San Carlos Flight Center

2024 Holiday Party
2024-12-18 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The SCFC pilot community, a tight-knit group of adventurers and achievers, will gather annually to celebrate our shared experiences and accomplishments. Mark your calendars for Wednesday, December 18th at 6:30 PM, as we host our annual Holiday Party and Member Appreciation Night!

This is an excellent opportunity for you to meet and greet fellow members, staff, and instructors. Whether you’re a seasoned pilot who’s been with the Flight Center for years or a newcomer, this event is for everyone. It’s a fantastic way to kick off the new year and strengthen the bonds within our community.

Everyone is welcome, regardless of whether you train at the Flight Center or fly your own plane. We’re thrilled to have you join us and learn more about how the Flight Center can be an integral part of your flying journey.

Food and drinks will be provided, and you’re more than welcome to bring guests along. Embrace the festive spirit by donning your favorite holiday attire. Let’s raise a toast to the incredible flying we accomplished in 2024 and eagerly anticipate the exciting adventures that await us in 2025!

To ensure there’s enough food and drinks for everyone, please RSVP below. Your presence will make this event even more special and memorable.

Full Moon Flyers: Lampson
2024-12-15 19:00 - 21:00
This month, join us as we head into Lampson Field (1O2)! Lampson is located just south of Lakeport, right next to Clear Lake. The airport is relatively quiet, and is a great place to practice landings after a cross-country flight.
At the airport, we will enjoy a dinner at Red’s at the Skyroom. This restaurant features West Coast fare with a variety of entrees and drinks for you and your passengers. With patio seating, this is a great place to replenish after a training flight or as a break on a long cross-country trip to the north. After your meal, venture around the ramp area to see a collection of vintage aircraft from a variety of eras.
After landing and securing your aircraft in transient parking, Red’s is just a quick walk outside of the gate. If you are interested, make sure to sign up so we save space for you! We’ll see you at 7PM on December 15!

Aviation Colleges Panel
2024-12-14 12:00 - 13:00 | San Carlos Flight Center, Select a Country:
There are many great options for students looking for a college aviation program. Many colleges offer programs designed to prepare students to join the aviation industry by providing training to become pilots or air traffic controllers. These colleges operate under FAR Part 141 and provide an FAA-approved curriculum.
To aid local high school students, SCFC will be hosting a panel discussion on collegiate aviation programs. We have invited in pilots from a handful of the most prominent aviation college programs in the country to share their experiences. How do the programs differ? What should a new student know when evaluating these programs? Come and ask our panelists about their reasons for selecting the school they chose and how their experience lived up to the expectations.

2024-12 IMC Club SQL
2024-12-11 19:00 - 20:30 | San Carlos Flight Center, Select a Country:
NOTE: Since this event will involve active discussion, it will be held over Zoom and not broadcast via Livestream. Please RSVP by 12pm on Dec 11th to receive Zoom meeting info via email before the event starts.

Most pilots like analyzing scenarios and trying to answer the age old question of what would I do in that situation? Imagine if you could also hear the opinions of other pilots or get feedback on your approach to a situation. Well, that is exactly what the IMC Club provides.
Join the local EAA Chapter 20 IMC Club meeting to review a scenario and share in the discussions with fellow pilots. You will get an opportunity to hear other pilots’ analysis as well as the group critique of various solutions.
Whether you are a newly minted instrument rated pilot and anxious to learn from others or you are a seasoned pilot with experience to share, the IMC Club is a welcome home for both.
Learn more about IMC Club at http://www.eaa20.org/about.html

Brian Eliot is a Senior Instructor at San Carlos Flight Center and their resident expert for IFR training and Garmin G1000 avionics. He has been flying since 1995 and received all his training in the Bay Area. Brian previously worked as a broadcast engineer, a software developer, and taught computer science at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He regularly presents at San Carlos Flight Center safety seminars and has a reputation for making complex concepts easy to learn and understand.

