"RST Engineering" wrote in message
...


SNIP

Do I fly over water or mountains? On a regular basis. Do I keep
something that I can land on directly beneath me at all times? You bet.
To say that Tioga pass is safer than downtown LA is just plain stupid. In
the first place, there are concrete flood drains all over the city. In
the second place, there are very few freeways that are filled in BOTH
directions at the same time, and if they are, then there are alternative
freeways that you can use. THere are racetracks. There are football
fields, there are golf courses, there are a dozen places where you will
walk away from an engine failure.

The original post had two topics: mountains and MOAs. When I
referred to the hazards of flying in the LA Basin, that was related to the
MOAs and the opportunity to encounter another flying machine, not the
Sierra.

The man has a choice. Go over Tioga Pass and hope for the best or go down
south to Tehachapi pass with an interstate freeway underneath you from
Bakersfield to Mojave. Tioga is pretty. Tehachapi is survivable. Your
call.

I heartily agree with flying the Tehachapi route or the Kern Valley
over Lake Isabella, versus Tioga. But my reasons are different. In either
direction, over the two southern routes, the countour lines are packed
tightly together for only a short time on either side with a relatively flat
area in between. And I wouldn't count on the four-lane freeway for a
landing. Next time you cross over there, count the 55,000-pound, 18-wheelers
and gauge the space in between them. Grin

We're on the same side of the argument, Jim, just a hair apart.

Casey Wilson
Freelance Writer and Photographer