Southern California has an extensive and dense airspace system.  The airspace, along with its many transition routes, can prove to be a true challenge for pilots new to the area.   Be prepared and know what to expect in one of the most unique airspaces in the US.

In this seminar, SCFC has asked Dave Kramer, a commercial pilot and advanced ground instructor, who travels extensively in the Los Angeles area, to cover safe and correct ways to transition the busy Los Angeles class B.  He will discuss how to stay away from airliners, special use airspace, and much more.  Kramer will share stories of his recent trip to LAX Class B to the glamorous Catalina Island, as well as his experiences with other local LA airports.

Don’t fly commercially for your next trip to Disneyland, learn more about the airspace so you can fly yourself confidently and master this challenging airspace.  Don’t miss out on this unique learning opportunity.

Threat and Error Management (TEM) is a Human Factors oriented safety process that has been successfully employed by the airline industry in order to improve safety.  Airlines have used Crew Resource Management (CRM) and current Threat and Error Management (TEM) programs to dramatically reduce the number of accidents and incidents due to human error.

San Carlos Flight Center has invited in Ross Ferguson, an airline pilot and flight instructor for more than 25 years.  In his presentation, Ferguson will introduce SQL’s VFR pilot community to Threat and Error Management and the ways its these skills are often overlooked in General Aviation (GA).  The discussion will cover the GA safety record, TEM, TEM skills, situational awareness, and the startle effect, and will culminate with a short case study involving a Cessna 172.

Don’t miss out on this presentation if you want to become a safer and more attentive pilot.

Flying IFR increases the weather conditions under which pilots can operate. However, this comes with added responsibility of having a deeper knowledge of weather as well as IFR procedures. Cold weather has an impact on IFR approaches and if you look closely, several approaches have a snowflake notation. What are the considerations for flying an approach into KTVL during the winter and the temperature is well below zero?

In this seminar, you will learn what to do when your approach chart has a snowflake icon. We will review several approaches that are on the cold temperature restricted list, demystify the relevant FAA guidance, and explore how your GPS may accommodate these approaches.

If you are an instrument rated pilot and want to deepen your knowledge on unique approach chart notations and broaden your understanding of how colder temperatures impact the way you fly an approach to an airport, you will want to attend this seminar.

Scenario 1:  You are a student pilot on your take-off roll from Runway 20 at Watsonville, on a solo cross-country flight and so far everything has gone great.  Suddenly, you realize that a dot in your windshield is growing fast. It is not a bug splat. Is that an airplane coming right at you on final for the opposite runway?  What do you do?

Scenario 2:  You have just executed a near perfect GPS approach into Byron.  You have “crammed, climbed, cleaned, cooled, and called” and you are on your “course” for the missed approach.  But what is that? A skydiver’s canopy crossing right in your path. What do you do? 

In this seminar, CFII Patti Andrews will help both VFR and IFR pilots better understand, anticipate and avoid such surprises, and be better prepared to respond to them effectively when they do happen.  We will look at concrete steps you can take during your preflight planning and preparation to anticipate this kind of scenario, and communication strategies you can use to resolve conflicts as or before they develop.  We will also look for ways to reduce your startle response time, so you take corrective actions effectively.

Andrews will use real scenarios taken from 15 years of flight instruction experience, along with real and hypothetical examples provided by audience members.  Pilots who choose to attend are invited to read the FAA publication on startle response:  https://www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing/2017/media/se_topic_17_06.pdf

This will be an interactive seminar with prizes for participation, so if you are used to watching the live stream of our safety seminars, we encourage you to attend in person.  This topic will be particularly relevant to you if you are a pilot who ventures beyond the busy towered airports of the bay area to more remote locations and non towered airports.

Throughout the world, general aviation has helped communities overcome the challenges of being cut off from the outside world by the effects of earthquakes, storms and floods which incapacitate the surface transportation infrastructure.

In response to a cataclysmic event which degrades regional surface transportation, California pilots like you and your aircraft can provide volunteer emergency airlift services to benefit their surrounding communities with assistance from volunteers throughout the California DART Network. 

SCFC has invited Marian Harris to discuss how the Disaster Airlift Response Team’s (DART) network engages pilots like you to support the community in the event of a disaster.  She will describe some of the unique challenges flying in or around a disaster area. Marian will also summarize the qualifications pilots need to meet to participate in DART, schedule of DART exercises, and where pilots can find more information about the California DART Network and the Half Moon Bay/San Mateo DART team.

