Bay Area Flying Lessons
Advanced Flight Training...Flight Lessons
San Francisco Bay Area - Palo Alto, San Carlos
Transition to a More Complex Aircraft with advanced flight training
The C182
The C182 is the logical move-up choice from the C172 or C172SP. When you want to carry more passengers or cargo, and go a little faster, this is the ideal airplane. It qualifies as a high performance aircraft (greater than 200HP) so you will need the "High Performance" endorsement to fly this aircraft, which you will get with a checkout. West Valley Flying Club, Advanced Flyers, and Advantage Aviation have a number of C182s, including several newer fuel injected models and G1000's.
Glass Panel, The G1000, and Transition Flight Training
Are you curious about the new glass panels available in general aviation aircraft? There have only been a few major changes in general aviation in the last 50 years, and this is one of them. In 2003 both Garmin and Avidyne came on board with their versions of the glass cockpit. Cessna, Cirrus, and many other aircraft now come equipped with the glass cockpit as standard equipment.
The PFD (Primary Flight Display) has all relevant information for the flight on one panel display, except for the engine instruments which are on the MFD (Multifunction Display). You can do everything on the PFD, including enter and modify your flight plan, monitor your position on the moving map, monitor other aircraft, enter all com and nav frequencies, get to the nearest airport, waypoint and other nav information features, and still fly the airplane monitoring all of your flight instruments. You can also refer to the MFD for fuel and engine monitoring, and the large moving map with its many additional features such as terrain awareness and traffic advisory systems. The large panel display screens make it easy to monitor lots of information.
The G1000 offers increased safety through multiple backups for critical components, and a standby battery with standby instruments similar to the level of safety the airlines incorporate.
Your transition flight training will include sessions in the G1000 simulator for familiarization with the glass panels and the associated buttons and knobs. You will also start developing your scan for the tape style instrument displays by flying the simulator. The C172 SP G1000 has a few additional startup and operational procedures. Once familiar, the main focus of the flight training will be to develop an understanding and proficiency in your scan and operation while flying the airplane safely.
PFD MFD
The Cessna Skylane
Currency, Flight Review, Wings
The FAA says that to act as PIC you have to do 3 takeoffs and landings every 90 days to carry passengers. You also have to do 3 takeoffs and landings to a full stop at night (defined as the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise) to carry passengers at night (defined as from the beginning of evening civil twilight to the end of morning civil twilight). See Part 61.57
Also required is a Flight Review (BFR) every 24 months in an aircraft for which you are rated, by an authorized instructor. Required is a minimum of 1 hour of flight training and 1 hour of ground training. See Part 61.56
Be sure and check out the new Wings program on the FAASTeam website. You can record and keep track of your currency training and also fulfill the ground training portion by attending special seminars or utilizing the online courses.
Mountain Flying
Mountain flying can be fun but very challenging, therefore a thorough checkout, including one to two hours of ground instruction is recommended.
During the flight training we will cover aircraft performance and density altitude, flying over high terrain, oxygen requirements, high mountain airport operations, suitable landing spots in the mountains, pre-flight planning, filing flight plans, unique hazards, and most important - weather,
Although a C172 could make it to Tahoe or Mammoth, It is prudent to take a High Performance airplane (greater than 200HP) into the mountains.
Reference: Sparky Imeson - Mountain Flying Bible
Instrument Rating, Commercial
Certificate, and CFI
Once you have your private pilot's certificate and have flown around for awhile and gotten some experience, you might consider getting your instrument rating as the next challenge of flight training.
All that heading and altitude holding and trim practice will finally payoff with the increased workload of flying on instruments.
The most useful benefit of the instrument rating might be that it allows you to take off when there is a layer of overcast near and around the airport, but conditions are VFR not too far away. This is called IFR to VFR on Top and is an IFR procedure using an IFR clearance.
Certificate, and CFI
Once you have your private pilot's certificate and have flown around for awhile and gotten some experience, you might consider getting your instrument rating as the next challenge of flight training.
All that heading and altitude holding and trim practice will finally payoff with the increased workload of flying on instruments.
The most useful benefit of the instrument rating might be that it allows you to take off when there is a layer of overcast near and around the airport, but conditions are VFR not too far away. This is called IFR to VFR on Top and is an IFR procedure using an IFR clearance.
If you are interested in any type of advanced flight training, please go to the "Contact" page. Thanks!
