It was a lousy day for a VFR trip — not unusual in coastal Southern California in the spring. We get stratus clouds that come in from the ocean and create low ceilings that last for days. On this particular day we needed to get a package up to Corona Airport, and I did not feel like driving the more than three-hour round trip — especially when we had a perfectly good helicopter in the hangar, just waiting for us to fly it.
It was a trip made for a helicopter. Both airports were VFR; however, in between we’d be following a road up a valley capped with clouds with the ridge tops on each side obscured. No problem with a helicopter. We could land virtually anywhere. But for an airplane there wouldn’t be many outs. As Martha and I were discussing this while en route, to our amazement a high-wing airplane appeared out of the murk and flew a few hundred feet over the top of us in the opposite direction.
