An IFR rating is a logical next step for pilots after becoming a private pilot.  Transitioning from flying with your eyes outside on the natural horizon to flying inside with reference to instruments is a big shift.  There are new charts, new procedures, and a new set of regulations that need to be learned.  Understanding the nuances of weather and ATC communications becomes even more relevant for an IFR pilot.

Although the IFR Rating is challenging, earning it will definitely make you a safer pilot.  It also opens up new options for departing on your cross country trip even when the weather is less than VFR.  Even more so, for aspiring pilots looking to get into the commercial aviation world, this is the next logical step to take.  Join AGI and CFI Herb Pattern as he will share his experiences of working towards an IFR Rating.  He will share the challenges they encountered and the rewards of the rating, along with sharing what the advantages are of having an Instrument Rating.

If you are looking to pursue your instrument rating, this is the seminar for you.

With such a long time away from flying, many of us can’t wait to get back in the air.  Some of you might have used this time to brush up on ground school skills, or plan your next big trip.  That helps keep you in an aviation frame of mind, but all of us will need to brush up on our flying skills with our CFI’s once we return.  How does a safe, competent pilot approach restarting flight activities after a period of months away from the cockpit?

As SCFC eyes reopening the club to member flights, San Carlos Flight Center has invited CFI Mariana May Barrato to chart a course through recurrency.  What are the safest, most efficient ways for pilots to get back in the air.  What are the regulatory requirements?  What knowledge areas likely need attention?  How can a pilot structure the first few flights back to build back full capabilities.  In this seminar, Mari will cover those topics, and provide an outlook on what to expect coming back into flying.

With many of us begging to take to the skies, we must take into consideration the safest ways to do so.  Come join us and find out.

Let’s face it, airspace is an imaginary concept.  It is just a shorthand way to talk about the set of Federal Aviation Regulations that apply by location and altitude, and the impact they have on VFR flight.  As confusing as you think the rules are, with a quick refresher, you’ll be back to full knowledge in no time.

If it has been awhile since you sat through ground school, you may be due for an airspace refresher.  In this safety seminar, we will review the different classes of airspace that are found in the United States.  We’ll cover their shapes, sizes, operating rules, and also cover special use airspace.  Want an easy way to keep confusing Class G airspace rules memorized, use the Flight Center’s method that teaches there are 3 types of Class G airspace, Class G-low, Class G-mid, and Class G-high.  Do you know the differences between them?  Where would you look it up?  What happens to Class D when the tower closes?  How well do you know airspace?

This safety seminar is open to current and aspiring Private Pilots, and will be of particular interest to students pilots and those who are preparing for a flight review.  You will leave the seminar with a renewed understanding, and probably a few memory aids to take with your on your next flight.

Many local flights begin and end entirely within approach/departure control airspace.  These are otherwise known as Tower Enroute Control (TEC) routing. You can fly a local IFR flight without ever getting handed off to the Center.  This is because Air Route Traffic Control Centers are often very busy handling enroute traffic and short flights like this are not a good use of their time.  TEC routes can be extremely useful tools for the IFR pilot looking to fly a local IFR flight and get their clearance faster.

San Carlos Flight Center invites Instrument Ground Instruction and commercial pilot Dave Kramer to discuss the benefits of tower enroute control.  In this seminar, Dave will review what TEC routing is, how to find the appropriate route, how to file it, and how to fly it safely and effectively.  TEC Routes have been available for a long time, often used in Southern California and have often been underused. By attending this seminar you will realize the benefits of using this type of routing, and impress your friends on your next IFR flight.

If you want to get on the ground at your destination faster, you won’t want to miss out on this seminar.

Aircraft records are significant for safety and legal reasons.  Maintenance and inspections are meticulously recorded in more aircraft logbooks, such as airframe, engine, propeller, and sometimes avionics.  Pilots need to understand the details of aircraft logbook entries to validate the airworthiness of the airplane before flight, especially after the plane has returned from servicing.

Preparing for a checkride is one instance where the pilot-in-command needs to know every piece of the aircraft’s airworthiness.  When was the last annual inspection? If 100-hour inspections are required, when was the last 100 hour inspection done? Has the work been logged appropriately in the maintenance records.  Are all the airworthiness directives complied with? Being able to read and interpret maintenance logbook entries is the only way to confirm the aircraft is airworthy.

