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Of the various flyouts and events organized by the Bay Area FlyOutGroup every year, one stands out due to its popularity. The Full-Moon Flyers to Santa Rosa on Wednesday July 13 pairs FOG pilots and passengers, with Upwind Summer Scholarship students and instructors, and a bunch of other SCFC pilots and airplanes that bring the Upwind parents to join in the big dinner celebration.

Last year, 30 airplanes and 60 people flew in to this event! For more information, see the Full-Moon Flyers article in the Adventure section below.

The classes are delivered in a highly interactive manner with content that is constantly being updated and is relevant to flying in the Bay Area. The training not only prepares you for the knowledge test but provides a solid foundation for the oral portion of the checkride. SCFC’s ground school class is famous in the SF Bay Area for being: flexible (sessions taught in-person on Sunday morning as well as Tuesday evening and also available online 24x7), fun (great to meet and interact with other student pilots), and a fantastic value (30+ hours of instruction for one low price). 

Contact the Front Desk to confirm your seat in the class that will get your aviation dreams off the ground.

In June, the Flight Center took delivery of another Cessna 152, just in time for summer flight training. The C152 is an excellent training platform for Private Pilot training for most average and smaller size students and instructors.

In an effort to reduce runway incursions the FAA made some recent changes. Beginning May 19^th, they standardized the shapes of hot spots on airport diagrams. While San Carlos Airport doesn’t have any hot spots, several of the nearby airports do, including Oakland, Hayward, and Reid-Hillview.

The FAA will depict ground movement hot spots using a circle or an ellipse, while a wrong surface hot spot will be depicted by a cylinder. For additional information, watch the FAA Hot Spot Standardization video.

An additional tool that the FAA recently created to aid in minimizing lining up on the wrong runway on arrival is the “Arrival Alert Notice”. This information is published in the chart supplement. You can find this in ForeFlight as well in the Airport, Procedure, Airport tab. Not too many airports have these right now, however there is one for Reid-Hillview as well as Palm Springs. For more details, watch the FAA Arrival Alert Notice video.

Tune into this livestreamed FAA Safety Seminar listed here where he will investigate the thought process behind flying a “stabilized approach”, and what he believes is the most effective order of operations on final and on short final. If you are a new student who’s struggling with landings, or an advanced pilot who wants to rethink your own approach to a landing, join us to learn more.

SCFC: Where did you first start flight training? What motivated you to begin to learn to fly?

OH: I was first introduced to aviation through a EAA Young Eagles flight, and after that, I was hooked and wanted to fly. Flight training started when I was about 13 but never really flew consistently until February of 2021, a few months before my 16th birthday.

SCFC: You were the recipient of EAA Scholarship used for flight training. Can you tell us about that?

OH: I was awarded 2 EAA Scholarships totalling around 14K which funded most of my flight training. First was a standard EAA Scholarship that ranges from 5-10K, but due to time limitations and my age, I was awarded 4K. The second scholarship was the James Ray Scholarship, which is a bit different. It is awarded to young teens from 16-19, and typically 1 is awarded for each participating EAA Chapter for 10K. I highly encourage everyone to apply for scholarships! Click here for more info on EAA scholarships.

SCFC: When you were young, did you know any pilots who were your early role models?

OH: When I was about 13, my very first flight instructor, Oliver Coolidge, introduced me to the EAA community and always motivated me to keep flying. He always gave up either his time, energy, money or all of the above to keep me and other young teens involved.

SCFC: What kind of future do you hope for yourself in aviation?

OH: I don't have a set career job that I want to do yet, but I know for a fact that I will be going into the aviation field. Whether I become a professional pilot, or an airport operations manager, I hope that in my future, I can make an impact and inspire young teens just like how I was impacted through many different programs.

SCFC: Based on your experience, what advice would you give to other students preparing for their Private Pilot Checkride?

OH: As obvious as this sounds, be prepared. I brought a binder full of my XC planning and printed out my performance charts, an AV1ATED acronym with times, and more. When the checkride began, my DPE did a little scan of the table, and I could see that he knew I was prepared, so we flew right by the oral! In fact, I spent a lot of time tabbing the whole FAR/AIM and I didn't even open it! Another tip is to slow down; I was really nervous and ended up speaking really fast, so much that I caught myself stumbling on my answers.

This July, venture down the Salinas Valley to San Luis Obispo (SBP) and enjoy brunch at the Spirit of San Luis Restaurant. Known for their California-fare, their omelets, scrambles, and hamburgers sample local ingredients and are served alongside an excellent outdoor view of the airport ramp and runways.

As always, please make sure to RSVP and book your plane early! We look forward to seeing you at the Spirit of San Luis!

On the evening of Wednesday, July 13th, join us at Santa Rosa (STS), where we will join forces with the Upwind Summer Scholarship to showcase the fantastic General Aviation community to the high-school students and their families. Park at the Sonoma Jet Center between 6:30-6:50 PM, then plan to meet up at 7:00 PM at Sky Lounge Steakhouse and Sushi Bar inside the passenger terminal. FOG and Upwind will have the outdoor patio to ourselves, allowing for plenty of seating and opportunities to view the sunset. Afterwards, enjoy the twilight flight home, where you can view the San Francisco skyline on the way back, or land at a few airports to reset your night currency.

FOG is open to all pilots, even pilots not affiliated with the Flight Center. However, you must create a free account to register for FOG events, which you can do here. If you have any questions, please contact flyoutgroup@sancarlosflight.com for assistance.