Sonora Cargo Express (former SoCal Express)

[ehunyadi 0]

Today marks the beginning of a new cargo carrier in Southern California. SoCal Express Cargo Services (and Patio) flew its first flight from its home at El Monte (KEMT) to the little-known (and prior to this flight, unknown to SCECS Chief Pilot) Shafter-Minter Field (KMIT) carrying a heavy load of automotive parts to an auto racing team that needed their parts ASAP.

The CEO and Chief Pilot, E.J. Hunyadi, who last flew for SlikAir Cargo, recently recovered from life-threatening injuries sustained in a mishap in the Angeles National Forest flying for his former company.

When asked, CEO E.J. Hunyadi stated that SoCal Express is not just a rebirth of SlikAir. "We also do patios when we're not flying. We specialize in building with balsa; we can carry a lot more of it in our plane" is how he described the new company being different from the last.

SoCal Express is equipped with a sole glass-cockpit equipped Cessna 172 Skyhawk, N100SE. Future plans are expansion into larger/faster aircraft.

[mutley 4,487]

Congratulations on your new enterprise EJ

Love the patios idea!

[ehunyadi 0]

The first few flights were pretty nice. Sure, the weather is active, but that just makes for better skills tests. One of those skills tested today was learning to use the glass cockpit in the C172. I figured that since we're starting "new," we may as well start with a "new" plane. So, we traded the old and busted avionics (the old trusty stuff I'm used to) and got this new-fangled glass stuff. It's funny; I can see why it's the new hotness, but it takes some getting used to. One thing I didn't realize until after two legs of todays missions were complete was that the glass instrument's altimeter and the AP altimeter both needed to be set independently. I was wondering why I was around 320 off my assigned altitudes. I knew it had to be the difference between the actual altimeter setting and a default setting somewhere, but I just couldn't figure out where that was until I took a look down to the lower right, beneath the right display (and right above the AP): the analog altimeter. Once I figured this out, I found myself flying at the right altitude again, not having to do math in my head for every altitude change and assignment. I hear there's a manual or something for this thing I should have read. At least that's what the ground crew says. What do they know.

I also decided that when flying around mountains, if at all possible, I'm going to fly VFR using low-altitude routes. They go around mountains and through valleys. GPS goes direct (unless I edit the flight path) and IFR allows ATC to guide me to ridiculously dangerous places. I will probably start planning my flights in Plan-G or something of the like (which works really well using WideFS on a second computer!!!) and see if that makes life any easier. I am loving REX2. I think today is the first time I flew over the Pacific in January and it actually looked like the Pacific does in January. COLD.

Well, I'm now hauling ice from Santa Maria to El Monte (who in the heck orders air freight for ice?!?!?!)... wait, what's that? Oh, I hear it's some kind of special glacial ice from glaciers in Alaska that people like to have in their drinks in LA because glacial ice melts slower. I get it now.

[ehunyadi 0]

Picked the wrong job to do first... and got a "failure" on a haul today. Haggis. Bloody haggis. Who in the heck in SoCal wants over 500lbs of haggis? Apparently someone at Gillespie, and when it came in a little late, they cried and only paid half of the agreed upon price. Now, I could have done the haggis flight before another haul, but it was a little more out of the way and I didn't realize it was due so soon. Only when I got on the ground to refuel after dropping off some cargo at another airport (Ramona) was I told by our ramp person that we were going to be late with the haggis delivery. They snickered; I was angry.

So, off to San Diego I flew to pick up the haggis, only ATC wasn't so interested in allowing me to land so quickly. I had to wait on some larger aircraft to land before they let me get on the ground before having me taxi to the other side of the airport. Only THEN did we get the haggis aboard. By then, we were picking it up behind schedule. Apparently, the stuff goes bad quickly. Who knew (not me!). What I did know is that we were in trouble, but what else could I do other than just deliver the stuff? I skipped IFR and went straight VFR from Lindbergh to Gillespie; I did it in 7 minutes. I delivered the haggis as quickly as I could only to get the dreaded "failed."

Not a good day overall. Sure, we made some money, but the entire day's worth of flying was negated by a late haggis delivery. I am going to make yet another new rule for myself in light of today's events: I will no longer accept a job that is due in under 12 hours. ATC and a slow flying plane are killing me. And now, with my low reputation, I can't even begin to entertain a new plane for quite a while.