In this seminar, San Carlos Flight Center AGI James Sloan will examine the aircraft maintenance logbook entries and highlight what you need to pay attention to as a PIC.  James is an owner of two aircraft, a pilot with over 500 hours, and just received his certificate as a flight instructor. We encourage any pilot to attend.

Have you ever flown over an interesting, easily-identifiable visual landmark, but look and discover it’s not on the VFR Chart?  ForeFlight, the popular electronic flight tool for iPad, has a solution. You can now select your own user-defined waypoints within the app, allowing you to navigate more safely through complex airspace.

San Carlos Flight Center invites ATP and CFI Bob Leuten to explain the secrets of using user waypoints in ForeFlight.  The new feature is available in all versions of ForeFlight, even the $100 per year “Basic Plus” version. Bob will show you how to easily add User Waypoints for various landmarks used in the traffic pattern at San Carlos Airport that are not already identified as ‘VP’ fixes. These include the AT&T Tower, Kaiser Hospital, Sunken Ship and ‘Abeam Hillsdale Shopping Center,’ a key part of the new ‘Hillsdale Departure’ noise abatement procedure, and many more.  In addition, you will learn how to enter your own waypoints for home, work or those used for your own custom “Bay Tour.” Once you master user waypoints on your iPad, it’s an easy transition to enter a select few in your portable or panel-mounted GPS navigator for use with your autopilot.

We encourage all aspiring and current ForeFlight users to attend this seminar.  If you are able to bring your own iPad to this session (loaded with the current version of ForeFlight), you will be able to practice (in real time) naming, entering, editing and deleting real examples of user waypoints.  If you can’t bring your iPad, just follow along. We hope to see you there.

Speaking on the radio with ATC embodies a lot of a pilots workload. Sometimes pilots like to speak too much while transmitting on frequency, leading to frequency congestion, confusion, and can overall be an annoyance. SCFC pilot Brandan Dadoun has an interesting story about how his time training to be a controller on VATSIM, the virtual air traffic simulation network, actually improved his understanding and ability as a pilot.

As you may imagine, real life air traffic controllers go through extensive radio and procedures training. It turns out the same is true for people training to be virtual air traffic controllers on VATSIM. Over three years, Brandan studied the basics of airspace, airport and enroute procedures, LOAs, and detailed procedural training for all of Northern California and Oakland Center. Under supervised training, he was able to work up to controlling Oakland Center. Now, he trains others in ATC procedures in the SF Bay Area.

SCFC has invited Brandan to share what he has learned from virtual air traffic management, and how it informs his ability to use the radio effectively as a pilot. He has tips/references to the AIM on how to become a better pilot on the radio. He will also interactively show crucial examples of how being “lazy” or careless about radio phraseology can lead to disaster. Learn how to spot the confusion within multiple examples of bad phraseology, and ultimately become safer in the skies.

If you are a student pilot, private, or instrument pilot looking for ways to brush up their radio, and airspace during these uneasy times, don’t miss out on this seminar.

Flying in the mountains can be some of the most amazingly beautiful and satisfying flying you may ever accomplish. But it comes with increased risk, and thereby increased responsibility. Every day, GA pilots who fly in the mountains safely calculate and plan for such risks, and you can too.

This seminar is intended to meet the ground training requirement for an SCFC Mountain Checkout, and is required for all pilots participating in the FlyOutGroup 5-day Mountain Flying trip in early July. For more information, go to https://sancarlosflight.com/events/fog

If you are planning a trip to the mountains anytime soon, or just want to learn more about mountain flying; don’t miss out on this seminar.

Do you remember in your training when you feared the crosswind landing? Perhaps at some level you still do. Did you find yourself preferring to land at Haward instead of San Carlos? Do you feel there are normal landings and crosswind landings?

Imagine approaching a landing as just a landing even to the point you do not have to think too much about the crosswinds. In fact you now even enjoy the challenge of a crosswind. Don’t miss out on this seminar to be a better pilot.