About San Carlos Flight Center:

San Carlos Flight Center (SCFC) is the SF Bay Area’s most dynamic flying club, committed to building general aviation through safety, community, and adventure. AOPA has consistently recognized SCFC in their Best Flight School survey, most recently in 2023 as a Distinguished Flight School for the third year in a row.

SCFC is committed to promoting safety, community, and adventure in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Our seminars are free to watch when attended in person at our facility in San Carlos but live streaming and viewing recorded seminars are exclusively available to members. Click here or contact an SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web library of over 500 recorded safety seminars and live-streamed content.

Weather Services Workshop
2024-12-07 12:00 - 14:00 | San Carlos Flight Center, Select a Country:
This seminar will be held in person at SCFC, attendance is free and open to all. Web Members will still be able to access our seminars online, both live and recorded.
Interested in watching more of our presentations? View our growing library of over 500 recorded safety seminars available to view in our Members Only Seminar Library, available by clicking here.
Are you checking the weather before your flight simply by looking at METARs? Have you struggled with trying to get a comprehensive view of weather? Are you looking to get an understanding of ways to conduct a weather briefing?
If you are a student pilot or recent pilot trying to better understand options for accessing weather for a flight then join us for this workshop to learn more about weather briefings. We will use a cross-country flight scenario and walk through the process of gathering relevant weather for a flight. We will show you how to get aviation weather information from www.aviationweather.gov, ForeFlight, 1800wxbrief.com and by speaking to a flight service station weather briefer.
If you want to better understand how all these sources of weather fit in a briefing, join us for this interactive session.
Herb Patten is a Senior CFI/CFII at the San Carlos Flight Center, a CFI and an FAA certificated advanced and instrument ground instructor who teaches private pilot ground school at San Carlos Flight Center. He is a commercial pilot with an instrument rating, has flown over 2,500 hours in more than 130 different California airports. He is the current chairman of the Upwind Foundation, famous for its Upwind Summer Scholarship Program. In 2023, Herb was named a Distinguished Flight Instructor by AOPA.
San Carlos Flight Center (SCFC) is the SF Bay Area’s most dynamic flying club, committed to building general aviation through safety, community, and adventure. AOPA has consistently recognized SCFC in their Best Flight School survey, most recently in 2023 as a Distinguished Flight School for the third year in a row.
SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Our seminars are free to watch when attended in person at our facility in San Carlos but live streaming and viewing recorded seminars are exclusively available to members. Click here or contact an SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web library of over 500 recorded safety seminars and live-streamed content.

IFR Departure Procedures
2024-12-04 19:00 - 20:00 | San Carlos Flight Center, Select a Country:
IFR departures are one of the most poorly-understood and under-taught topics in IFR flight. The process of getting safely from the surface, avoiding surrounding obstacles, to the safety of the en route IFR structure, all while operating at maximum performance configuration, lower speeds, and high pitch attitudes can be daunting. IFR airports can have many different departure procedures. Do you know which one you can expect?

In this safety seminar, CFI Herb Patten will review the selection of instrument departure procedures. He will provide a publication roadmap to these procedures and review the critical safety items, as well as what to typically expect in common practice. This program is a must for pilots working on their instrument rating, or working to stay current with instrument departures.

ForeFlight 101 Planning a Cross-Country Flight
2024-11-30 12:00 - 13:00 | San Carlos Flight Center, Select a Country:
ForeFlight is a useful application that allows pilots to perform many flight planning tasks such as course planning, calculating flight time and fuel consumption, and obtaining a weather briefing. In a digital age, pilots should learn to use tools like this to enhance their overall flight planning process.
San Carlos Flight Center invites Travis Bender, CFI/CFII, to walk through how to use ForeFlight to plan a cross-country flight. Travis will demonstrate how to accurately plot checkpoints, determine airplane performance values, and show how pilots can use ForeFLight to meet the requirement to be familiar with “all available information concerning a flight.” The seminar will start with a sample flight mission so that participants can follow along in real-time using ForeFlight on their own devices.
If you are just beginning to explore the features of ForeFlight and want to deepen your understanding on how to effectively use these great tools, you will want to attend this seminar. Have your tablet handy and discover this powerful tool available for pilots.
Travis Bender is a CFI and CFII who learned to fly at San Carlos Flight Center.

