rich, well not quite full rich, prop full forward, auto and seatbelts. Carson traffic, Bonanza 2-1 Charlie, left base 2-7, Carson. Gas is on the left tank, undercarriage light, indicator, mixtures, set, prop, full forward, auto, and seatbelts. Carson traffic, Bonanza 59021 Charlie, final 27, Carson. We're very high. Gas is on the left tank, undercarriage light, indicator, mixtures, set, prop, full forward, auto, seatbelts. Actually, it's going to work out perfect. A little bit of power, gears down. A little gusty left crosswind. Got a nice long runway ahead of us. Power's out. Enjoyed that flight as much as I did. I'm just like my jaws on the floor. Traffic, Bonanza, clear 27, Carson. Okay, let's see where Ryan told us to taxi. He sent us a picture. So, down at Delta 3, flaps neutral. That was absolutely beautiful. I hope you all enjoyed. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you on the next flight. We need to do more of this.