Flight To Success: Where in the World is This Runway?
San Nicolas Island off of the California coast.
Excellent Jeff! You made me look this up. We were just doing the break change on our way to HNL and the the FO said, "There's Catalina Island." The entire basin was enclosed by fog, except this Island. So I snapped a picture. Not until you said, San Nicolas, did realize that was the Island. Great Job!
Actually, I have not, but let me tell you how I found it. I'm not a pilot, but as I am nearing the end of my military career, I'm looking to take on a new adventure. After serving in a ground role for many years in Army aviation, getting my PPL seems like the logical thing, so I've been scouring the web for information. I stumbled on your blog and read many of your posts including this one and the one previous. Knowing that you just flew from Honolulu to Detroit, I knew you would hit land somewhere around LA. Having flown to Hawaii many times over the last 18 years, always in a window seat and wishing that I could be looking out of the big window up front, the terrain looked very familiar. So, a little Google Earth analysis was in order and in about 5 minutes, after counting taxiways and verifying the position of the run-up pad, I made and educated guess! Keep up the good work on the blog.
Jeff, what a great story! And... starting your second career... great! Check out my Friday Flyer, Jason Shappert. He wrote a ebook for private pilots. Very reasonable and might be a good resource when you're starting your PPL. Best of luck with the second life you're about to embark upon! So exciting.
Wow, that doesn't look like California. Amazing how everything looks different from the air isn't it? Go Jeff!
Everything is amazing from up there! Thanks for your comment Heather!
Jeff... I need your address to send you a copy of my novel for guessing correctly!