For most folks here in the USA, November is a festive month as it signifies the start of a long holiday period leading up to the new year; but, that has not been the case for me for the last several years.  For me, November signifies the start of the planning process to get 95EX from Palm Springs to Santa Paula for the annual annual which has been falling in December for the most part for the last few years.   Now the actual flight from PSP to SZP is really quite short; its only about an hour plus or minus depending on when you start and stop the timer.  But given competing holiday time demands, sundry commitments, uncertainty of the weather and time constraints at Ray’s Aviation, it always seems the trip is a pain in the ass.

And the process in 2024 had a few extra (Extra?) twists.  Generally speaking, 95EX has been relatively easy in the maintenance cost department but this year had interesting twists.  The first gremlin literally “popped” up in the intercom:  it seems that the intercom circuit breaker popped every now and then (but not a big deal because I rarely fly with anyone in the front seat) but when it popped I couldn’t transmit on the comm radio  and that WAS a big deal; and, to me, all of that meant it was time for a new intercom!  Next to occur was the leak in the brake fluid lines.  I learned that the early Extras had a brake system that has been replaced by an newer system that is more reliable in this department and Ray convinced me to “upgrade”.  And then there was the perennial oil temp gauge indication that would mysteriously drop to zero while flying and would just as mysteriously return to normal when the strobe or position lights were turned on (I couldn’t make this shit up!):  time to rip out the entire old analog oil temp affair and replace it with digital equipment to match the digital tach!  And I managed to strip the bolts on not one but BOTH wheel fairings which made it impossible to get the fairings off to put air in the tires and this was the last straw:  I called Ray in mid November and had 5EX up at SZP the week before Thanksgiving and fully expected not to see it again for a month and that was OK.

But Ray got busy and my pre XMAS social commitments began to pile up so the next logical conclusion with Ray was to see each other “next year”.  My plan was to rent a car for a one way drive from Palm Springs to Santa Paula, stay the night, pick up the plane early the following morning and then fly it back to PSP like I had done many times in prior years.  But I didn’t take into account the film festival in Palm Springs and the added demand created for Palm Springs rental cars; there were none available at any price let alone for a “one-way” rental.  Undaunted, I soldiered ahead and considered Uber but settled on a 15′ UHaul truck and headed west toward Santa Paula on Sunday, January 5.  The weather forecast was good but with little room for error:  high winds were forecast for Tuesday but so long as nothing popped up requiring additional attention on the plane, all should go well.  Monday emerged as a fabulous day:  crystal clear skies over the entire LA basin and little to no wind and 95EX ended up at home.  January 2025 was off to a good start.

Unfortunately many others were not so lucky:  the weather forecast was spot on and the winds were fierce on Tuesday. And something sparked a fire in LA.