The program for this short flight with Just Flight Piper PA28-160 Warrior: have a lunch at Kern Cafe. Let's take off from Bakersfield Meadows (KBFL), leave the valley and get into the mountain to reach Isabella Lake, then join Kern Valley (L05). I forgot to check MOA activity 😉

MSFS2024 | SU3 | Real time weather | Pc configuration and MSFS settings here.

Parked at the Epic Jet Center FBO, just in front of some small stuff:

Program of the day, as seen from (iPad) Foreflight:

Today, we'll depart from runway 30R. Perfect, it's just right from the FBO:

Climbing and leaving Bakerfield meadows (KBFL):

In front of me, what was expected: cloud grab top of mountains. Let's get prepared for this.

It's getting more and more complicated. Hard to keep VMC:

That's what I love with the MSFS Weather. Conditions can be drastically different on my side compared to...

... the other:

I finally found my valley and turn left to get into. A broken layer is still there:

Get into the narrow valley. Can't spot Isabella lake yet:

Hum... bumpy and required to have a real-time Plan B:

Lac Isabella. The field is just behind. Easy to spot. Starting the descent to proceed overhead and identify the active runway. CTAF Frequency 122.8 is silent for Kern. A lot of other traffic on this freq, but no way to identify my landing runway.

Where the **** is this windsock! And Question#2: which runway to take?

Right downwind runway 17:

The only time I land there (in real) I picked the 3614" ft for the pattern. And it was close to terrain 😉 Next time (this in the sim) I picked +500 ft for terrain avoidance 😉

Turning final runway 18, Kern Valley (L05):

Short final runway 17, Kern Valley (L05):

GAMod for MSFS2024 is set to high and unfortunately generates duplicates:

Time for the lunch!

 

Nicely done Mr. V, the airport and the pictorial of course.

Darryl

Edited May 20, 20251 yr by SP2472

Lovely set of images and commentary to boot...Indeed, looks like you ran into a bit of challenging VMC flight per one of the shots...

Lunch at Kern Cafe as the sole (program) objective sounds good to me...🙂...

Your flight made me look up a bit the expression "$100 Hamburger"...🙂... You're pretty close to these definitions. After all you fly the C172 a lot, though this one here is a Piper... 

• A $100 hamburger trip typically involves flying a short distance (less than two hours), eating at an airport restaurant, and then flying home. "$100" originally referred to the approximate cost of renting or operating a light general aviation aircraft, such as a Cessna 172, for the time it took to fly round-trip to a nearby airport. However, increasing fuel prices have since caused an increase in hourly operating costs for most airplanes, and a Cessna 172 now costs US$95–180 per Hobbs hour to rent, including fuel.
• $100 hamburger is aviation slang for the excuse a general aviation pilot might use to fly. A $100 hamburger trip typically involves flying a short distance (less than two hours), eating at an airport restaurant, and flying home.

Thanks for sharing...!

Thanks for your message. And don't talk to me of "$100 burger flights". It's the story of my (aviation) life ! 🙂

Edited May 25, 20251 yr by vbazillio

On 5/25/2025 at 12:05 PM, vbazillio said:

Thanks for your message. And don't talk to me of "$100 burger flights". It's the story of my (aviation) life ! 🙂

 

 

Nowadays its 400 dollar burger flights!  LOL!

Great pics!  And thanks again for your amazing sceneries!

10 hours ago, ryanbatc said:

Nowadays its 400 dollar burger flights!  LOL!

I've lost count. Remember that I live in France and flew GA in Californie 🙂 This Kern's lunch (among dozens of other ones) is outrageous 😉 Add the transatlantic airline flight to the bill!