Oh well. They never said going into business would be easy. But it is fun.

[Tim_A 996]

Today marks the beginning of a new cargo carrier in Southern California. SoCal Express Cargo Services (and Patio)

Reminds me of the old Bob Newhart 'Grace L Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Company' sketch!

[David TRIGGS 0]

This is going to make a great aviation book ... put me down for the launch party!

David

[ehunyadi 0]

This is going to make a great aviation book ... put me down for the launch party!

David

Thanks!

[ehunyadi 0]

Overnight in Gillespie. We didn't really count on staying down South for the night, but sometimes, it is what it is. After a short cab ride from the pilot's lounge to a La Quinta, Kenny (my co-pilot on this trip) and I decided to hit the bar and play some pool. I forgot he's such a pool shark; I lost all but one game (and I only won that one because he scratched!), but it was a good time. Then, we went to our rooms and hit the sack. I put the "Do Not Disturb" sign out on my door so that I could sleep in. Most of our trips are at night and I didn't want to be shorted my 8 hours minimum.

After some In-N-Out Burger for lunch (Animal Style today!), we made our way back to the airport. We checked with Ramona, our ops manager at El Monte, and she told us we had nothing pending from Gillespie due to our haggis disaster, but that there were some sheep that needed to be flown from Borrego Valley back to El Monte. I told her we'd take it, although I didn't know how many sheep we could actually fit in the plane.

Once we were aloft, Kenny decided to start on our course right after we took off and we got yelled at by ATC. It's the first time I ever heard ATC say, "Runway heading means runway heading." I kind of laughed a bit and gave Kenny a stern look. If he's going to be piloting for us, he'd better be on his best behavior, especially if we're going to let him fly planes by himself once we get the reputation and cash to do so.

Weather was pleasant to Borrego; nice clear day with the typical inversion layer that SoCal is famous for. Then, just as we passed Ranchita and into the desert, it got bumpy as the barometer started climbing. We were flying along and enjoying the scenery when we got the call from ATC; "Do you guys want to land, or just hang around up there all day?" ATC was being saucy today. "We'll land; cancel IFR." We went local and got down on deck to pick up the sheep.

Sheep stink.

If you didn't know this, it's because you haven't been cooped up with four of 'em in a 172. They also don't like the small space, bumpy air, and being tied to one place. They poop on each other. Good thing Kenny's with me; he'll clean it up when we get back to El Monte. The flight from Borrego to El Monte was pretty as the sun set on the Pacific. The sky was a beautiful violet and pink, the mountains looking bluish-purple as they stuck out from the fog that was rolling in from the ocean. It's flights like this that make me glad I'm flying and not sitting behind a desk. We tailed a C208B that was about 8 miles ahead of us for most of our trip. My thoughts were with that plane as I look forward to bigger and faster aircraft to fly in. To get there, we have to make more money, and the only way to make more money is more flights, so it's to the sky we go!

Approach into El Monte was otherwise normal and without incident. Of course, the sheep were bleating and rustling around, but they were tied in place pretty well so the COG didn't move around much at all. Once on the ground, Kenny wasn't to happy to have to clean out the sheep pellets, but they weren't so bad. The plane got a good hosing out with water and Pinesol (a pine scented solution popular in the US), so now the plane smells like a school bathroom. Great.

No more sheep. At least not in a C172.

[ehunyadi 0]

One big reason I can't wait to get a bigger/faster plane: ATC keeps putting me WAY OUT for approaches. For whatever reason, ATC (Radio Contact) doesn't recognize I'm a small plane and puts me out on these 20 mile approaches. Normally that wouldn't be a bad thing except for those times when I'm doing a 17 mile flight and my approach vectors are longer than the distance between the airports I'm supposed to be flying between. When I came into El Monte from Borrego, I had to fly all the way down to the ocean (nearly to Long Beach!!!) to start my visual approach. Wow.

So, if there were ever a need for another reason for bigger/faster planes, I think I just found it.

[Troy 0]

Great stories. Certainly made me laugh.

