Hey everyone,
I'm just starting on my commercial heli and I have to do a night x-country with my CFI tomorrow evening. I've planned out my course and identified where I need to make all of my calls. I've called my destination to make sure fuel is available and tried to answer pretty much every question I can think will pose an issue. I've already asked my CFI a bunch of questions and I won't be able to chat with him until the flight tomorrow so I wanted to get a couple more questions answered so I can finish my prep before the flight.
So, my flight goes from Long Beach (LGB) to Montgomery Airfield (MYF) in the San Diego area:
SkyVector: Flight Planning / Aeronautical Charts
Along the way I have a few questions:
First, after leaving Long Beach and heading south, I will need to transition John Wayne's class C airspace (SNA). The terminal chart says to contact SOCAL approach 20nm from the airport, but the heli route chart says to contact John Wayne Advisory on 128.35. So, how far out to do I need to make that call to John Wayne Advisory and when I call them up, do I say "John Wayne Advisory, N####", or do I just say "John Wayne Tower, N####"? Also, how long do I need to stay on with them before I request a frequency change to the basin frequency?
Next, I'm going to need to pass through the Camp Pendleton restricted airspace (R 2503-A). I have never transitioned that airspace so I figured I would be proactive and (attempt to) contact the controlling agency and find out the procedures to do so. Well, looking at the side of the San Diego TAC, it says the controlling agency is LOS ANGELES CNTR. I have spent a good portion of the day calling both Camp Pendleton and trying to figure out how to contact the LOS ANGELES CNTR and have had very little luck (nobody got back to me from Pendleton and I can't find a number for LOS ANGELES CNTR). So what do I do? Is it even an issue transitioning that airspace?
I know these are totally newby questions and I'm probably overthinking a lot of this stuff, but I want to make sure I'm as prepared as possible because I'm sure I'm gonna get overwhelmed in the flight anyways
Thanks!
Mike