FOG Lunch: Petaluma
2024-11-23 12:00 - 14:00
This month, join us as we head north to Petaluma! Located right on the field, Two Niner Diner recently reopened serving a wide variety of breakfast, brunch, and lunch options. This event will be on Saturday, November 23.
Enjoy the views of San Francisco and Marin Headlands on the way up. You can even do a Bay Tour! This is a great and exciting way for student pilots to gain valuable experience and hours. You can even land at nearby airports to practice your skills! Looking for some cross country time? Fly north just a bit more and land in Santa Rosa before heading into Petaluma.
After landing in Petaluma, we will park in transient parking near the airport terminal building. Please plan to meet at the Two Niner Diner by 12 noon.
Everyone is welcome to join us, please RSVP and we will see you there!

XC Flight to Taos: Planning, Challenges, and Observations
2024-11-23 12:00 - 13:30
Pilots tell flight stories as a way to share knowledge from the trips with other pilots. Sometimes critical safety information can be learned from hearing the flight story of another pilot, preventing you from getting yourself into trouble.
In spring of 2024, SCFC member Richard Parry embarked on a cross-country flight from San Carlos to Taos, New Mexico, hoping to include overflights of Lake Tahoe, Bryce Canyon in Utah, and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. A trip like this takes advance planning and included a number of safety considerations that get evaluated both ahead of time and throughout the flight. Weather is always a factor to consider and this trip proved that point with some required deviations from the plan due to rain and storms.
We have invited Richard to share the story of the flight planning, the challenges he faced on the flight, necessary changes to the itinerary, and the observations he made about this flight and other long cross-country flight. Join us on Wednesday, November 23rd as he recaps this trip and shares photos, route diagrams, and weather reports from the flight.
If you are hoping to see Taos from the air, or just preparing for your own long cross-country adventure, you’ll want to hear this flight story.

2024-11 IMC Club SQL
2024-11-20 19:00 - 20:30 | San Carlos Flight Center, Select a Country:
NOTE: Since this event will involve active discussion, it will be held over Zoom and not broadcast via Livestream. Please RSVP by 12pm on Nov 20th to receive Zoom meeting info via email before the event starts.

Most pilots like analyzing scenarios and trying to answer the age old question of what would I do in that situation? Imagine if you could also hear the opinions of other pilots or get feedback on your approach to a situation. Well, that is exactly what the IMC Club provides.
Join the local EAA Chapter 20 IMC Club meeting to review a scenario and share in the discussions with fellow pilots. You will get an opportunity to hear other pilots’ analysis as well as the group critique of various solutions.
Whether you are a newly minted instrument rated pilot and anxious to learn from others or you are a seasoned pilot with experience to share, the IMC Club is a welcome home for both.
Learn more about IMC Club at http://www.eaa20.org/about.html

Brian Eliot is a Senior Instructor at San Carlos Flight Center and their resident expert for IFR training and Garmin G1000 avionics. He has been flying since 1995 and received all his training in the Bay Area. Brian previously worked as a broadcast engineer, a software developer, and taught computer science at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He regularly presents at San Carlos Flight Center safety seminars and has a reputation for making complex concepts easy to learn and understand.

About San Carlos Flight Center:

San Carlos Flight Center (SCFC) is the SF Bay Area’s most dynamic flying club, committed to building general aviation through safety, community, and adventure. AOPA has consistently recognized SCFC in their Best Flight School survey, most recently in 2023 as a Distinguished Flight School for the third year in a row.

SCFC is committed to promoting safety, community, and adventure in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Our seminars are free to watch when attended in person at our facility in San Carlos but live streaming and viewing recorded seminars are exclusively available to members. Click here or contact an SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web library of over 500 recorded safety seminars and live-streamed content.

