Bay tour - by plane

I had a fun and unique experience last weekend I thought I would relay. A friend of ours named Simon called me out of the blue on Saturday and asked if I wanted to go for a little flight with him. Simon got his private pilots license last year and puts a surprising amount of time into flying and practicing (I say surprising because he has 2 kids). He suggested we try for a "bay tour" which is a local code word for air traffic controllers which informs them that you would like to fly around the bay past all of the sights.

I agreed and I met him at a small airport in south San Jose called Reid-Hillview. We went up in a 4 seat Cessna that was owned by the flying club that Simon belonged to. He had flown that very plane just a few weeks earlier and went through the detailed pre-flight procedures with a serious attention to detail (which made me feel relaxed). We covered safety procedures etc. and then rolled the plane out (you manually pull the plane into the taxi way), started the engine and away we went.

The weather was warm and the sky was clearing from the morning marine layer as we took off easily. Our first destination was to fly over to San Jose international airport and execute a "touch and go". Simon was in contact with local air traffic control at all times since the bay area is one of the busiest air spaces in the country. We both had head phones so I could listen to all of the communications plus we could talk with each other. The San Jose tower had us fly right over down town San Jose which according to Simon was rare. It was cool view of the city for sure.

The big runways at San Jose certainly look even bigger when you are coming in in a Cessna. We landed on the 3rd and smallest runway they have and as soon as the wheels touch the ground Simon powered up and away we went again. He has a habit of speaking the procedures as he is going through them which may be for his own benefit but as a passenger you are put at ease as he does this. (or at least I found it reassuring).

Our next destination was to see how far up the peninsula we could fly with the receding marine layer. Air traffic control (ATC) directed us to fly at 2500ft and to the west of 101 so we had a great view of the towns as we worked our way up the bay. I was able to pick out many local landmarks etc.

Simon let me take control and fly the plane along the way and I flew for probably 10 minutes including turning towards Woodside and over the big houses in Atherton etc.

Since we could not go further North Simon asked if I wanted to do an "instrument approach" to half moon bay. Now in the summer Half Moon Bay is completely socked in by the marine layer and it was last Saturday. I was fine with it since I knew that Simon also had his instrument license and had practiced in tough conditions. Still I had to admit I was a little nervous as we flew over the mountains and towards the white layer of clouds that backs up behind it.

We went on instruments and Simon skillfully dialed in all of the necessary way points into the navigation system. We were told that the marine layer started at 3000ft and went down to 1600ft so that meant we would be in the clouds and blind for about 2 minutes during decent. We entered the clouds and it was an strange feeling staring out at the white nothingness knowing that there was ocean below and mountains to the east. Simon and I both watch the altimeter and sure enough right at 1600ft we came through the bottom and I could see the shoreline far below.

We executed what is called a "planned missed approach" which means we never actually touched down there rather got down to about 800 ft right at the airport and then pulled up and back to about 3500 ft again above the clouds and in the bright blue sky.

The rest of the flight was uneventful and we vectored almost directly back to Reid-Hillview. I had a great time and hope to get another chance to fly with Simon or to have Melissa go up as the views are awesome.