CFIs in San Francisco Bay Area

A

aggie06

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Apr 23, 2014
Messages
531
Location
Dallas
Display Name
Display name:
Aggie
I'm going to San Francisco in November for work, followed by a weekend in Napa for a wedding, and I was thinking it would be neat to see the bay area from the air and get a bit of a new challenge with the airspace I'm not used to. I thought it would be reasonable to find a CFI that would go up with me for an hour or two. I'm already a private pilot, so it wouldn't really be a discovery flight. When I called a flight school in the area, the receptionist got real upset and said they don't do air tours, only training.

Am I being unreasonable here? I thought this would be a good way to do it without worrying about trying to get checked out in a flight school airplane. I don't really want to fly there without an instructor anyway, being a low time guy and all. If it's reasonable, any recommendations for a CFI in the area that would sell me a couple hours of instruction?

What price is reasonable? I'm guessing $130/tach hr for a 172 and $35/hr for CFI that I pay in Dallas is less than the cost in California.
 
Just sign up for an hour, when you meet the CFI tell him the deal. You are learning bay area airspace. Nice easy lesson for the CFI and a change from the usual canned spiel he does all day. I'm sure you'll pay more but it is an hour on vacation so don't sweat it.
 
Word your conversation differently. You asked the wrong questions.
 
Aggie,
I did exactly as you described. I emailed CFI Jason Miller because I'd heard his podcast "the finer points" and liked his teaching style. He works out of the San Carlos Flight Center at SQL. I arrived early and there seemed to be a number of solid CFIs there.

As you suspected, he's more expensive than $35/hr, but I learned a lot and flew a great bay tour and I only paid for 1.5 hrs.

as far as I'm concerned it's not unreasonable to hire a CFI to learn a new aviation skill, I did the same thing when I flew to Catalina the first time.

best of luck,
Craig
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
Word your conversation differently. You asked the wrong questions.
Click to expand...

This. All you should have to say is that you'd like training on local airspace and procedures. That's training, not a tour. People hire CFI's for all sorts of different and valid reasons. Learning a new area seems like a very valid reason to me, especially when it's an area with fairly complex airspace.

As for cost, In San Diego I pay about $50/hr for the instructor and the planes vary from $100-135/hr depending on condition and equipment.
 
I did it out of SQL, just talk to a CFI.
 
Did this last year with http://www.oaklandflyers.com, CFIs name was Drew Kemp (nice guy). We stayed in downtown SF and KOAK is a ~30 min drive or so... Local CFI is a good idea, I didn't do any training with him but he was very helpful navigating there. He said they do these flights all the time.
 
If you're spending time in Napa, then check out Bridgeford at KAPC. I guess they changed names but the flight school is still there and they will hook you up no problem.
 
Cogito said:
As you suspected, he's more expensive than $35/hr, but I learned a lot and flew a great bay tour and I only paid for 1.5 hrs.
Click to expand...

Most are, average CFI is $50hr.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I'll reword my question to the flight schools. I like the suggestion of flying out of KAPC. That should allow a little time to drive up there in the morning while the fog burns off.
 
The first error was calling an outfit with a receptionist.

Misunderstanding. Every outfit in the area does visitor training.

Pick one close to where you are staying. It's autumn and the marine layer is not constant. It's gone by 10 AM nearly everywhere, but it's much less of an issue away from the Bay -- Reid, Concord, or Livermore.

You can almost always overfly marine layer, and it will peter out away from San Francisco. Class B transitions are given out like candy. And if SFO tower says no, you can often get a different answer from NorCal at a higher altitude, and vice-versa.

The flight up to Napa is spectacular, both through Class B (a bit out of the way, but worth it) or through Class C, or around both.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top