Full Moon Flyers: Willows
2024-11-15 19:00 - 21:00
This month, join our Full Moon Flyers as we head north to Willows (WLW) and dine at Nancy’s Airport Café. Located in the Central Valley just next to I-5, Willows is an easy airport to reach and a perfect cross country destination. At 100 NM away, it is a great destination for commercial students looking to fulfill their cross country requirements!
Nancy’s Airport Café is a small airport diner, but is known for its all-day breakfast, American fare, and best of all, their pies! Make sure to grab a slice before heading home, as they’re known for keeping pilots coming back for more. To access the restaurant, please park on the ramp alongside the hangers and self-serve fuel depot, and walk through the gate.
If you plan on joining us, make sure to RSVP below! Please arrive and be at the restaurant by 7PM. See you on November 15!

SCFC Welcome Night
2024-11-13 18:30 - 19:30 | San Carlos Flight Center
If you’re recently joined the Club, you may have only met your instructor and one of our Front Desk agents. It’s time to meet some other students and pilots.
Join us on Wednesday, November 13th at 6:30pm for San Carlos Flight Center’s Welcome Night. Every few months, we’ll welcome in our newest members and give you a chance to hear about all the other activities and events going on at the Club. It’s a casual event with food and some activities. The vibe is mostly welcome and get to know each other, and less like a formal classroom presentation (even though we have plenty of those on other nights!). Find out what other students are doing for their training path. Put faces to names of people you see taking up your CFI’s Friday afternoon when you wanted to book.
The event is hosted and run by CFI Travis Bender, who has been a part of SCFC for almost 10 years, starting as a high school kid with a dream, and ending up working the front desk and now teaching. No one better captures the fun and spirit of the Flight Center.
To join us, just register for the event so we can have enough food and drink. Feel free to also bring friends or family who are interested in meeting Club members and finding out why SCFC is such a great place for flying.

How to Ace your Flight Review
2024-11-09 12:00 - 13:00
Is it that time again? Need to do a Flight Review but don’t want to sweat through the details? Do you really need to remember how the E6B works? Perform flight calculations by hand? State FAR verbiage from memory? Can you name the various VFR weather minimums?
In this seminar we will unravel what it takes to make your next Flight Review a walk in the park! This seminar will cover how to prepare for your Flight Review, the three ways to meet legal requirements for completing a flight review, when a Flight Review is required, and the standards you must demonstrate for the knowledge, risks and skills to complete a Flight Review.
The majority of pilots will need to do a Flight Review many times over the course of a lifetime of flying. Join us and be ready to tackle your next Flight Review.

SQL Tower Tour (3 of 3)
2024-11-09 10:30 - 11:00
Are you curious about what happens in the tower at an airport? Would you like to increase your knowledge of how air traffic is managed at the San Carlos airport?
The KSQL Air Traffic Manager has offered to host small groups of pilots to meet the tower controllers and take a tour of the San Carlos tower. During the tour you will get to see firsthand how the tower controllers update the ATIS, keep track of planes arriving and departing, as well as use radar to help manage the flow of traffic around San Carlos class Delta airspace.
The tours are approximately 20-25 minutes in length. Registration is required. US Citizenship is required due to FAA restriction.

SQL Tower Tour (2 of 3)
2024-11-09 10:00 - 10:30

SQL Tower Tour (1 of 3)
2024-11-09 09:30 - 10:00

Flying Safely At Night
2024-11-06 19:00 - 20:30
On November 3rd, Daylight Savings Time will end, and with it comes early nightfall. For those of us who work a regular 9-5 schedule, early nightfall means an increase in night flying time. How current are your night skills? Maybe it’s time to focus on what is different between day VFR and night VFR flight.
Obviously, less ambient light adds challenges for anything requiring eyesight. This includes preflight inspection, taxi safety, obstruction avoidance, IMC recognition and avoidance, cockpit resource management, and a number of other things. Most familiar to pilots is probably the differences in landing. The sight picture of a normal approach to a runway is very different with reduced external visual cues from night. Flashing lights can help or hurt pilot attention and recognition.
So should night flight be avoided? Not necessarily. Night flight brings with it reduced ATC workloads, often calmer winds, cooler temperatures that help performance, and the ability to spot traffic from farther off. Your decision about flying at night can be aided by attending a Night Flying Refresher seminar like this one.

