Sharing in the “Joys” of Flight

Darren & Joy before their 1st general aviation flight.

This past weekend, I had the good fortune of sharing the joy and nostalgia of aviation with a couple more newbies – Joy and Darren. I’ve known them both for a couple of years but just a about a month ago Joy found out that I was a pilot. Since that night, she’s been buzzing with the idea of going up on a flight. Earlier in the week, she hit me up through text to schedule a flight for the weekend. She wanted to go up on Friday evening, but I couldn’t due to a surprise birthday party that night at 6pm. Little did I know she would be celebrating her own birthday on Friday night. We scheduled the flight for Sunday instead and I suggested that we make it a Sunset Bay Tour flight. It’d be a great way to share the experience with her husband (Darren) and those flights are a nice way to end the weekend.

Anxiously Awaiting

Strangely by Sunday, it had been a month since I’d flown. I was able to a fly a bit with my dad during my trip home to Chicago in May, but I was just a passenger – though at times I felt like a flight instructor. It was the first time in several years that I’d flown with my father and not sat in the captain’s seat (left seat). So there I was with the checklist in hand, sitting right seat, asking questions, pointing out instruments and making flight suggestions. It felt a bit weird but something that my father believes I’ll end up doing someday. Who knows…he did it!

Good 'ole N8885M - my dad's plane back in Lansing, IL.

Anyway…my father and I only ended flying in his plane for about 30 minutes. He had noticed some issues with his flight controls after he picked up the plane from its annual maintenance service and, while we were flying, we both noticed something just wasn’t right. So we made a couple of landings and shut it down. It was nice, however, to fly with him for a bit. It was the first time that we’d flown in 2 years – since my last flight before my private pilot exam. That photo is forever etched in “digital ink” on the cover of my book – The Two Musketeers.

Needless to say, with not having flown for a month, I felt a bit anxious. I always feel anxious when I fly newbies because I want everything to go well in their first experience. So, in an effort to calm my anxiousness, I spent the afternoon at the airport using the Flying Club’s Wifi to catch up on a business project and get my aviation juices flowing. There’s just something about being at an airport, listening to air traffic control, and seeing planes fly that just puts me at ease.

About an hour before our scheduled flight, I sat on the bench directly across from the runway at Palo Alto Airport. On the radio, I heard a pilot request a bench drop-off for a solo flight – he was about to do his first solo. It was ironic that I was seated there (along with his instructor) to witness it. It brought back so many memories from my first solo and it’s a moment that no pilot ever forgets – the first time you are in a plane all by yourself. The solo pilot did great on his 3 takeoffs and landings, and I felt like a proud elder…even though I didn’t even know the guy and he was probably 10-15 years older than me. But there’s just something about the whole pilot training experience and community that runs deep through us all.

Time to Get Ready to Rock-n-Roll

Well, after a couple hours of being an airport bum, I was now ready to grab my own keys and fly the friendly skies. I’d decided to fly a Warrior since it was just a quick Bay Tour, and I was able to schedule the same one that I’d recently flown up to Santa Rosa with Laura and her kids (N4352G). I’d plan to do all my preflighting prior to my passengers arriving but I guess Joy was just so excited that they arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule – 6:45p. The sun was scheduled to set at 8:30p…so I hadn’t planned on starting the aircraft until about 7:45p…figuring that we’d take off by 8:00p and arrive in the Bay about 10 minutes before sunset.

It worked out well though, as Joy and Darren were able to see me perform some of the preflight duties, ask a few questions, take a quick tour around the ramp to see all the different aircraft, and snap a couple of photos before the flight. I always love answering questions during my flights – it really makes me feel like a Captain. 🙂 Plus, it keeps my mind fresh.

On my initial call to Palo Alto Ground, I requested Flight Following for a Bay Tour and was told that SFO was not allowing any Class B Transitions. I’ve noticed that they’ve been limiting Class B transitions more and more lately, which really takes away from favorite part of my preferred Bay Tour flights – as I like to return over the city of SF and the SFO airport on my way back down south. But today, I’d have to fly up over Hayward, Oakland, play in the Bay, and then return along the same route.

A Flight Always Has its Quirks

Now it’s funny, every flight has its own little quirk and this flight was no different. The quirk this time was my seat. While taxing onto the runway, I attempted to adjust my seat. It felt a bit high and I wanted to lower it a bit. Unfortunately, when I did that it went a bit lower than I wanted, but not far enough that I couldn’t see well. After takeoff, I figured that if it kept bothering me that I would just adjust it in the air.

