Ground School Refresher: Pressure and Density Altitude
This seminar will only be available for online viewing. IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE WILL NOT BE PERMITTED.**
Click here to learn more about online viewing
| Pressure what? Density what? As pilots, we love altitude. So much that we’ve created a bunch of different kinds of altitude: true altitude, absolute altitude, indicated altitude, assigned altitude, and two kinds of confusing ones – pressure altitude and density altitude. For many pilots, this can lead to a mental overload. Many pilots don’t have a working understanding of pressure and density altitude. Are they even real altitudes at all? In this seminar, join SCFC CFI Shelby Rebholtz as he introduces and explains the terms “pressure altitude” and “density altitude” and demystifies their meaning. Although the word “altitude” is used, these are clearly not measures of altitude. In fact, they are measures of atmospheric pressure and density just converted into units that pilots can understand. Confusing at first, yes, but once understood they serve a valuable purpose in determining aircraft performance. Although few things are as important to a pilot as knowing the performance capability of the aircraft before taking to the skies, measuring the critical factor – atmospheric density – is not something that pilots can do directly. Instead we use rules of thumb, conversion factors, and our best understanding of how elevation, pressure, temperature, and humidity are interrelated. If you’ve ever opened your aircraft POH to the performance section and felt humbled, this seminar is for you.
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| Shelby Rebholtz is a CFI at San Carlos Flight Center. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and his passion for aviation started young when his father took him flying. While attending California State University, Chico in 2019 he attained a degree in geography and his private pilots license. Soon after he continued his aviation journey down south to San Diego where he navigated the complex airspace of Southern California and attained his Commercial and CFI ratings. When Shelby is not flying or breaking his neck staring at aircraft he can be found mountain biking around the bay area or snowboarding, fishing and hiking in the Sierras.
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| 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 2022 as a Distinguished Flight School. SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Livestream access is free for everyone, but recorded seminars are available solely to members at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web archive of nearly 500 recorded Safety Seminars. |
Extreme Cold, Hypoxia, and Other Challenges of Flight at High Altitudes
This seminar will only be available for online viewing. IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE WILL NOT BE PERMITTED.**
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| Most GA pilots fly piston airplanes that cruise at lower altitudes, but what is different about flying higher, at 15,000’ or 20,000’ or higher? What should be known about human bodies and aircraft at these higher altitudes? San Carlos Flight Center invites Alan Marcum, an instrument-rated pilot to discuss flying in the flight levels. In this seminar, we will learn about the advantages and disadvantages of flying high and the associated impacts on physiology, air pressure and density, weather, emergency planning, oxygen equipment, flight planning, and more. Many think of the flight levels as an escape from the weather below, but often that is not the case. Some challenges that come from extreme altitudes are ones you have never had to consider at low altitude. This is a great opportunity to expand your current knowledge to greater heights. Join us to learn more.
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| Alan Marcum, an instrument-rated private pilot, has been flying for over forty years with 2,500 flight hours with hundreds of them flown above 20,000’ in unpressurized singles. Alan has delivered numerous FAA Safety Seminars on topics such as flying across the US, flying at higher altitudes, in-flight weather-based decision-making, and PIREPs. He has flown in places ranging from Cambridge, U.K. to Lihue, Hawai’i, and in airplanes from a Tiger Moth and a Waco to a Malibu and a Mooney. He bases his Mooney at Palo Alto, where he learned to fly. Alan is a computer scientist by profession.
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| 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 2022 as a Distinguished Flight School. SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Livestream access is free for everyone, but recorded seminars are available solely to members at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web archive. |
A Perspective on Night Flying from a Human Factors Specialist
This seminar will only be available for online viewing. IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE WILL NOT BE PERMITTED.**
Click here to learn more about online viewing
| On November 6th, Daylight Savings Time will be ending, and will bring early nightfall. For those of us who work a regular 9-5 schedule, early nightfall means an increase in night flying. Less ambient light means increased aeromedical challenges throughout all phases of flight. San Carlos Flight Center invites ATP, flight crew safety author, and flight instructor Dale Wilson to discuss some of the physiological and psychological limitations pilots exhibit when flying at night. In this seminar, he will touch on potential dangers associated with relying on outside references during VFR flight and the effects of flight conditions present on VMC segments of IFR flight at night. As our eyesight diminishes at night, our thought processes can too. While night flight brings reduced ATC workloads, often calmer winds, and cooler temperatures that help performance it is important to recognize the human factors’ limitations during this time. Your decision whether or not to fly at night is based on a culmination of the knowledge retained within this seminar, and your re-evaluation of your night personal minimums.