Herb Patten is a Senior CFI at the San Carlos Flight Center, a CFI and an FAA certificated advanced and instrument ground instructor who teaches private pilot ground school at San Carlos Flight Center. He is a commercial pilot with an instrument rating, has flown over 3,500 hours in more than 150 different California airports. He is the current chairman of the Upwind Foundation, famous for its Upwind Summer Scholarship Program. In 2023, Herb was named a Distinguished Flight Instructor by AOPA.

San Carlos Flight Center (SCFC) is the SF Bay Area’s most dynamic flying club, committed to building general aviation through safety, community, and adventure. AOPA has consistently recognized SCFC in their Best Flight School survey, most recently in 2023 as a Distinguished Flight School for the third year in a row.
SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Our seminars are free to watch when attended in person at our facility in San Carlos but live streaming and viewing recorded seminars are exclusively available to members. Click here or contact an SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web library of over 500 recorded safety seminars and live-streamed content.

Right Seat Workshop - Radios and ATC
2024-11-02 10:00 - 14:00 | San Carlos Flight Center, Select a Country:
The Flight Center will be hosting a Right Seat Workshop for non-pilot friends, spouses, and significant others who often fly right seat SCFC pilots. Now is the time to alert the people in your life to sign up for this special workshop.
Right Seat Workshops are introductory and intended to demystify aspects of flight for people that fly often as passengers with other pilots. The more they can understand about what is going on in the cockpit, the more enjoyable the flight will be, and the greater your ability to impact the safety of the flight.
The first workshop in the series covers Radio Communication and Air Traffic Control basics from the perspective of non-pilots. The workshop includes group breakout sessions and exercises designed to help you become more familiar with radio procedures and terms. The workshop runs 10:00am to 2:00pm and the cost is $80 for right-seaters sponsored by SCFC members, or $100 for non-members, and lunch is included. Contact the front desk to sign up (650) 946-1700.

Approach Plate Analysis - Salem, OR
2024-10-26 12:00 - 13:00 | San Carlos Flight Center, Select a Country:
It’s always amazing to see how much variety can come from only a handful of instrument approach navigation systems. This month’s IFR Approach Plate Lunch approaches into Salem, OR are a geometrical seesaw. There’s an ILS approach on one runway and a localizer backcourse approach on the opposing runway, and it looks as though you could just fly back and forth between the two like a seesaw. The missed approach on one is the front course on the other. Not only that, the localizer has a backcourse marker beacon – something we don’t see very often.
On Saturday, October 26th, CFII Brian Eliot will analyze the various approaches into Salem, OR (KSLE) and discuss what is unique or challenging about the approach, along with potential gotchas. Switching from front course ILS to backcourse when going missed can be a real challenge if you aren’t paying attention. The charting and geometry of these approaches make for a fascinating discussion. Join us for the discussion and deepen your understanding of the variety of ILS approaches.
Bring your charts or ForeFlight for reference during the presentation:
IAPs – Instrument Approach Procedures
ILS OR LOC Z RWY 31
LOC Y RWY 31
LOC BC RWY 13
Bring your bag lunch, stop at In-N-Out, or just listen and enjoy the discussion. We hope you can join us.
Brian Eliot is a Senior Instructor at San Carlos Flight Center and their resident expert for IFR training and Garmin G1000 avionics. He has been flying since 1995 and received all his training in the Bay Area. Brian previously worked as a broadcast engineer, a software developer, and taught computer science at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He regularly presents at San Carlos Flight Center safety seminars and has a reputation for making complex concepts easy to learn and understand.
SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Our seminars are free to watch when attended in person at our facility in San Carlos but live streaming and viewing recorded seminars are exclusively available to members. Click here or contact an SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web library of over 500 recorded safety seminars and live-streamed content.

