California here I am

french22

french22

Filing Flight Plan
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french22
Dear all,

My son and I will spend the third week of August in the SFO area with not much else to do but flying. Yes, life can be a b.... :)

Although I have my US / EU PPL equivalence, I lack the necessary training to fly on my own (at least the first couple of days) in an unknown US area.

Thus I'm looking for a good place where I could rent a plane (SEP) + FI to fly around California. We could enjoy some IR training too.

I would prefer to stay in the San-Franciso or Standford area but we can move elsewhere if there is a nice place to be with friendly airfield.

Any recommendation from Californian fellows.

thanks
Thierry
 
french22 said:
Dear all,

My son and I will spend the third week of August in the SFO area with not much else to do but flying. Yes, life can be a b.... :)

Although I have my US / EU PPL equivalence, I lack the necessary training to fly on my own (at least the first couple of days) in an unknown US area.

Thus I'm looking for a good place where I could rent a plane (SEP) + FI to fly around California. We could enjoy some IR training too.

I would prefer to stay in the San-Franciso or Standford area but we can move elsewhere if there is a nice place to be with friendly airfield.

Any recommendation from Californian fellows.

thanks
Thierry
Click to expand...

As @Palmpilot noted, KPAO is going to be the closest to Stanford, and it is fairly close. KSQL will be the closest to San Francisco, though it's quite a bit more of a drive. Ensure you have a car rented, as getting around without that in the Bay Area is near impossible. What sort of aircraft did you intend to fly?

PAO has two clubs that might meet your needs. Obviously, I'm partial to West Valley Flying Club, as my aircraft, N194SP, is available for rent there. http://wvfc.org The club just next door is quite similar (although the two clubs have a bit of a rivalry), and that is Advantage Aviation. http://advantage-aviation.com WVFC has the plus of also having aircraft available out of SQL. Both clubs have several very experienced instructors. Unsurprisingly, like most things in the Bay Area, it's all expensive. Nothing quite as expensive as flying in Europe, but still a bit up there.

Flying the in Bay Area is somewhat complex. There's a bunch of local practices that could trip you up. That said, ATC in the area tends to be very helpful and professional. Sounds like you're a VFR pilot for the moment, and that works well. In August, it's highly unlikely that there will be any weather to trip you up. Winds may be up a bit, but not too bad. There is likely to be coastal fog in the mornings and evenings, so watch out at spots like KHAF.

If you intend to do the Open Airplane thing, TradeWinds Aviation in San Jose (KRHV) can do that for you. I have experience with them, as they managed my airplane for a year. Very professional organization.
 
Thank you so much for all your comments. You are really helpful

I'm more inclined to go to a place a bit less busy, so PAO would be a first choice. And also a possible place from which my son will fly during its next 2 university years.

To be more precise
- yes, I'm not IR
- I plan to fly SEP (preferably Cessna that I know better)
- I definitely don't plan to go solo without getting some experience of the area with a FI
- I'm not familiar with Open Airplane offer, I'll will inform myself on that.

To summarize, the plan is to have a lot of fun without too many hassles. Considering the limited time (1 week), we'll probably take the safest option of flying with a FI as a security pilot. We proceeded this way a few years back in FL and took full enjoyment of our "burger flights".

We can also take profit of this week to fly less common machines such as taildraggers that I haven't flew for a while.
 
PAO is one of the busiest airports around, especially on weekends.
 
Get out now, before CA figures out a way to charge you a visitation tax.
 
Rykymus said:
Get out now, before CA figures out a way to charge you a visitation tax.
Click to expand...

You think that someone from the EU is going to be scared off by the taxes in the US?

Also, for the other point, yeah, KPAO is routinely the #1 or #2 busiest single runway airport in the US. (KSAN is the other competitor for that role.) But don't let that scare you. It's all GA aircraft on its 2400' runway, so there's no jets to deal with and everyone is flying just like you. There's some local knowledge needed, but it's not huge. The controllers are generally very good at managing the traffic. I find KSQL and KHWD significantly more complex to get in and out of. KRHV is a little easier, but farther from anything interesting, and the neighborhood isn't one where you'd want to stay as a tourist.

Also, KPAO has the highest concentration of talented and experienced CFIs I've ever seen. Oh, it also has a 4% glideslope to a short-ish runway. Nothing too serious, but you do need to watch your energy just a little more than on a more standard runway.

This is a little dated, but greatly informative: http://www.dr-amy.com/palo-alto-airport.html
 
Thanks guys for your great help.
Will visit PAO as soon as I will arrive in CA.
 
We had a blast ! :)

Unfortunately we had to reduce our flight days to a bare couple. We enjoyed every bit of it notwithstanding a very unwelcoming weather which prevented us to fly a bay tour. We flew from KRHV : cheaper than PAO, less traffic, and PAO was overcast the first day we could fly.

Flying was great (C172 is a workhorse) but I got lost in the NorCal radio traffic, the assistance of a CFI was key. Btw, I used Avare on android which is a free alternative to FF, less developed but nice for VFR

We survived the taxes and I hope they won't develop into cancer in the long run :)

Thank you guys for all your tips, advices, ....
 
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