California Dreamin'

... and something of a nightmare over Nevada. Touring US West Coast destinations, encountering bad weather and reflecting on flying freedom in the USA and at home

- Colin Goodwin

Some irony: tomorrow the Farnborough Class D airspace will come into operation, and tonight I am sat in the back of a Van’s RV-4, 5,000ft above downtown Los Angeles. The former a lightly populated area with occasional bizjet traffic; the latter some of the most congested airspace in the world. We’ll come back to this theme later.

Have you seen the epic movie about Howard Hughes’s life, The Aviator? If you have, I’m sure you’ll remember the fabulous scene in which Hughes flies Katherine Hepburn over Los Angeles at night. This has to be the most romantic first date of all time. Ever since seeing that film I’ve wanted to replicate that flight, to see the twinkling lights of Hollywood and the moonlight glinting off the ocean.

Not quite so romantic with my pal Jamie doing the flying− but hey, let’s not be ungrateful because he’s flown out from Palm Springs to collect me. I flew in this afternoon on the top floor of a British Airways 747 which is a nice way to travel, but not the best. Then it was an Uber from LAX to Santa Monica airport where Jamie was to collect me.

My Uber driver couldn’t believe that it was possible for a small aircraft to fly into Santa Monica, pick up a passenger and about fifty minutes later be in Palm Springs. Truth is, I can’t quite believe it myself.

James Lipman is a British freelance photographer who specialises in shooting cars, which is how I know him. He learned to fly at White Waltham (with my encouragement) and since then has owned an Avid Speedwing, Murphy Rebel (in bits) a tailwheel Europa and, believe it or not, a Colomban Cri-Cri.