First solo coming up

What's the Chinese beehive?

And what's Pilot's Knob on the sectional?

Presumably it's an international flight school. There is one at Castle as well, and a much smaller one at Reid. The one at Napa is gone.

Just don't laugh over the radio if you hear an ELT going off. Yes, I had that experience at Castle once when a poor sap student solo smash'n'goed his 152. It takes a scary hard landing to do that (spec is 6 G's).
 
What's the Chinese beehive?

And what's Pilot's Knob on the sectional?

US Aviation Academy. Their primary business is training young Chinese students to return to their homelands as commercial pilots. With a fleet of 50-60 aircraft, a VFR day makes DTO the single busiest runway operation after San Diego. Especially when they all depart and return at same time.

Fortunately, the DTO tower crew knows the voices and tails of the other pilots who operate out of here and will provide preferred sequencing when possible.


Pilot Knob is a small hill due south of the runway that was a volcano some 80-million years ago.
 

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Kick ASS!!! Congrats! How was it?!?

Thanks, It was fun, more relaxed than I thought it might be. He said give me 3, 4 if you feel like it. So, I did 4, no problem. Got to pattern altitude quick with my 140lbs alone. Second landing was a one-bouncer(does that count as two landings), but rest were good.
 
That's what I did: a Stratus 2S and iPad mini 4. I'm also a student pilot flying out of PAO. As I'm still pre-solo, I actually don't use Foreflight much. I use my personalized electronic checklists much more. My CFI is big on teaching the landmarks about here--boundaries of NUQ, SJC, OAK, SFO, HWD. I bought the Stratus simply because, like you, I'm a geek and figure I would definitely get it later for cross country. Might as well get used to the toy now. :) And with Stratus, I have no desire to fly G1000 as a VFR pilot. I pick one of the cheapest planes in the fleet for my training, and I actually love it more than the more expensive ones that I have tried.

My solo is also coming up soon. But CFI wants to me to solo at HWD first thanks to that nice, long, wide 28L. :) (Wonder if he's also on this forum.)

It's so fun flying around the Bay Area. Beautiful scenery, fantastic weather, and busy airspace that requires you to be sharp.

YOU DID IT!!!!!!!! CONGRATS!
 
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