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| Dale Wilson, M.S. ATP, CFI, MCFI/MGI, is Professor Emeritus at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA, and is the author of popular ASA books, Managing Risk: Best Practices for Pilots, and more recently, Human Factors: Enhancing Pilot Performance. Since 1996, he has taught courses dealing with the physiological and psychological aspects of pilot performance, safety management, threat and error management, and aviation weather. He continues his passion by writing numerous articles in aviation journals and magazines. To find out more about our speaker and his work visit his web page at the Aviation Department’s website click here.
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| 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 2022 as a Distinguished Flight School. SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Livestream access is free for everyone, but recorded seminars are available solely to members at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web archive. |
Lessons I Learned in the First 250 Hours of Flight
This seminar will only be available for online viewing. IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE WILL NOT BE PERMITTED.**
Click here to learn more about online viewing
The first 250 hours of flight are often one of the most overwhelming times in a pilot’s career. Pilots should use this stage to develop best practices and learn from their mistakes. Join us to learn from one pilot’s experience and set yourself up for success.
San Carlos Flight Center invites commercial pilot Travis Bender to share lessons learned from his first 250 hours of flight, and what he wished he knew when he earned his private pilot certificate. Travis will walk through his flying career, sharing insights that shaped his flying habits, as well as mistakes that motivated him to advance his skills. For pilots looking to eventually pursue an instrument or commercial certificate, he’ll also share some techniques that helped drive him along that path.
Whether you’re a recently certificated private pilot or looking for ways to level-up your flying and improve your techniques, join us for this seminar.
Travis Bender is a commercial pilot who learned to fly at the Flight Center. He is actively working on his CFI rating and leads the Marketing and Events team at SCFC. When he’s not at the airport, Travis currently works in a strategic finance role at a major Silicon Valley company.
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 2022 as a Distinguished Flight School.
SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Livestream access is free for everyone, but recorded seminars are available solely to members at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web archive.
Using the KLN89B/94 GPS for IFR Flight
This seminar will only be available for online viewing. IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE WILL NOT BE PERMITTED.**
Click here to learn more about online viewing
| The Bendix/King KLN89B/94 can be a powerful GPS navigation tool for IFR flight. The systems have been around for decades and are found in many aircraft. It may have been a while since you took a close look at the functionality of these units and their ability for use in IFR flight. San Carlos Flight Center invites Assistant Chief Pilot Brian Eliot to describe the functionality of these capable units. He will review the buttonology and knowledge required to confidently operate the unit in various IFR scenarios. While many of these units are being replaced with newer technology, renter or veteran pilots might still encounter them and should know how to operate them. Take the time now to become better acquainted with the operations of these units. Knowledge on your aircrafts avionics package is crucial for flight safety, and the KLN89B/94 is no exception. There is a reason why they are still approved by the FAA for IFR Flight. Join us to find out how to use this capable system on your next flight. | |||
| 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. | |||
| 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 2022 as a Distinguished Flight School. SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Livestream access is free for everyone, but recorded seminars are available solely to members at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web archive.
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Destination Mexico
This seminar will only be available for online viewing. IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE WILL NOT BE PERMITTED.**
Click here to learn more about online viewing
| Flying a cross-country trip might seem like the adventure of a lifetime, but how about flying across the Southern border to Mexico? International trips require extensive planning and pose many new educational challenges to pilots. San Carlos Flight Center has invited TBM owner Tom McGrath to share his experience of flying for your first time to Mexico. Tom devoted many hours of planning, flying, paperwork, and applications for customs clearing before stepping foot in the airplane. In this seminar, Tom will talk about the entry and exit procedures of international flying, provide an overview of the differences in flight rules, and describe some of the unique airport operations he experienced on the trip. Overall, this trip brought a whole new set of challenges, with unusual weather patterns, new ATC procedures, limited options in case of an emergency, and overall added stress. We hope that all pilots can use this information to become comfortable with their own new travel experiences. Whether you plan on flying to Mexico or not, hearing this story from an experienced aviator is a great opportunity to develop a better thought process of how to plan for a complex flight.
