Flying!

[cjsmith]

This morning I was scheduled to go flying with a friend of mine who has had his license for months and has as yet taken not one passenger. But weather nixed that plan. Maybe we can go tomorrow.

Inatead, both of us piled into rfrench's Saratoga to go IFR for lunch somewhere. Then we waited forty minutes for IFR release. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, when PAO is taking off southeast and SJC is landing southeast, there just aren't many spaces in the traffic.

After we were finally airborne and talking to Bay Departure, we changed our destination. We no longer had time for the original trip. Fortunately the controller was totally cool with that.

Flying above a cloud layer, the views are really really pretty. :-)

Sacramento Executive Airport is a fine place for lunch. :-)

Hayward Tower: Cleared to land.
Rob: Now that we've broken out of the clouds, I'm heading off for Palo Alto instead. Bye!

Palo Alto Tower: Make left traffic for Runway 31.
Rob: With the smoke from that fire, I can't see the field from here. I'm going around to your other side via San Carlos instead. Bye!

San Carlos Tower: Sure, you can cross our airspace, just come over midfield and turn down along 101.
Rob: Nah, I'll cross down here at the south end of your airspace instead. Thanks! Bye!

Palo Alto Ground: Taxi to parking via Delta row.
Rob: I want to taxi via Echo instead, because that's where we're parking. Thanks! Bye!

Okay, I'm exaggerating. Each time, he acknowledged the original clearance, and then he asked rather than told, getting permission for his changes. But it was funny. I guess you really do need to know how to work the system.

That fire was really something. It looked like one enormous pile in a junkyard had spontaneously combusted. The torrents of water from the fire trucks looked puny and useless compared to the size of the blaze. The smoke plume went at least as far down the bay as Moffett, and it was opaque enough that from the sunken ship we couldn't see Palo Alto. Didn't smell too good when we got out of the plane, either. I wonder what was going on.

Yay flying!

Comments

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

PAO is taking off southeast and SJC is landing southeast

Bleah!

[gdmusumeci.livejournal.com]

Sounds like fun! What's the food like at Sac Exec? I haven't been there yet...

(Unfortunately, nor am I likely to be there for some time, as 79W has a tiny crack in the rudder, and consequently will be down for two or three weeks as it gets reskinned. Arrrrrgh....)

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

http://www.ktvu.com/news/11565452/detail.html

Metal recycling plant. In other words, enormous pile in a junkyard :).

[dafydd.livejournal.com]

Sunken ship?!

I don't know about that. Pictures, anywhere?

[chiefted]

40 mins for an I follow Roads (giggle) release?

eeek.

[apparentparadox]

I saw the smoke when I was driving home and was wondering if it was affecting PAO. It looked bad from my car when I was approaching the Dumbarton, but by the time I got on the bridge, it didn't seem so bad.

I'm glad that you had a good time. Where had you planned on going to lunch?

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

yay flying! sounds like a fun way to spend a saturday.

those fire-things scare me, though. we don't get those out here -- too wet. but then, flooding and snow on Easter aren't exactly reasons to celebrate, either.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks for the link! It did look like a lot of the pile was metal, but I was having a hard time figuring out how ordinary steel and such would catch fire. Now I understand that it wasn't ONLY metal there. Plastics, rubber... It did smell a little like a tire fire.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Quickest reference I can find: search down for "sunken ship" here. It's a popular local landmark for planes around Palo Alto, San Carlos, and Hayward. I tried briefly to find pictures via Google image search but haven't found any yet.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

When everything's on the southeast plan, that's not unheard of. The guy ahead of us got his release in perhaps ten minutes. We were surprised that we waited so long.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Standard diner fare, with breakfast served at least until noon (maybe all day). My burger, Rob's waffle, and our friend's Caesar salad were all reported to be good. :)

Ouch on 79W. Good luck.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a sucky setup. We're pretty well situated for everything landing northwest; that's our usual. But when the barometer drops we get the opposite, and PAO would have to take off directly into SJC's thick and full approach traffic stream.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, it was mostly pouring down the bay east of PAO itself, just making approaches from that side awkward. Pattern traffic seemed to be fine.

Willows. In the Saratoga it's perhaps forty-five minutes away. I don't think I've ever been there, at least not to eat.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

True enough. I hope your weather starts being more spring-like soon!

[apparentparadox]

I think that we stopped by Willows for a geocache (in the car) on one of our trips to Ashland. We didn't eat there, but it looked like a neat place.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I do think I've been to Willows by car. But I have no memory of ever seeing the airport. Ah well, another time! :-)