Worst flight ever

Went to Phoenix over the weekend for Pammy’s brother’s (Todd’s) wedding.  She flew out Friday morning so I had to fly N233ME out on my own.  Pretty uneventful trip with light headwinds ended up taking me 2:15 to get there.  Not bad.  Listened to the Ipod the whole way.  The return trip was another story.

We left Sunday around 1pm, expecting a not great flight – winds out of Goodyear airport were 15 gusting to 25 knots.  At altitude they were forecast to be not much better.  I expected a bumpy, somewhat longer ride.  I wish.  Taking the same route home (for pilots out there it was KGYR-BLH-PSP-KEMT-KVNY), we started running into cumulus buidups with virga falling about 50 miles east of Palm Springs.  I diverted around that, and found what appeared to be clear passages through PSP as well as across the desert into Palmdale.  I elected to go via PSP and through the Banning pass because it would mean not having to go around Big Bear – saving 10 minutes.

When I got close to the Banning Pass, I realized it wasn’t going to work out.  The weather was low there, and scud running didn’t look like an option.  I considered going IFR, but the reports of heavy precip and icing made that sound somewhat less than fun.  I turned around and now traversed ALL the way around Big Bear, and in clear air with moderate turbulence the ENTIRE way some with 30 knot headwinds.  Whole trip took just over 3 hours.  At least the landing was good.

Summary:  It SUCKED.