Pt. Reyes X-Country

Thought I'd take a trip north of San Francisco and get a little more experience in some low-mountains.  I also have always wanted to fly over Pt. Reyes Seashore and the light house since I've taken so many pictures of it in the past at ground level.

The Trip

  • Departure
    • I didn't file any flight plan, just started flying.  Left Livermore on a right down-wind departure from runway 25. 
    • I flew east of Mt. Diablo to get away from the class-B airspace around San Francisco.


    San Francisco is in the background covered in mist/fog

     

    • As I flew North I passed the moth-ball fleet near Concord


The mothball fleet is center right above


A little closer look


Looking back - not too bad of a view eh?

  • On the right side of the plane was Napa Airport


Napa airport - about 10 miles away from the wineries of Napa Valley

  • After about 20 minutes I could see Pt. Reyes in the distance.


With the cowling of the plane in the foreground - Pt Reyes.

  • Getting closer to Pt. Reyes - the view back towards San Francisco and the California coast

  • Pt. Reyes

  • I turned north to go up the coast a ways.  I was hoping to get up to Ukia, but time was running short so I figured I'd go north for about 1/2 hour and then turn back.

  • A beautiful Bay - Mussel point north of Bodega Bay

  • So, I turned inland toward Clear Lake.  I've been up in the air about an hour at this point.

  • The City of LakePort on Clear Lake

  • I flew over the mountains and then turned back South-East towards Sacramento.  Below you can see the central valley and the Buttes near Chico California

  • Passing Sacramento....

  • Near Sacramento, a student pilot practicing IFR approaches had his hand on the microphone.  None of us could communicate effectively with Air Traffic control for almost 20 minutes.  ATC (Air Traffic Control) had us move off of the normal frequency and onto a temporary one until the noise stopped.  It was interesting listening to the instructor teach his student though - I wasn't taught that way!

  • Back to Mt. Diablo and Livermore

What could I have done differently?

  • This was a very pleasurable trip.  It took about 2 1/2 hours and gave me some time, once over the central valley, to practice some of the manuevers I'll need for my commercial license. 
  • I didn't start talking to Air Traffic Control until I was back in the central valley.  This made me a little uncomfortable but made me also feel very free to do what I wanted while in the air (as long as I abided by FAA regulations of course).  I probably should have contacted ATC from the outset, but I kept close eye on the sky and watched for traffic.  I also took a device with me that watches for other transpoder traffic in the area and then warns me.  I guess it was early enough in the day where not a lot of planes were in the air yet - I saw almost no other traffic.

Lesson(s) Learned?

  • Have fun flying!

This page was last modified on 12/03/2006