Inspired me to start a company and comment too

[ehunyadi 0]

Short update this time: we flew another six hauls today and finished up at our old home, Palomar. We decided to spend the night in Palomar and continue in the morning with the last flight on the agenda considering the late hour. Kenny tied the plane down while I chatted with the cargo boys about bringing the cargo back out in the morning to load up. They weren't very happy about it, but they understood; better to have a rested pilot flying your cosmetics than a tired one. Mountains and terrain don't need makeup. Besides, we had 44 hours left before it was needed for a fashion show in San Diego.

Reputation is almost back to where it was before the haggis fiasco; another $100k and we can think about getting a C185Q. HUGE load for such a great price! I recommend looking into it for those starting out small; the C185Q seems like the perfect first upgrade plane. I honestly won't be sad on the day I give the keys of the C172 to someone else. Ok, maybe a little sad, but that's it.

[ehunyadi 0]

Great stories. Certainly made me laugh.

Inspired me to start a company and comment too

Awesome! Good luck! KEMT in SoCal is a GREAT place to start; lots of jobs and lots of airports in close proximity. If you have your settings right, you can really get lots of jobs done quickly (although ATC will do their best to make you "pay" lol).

[ehunyadi 0]

The marketing company we hired came back with our first ad.

I think I want our money back.

[Tim_A 996]

You put four 200lb sheep in the back of a 172? :icon_yikes: I'm surprised it even got off the ground! (You'd have been 70lbs over max weight even with no fuel. Or Kenny!) And the CofG must have been way outside limits (hope your insurance doesn't get to hear of it!)

But then if you have a 172 that's that strong, you'll have no trouble in flying me a patio... :hi:

[mutley 4,487]

Can we help out EJ with a new ad? All entries welcome. (Hope that's ok EJ?)

[ehunyadi 0]

Can we help out EJ with a new ad? All entries welcome. (Hope that's ok EJ?)

Absolutely! This last ad agency took me for $25k!!! They said they did all kinds of other successful campaigns. Then I found out the last ad campaign they did was for ham-flavored soda. I checked on Google; the campaign wasn't so successful after all. Big surprise. lol

[ehunyadi 0]

It was another long day for SoCalExpress as we hauled more goods around Southern California in the trusty 172. We finally made it home last night after a last-minute job opened up in San Diego, 20 miles from where we were about to overnight it. Kenny was up to the task, so we flew over to Lindbergh Field, picked up some memory sticks and flew back up home to El Monte. Ramona, our Ops Manager (well, she's really just a college kid, but she's really pretty smart and up on things) was a bit peeved to be up so late at the office, but her boyfriend didn't mind so much; he was playing the X-Box 360 we have in the Pilot's room/lounge.

Once we got the plane tied down, I went into my office for the first time in two days and checked out some things; financials, fees, repairs, invoices, investments... INVESTMENTS! I had to get out of the stock I bought because I sensed a downward trend coming. I sold at a slight loss (only due to fees) and this morning was relieved to see that I did the right thing at the right time; the stock had dropped almost two points since last night.

The extra cash in the bank allowed me to take advantage of an opportunity that I just couldn't pass up: buying a new plane. It's not the 185F we had our eyes on, but it is most definitely a step-up: the Mooney Bravo with glass cockpit. I couldn't believe it; someone was selling a Bravo with the same glass cockpit we have in our 172 for $155k!!! Sure, it needed a little work, but for that price, I couldn't let it sit; I snatched it up right away.

Kevin, our mechanic, took a look at the plane and began working on it to get it ready for hauling. He couldn't get it fixed all the way due to funds, but he got it most of the way. I told him it was good enough: we had to get the plane in the air. I took her out with Kenny for the first time on a trip back down to San Diego, this time taking the memory sticks back down South with data on them. She flew straight and true, something the 172 never could get right. She also flew very fast. WOW! The ground actually moves when you're in the Bravo. Speedbrakes? Who knew!?!

As for the 172, we are keeping it for the time being. Sure, we're in the hole a bit and eating into our credit line, but I expect that Kenny will begin flying within the week and he'll need a plane to be flying in. He's jealous of the Bravo, but there are perks to being the owner/chief pilot, and flying the newest/fastest plane is one of them. Of course, I reminded him that the 172 still has that new-plane smell while the Bravo will need some new upholstery soon, but he wasn't buying it. I guess if I were in his shoes, I wouldn't either.

[ddavid 149]

Way to go, E.J. - Air Hauler was never such fun...

Cheers - Dai.

P.S. 200 lb sheep - those were some animals, mate!