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| Tom McGrath is a long-time pilot using his planes for business and pleasure. With over 7500 hours of flight time in Bonanzas and TBMs, his flying has taken him all across the world. He has previously presented at SCFC on numerous occasions and is excited to share his experience with you.
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| 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 2022 as a Distinguished Flight School. SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Livestream access is free for everyone, but recorded seminars are available solely to members at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web archive. |
NO SAFETY SEMINAR on October 15
There will be no safety seminar on Saturday, October 15. Please join us for our next seminar on Wednesday, October 19 for Ground School Refresher: Airport Signs and Markings. More information on this seminar is accessible by clicking here.
-Seminar Team
Knowing What You Don’t Know – CFI Edition
This seminar will only be available for online viewing. IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE WILL NOT BE PERMITTED.**
Click here to learn more about online viewing
Please click the link here to learn more about our CFI finishing school.
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| Dan Dyer is the founder of the San Carlos Flight Center, and has built the motto of Safety, Community, and Adventure for over 8 years. Dan was an instructor for 15 years, accumulated over 4,000 flight hours, and is the Bay Area’s local expert in crosswind landing instruction. He is known for finding simple and innovative ways to explain complex topics and regularly speaks on advanced ground school topics. Find out more about Dan at www.sancarlosflight.com or contact him at dan@sancarlosflight.com
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Local Airport Operations
This seminar will only be available for online viewing. IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE WILL NOT BE PERMITTED.**
Click here to learn more about online viewing
| The Bay Area has many airports for pilots to choose from. Flying to a new airport can bring a new set of challenges and risks, along with new procedures. For student pilots trying to branch out of their home airport, it can be overwhelming to become familiar with local procedures. So, what airport information is crucial to know when operating at a new airport? What specific things do you need to watch out for? What hot spots or other things may be confusing to a student or new pilot? San Carlos Flight Center invites Chief Pilot Herb Pattern to discuss local procedures including noise abatement, pattern operations, and where to find information for several local Bay Area Airports. Some examples will include PAO, HWD, and LVK. He will review common ATC instructions so you can be familiar with what to expect when operating at these airports. After attending this seminar, students and new pilots will have more confidence in operating safely at local Bay Area airports and understand what to consider when flying to a new airport. We encourage any student pilot to attend, and pilots of higher rating to attend too. Do not miss out on this seminar, learn how to gain confidence, operate safer, and be on your A game flying to new airports.
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| Herb Patten is the Chief Pilot 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 2021, Herb was named a Distinguished Flight Instructor by AOPA.
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| 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 2022 as a Distinguished Flight School. SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Livestream access is free for everyone, but recorded seminars are available solely to members at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web archive.
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Radio Communications 4: Class B and C Airspace
This seminar will only be available for online viewing. IN-PERSON ATTENDANCE WILL NOT BE PERMITTED.**
Click here to learn more about online viewing
| Pilots new to the SF Bay area sometimes feel uncomfortable communicating with controllers in busier Class B and C airports. Let’s address that. Let’s talk about radio communications and help each other overcome fears, operate more safely, and smooth the work of Tower and Approach Controllers. In this seminar, San Carlos Flight Center continues our radio communications series, this time focusing on general aviation operations at Class Bravo and Charlie airports. SFO, OAK, and SJC come with a whole new set of challenges for GA pilots; increased traffic loads operating in the airspace, more frequency congestion, different entrance requirements, and a whole lot more. This seminar can help you to become a more effective communicator within class B and C airspace, and prove to the controllers that you got it under control. You surely won’t want to miss this seminar if you have ever felt uneasy operating within Class B or C airspace. This seminar is guaranteed to make sure that all pilots will feel safer on their next flight into these airports, don’t miss out.
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| Dan Dyer is the founder of the San Carlos Flight Center, and has built the motto of Safety, Community, and Adventure for over 8 years. Dan was an instructor for 15 years, accumulated over 4,000 flight hours, and is the Bay Area’s local expert in crosswind landing instruction. He is known for finding simple and innovative ways to explain complex topics and regularly speaks on advanced ground school topics. Find out more about Dan at www.sancarlosflight.com or contact him at dan@sancarlosflight.com Herb Patten is the Chief Pilot 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 2021, Herb was named a Distinguished Flight Instructor by AOPA.
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| 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 2022 as a Distinguished Flight School. SCFC is committed to promoting safety in general aviation through our regular safety seminars and guest speaker programs. Livestream access is free for everyone, but recorded seminars are available solely to members at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access to our web archive. |