Flight To Santa Rosa (083102)
This Saturday, 8/31, I took my family (mom+dad+sister) up for a flight in a C172 for the first time (my first time taking them and their first time going in a light plane... :-)). Got 733KK (thank goodness for the 180HP and extra useful load... :-)) and took them up to Santa Rosa for lunch at Sellini's. Originally supposed to leave at 10:00am, I ended up delaying until about 12:00pm (by then the clouds pretty much burned off and the visibility was starting to get better... althought on takeoff areas were 5-6SM visibility, it was forecasted to get better, which it did... :-)). So, first things first, :-) I discovered that, if you want to guarantee you can take a full planeload of people, it is best to have 4 headsets... :-) So I am now the proud owner of my 15XLs, my David Clarks that I used for training, and 2 $90 a piece DRE1000's... :-)
Took off PAO, right 270 from rwy 31. Started heading up for 4500' while calling Bay... I got to around 2500' when Bay told me that "Aircraft calling Bay, remain clear of bravo and charlie, and expect 5 minute delay."... So, I decided to hang out for a while, circling Palo Alto at 2500'... When 5 minutes where up and the radio chatter died down, I called them up again and was granted bravo clearance south of SFO at 4500'. So off I go... :-) Part way through I decided that I wanted a little more clearance, so I eventually got 6500'... This time, while still some cloud cover, it was better than the trip to Napa and my parents were able to snap quite a few pictures along the way...
Ended up going direct SAU VOR and PYE VOR... discovered that, with the cloud cover over the coast, there really isn't much to see over there. :-) (reminder to self to just go Santa Rosa direct next time... :-)). Hung a right at Russian River and headed to Santa Rosa... Remembered reading that Santa Rosa (besides apparently having all of its ASOS out... it is hilarious to listen to the ASOS on the phone... just as Marvin said, pretty much all they have is the concrete... :-) They didn't even have rwy 14 today! :-)) had no radar, I took note to pay extra attention to where they thought I was... I was coming from the southwest but they misheard and thought I was coming from the southeast... after correcting them I set up for a right downwind for 19... landed, missed the first taxiway, and the tower had me do a 180 on the runway to head off...
Parked at transient parking and learned another lesson... :-) Next time, just park in front of the silly restaurant. :-)
Had lunch (I had the mushroom burger, sister had a club sandwich, Mom had some kind of vegetarian sandwich, and Dad had some shrimp contraption... :-)). Then we decided to head out (actually called Monterey and discovered it was 10SM and sky clear... doh! :-) Maybe next time... :-)).
Decided to get some fuel... unfortunately we had to wait since we were about 3rd in line... a Challenger jet just landed and parked in front of us as well... :-) Seems like it would be kind of fun to fly on of those. :-) (I think my sister wished I was flying her around in that rather than a C172 on a hot day... :-)). Anyhow, got fuel, and then taxiied to the runup area... after runup, they had us hold short of 14... when I was cleared to takeoff, I made a little mistake and nearly started lining up for 14 (I had to CROSS 14 for 19... :-) whoops... :-))... anyhow, no big deal and took off from STS with a left crosswind departure... :-) Coming back visibility was better. :-) Flew over San Pablo bay, Berkeley, and Oakland... :-) Seeing Berkeley in the air brought me back to my college years... :-) I was cleared for bravo at 5500' direct PAO. From there, just flew over OAK, San Mateo, and Dumbarton. :-) I was #3 following a guy on left downwind for 31. Landed the plane safely after that for end to an exhausting but pretty neat 2.4hr with my family. :-) Discovered Adam was sitting on the bench as I was taxiing in. :-)
All in all, an interesting experience (as always. :-)). Most importantly, this was the first time I ever had a full planeload of people in a C172. :-) I discovered the plane has subtle handling differences. :-) First of all, on take off, if I try to rotate at 55, I originally had a tendency to want to pitch up more since the plane lifted off slower with 4 people... heard the stall horn and promptly lowered the nose... oops... :-) Good learning experience though... :-) Second, I learned I needed to keep a slightly more nose up attitude (I mean I knew this in theory but this is the first time I experienced this in practice) for straight-level with full load. :-)
I wonder what I should do for my next adventure. :-)
BTW I have some pictures of the flight... :-) http://photos.mmchu.com/mmchu/piloting/flighttosantarosa083102/
I have pictures with my family but they started wanting me to put them password protected... :-) Doh! :-)
Michael.
Last updated: 090102