Hopping in the SAC

Posted on Dec 14, 2009

Recapping the Last Couple of Weeks

Well as I mentioned in my previous posting, I earned my checkout in the Archer…my second aircraft upgrade this year…a couple of weeks ago through West Valley Flying Club (WVFC) at Palo Alto (PAO). I was actually able to pull a “two-fer” since I also completed my biennial flight review during the same process. So I’m all good for the next 90 days in the Archer and the next 2 years on my license.

N43779...new paint, new engine, and all leather. Nice!

N43779...new paint, new engine, and all leather. Nice!

Well prior to moving over to WVFC, I attempted to cancel my membership at Advantage Aviation. That day, I was asked by the club manager to maintain my membership and he also threw in a carrot. If I kept my membership and received a checkout in an Archer, he would allow me to ferry their newly rebuilt and repainted Archer up to Sacramento Executive for work on its autopilot system. Well, I couldn’t say no to that offer and, by pure luck, I found out the instructor that I used was an instructor at both WVFC and Advantage. So one flight and two checkouts….pretty sweet!

We scheduled the flight up to SAC for today, Dec 14th, about two weeks ago and boy did we get lucky on the weather. A couple of fridays ago, I tried to fly one of the WVFC’s Archers on a Bay Tour night flight with a friend but decided against it due to a few clouds hanging out both OAK and SFO at 1000ft AGL and those aren’t good for a Class Bravo or Charlie transition when you’re VFR and flying at night…you can’t see the clouds. Then I tried to fly an Archer out of San Carlos two days later, right before the rains came, and wasn’t able to start the engine (come to find out, I wasn’t the only one with that issue with that particular aircraft at SQL). The next seven days it was either raining all day or near freezing….pretty much up until this morning at 9am.

Clear Skies in the Bay & Fog in the Valley

I arrived at the airport to beautiful blue skies here in the Bay Area, but after performing a quick preflight, I decided to postpone the flight since the clouds/visibility in the Sacramento Valley were anywhere from 2mi and 3500ft OVC to 1/4mi and 1200 BKN. Neither of which was within my personal minimums or legal for a VFR flight for that matter. Luckily, I only work 10 mins from the airport, so I decided to head to work and then head back to the airport around 12pm. The weather was forecasted to get better in the Valley after 1pm, and so I got a call from Advantage at 11:45am in at my office saying that they had arranged a pick up for me at SAC at 1pm. So if it was flyable, I needed to head back to the airport and takeoff.

By this time, the Bay Area started to get a little dark but I could see that the clouds were above the mountains on both sides of the Bay, so at least 3000 ft and that matched the current weather report in the Bay. I arrived at the airport, grabbed the latest weather for the Valley (which had improved) and filed my flight plan through the AOPA Flight Planner (a decent resource, I might add).

The N43779 cockpit complete with a Garmin GPS 430 and autopilot.

The N43779 cockpit complete with a Garmin GPS 430 and autopilot.

After a quick preflight and engine start, I taxied to runway 31, ran-up, taxied onto the runway and waited. 🙁 There was a flock of geese hanging out on the runway and I had to wait for them to strut slowly across the runway before taking off.

Cloud Dodging on the Way to SAC

After takeoff, I departed on a Right Dumbarton Departure and headed for the Sunol Pass. Normally, I climb up to about 2500 ft by the Salt Stacks in Newark and then 3500 ft near Sunol but I could tell the clouds were at about 3000. So I hung out at about 2500 ft until reaching Sunol and then was able to climb to 3000 near Livermore. But I couldn’t go much higher and by the time I reached Livermore, the flight became interesting.

At first, I switched NorCal frequencies and I was immediately informed of an aircraft at my 12 o’clock 2 miles out flying in the opposite direction (basically right at me) at 2900 ft and if I didn’t see him then I had to immediately descend 500 ft. Well, I didn’t see him right away and decided to descend. By the time I descended and reached 2500 ft, I saw him about a mile away on my right. But it was good that I descended because now the clouds were dropping and so was the visibility. So much that I literally had to dodge some scattered clouds at my altitude.

I spent the next 30-35 minutes getting lower and lower, and dodging more clouds. As I neared Byron, I had to make a decision, should I land here and wait it out or keep going? I figured I could see well enough to keep going and thankfully in the Valley, I could go as low as 1000ft and still be within regulations and above terrain. So I decided to forge ahead, knowing that I if I encountered any problems, I could always turn around to Byron. Well at this point, I was open (Class E) airspace, so now it was simply a battle between me and the clouds. And the clouds kept pushing me lower and lower…so much so that as I crossed the Discovery Bay Delta, I was flying between 1000-1500 ft. And at this point, I decided to call Flight Watch to see how the weather was in SAC. This was the first time I’d ever used Flight Watch and it was extremely helpful. I basically knew that if I could get past the Delta and miss the eletrical towers at 2000 ft, then I could get into SAC which was showing 10 mi visibility and clouds at 3000 ft broken. I truly felt like I was chasing the open patches today.