I Just Got ForeFlight, Now What? A Beginners Guide to ForeFlight
2024-10-23 19:00 - 20:00 | San Carlos Flight Center, Select a Country:
Students and new pilots are increasingly flying with computer tablets, and using software that replaces paper charts and documents with the digital equivalents. These applications, such as ForeFlight, are extremely powerful and have a plethora of features. For a pilot just beginning to use ForeFlight, the choices and options seem overwhelming. Valuable features and capabilities can go undiscovered.
Join SCFC CFII Travis Bender to highlight some of the important first steps to take after downloading ForeFlight, and how to get started. In this seminar, he will cover a basic introduction to the application including the most efficient ways to use the software. With so many different customizations, subscription plans, and ways to do the same thing, it can be overwhelming for many. Some of these include how to set up performance profiles, weight and balance, how to use geo referenced charts, and set up your electronic logbook. After this seminar you will feel confident in your basic abilities to navigate the application and have the resources to continue to learn from.
ForeFlight can be quite overwhelming with features, however, due to time constraints we are unable to provide technical support to individual audience members.
If you are just beginning to explore the features of ForeFlight and want to deepen your understanding on how to effectively use these great tools, you will want to attend this seminar. Have your tablet handy and discover this powerful tool available for pilots.

Travis Bender is a flight instructor at San Carlos Flight Center who teaches private, commercial, and instrument training. Travis completed all of his primary training at SCFC, and previously worked for a major software company before transitioning to aviation full-time.
San Carlos Flight Center (SCFC) is the SF Bay Area’s most dynamic flying club, committed to building general aviation through safety, community, and adventure. AOPA has consistently recognized SCFC in their Best Flight School survey, most recently in 2024 as a Distinguished Flight School for the fourth year in a row.
SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Our seminars are free to watch when attended in person at our facility in San Carlos but live streaming and viewing recorded seminars are exclusively available to members. Click here or contact an SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web library of over 500 recorded safety seminars and live-streamed content.

FOG Lunch: Livermore Corn Maze
2024-10-19 12:00 - 14:00
How many pilots does it take to get through a corn maze?
We’re taking the customary FlyOutGroup (FOG) lunch flight and adding a fun Halloween twist. Just right of final to the 25 Runways at Livermore airport is a little gem called G & M Farms. Each year in October they turn their farm into Halloween HQ with an impressive corn maze, pumpkin patch, and kids activities.
After the corn maze fun, we plan to hang around and partake in the food trucks. Bring your friends and family for a great pre-Halloween experience!
Everyone is welcome to join us, please RSVP and we will see you there!

Full Moon Flyers: Monterey
2024-10-17 19:00 - 22:00
This month, join us on October 17 for dinner at Monterey!
Whether you take the coastal route or over highway 17, the flight down is an easy one from the Bay Area. Monterey Airport doesn’t have a transient parking ramp, but we will park at the Del Monte Aviation FBO. After parking, its a short walk to Woody’s at the Airport located inside the airport terminal building.
Are you a student pilot looking for more flight time? Monterey lies just outside the 50 NM requirement and counts towards your cross country time! Looking for some practice flying IFR? Monterey and nearby airports offer a various types of approaches. Reward your perfect approaches with some great food!
We will be meeting at Woody’s, please make sure to arrive and secure your aircraft by 7PM. Make sure to RSVP so we have an accurate headcount!

2024-10 IMC Club SQL
2024-10-16 19:00 - 21:00 | San Carlos Flight Center, Select a Country:
NOTE: Since this event will involve active discussion, it will be held over Zoom and not broadcast via Livestream. Please RSVP by 12pm on Oct 16th to receive Zoom meeting info via email before the event starts.