[Tim_A 996]

P.S. 200 lb sheep - those were some animals, mate!

Romneys. Rams typically 200lbs, ewes 140... 200lbs is not that unusual for a sheep - they ain't exactly small. Not that I'd have any reason to know!

[ehunyadi 0]

Someone needs to let Lindbergh Field know that their ILS doesn't work. 111.55 doesn't work, and then they keep giving me ILS approaches, well, it makes things difficult. Sure, I can fudge it using GPS, but one day, it's going to be really socked in and I will be SOL.

I'm currently on my way back to El Monte from San Diego with a less than optimal situation: I don't have any reserve fuel. Why did I takeoff knowing this? Because I had no money to buy gas. I did some repairs on my own when I landed at Lindbergh and didn't realize that the landing fees would eat up so much of my money. I actually went past the -$100k we are allowed to go (by $455) so it was either sell the Skyhawk or risk it with just enough fuel to get home. Of course, Murphey must be flying in the back, because the weather is incredibly crummy right now; very bumpy and limited visibility. I hope this decision doesn't bite me in the butt. I've dialed the throttle back (since the Bravo is so fast, even going slower than normal is still faster than the Skyhawk!) and we're still making good time. This Bravo is so fast; I have had to reduce the throttle more than a few times to keep from over speeding.

So, another important lesson of the day: don't let your money go below -$100k. The ramp fuel guys will laugh at the credit card you present as it is declined by the bank.

[ehunyadi 0]

On our way into Brown (San Diego), we encountered an interesting problem. Now, we did take off with a plane that was at 95%, and since we've been flying the Bravo since it was at 55% (when we bought it), we figured that chances of encountering any issues on this last flight were greatly reduced from our first flight in it. At least that was the thought. In practice, things didn't work out so well.

We checked everything out on the Bravo prior to taking off. Everything looked good. We knew there were a few more nagging concerns to fix before the plane could be considered fully airworthy, but this trip would be the last one we had to risk. Besides, what could go wrong? (Those are our two planes, BTW! I love how AH puts your parked planes at the airports they are actually parked at!)

We took off and headed South, got up past 1500' and switched on the autopilot expecting it to turn to the left a bit and start climbing. Well, the climb part kicked in, but instead of turning left, we turned right. This wasn't right. I checked and re-checked everything and found the culprit; the compass was out of whack. Not just gyro drift, but completely messed up. The good news is that all the other instruments were fine, so we used the GPS to get all the way down to San Diego, though I had to hand fly it all the way there. Not that it's a bad thing (flying is fun!) but once you get used to autopilot, hand-flying for an hour is pretty taxing. I'd have let Kenny do it, but he was busy keeping me awake.

In the end, we landed and unloaded the DVD Players we were hauling and got to work right away to get the Bravo up to 100%. I then went out and took her for a quick spin to make sure things were okay; they were.

Now the last decision to make is whether to fly another trip or just overnight it here.

[ehunyadi 0]

Another day, another lesson. Don't accept jobs with only 8 hours left on the contract ESPECIALLY if the cargo weights twice your cargo capacity. Kenny and I tried to stuff as much as we could into the plane (even Ramona got in on the action) as the cargo is starting to actually stack up at El Monte now that our reputation is rising, but eventually, we had to side with safety (and FAA regulations) and could only get 80% of the job into the plane. That meant a two-trip haul (since I can't let Kenny fly alone yet). The bad news: it was to Tijuana. That makes it an international flight. Four international flights, that is. The paperwork STUNK!!! At least we had another quick job to take down South that we could also pack into the plane (since there were no jobs to be had heading North and we had to fly empty for the longest non-carrying flight we've had since opening our doors). Weather was bumpy all night, but ATC was good and directed us with minimal extra maneuvering.

