A Little Something Special for the Kids

From Nothing to Something

It’s really interesting how my weekends come together. Generally I have my weekend activities worked out by Wednesday or at the latest Thursday. So when I don’t have anything planned by Thursday night or Friday morning, it really starts to weight heavy on the start of my weekend. This weekend was such a weekend, but strangely things seemed to come together to make for a fun time.

I’d scheduled N9294Q for Friday evening to do some night pattern work (3 up and 3 down to renew my night currency). I left work after a crazy day and just tried to use the time before nightfall to decompress and ready myself for the night work. However while performing my preflight, I noticed some wet oil on the right side of the nosewheel fairing, as well as some dried oil streaks that gave the impression that oil may have been leaking during the previous person’s last flight (about two hours prior). I thought about it long and hard, used a flashlight to look underneath the engine, and at the end of it all I said to myself, “I don’t HAVE TO fly tonight.” Though, I would have loved to fly and get that out of the way…my conversative conscience took over. My mom was surely happy with my decision…which I guess it the best thing. She and others wouldn’t have been pretty upset had I flown and had an issue, knowing that on my preflight I noticed something that made me umcomfortable as Pilot-in-Command.

I was hoping that night wouldn’t be an omen for start of my “inactive” weekend. Yet I decided to call my aunt Saturday morning for breakfast to hang out for a bit before heading out for another spectacular wine tasting today with my friend Koffi in the Santa Cruz Mountains. While at my aunt’s I received a text from a friend from work, Laura, who asked if I had planned to fly this weekend. A couple of weeks ago, Laura and I had lunch at the Palo Alto airport cafe and while there, I showed her N343MM, the Archer III in which I’d just flown our coworker, Tessa, that weekend. At that time, she became very excited at the idea of flying and even mentioned taking her twins, Zoe and Joe.

So when I received the text from Laura, I asked her if she wanted to fly on Sunday. She immediately responded and said, “I have three petite passengers ready for adventure when you are.” I immediately whipped out my iPhone and started to find a plane for a flight on Sunday. Within less than ten minutes, I had the plane scheduled and we were all confirmed to fly on Sunday to Napa to visit her family for lunch. I love having an iPhone!

Well I’d reserved a different plane than I’d flown before, so before heading out for wine tasting, I stopped by the airport to check out the aircraft and make sure I was comfortable with its systems and cabin. To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised. N4352G has been in the West Valley Flying Club for quite some time, but I was never interested in flying it. But after a recent paint job and the addition of wheel fairings, it’s a really nice aircraft. And given that we were staying in the Bay Area, I figured it flying a Warrior would be just fine. Not to mention about $30/hr cheaper than the Archers that I normally fly.

Making It Special for the Kids

Later Saturday afternoon, Laura informed that her family would not be available to meet us in Napa. So I decided that we could either go to Monterey or Santa Rosa (Sonoma County area). When I sent her the message to see which she preferred, she responded with, “Your pick…dazzle us!” Well given that I would be piloting two bright 9 -10year olds, I decided on Santa Rosa – though I kept it as a surprise. Santa Rosa has a nice restaurant on field, as well as an air museum with numerous military aircraft on display. I thought it’d be a nice quick trip for the kids and a good way to spend a couple of hours at the airport.

Sunday on my way to the airport, I stopped by the store to pick up some things for flight. This was my first time ever flying kids, so I thought it’d be good to pick up some little bottles of water, paper lunch bags (in case they became airsick), and some pistaschios. I like to do a little better than Southwest Airlines and peanuts. 🙂

Doing My Part to Introduce the Friendly Skies

Ironically, Saturday May 15th, was dubbed International Learn to Fly Day by AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) and recognized by Congress earlier in the week. When I went out to the airport on Saturday, I didn’t see alot going on and it didn’t look like the airport was doing anything in observance of the day. I did think it was ironic though that the following day, Sunday, May 16th, I’d be introducing two kids to the friendly skies. It turned out to be my way to give back and possibly spark another dream. My first flight was as a 14-year-old kid through the Young Eagles program. Not only did my first flight ignite my interest in aviation, it also reignited my father’s passion (more than 15 years after he’d stopped flying). For those that know our story, commemorated in my book The Two Musketeers, the rest is history. So here I was, about 17 years later, captain of an aircraft with two interested young souls. I was a bit nervous but also incredibly excited. And I’d hope that they enjoyed not only the flight but the lunch and museum as well.

I arrived at the airport around 12:30p, about an hour before our scheduled departure. I generally arrive early to finish up any last minute flight planning, preflight the plane, and set up the cabin for my passengers. By the time they arrived, we were all set. I informed them of our route, went over some flight rules (such as when I put up my hand, I need everyone to be quiet, so I can listen/talk to ATC), and I made one last call to Flight Service to get any NOTAMs or TFRs on our route. I’m always a little nervous flying a different airplane, but N4253G was just like riding a bike. By now, I’ve flown enough hours in Warriors and Archers that I can hop from one to another and within a few minutes feel like I’m right at home.

