Stevie Triesenberg flies a 1952 C35 Bonanza from Camarillo to Carson City for a Lake Tahoe weekend, deviating for weather and flying a lap over the lake.
What the video covers
Written in our own words. It only describes what the video shows and says.Preflight and departure from Camarillo
Stevie Triesenberg flies his 1952 C35 Bonanza from Camarillo, California, to Carson City, Nevada, for a Fourth of July weekend at Lake Tahoe. He expects the trip to take about two and a half hours at 10,500 feet and says he has never really been to Lake Tahoe before. Before engine start he runs through his checklist: circuit breakers in, electrical switches off except the beacon, cowl flaps open, mixture rich, trim set and the fuel selector on the left tank. He notes full tanks with 53 gallons usable. Camarillo Ground clears the Bonanza to runway 26, and after the run-up the tower holds it short for landing traffic before clearing it for takeoff with a right downwind departure.
Climb, flight following and cruise
After takeoff he raises the gear, brings the prop back and requests flight following to Carson City. Controllers first ask him to level off at 7,500 feet, then let him climb at his discretion, and he is handed from SoCal Approach to LA Center and Bakersfield Approach. The route goes over Lake Piru, the Grapevine and Gorman. The Bonanza takes 22 minutes and 55 seconds to reach 10,500 feet, with almost 19 inches of manifold pressure. Passing Bakersfield he switches to the auxiliary tank, and he leaves the cowl flaps open because they are hard to reopen in flight. Later he picks up a tailwind of seven knots and receives a traffic call about a King Air.
Weather, Lake Tahoe and Carson City
Near the destination a weather cell sits between the Bonanza and Carson City. He reviews Placerville as a diversion option, with calm winds and self-service fuel, but the weather stays over the south side of the lake. He cancels flight following and decides to cut across Lake Tahoe instead of going around the south side. The flight then descends to 7,500 feet for a lap around the lake, where the water is clear enough to see the bottom. After climbing through 9,500 feet over Spooner Summit, he joins a left downwind for runway 27 at Carson City, lands with a gusty left crosswind and taxis to Delta 3.