Well I made it to SAC after doing a go-around on my first landing attempt. The first time I came in too high and decided to go-around for a better setup. My second approach was much better, though I should have listened to that little voice in my head at flare and reverted to what I learned the last time I flew to a Sacramento airport by adding power once I felt “That Sinking Feeling.” Not only was it my first landing in the Archer in over 2 weeks, it was also my first landing on a runway of 150 ft or more in more than 9 months. And I always have to adjust my sight picture when landing on wider runways (the runways at PAO and SQL are between 70-75 ft wide….so it makes a difference).


Clunky Communications

1.3 hrs and 80 or so miles later, I delivered the plane to Executive Autopilots.

1.3 hrs and 80 or so miles later, I delivered the plane to Executive Autopilots.

After I landed, I was told to do a 180 degree turn on the runway and head off at taxiway Alpha to contact ground. Well the first time, I contacted ground, I actually was still on the tower frequency…so I apologized and switched to ground. I called ground but they didn’t respond to me. Then I received a call on my cell phone from the pilot of the Cessna 414 that was scheduled to take me back to PAO. I was already a little late, so I answered his call while holding off the runway and waiting for ground to respond. Then ground finally responded and I requested a taxi clearance to Executive Autopilots (with instructions since I didn’t know where it was located). Then ground answered someone else and didn’t respond to me again. So after what felt like a minute, I called again and they finally gave me the taxi clearance, but this was easily 5 mins after I exited the active runway. I made it to Executive Autopilots, parked the aircraft, dropped the keys, and asked how to get to the terminal where my ride had been waiting. It was about a block and half walk to the terminal building and I literally walked right into the plane as soon as I arrived to it. They shut the doors, started the engine and we were off.

Being Chartered in the Chancellor (aka Cessna 414)

Apparently, the Cessna 414 was being flown for a maintenance check flight for Advantage Aviation at PAO. I’m not sure how it was all setup, but hey, I was flying back to PAO in a Cessna 414, so I wasn’t complaining. And to be honest, it all happened so fast that I didn’t really have time to process it all. As soon as I sat in the aircraft, and buckled up, the pilot and two mechanics mentioned that they had to perform a few tests on the ground and during the flight. I jokingly asked if I needed an airsick bag for tests and they said…”nah, we hope not.” They performed a couple of tests while we taxied and ran-up the engines. Then we headed out of SAC climbing at about 1200 ft/min at 120-130 kts….the cruise speed for my Archer.

We then headed up to 10,500 ft and over Stockton, where they performed pressurization tests on cabin and engine systems. We continued flying south and then climbed up to 15,500 ft and for more tests. By this time, we were cruising around 220 Kts (almost twice the speed of my Archer) and were near Merced (about 100 miles south of SAC and 90 miles from PAO in the opposite direction). All this happened in a matter of 30 minutes, so I could see that having two turbocharged engines really makes a difference.

Over the hills and back to the Bay Area.

Over the hills and back to the Bay Area.

The sky was absolutely gorgeous though. One of the things I love about flying the valley in California is that on one side you have the view of the Sierra Nevadas and on the other, the Pacific Ocean. And with snow on the mountains and the sun shining off the ocean, it was a sight to behold.

Well after a few tests, we headed back towards PAO and I basically just watched the the flight from behind the cockpit. The weather in the Bay Area was just gorgeous, especially given what I’d been though just an hour earlier. But it always looks better on top of the clouds than below them. We approached from the southwest, hit South County airport, turned north, and flew west of the San Jose – 101 approach. After calling Moffett and receiving clearance, we headed straight in for landing at PAO and just like that…it was all over.

Lessons Learned

As I told a friend this afternoon, as a pilot sometimes you have to work at stretching yourself beyond what you’ve done before. Not every flight is going to be clear skies and without issues. But as long as you stay within your own minimums and arrive safely, you become more experienced and confident in your abilities. Today was such a day and in the end, I became a more experienced pilot.

Now I know I could’ve done better with my cockpit management, in terms of my charts, kneeboard, and checklists. I felt a little unorganized during the flight, so I need to shore this up a bit more. I also need to become more proficient on the Garmin 430 GPS, which is within most of the aircraft that I’m flying now. So I think one of these days, I going to reserve the aircraft to simply sit on the ramp and play with the system. And lastly, I’d like to go out on a nicer day and fly a quick cross country to get a bit more comfortable in the Archer. I know I flew it well, but there were times when I felt behind the aircraft and I don’t like that feeling. I always had a backup plan, like the go-around at SAC, but I feel like if I was more “in-front” of the plane, I could have set up better on my approach.

The Chancellor...Cessna 414.

The Chancellor...Cessna 414.

Tengo Suerte!

I know I’m lucky though. Today I got to fly a beautiful rebuilt, repainted, and full leather interior aircraft for FREE. And then was chartered back on a fast and fiesty Cessna 414 for FREE. It’s truly a day that I won’t forget and I’m well on my well to going “Full Power on My Fun Meter.” Over and out!

1 Comment

  1. Jarard.com - The Pilot » Hopping in the Sac for a Baby BBQ
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