If you are thinking about joining the Disaster Airlift Response Team or just want to learn about their services, don’t miss this seminar.

Modern pilots use checklists as a way of correcting for the failings of human memory.  Even for important tasks that may be completely memorized, a good pilot will back up memory by referring to a checklist.  It’s likely that every year accidents are avoided and lives are saved because pilots were reminded of important settings and procedures that had been inadvertently missed.

The manufacturer’s FAA-approved flight manual or pilot’s operating handbook (POH) is the foundation for safe operation of the aircraft, but many manufacturers’ checklists seem stark to some pilots.  Checkmate.com and a variety of other aviation publishers have created commercially available checklists that augment the ones in the aircraft POH, with additional items that many pilots find a common part of their flight process.  Some aircraft owners, flying clubs, and flight schools have created their own checklists for use by their pilots.

How much checklist is enough?  Which checklist is right for you?  Have you ever thought of making your own checklist?  Have you had it with the laminated checklist that says Beacon On before even turning Master On?  It may be time for you to make your own checklist. Many pilots find that the process of creating their own checklist forces them into a deeper understanding of the aircraft and its safety features, and makes them a safer pilot.

SCFC invites all pilots to join us for a discussion about making your own checklist.  We will talk through the benefits that custom checklists bring to single-pilot resource management, and the safety pitfalls to guard against.

It's impossible to learn the answer to every situation while you are a student pilot. Most of a pilot’s learning happens after becoming a private pilot, and continues with every flight. Even after flying for so many years, pilot’s will encounter some interesting and unexpected situations that they never experienced before.

With over 20 years of flying as a charter pilot, Capt. Ben Taber has had numerous unforgettable moments in the cockpit. In this seminar, he will discuss his memorable times as a charter pilot, often when something did not go as planned and he was forced to adapt to a situation.

If you have ever wondered about the daily experiences professional pilots face, this is ought to seek your interest.

Are you considering venturing to the American Southwest for an adventure of a lifetime? Along with expanding your flight planning knowledge, experience the joyous southwestern sights throughout the beautiful fall months. Long cross-country flights require plenty of planning all of which can be broken down to a few basics.  How do you start?

Join commercial pilot, ground instructor, and FlyOutGroup coordinator Dave Kramer as he discusses this long cross-country flight planning adventure. He will discuss his basic approach to preparation which includes route selection, alternate considerations in case of weather, and hints on how to have a memorable flying adventure.  Long cross-country flights allow the pilot to see as many sights as they can. Dave will discuss sightseeing over Meteor Crater, the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Monument Valley, Zion, Bryce, and Sedona and many others. The options are limitless and ultimately up to you.

If you are interested in joining the FlyOutGroup Southwest Odyssey trip in October to see New Mexico and Arizona, and want to learn more about improving your cross-country flight planning skills, set your calendar to attend this seminar

Pilots think differently than physicists.  Physicists approach flying the way they do other studies of mechanical motion, with an understanding of mass, speed, force, work, and energy.  Values and relationships accumulated over the years describe the interaction of bodies in motion, in a way that allows scientists and engineers to make predictions about their behavior. Yay, science!

Pilots inside cockpits moving through space are more often concerned with the task of flying, what action of the controls causes the aircraft to climb, descend, turn, or remain straight and level.  Our perspective is often focused on our little picture, on the stuff we touch inside the cabin.  But much can be gained from taking the big picture look at flying, and especially approach to landing, from the perspective of an energy scientist.  This is the Energy Management approach to landing.

In this presentation, SCFC Chief Pilot, Dan Dyer brings us a big picture overview of how energy is created, consumed, used, and transferred in aviation. How can an understanding of chemical, kinetic, and potential energy inform our skills as pilots? Which flight control most easily transfers energy back and forth between potential and kinetic? Where does the energy go?

A good pilot is always learning. Join us if you want to improve your landings by coming at it from an entirely different angle.

Many pilots learn weather during ground school or as part of flight training. However, the ability to understand weather charts and forecasts and make informed weather decisions takes time and practice.

This seminar will show new pilots how to use the various sources of weather forecasts to understand what to expect for your flight. We will dive deeper into weather decision making using a real-life flight scenario.  We’ll select the best route of flight based on weather, evaluate weather reports and forecasts to predict in flight conditions, and understand how important it is to make weather Go/No-Go decisions along the way.

In this helpful learning environment, use this as an opportunity to understand your weather limitations and boundaries. If you want to improve you and your passengers safety, don’t miss this seminar.