Most pilots like analyzing scenarios and trying to answer the age old question of what would I do in that situation? Imagine if you could also hear the opinions of other pilots or get feedback on your approach to a situation. Well, that is exactly what the IMC Club provides.
Join the local EAA Chapter 20 IMC Club meeting to review a scenario and share in the discussions with fellow pilots. You will get an opportunity to hear other pilots’ analysis as well as the group critique of various solutions.
Whether you are a newly minted instrument rated pilot and anxious to learn from others or you are a seasoned pilot with experience to share, the IMC Club is a welcome home for both.
Learn more about IMC Club at http://www.eaa20.org/about.html

Brian Eliot is a Senior Instructor at San Carlos Flight Center and their resident expert for IFR training and Garmin G1000 avionics. He has been flying since 1995 and received all his training in the Bay Area. Brian previously worked as a broadcast engineer, a software developer, and taught computer science at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He regularly presents at San Carlos Flight Center safety seminars and has a reputation for making complex concepts easy to learn and understand.

About San Carlos Flight Center:

San Carlos Flight Center (SCFC) is the SF Bay Area’s most dynamic flying club, committed to building general aviation through safety, community, and adventure. AOPA has consistently recognized SCFC in their Best Flight School survey, most recently in 2023 as a Distinguished Flight School for the third year in a row.

SCFC is committed to promoting safety, community, and adventure in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Our seminars are free to watch when attended in person at our facility in San Carlos but live streaming and viewing recorded seminars are exclusively available to members. Click here or contact an SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web library of over 500 recorded safety seminars and live-streamed content.

Prospective Pilot Workshop
2024-10-12 09:00 - 13:00 | San Carlos Flight Center
Are you interested in aviation but not sure where to begin? Are you looking to find out more about becoming a pilot with a group of others like yourself?
San Carlos Flight Center invites all prospective pilots to attend this workshop to learn about what it takes to become a part of general aviation. This event will explain the steps needed to become a pilot, show you how to read and interpret aviation charts used by pilots, and will provide a hands-on opportunity to see a training airplane and engine up close.
If you have a pilot passion burning inside of you, we welcome you to join us. Admission is free (with prior registration). Lunch is provided.
(This event is a workshop for adults interested in becoming a pilot. Young people are encouraged to join us for a similar event targeted to youth in January.)

Colorado Mountain Flying - Lessons Learned
2024-10-09 19:00 - 20:30
The Colorado mountains are filled with countless picturesque sights and landmarks, and the Bay Area Fly Out Group (FOG) recently experienced that on an amazing flying trip throughout the rocky mountains. Colorado brings pilots some of the most challenging terrains to fly around, and toughest airports to land at; and during this seminar you’ll learn from our pilots first hand experience of how to navigate this process.
San Carlos Flight Center invites pilots Jerry Birn, Bob Turcott, Frank Farrell and Stanislav Vitko, along with CFI Herb Patten and Sid Basu to discuss some of the highlights from the trip which include mountain flying operations, high density altitude awareness, positive aircraft control, and the application of true cross-country flight planning. Any pilot can benefit learning from their experience.
Please join us for a recap of this trip with picture and video highlights, and insights from the pilots that attended.

SCFC Open Hangar and BBQ
2024-09-28 12:00 - 14:00
Recently, Team SCFC completed our move into the hangar next door, centralizing all of our maintenance operations. On Sep. 28, come check out our new hangar and join us for a BBQ!
We invite everyone for an afternoon filled with food, drinks, and fun! The BBQ will be at our hangar, but you can come in through our main office at 795 Skyway Road, Ste. A.
Don’t forget to RSVP so we have an accurate headcount! See you on Sep. 28 at 12 noon!

