Sam will review basic propeller knowledge for pilots, including design differences between the major manufacturers, fixed pitch vs. constant speed operation, realistic evaluation of propeller condition before flight, and the inherent dangers of deferring propeller (or any other aircraft) maintenance. She will discuss some of the common propeller Airworthiness Directives that are owner-operator responsibility (not just mechanics). Finally, she will explain the differences between overhaul, dynamic balancing, and other major types of propeller/governor service.  This is all supported with numerous photos and years of anecdotes (some amusing and some amazing).

Propellers are an essential part of flight, and pilots should gain a better understanding about them. If you want to gain more knowledge about what keeps you flying, we encourage all pilots to attend.

Samantha Bloodhart moved to the Bay Area in 1994 from Ohio to open Sullivan Propeller Specialists with her partner Brian Sullivan. Sullivan Propeller has been in business in Hayward since we opened, now 23 years. She is a licensed FAA Repairman. Currently she is the voice of Sullivan Propeller – handling most of the administrative tasks as well as front-line on customer service. Samantha is also the primary administrator for our Repair Station and handles all the FAA requirements/compliance issues as such. Bloodhart founded Sullivan Propeller in 1994, along with Brian Sullivan.

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 2019 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.

San Carlos Flight Center invites A&P Mechanic Tim Davis to provide tips on how to properly conduct a pre-flight inspection. In this seminar, Tim will highlight what to look for and a mechanics perspective on how to look at a Cessna 172 when conducting a pre-flight inspection. Tim will describe common aircraft structure and systems as they relate to pre-flight inspections.

Through the eyes of an experienced mechanic, join us to get a different perspective on your pre-flight routine.

Tim Davis is an A&P and aircraft mechanic at San Carlos Flight Center.  A Bay Area native, he worked as a Quality Analyst for Electronic Arts and Blizzard Entertainment before completing aircraft maintenance training at City College of San Francisco and earning his A&P certificate.

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 2019 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.

San Carlos Flight Center invites Private Pilot Brandan Dadoun to discuss what pilots flying to Palm Springs need to know. New destinations, especially long cross-country flights, challenge pilots to expand their skills and adapt to different scenarios. In this seminar, Brandan will summarize flight planning into the Palm Springs Area at both PSP and UDD airports. Whether it is landing at airfields below sea level, navigating around towering peaks, flying over vast deserts, or flying in unique airspace (TRSA anyone?) There are unique flight planning considerations to consider. Brandan will also place an emphasis on certain weather patterns prevalent within this region, and how they affected his planned route of flight. He will conclude by highlighting the different amenities within the area and things to do.

If you ever considered venturing to Southern California, the Coachella Valley and Palm Springs await you for a challenging but yet rewarding long cross-country from the Bay Area.

Brandan Dadoun is an instrument-rated private pilot and SCFC’s Seminar Coordinator. He has completed the majority of his flight training at SCFC and has extensive flying experience throughout California in both piston and turbine-powered aircraft. Currently, he is working on pursuing his commercial and multi-engine ratings and enjoys being a regular speaker in the seminar program. In 2021, Brandan was recognized by the FAA for his achievements in promoting aviation safety. Outside of flying, he enjoys playing the saxophone, and staying active.

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 2019 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.

SCFC Chief Pilot Herb Patten will present a safety seminar that will help demystify the numbers and markings on the FAA’s IFR Low Enroute Charts and allow pilots to develop a better understanding of the details on these charts. He will explain waypoint and navigational aid symbology, and describe the various altitudes shown on the charts. This is a valuable safety seminar for new IFR students and a great refresher for pilots that are already instrument rated.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity for an in depth review of the common and not so common content on IFR charts.

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 3.00 hours into at least 120 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.

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 2019 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.

So what exactly is a “Bay Tour”? Have recent airspace changes affected the Bay Tour, and what new implementations will require pilots to take into account? Join CFI Lukasz Zoromski to examine the airspace, explain the “Bay Tour” and how a pilot can accomplish one in the safest, simplest, most enjoyable manner.

We’ll review the various overlapping airspaces in the area, the territories for each local ATC facility, and the routings most commonly used by Flight Center pilots and suggested by ATC.  You’ll learn what options are available to you even if SQL ATIS has the phrase “San Francisco is not taking surface area transitions.”

This is a thorough discussion of the regulations and procedures used in flying a San Francisco Bay Tour through Class B and C airspace. If you are new to the Bay area, want to imagine the different sights you’ll see, or just want to improve your understanding of local airspace customs and procedures, please join us for this popular seminar.

