Flight North from Plowshare

[John Hesch]

Been working on flights north from Plowshare and Elkhorn for several years now, after watching Ramy and others come south into the Cuyama valley and return north for years. I'm beginning to get more comfortable with the routes and it's been really satisfying to explore new terrain. The forecast called for the route we flew, but the convergence was blue to the north until we landed. It turned out to be about 10 miles to our west-que sera.
Here's a link to the video of a flight that Trey and I made yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiI9em1X ... =autoshare
Video of me and Trey flying N from Plowshare. Sorry, no music, voice-over-narrative, or other fancy stuff-just just wind-noise and some cool views. Was tuff and rough down low (3k) at first, then beamed out to 9. Hooked up with Trey about 5 mi E of launch, we climbed to 11 and headed straight across. Tanked up next, over the top of the Calientes, entering the convergence line that headed north, w/cu's beginning to pop. Wandered up the line through California Valley-had a military jet pass through us at one point, 200yds S, and even w/me! After the last climb at the N end of Cal Valley to around 12k, a quiet glide N for 24 miles to a landing at 2k msl, 5 miles S of highway 46.