The Departure

We were airborne shortly after 2:15p and similar to my flight last week, we flew a Right 45-degree departure up to 1200 ft before being transitioned over to Oakland Tower. As we approached Oakland, I was cleared direct to the approach end of runway 29 and within a minute, I noticed a Southwest 737 on final for the same runway at my 4 to 5 o’clock. I radioed Tower to see if they wanted me to turn out a bit to let him pass, yet he simply said maintain visual separation and continue on my present course. In other words, just don’t him and you’re fine. 🙂 After passing over Oakland, we were cleared to fly along the Nimitz Freeway and up to 2000 ft. This is the pretty standard VFR route through the airspace, especially since NorCal was not allowing any Class B transitions today. After passing the Bay Bridge, they cleared us up to our desired cruise altitude of 4500 ft and I headed direct to the Scaggs Island VOR. From there we turned to a heading of 297 and headed direct to Santa Rosa (STS). Along the route, we noticed some marine layer clouds and Laura wondered if that would cause a problem getting into STS. However,I’d left NorCal to pick up the STS Weather for a brief moment and they were reporting clear up to 15000ft. At least it was pretty cool to fly above the clouds.

Arrival into Santa Rosa (STS)

Upon arrival into STS, the Tower reported winds of 140 at 7 kts gusting to 18….yeah 18! That’s a pretty wide spread and I immediately thought back to my tricky landings down in Oceano a month ago. I also thought about my last landing, last weekend in N209J that had shaken my confidence just a tad. So going into this landing, I had a bit of nervous energy. The gusts and slight turbulence didn’t help either. But I knew if I could just get my approach speeds nailed then I would be able to settle down and ride it out. Well, my approach speeds were still a bit high…I hit 80 kts about half way on final and I was a little low. So I gave it some power, evened out the glidepath, and then slowly worked off the power. We came over the runway at a good height and I knew I didn’t need to force the airplane down. Runway 14 at STS is 5100ft…almost twice as long as Palo Alto (PAO). So rather than force it down, I simply slowed it down, flared, and held it off. It worked out perfectly…so much that Laura was amazed by the smoothness of the landing. She repeatedly commented at how she could tell there was a lot going on during the landing but the approach and the landing were “perfect” – her words not mine. In my mind, I thought the approach could have been better and the landing was “okay.” But as pilots know very well….nothing matters more to a passenger than the landing. Her compliments definitely helped relax me after our arrival.

Hanging Out in Santa Rosa

We taxied over to Sonoma Jet Center to park and check in. Both of the representatives on duty were very helpful and attentive. Joyce, the front desk associate, was very welcoming – as was Garrett, the line service guy. They gave us directions to the restaurant and mentioned that if we wanted to visit the Pacific Coast Air Museum that they’d drive us over to the museum in their mini-cart, since it was such a long walk. After a short walk over to the Terminal, we entered into what looked like a mini-airport terminal, complete with open rental car stations, check-in counters, and gate attendants. I’d flown to STS a couple of times before but I had never known that they had scheduled service from the airport. Horizon Airlines – a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, had scheduled service to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland, and a couple of other regional destinations. It felt pretty cool to walk into the terminal as a pilot of an aircraft on the ramp. After a quick bite to eat at the Sky Lounge, we walked back over to the the Jet Center for a lift over to the Air Museum.

Though the museum was closed by this time, we were still able to walk around the aircraft displays outside. Laura and I were both shocked by how many planes were parked out there. They had a couple of Army helicopters, an F-14, F-86, A-6 Intruder, Harrier, parts of a SR-71, an Albatross, and many other aircraft. It was a nice way to get closer to aviation and expose the kids to a bit more than general aviation. And I came to find out that Joe was an avid WWII fan, so much that he’s writing a novel about WWII at such a young age.

The Return Flight

After 30 minutes or so of being in awe of museum aircraft, we called Garrett and got a lift back to the ramp. I allowed my passengers to get nice and cozy in the aircraft for our return flight, while I preformd the preflight. Within a few minutes, we were heading back to PAO, this time climbing straight out to 5,500 ft. I tracked south towards the Scaggs VOR and by the time we reached cruise altitude we were again flying above the clouds. It was such a smooth and serene sky.

After crossing Scaggs, Oakland Center transitioned me over to NorCal for a Class C transition over Oakland. I used “rental power” and initiated a cruise speed descent down to 2500 ft. Oakland cleared me towards the Coliseum but I wasn’t able to pick it up given the marine layer of clouds hanging out over Oakland.

So I descended down to 1800 ft and requested to fly direct over the airfield. The flight over the Bay was beautiful and it gave Laura a good opportunity to snap some quality shots of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and downtown San Francisco. After passing downtown Oakland, I noticed that I was getting close to the marine layer. I requested to climb above the clouds, hoping that Oakland Tower would clear me into Class B, but alas they didn’t. Instead, I dropped down to 1200 ft and headed for the Coliseum and then the approach end of runway 29. On the way back to PAO, we flew directly over the Bay, which gave me the opportunity to point out of the sunken ship in the middle of the Bay. The kids perked up even more and were intrigued by the sight.

Arrival Back into PAO

Shortly thereafter, I radioed PAO and received clearance for a left traffic approach for runway 31. On downwind, I begin my setup and really worked on hitting my speeds. I had to extend my downwind, since I was number 2 behind a Saratoga on an extended final. As soon as he passed, I turned base and put in my second notch of flaps (25 degrees) and hit my speed of 70 kits. On final, again I was a bit low according to the PAPI, but I was also at my home airport. I knew really wasn’t low for the type of approach I like to fly at PAO. I hit my speeds much better on final, so much that I was able to relax my hand on my lap for part of the final approach and enjoy the ride down. The landing back at PAO was just about as smooth as the one in STS, and just like that we were back home.

Thanks Gang!

I really had a great time today and I’m very honored to have been able to introduce the skies to Laura and her twins. I hope they also enjoyed the experience. Perhaps one day later in their lives they will remember their first experience with general aviation and me as their pilot. Who knows, it might just spark their interest to learn to fly some day. If so, AOPA, you owe me my commission. 🙂 Until next time….Adios!