[ehunyadi 0]

After a much-needed rest, Kenny and I awoke to find that we still had no jobs from San Diego. Ramona did find us a job hauling some Mexican Novellas (aka graphic novels, but marked as magazines for customs) up to Palomar, so we took a quick VFR flight into Mexico and landed at TJ to pick up the magazines. While on the ground, we decided to pick up some tacos but Kenny forgot to turn the lights off on the plane. When we got back, the battery was drained and we had to get a jump from a '75 Chevy pickup (the only vehicle they had available to jump our plane's battery). We could have prop-started the plane, but that was too dangerous. The last thing our fledgling cargo company needs is a wrongful-death suit. Just as we were about to set out, we got a text from Ramona telling us that we had another job: haul some automotive parts from VW Mexico to Ramona (the airfield, not the operations manager). We shut back down, this time ensuring all electrical systems were powered down, and loaded the parts. We had to unload a little fuel to get within MTOW, but this was a very good paying job we couldn't pass up. Once loaded, we ran through the startup checklists, got clearance, and headed up to Ramona. Once there, we were met by some VW of America workers who quickly took the boxes of parts we brought up and then Kenny and I were on our way for the very short jump of 19 miles to Palomar with the magazines.

[ehunyadi 0]

Have you ever heard of an airport (ha! That's a generous description!) called Jackass? I haven't either. But today, I had to fly into there, and I had to circle for a while to wait for the sun to come up a bit more so I could tell the difference between runway and the desert around it.

Jackass is in Nevada, North-West of Las Vegas, and I had to pick up 550 lbs of furniture that some lost Amish craftsman makes out there.

http://msrmaps.com/map.aspx?t=1&s=12&lat=36.6347&lon=-116.4134&w=650&h=650&lp=---+None+---

We loaded up the furniture (it was funny to see how they played a sort of 3D Tetris game to get it all in) and took off. I opted for a soft-field takeoff even though it wasn't very soft; I just wanted to get the plane off the ground as quickly as possible. Flaps down, brakes on, full throttle, and then RELEASE! We bolted forward, and at about 57 KIAS, the front wheel came off the ground, and not too long after, the rear wheels were off as well. We eased the plane's airspeed up and slowly retracted flaps before getting underway with the Mooney's awesome speed.

Once airborne, we noticed that the ADF failed (great; more maintenance costs!) and that for some reason, the altimeter wouldn't set properly for the AP. Kenny and I did some troubleshooting and couldn't come up with a good reason for it, so we just used Kentucky windage to set altitude (it was showing 300' high, so we just manually set the altitude in the AP 300' lower).

Once again, the mountain passage was close. We asked for a higher altitude, but ATC only said, "We have your request." We had to go above cleared altitude to keep from CFIT.

I now have a new airport to put on my "STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!" list: U75: Jackass.

NOTE: I found out that U75 has been closed since 2004. Of course, in the world of FSX, it's still there, and in the world of AH, it's a paying customer.

[ehunyadi 0]

Kenny got his wings! Today, we officially unleashed Kenny and allowed him to fly on his own. He happily took the C172 on some trips up North to haul some sheep and Blu-Ray players (where he still is as of this writing). Since I had a lot of paperwork to do, and also since I figured we may as well keep the planes flying even when I'm not, I went ahead and hired another pilot; my former flight instructor Walt.

Walt is quite old, but very capable (and has a 100% rating as a Senior Captain). He will be flying when I'm not doing so to keep revenue coming in. I enjoy this aspect of the business more than I thought I would; it's really pretty neat!

(NOTE: Walt L. Huber was my flight instructor in real life. He was a WWII, Korean War, and Viet Nam War pilot in the USMC performing aerial reconnaissance. I recently learned that he passed away in September of 2009 at the age of 91. I last spoke with Walt in 2002 when we discussed flying, and he told me to keep at it. He was in his late 70's when he was my instructor. Here is a short bio of this amazing man:

A member of the "Greatest Generation", Walt was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky.

He attended Male High School and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at 17 where he proudly served his country with distinction as a Marine Corps Officer during WWII and Korea. In early 1941, Walt flew the aerial photography missions from Quantico to North Carolina to take pictures for the Marines to select an appropriate site for what would later become MCAS Cherry Point. In 1944, he fought in the Battle of Peleliu under the command of Lt. Gen. Louis B. (Chesty) Puller and was Aerial Photographic Section Lead during the Okinawa campaign. He actually flew the very first reconnaissance and aerial photography mission of the battle of Okinawa.

Walt had a vibrant full life with 34 proud years in military service and a love of aviation. Retiring to civilian life, Walt owned Southwest Aerial Surveys and was a flight instructor at El Toro Marine Aero Club until he hung up his flight suit at the age of 80. He was a member of the OX5 Club, Association of Naval Aviation, AOPA, plank owner of the Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola, a military author, and an avid reader of military history and biographies.)