Aircraft records are significant for safety and legal reasons. Maintenance and inspection are meticulously recorded in the aircraft logbook. Pilots need to understand the details of aircraft logbook entries to validate the airworthiness of the airplane.

A checkride is one instance where the pilot-in-command needs to know every page of an aircraft logbook. When was the last 100 hour inspection and annual inspection? Are all the airworthiness directives complied with? Pilots need to be able to read and interpret logbook entries to confirm required inspections have been completed.

In this seminar, San Carlos Flight Center CFI Stephen Heesacker and Fleet Manager Maryam Mortezazadeh will decipher the logbook entries and highlight what you need to pay attention to as a PIC. This seminar is especially relevant If you are preparing for your checkride and need to understand airplane logbooks but also useful if you just want to learn about the record-keeping process.

What you don’t know could kill you. Don’t let a lack of knowledge about survival risk the safety of your flight. This seminar will cover survival topics essential for safely flying the high mountains and waterways of the North American West. 

High Density Altitude Operations

Forced Landings: Hitting the Right Spot on your ‘Engine-out’ Approach.

High Altitude Airport Operations: KTRK, KTVL, KMMH and others

Intro to Open-Water & Ocean Rescue &; Survival

Life Raft Deployment (with LIVE DEMO)

Staying Found: Update on rescue communications and identifying your position

Enhance your awareness of mountain risks; know how to stay safe, prepared, and ready to handle the unexpected. With the knowledge from this seminar, you’ll increase your capability to handle the unexpected on your next mountain flying adventures.  This podcast is the audio recording of a classroom seminar. The complete video of the seminar is available for members on the San Carlos Flight Center website.

Every pilot knows of the “Miracle on the Hudson” by Captain Sullenberger of US Airways. But what if you had to do it? Would you be prepared?

When you are flying over a crowded city with limited emergency landing spots, ditching into a body of water may be the only option. If you are ever in a situation where you need to make an emergency landing on water,  landing is only half of the battle. You will have to know how to escape your airplane while it is taking in water. You may be upside down and your seatbelt may be stuck. Factors like disorientation and lack of oxygen can make it a challenge to survive.

In this seminar, Dave Kramer MD, will talk about water egress techniques to increase your odds of survival and go over the step-by-step process of escaping a water landing. After this seminar, you will be prepared in case of an emergency water landing.

Aircraft manufacturers present performance data in tabular or graphical form, and attempt to indicate how the aircraft will perform in a variety of different atmospheric conditions and power settings. Usually found in Section 5 of the Pilot’s Operating Manual, these charts can be used to help pilots determine takeoff and landing distance, fuel burn, and rate of climb depending on factors like temperature, pressure altitude, and whether or not there is an obstacle. 

In this safety seminar, San Carlos Flight Center’s Assistant Chief Pilot Brian Eliot will present a ground school refresher, reviewing the information you need to know during a cross-country flight and before you land or takeoff from an airport. He will actively involve the audience in this fun review of performance charts and point out interesting facts that you may not know.

If you want to improve your ability to read performance charts, or just want to test yourself, don’t miss this ground school refresher.

Shelter Cove, CA, a small fishing community on California's “Lost Coast,” is the most undeveloped and remote portion of the California coast. The one-runway Shelter Cove Airport 0Q5 is located at the center of Shelter Cove's commercial district, where visitors will find restaurants, shops, and access to other local attractions. 

This medium cross-country flight from the Bay Area involves some planning to select a good route and remain clear of special use airspace. Come review the cross-country planning details with San Carlos Flight Center’s Assistant Chief Pilot Herb Patten and pilot Amanda Chan. They will share their experience of flying to Shelter Cove and give you cross country tips.

If you are interested in flying to Shelter Cove with FlyOutGroup, or want to fly there yourself for a weekend getaway, don’t miss this seminar.

Aviation has an unrivaled safety record thanks in large part to our ability to learn from our mistakes. One way we can continue to uphold this reputation is through NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System. The Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) collects, analyzes, and responds to voluntarily submitted aviation safety incident reports in order to lessen the likelihood of aviation accidents. Data from ASRS are used to identify deficiencies and discrepancies in the National Aviation System (NAS) so that these can be remedied by appropriate authorities. The overall goal of this program is to strengthen the foundation of aviation human factors safety research. This is particularly important since it is generally conceded that over two-thirds of all aviation accidents and incidents have their roots in human performance errors.

In this seminar, Michael Dutton, an analyst at ASRS, will cover the fundamentals of the Aviation Reporting System. He will go over how and when to file a report, as well as the protections granted to a pilot if they fill out a report . If you are not familiar with the ASRS system or have any questions, don’t miss this seminar.

Every pilot has to start somewhere.  Getting involved in aviation at a young age can lead to many unique and special opportunities, whether it be getting in the cockpit or just being around airplanes. San Carlos Flight Center has invited back Alex Strehlow to share one woman’s journey to pursue her private pilot certificate. She will talk about her involvement with model aviation as well as her experience working as a Mechanic’s Assistant with San Carlos Flight Center before being awarded the Upwind Summer Scholarship. She will discuss her goals in pursuing a degree in Aerospace Engineering, as well as her aspirations to stay involved in general aviation. For anyone interested in becoming a pilot, engineer, mechanic, or anything related to aviation, this seminar is for you. Come learn about ways to get involved and possible pathways to work with airplanes in the future.

In some ways, learning to fly is largely about learning to land. Pilots of small planes need to perform at least one safe landing on nearly every flight. It's the type of skill that is learned once, and then perfected for the rest of a pilot's life. How are your landings? Would you like to hear a few secrets to landing that can help you improve your landing ability?

Join CFI Dan Dyer for discussion about landing philosophy and some insider tips on landing coming from his thousands of hours of instruction in nosewheel aircraft. Learn about the two halves to the flare, the actual role of the pilot (you may be surprised), how important it is to look good, and the critical importance of time spent at altitude playing with the horizon. This presentation may be of value to student pilots working on learning to land for the first time, but also may offer insights to experienced pilots looking to take their landing ability to the next level.

San Carlos Airport has very specific departure procedures to limit the noise of airplanes above residential areas. Right now, KSQL has the Bay Meadows, Woodside, and Belmont Slough departures, but at the end of the month, new noise abatement procedures will be released. Every pilot will need to immediately adopt these new guidelines. In this seminar, we have KSQL Airport Communications Specialist Davi Howard explaining the new departure names and procedures, something every pilot flying to and from KSQL needs to know. Come join us before San Carlos Flight Center’s July BBQ for this seminar.

VFR charts pack an extraordinary amount of material and represent a 3 dimensional world of terrain and airspaces in 2 dimensions.  They describe graphically the earth as it looks to us pilots from the air.  And no matter how much we study them and how good we get at interpreting them there is always something new or some little nuance that we didn’t realize. Lastly, they are fun.  Who doesn’t enjoy looking at a map, especially an aviation one.

Join San Carlos Flight Center CFI Stephen Heesacker as he gives a round school refresher. He will actively involve the audience in this fun review of VFR charts and point out interesting facts that you then can go out and impress your friends. Don’t miss this enjoyable afternoon with Stephen.