So we departed Runway 31 on a right 45-degree departure and climbed to about 1,200ft and headed for Hayward. As we approached Hayward, I noticed a Boeing 737 jet flying perpendicular to our path at my 2 o’clock. Given that we were at 1,200 ft, and outside of Oakland’s Class C airspace, we were probably nowhere near being close to him. However, my instincts took over and I immediately turned to the left. Just as soon as I started my turn, Hayward Tower radioed me to instead turn right and head directly over their airfield prior to my transition to the north. I graciously thanked them for the vectoring and watched the Alaska Airlines 737 (now at my 9 o’clock) turn base to final for his approach into Runway 29 at Oakland.

After flying up the I-880 freeway from Hayward, over Oakland Airport, and the Lake Merritt area – we arrived in the Bay with about 20 minutes to spare before sunset. So I climbed up to 2,500 ft and used the Bay as our playground. This time I flew a bit further west than normal, pratically a 1/2 mile from the Golden Gate Bridge, as we dodged a couple of arriving aircraft near our altitudes.

The "Soul Plane" cruises towards the Golden Gate Bridge.

I then executed a fun steep turn (35-45 degrees) right above Alcatraz. Joy loved it but told me that Darren was a little uneasy…so I shallowed out the turn. We then flew over Angel Island and north past Sausalito and Tiburon, before turning back into the Bay for another couple of passes by downtown SF. I guess it’s sometimes better to get in the Bay with a few minutes to spare so that you can hang out a bit and enjoy the views.

Downtown SF at sunset.

After a few more minutes, I radioed NorCal for my transition back south and they cleared us through Oakland on the standard route – over the Coliseum, then the approach end of Runway 29, then to midspan of the San Mateo Bridge. And just like my flight with Laura’s kids, I pointed out the Sunken Ship in the middle of the Bay on our way back towards Palo Alto.

Night, night San Francisco!

The Landing from My Perspective

As I mentinoed earlier, I was having difficulty adjusting my seat height. While hanging out in the Bay, I tried to make the adjustment to no avail. So prior to heading back, I asked Darren to pass me the aircraft POH (pilot’s operating handbook). I used that as my official seat adjustment. Thankfully, it was just the right height. I just knew I needed something before landing, because I didn’t want anything to affect my first landing with Joy and Darren…not to mention…I didn’t want to flare too low given my adjusted sight picture.

When we arrived back near the airport, we were the only ones in the pattern. I entered the pattern for a right downwind approach and began to adjust my settings. But it’s amazing how much feel you lose when you haven’t flown in awhile. I felt as though I wasn’t quite coordinated in my power settings and attitude adjustments, because on downwind I was still a bit faster than I should have been. In the Warrior, I should be at about 80 knots on downwind, 70 on base, and about 65 on final. Well…I was still about 80 on base and 75 on final – plus according to the runway lights, I was also a bit low. But then again, it’s my home airport. I tend to prefer to fly the approach a bit below the lights at PAO. Given that I was a bit fast and low…I preferred to stay fast and flatten out the glidepath to get back on the slope. It also didn’t help that even though the aircraft had cockpit instrument lights, the lights were not working over the left side of the panel (i.e. the airspeed indicator). I could see it but it did cause my eyes to strain a bit to pick it up in my usual scan.

Well as we neared the threshold, I went from being low and fast to high and fast. So I pulled off the power and let it drop and boy did it. It was a final descent that was probably the quickest that I have had in a while. Due to that, I had to use a bit more back pressure than normal to slow down the descent and flare. And for some really lucky and odd reason…just as I reached my comfortable flare attitude, I felt the right main tire just barely kiss the ground. I couldn’t believe how smooth the landing felt, so I kept holding it off just a bit more so that I knew the plane had made positive contact. And with that…we were back at PAO exactly 1 hour later.

Even before we exited the runway, Darren (who did seem a bit nervous during the landing) said it was smooth and felt really cool. Joy was just still buzzing and wanted to immediately go do it again. Trust me…you don’t have to ask me twice.

Thanks, D!

I’m glad they both enjoyed the flight and perhaps this experience might ingite a fire within Joy to pursue her own license. Until then, I’m happy to take them up anytime and share in the joys and nostalgia of flight. Thanks for a great flight, guys!