Lukasz Zoromski has always been interested in aviation. Ever since going to Oshkosh Airventure as a kid, he got hooked on airplanes. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, he decided to make a career change away from a desk job and began flying with a goal to become a flight instructor. Now that he has achieved that goal, he strives to help new pilots achieve the same goals in a safe and fun way.

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 2019 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.

San Carlos Flight Center invites Private Pilot Sebastian Schweers to discuss his experience transferring his international pilot certificate to an FAA certificate. During this seminar, Sebastian will break down the steps one must follow to transfer a foreign certificate to one recognized in the United States. What new training was required?  What testing? How was the checkride different for a foreign pilot than for a student pilot starting fresh in the US. He will conclude by highlighting the differences during his flying experience both in Europe, and now in the United States.

If you are curious about this process, or are interested in learning more about how to adapt to a new flying environment, join us for this seminar.

Sebastian Schweers is a Private Pilot both in the US and in Switzerland. Recently he transitioned his foreign certificate to be used for flying in the United States. With a wealth of flying experience both internationally, and now in America, he is excited to share his journey of transferring his certificate.

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 2019 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.

San Carlos Flight Center invites commercial pilot Chris Rimer to share his experience flying a single-engine turbocharged Beech Bonanza in the West. In this seminar, he will highlight high-altitude operations including those in the flight levels. Chris will also provide an overview of oxygen requirements, equipment, and safe practices while flying at altitude. We’ve asked him to use a real world example, so he will review a flight he took to Colorado that took him into the flight levels.  He’ll end the presentation relating how these concepts can be applied to flying any type of aircraft, in turn improving your knowledge and knowing your limits.

We invite pilots of all experience levels to join this presentation and share their experiences in similar scenarios. If you have any plans of operating at high altitudes, or want to learn more about the performance envelope of your aircraft, join us for this seminar.

Chris Rimer has been a San Carlos Flight Center member since its earlier days, and a pilot at SQL since 1999 (he earned his PPL at Concord in 1997). He earned both his commercial single- and multi-engine/instrument-land ratings this year, and also has a private single engine sea rating to keep things fun. You’ll often see him flying Cessna 182s or his Bonanza A36 around California. He’s presently working toward his ATP, and is always looking for opportunities to fly as he works toward that goal this year. He started his career in aerospace working for Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach as an engineer, and dreams of flying the MD-11s he worked on there 30 years ago.

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 2019 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.

Join CFI Terry Kelly as he reviews important Aeromedical Factors such as the four types of hypoxia, the impact of medicines and alcohol on the human body, and how the human eye and mind can be fooled by various spatial and visual illusions. He will also go over some common over-the-counter medications that pilots might not consider to impair their ability to fly, but may actually be dangerous.

Come and join this online seminar in the ground school refresher series to review the impact of flight on the human body and become a safer pilot.

Terry Kelly is a CFI at San Carlos Flight Center, who has a background as a first responder working as a wildland firefighter. He has first-hand experience dealing with many of the aeromedical factors that pilots need to be aware of. Aeromedical factors are a very important subject for him, as we spend so much time making sure the plane is safe to fly and the weather is safe to operate, but so little time on the most important part of flight… the pilot.

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 2019 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.

San Carlos Flight Center CFII Brian Eliot will present a seminar designed to introduce ASEL pilots to the world of AMEL. He will walk the audience through the basic requirements found in FAR Part 61, including both knowledge items and flight skills, and then dive more deeply into the required flight proficiency items in terms of preflight inspections, ground operations, maneuvers, and emergency procedures.

Whether it’s in your near future or still in the dream phase, plan to join us for this informative safety seminar all about transitioning to Multi-Engine Aircraft.

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 invites Chief Pilot Herb Patten and CFI Sid Basu to bridge the communication gap, help newer pilots understand the structure of radio and how to improve their own.  The presentation will begin with a review of radio communication phraseology and use.  What part is structured?  What part is unstructured?  What words are good official phraseology, and what words are considered jargon, slang, or poor grammar?

If you are new to radio communication, or just want a great review to fill gaps in your pilot education, please join us for this unique opportunity.

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 1,500 hours into at least 120 different California airports.  He is the current chairman of the Upwind Foundation, famous for its Upwind Summer Scholarship Program. In 2015, Herb was named a Master Instructor by the National Association of Flight Instructors.

Sid Basu is a CFII ASEL, Commercial ASEL, AMEL and Instrument rated pilot with over 2000 hours total time and over 1500 hours of dual given. He has been flying since 2008 and has been instructing at San Carlos Flight Center since 2017.

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 2019 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.