FOG Lunch: Watsonville (WVI)
2024-09-27 12:00 - 14:00
Come join the FlyOutGroup (FOG) on Friday, September 27 with a scenic flight to Watsonville (WVI)! An easy location to get to from the Bay Area, enjoy a quick hop over the Santa Cruz Mountains, and then descend over Monterey Bay. Park in Transient Parking, and we’ll all meet at Ellas at the Airport for lunch.
Ellas at the Airport is located in the WVI airport terminal and conveniently positioned right by the ramp of airplanes. This Italian-style restaurant is known for its great locally sourced eats from healthy salads to full-sized meals. No matter what your appetite is, you won’t be disappointed.
We’re excited for the event, and look forward to seeing you in Watsonville! Please RSVP below so we can give the restaurant a heads-up of our headcount.

NorCal TRACON Tour
2024-09-20
Have you ever wanted to get a depper understanding of how NorCal controllers manage air traffic? Why and what happens when you are asked to IDENT? If so, join the FOG group for a unique tour of the NorCal TRACON facility in Sacramento. If interested, email info@sancarlosflight.com.
The tour is scheduled for 10 am and is located in Sacramento. Pilots interested in this tour must be US Citizens and must be pre-authorized in advance. We will fly into KMHR and then take a short ride to the NorCal facility. The tour will last approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If interested, you should plan to set aside the entire day on Friday, September 20th.
For more details email Herb Patten at San Carlos Flight Center.

2024-09 IMC Club SQL
2024-09-18 19:00 - 21:00
NOTE: Since thils event will involve active discussion, it will be held over Zoom and not broadcast via Livestream. Please RSVP by 12pm on Sep 18 to receive Zoom meeting info via email before the event starts.

Most pilots like analyzing scenarios and trying to answer the age old question of what would I do in that situation? Imagine if you could also hear the opinions of other pilots or get feedback on your approach to a situation. Well, that is exactly what the IMC Club provides.
Join the local EAA Chapter 20 IMC Club meeting to review a scenario and share in the discussions with fellow pilots. You will get an opportunity to hear other pilots’ analysis as well as the group critique of various solutions.
Whether you are a newly minted instrument rated pilot and anxious to learn from others or you are a seasoned pilot with experience to share, the IMC Club is a welcome home for both.
Learn more about IMC Club at http://www.eaa20.org/about.html

Brian Eliot is San Carlos Flight Center’s Assistant Chief Pilot and resident expert for IFR training and Garmin G1000 avionics. He has been flying since 1995 and received all his training in the Bay Area. Brian previously worked as a broadcast engineer, a software developer, and taught computer science at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He regularly presents at San Carlos Flight Center safety seminars and has a reputation for making complex concepts easy to learn and understand.

About San Carlos Flight Center:

San Carlos Flight Center (SCFC) is the SF Bay Area’s most dynamic flying club, committed to building general aviation through safety, community, and adventure. AOPA has consistently recognized SCFC in their Best Flight School survey, most recently in 2023 as a Distinguished Flight School for the third year in a row.

SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Our seminars are free to watch when attended in person at our facility in San Carlos but live streaming and viewing recorded seminars are exclusively available to members. Click here or contact an SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web library of over 500 recorded safety seminars and live-streamed content.

Full Moon Flyers: Nut Tree (VCB)
2024-09-16 19:00 - 21:00
This month join Full Moon Flyers in Vacaville as we fly up to Nut Tree Airport on September 16! At just over 50 NM, Nut Tree makes for an easy cross country destination. This is a great opportunity for students or pilots looking to gain valuable night experience. The airport is lit as night and you can follow the well lit I-80 back towards Oakland for an easy flight back!
Once we land in Nut Tree, we will be dining at Fenton’s Restaurant and Creamery. Known for their ice cream, Fenton’s also offers a wide variety of sandwiches, burgers, and salads at reasonable prices. Don’t forget the ice cream!
Once you land in VCB, secure your aircraft on the transient parking ramp. The walk is about 5-10 minutes to the restaurant depending on your walking speed. We will meet at Fenton’s by 7PM. Make sure you RSVP so we have an accurate headcount! We’ll see you there!
