Marc's Public Blog - Flying


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This is a collection of my blog entries and experiences with flying, and learning to fly. Something I had been wanting to do for quite a while.
You can find all the pictures I've taken here, and read below for my experience.
Specifically, I have a page for my Trips to Oshkosh, the mecca for pilots

Table of Content for flying:

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2014/09/24 Flight to Willows and improved Bay Tour on the way back
π 2014-09-24 01:01 in Flying, Nflying
Getting to Willows that morning wasn't too bad once I got on top of the clouds. I had filed an IFR flight plan, but I was running late, knew the IFR release would take a while, and knew I could get on top VFR, so I turned left/west after takeoff (the wrong direction), got on top, and since Norcal was very busy with existing traffic, instead of getting a Bravo Clearance to cross, I just went around south and crossed at 3500ft quicker than I could have made a request from the controller who was rapid firing to a bunch of existing planes.



someone got to willows with a nicer ride than I did :)
someone got to willows with a nicer ride than I did :)

On the way back, it got a bit more interesting. Forecast was for a 5000ft overcast in PAO, so my plan was to fly through oakland and stay under the cloud layer so as not to get trapped on top, but over Oakland, the clouds got as low as the hills I usually cross over, so I ended up flying over the water at 300ft for a while and the controller routed me towards SFO instead. I got an improvised bay tour out of it, and I ended up flying over the bay with San Francisco on my right. By the bay bridge, I figured I'd be better overflying between 2 spans of the bridge instead of the last span and the city since that would put me too close to densely populated area. Interestingly, I ended up having to climb back from 500ft to 3500ft (on top) after that due to headings from the controllers, and needing to stay clear of clouds (going under over san francisco and hills didn't look safe). Eventually I got a hole over Palo Alto and came back down that way. That made for some interesting pictures. I could of course have flown IFR, but the rental plane I had was a backup plane, it was old, and I preferred flying VFR with it than trusting a single VOR needle without any panel GPS in actual IMC if I could avoid it (I did have hand held GPS).










2014/09/11 Scenic Flight Back from Willows Through Sonoma, Napa, Marin, Fogged in San Francisco, SFO Airport, and Stanford
π 2014-09-11 01:01 in Flying, Nflying
After a good day at Thunderhill, I flew back with David and took the scenic route to make the flight worth it for him :)

Besides the pictures below, you can also look at the album photo for this flight.


Maxwell VOR
Maxwell VOR







Sears Point
Sears Point














Eh, that's the EVA plane I'll be taking in 10 days :)
Eh, that's the EVA plane I'll be taking in 10 days :)

The new SFO tower
The new SFO tower













More pages: November 2023 October 2023 April 2023 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 May 2021 November 2020 August 2020 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 March 2019 January 2019 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 April 2017 January 2017 December 2016 August 2016 July 2016 May 2016 February 2016 January 2016 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 September 2014 August 2014 June 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 January 2012 November 2011 August 2011 July 2011 April 2011 March 2011 November 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 May 2010 March 2010 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 March 2009 November 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 December 2007 October 2007 September 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 December 2004 September 2004 August 2004 May 2004 March 1999

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