San Carlos Flight Center invites A&P Tim Davis to cover what’s involved in getting an A&P license. In this seminar, Tim will cover how the license is structured, what the basic requirements are, and the time and commitment involved. He will dive into what topics are actually covered in the knowledge (written) tests, and what the skill (oral and practical) tests consist of. There will also be a discussion of the expectations associated with the mechanic certificate, as well as other, related certifications that are also available.

The safety of flight relies on the competency and awareness of everyone associated with the flight, beginning with every mechanic who has ever worked on your airplane.  If you are an aspiring mechanic, or a veteran pilot we hope this seminar will give you a depth of understanding of how rigorous the process is for new mechanics.

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 Oshkosh Pilots Oliver Coolidge and Obed Han as they talk to our local pilots about how they safely and efficiently flew into the “world’s busiest airport” for AirVenture 2021. For one week each summer, EAA members and aviation enthusiasts totaling more than 500,000 from more than 60 countries attend EAA AirVenture at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where they rekindle friendships and celebrate the past, present and future in the world of flight. For many, arriving at Oshkosh is a rite of passage that can only be satisfied by being one of the more than 10,000 aircraft flying in, landing at what becomes the busiest airport in the world. It can be a challenging experience, but after attending this seminar, we are sure that you will feel more confident in your flying abilities. Join us to learn more about the real-world application of cross-country flight planning, decision making, analysis of complex NOTAMS, and how to safely operate amidst thousands of aircraft.

Whether you’re an aviation enthusiast or an aviation novice, if you have wondered what it takes to fly into AirVenture, join us for this seminar.

Oliver Coolidge started flying in 1969 and is a retired FedEx captain with over 14,000 hours of flying. He owns a vintage 1954 Cessna 195 and has a new project with a 1971 Beechcraft Bonanza G33 “straight tail”. He also is involved with the Flying 12 Club which is building a Van’s RV-12. Chapter 20 was recently the recipient of an EAA Ray Aviation Scholarship which has awarded a $10,000 flying scholarship to a local young aviator.

Obed Han became interested in aviation after taking a Young Eagles flight in 2018, and is now a student pilot solo with over 40 hours in different types of aircraft. He is continuing his training thanks to the EAA James Ray Scholarship. He is also involved within numerous aviation programs, including co-founding the local EAA Chapter’s Young Aviators program, participating in the RV-12 build, and volunteering as a mentor for VATSIM, virtually controlling airplanes across the Bay Area and training other ATC candidates.

San Carlos Flight Center invites commercial pilot Dave Kramer to investigate the different weather factors that can contribute to a pilot’s decision making process. In this seminar, Dave will share scenarios from his own flying in which he has been able to safely mitigate potential risks to allow a flight. Audience members can expect a realistic, scenario based presentation investigating the effects of certain weather patterns on someone’s route of flight.

Join us for this seminar as we take a look at those borderline “no go” decisions and offer additional safe options available to turn a “no go” into a “go”.

Dave Kramer MD, an ophthalmologist for over 30 years, is an instrument rated, tailwheel, complex and high performance endorsed commercial MEL pilot as well as a basic and instrument ground instructor with an interest in weather. He has been flying since 2012, has over 1100 hours of which over 500 have been in the IFR system. He also enjoys long cross country flying, night flying and flying in the LA area.

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 CFI Matt Debski to present a realistic based scenario where a pilot has to weigh out alternatives, and then choose a plan to execute. Matt will demonstrate several approaches to tackle identifying and planning alternatives. During the presentation the audience will have an opportunity to consider their choice before the outcome is revealed.

If you regularly fly cross-country trips, or plan on doing so; you won’t want to miss out on this seminar.

Matt Debski is a 1600-hour pilot and CFI and has been flying in the Bay Area since 2003.  He and his family enjoy flying their Cessna 182 around the western United States visiting friends and going on adventures.  Matt works as a software engineer and enjoys running, backpacking and camping, and trying new things.

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.

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Palo Alto Airport is the busiest GA airport in the Bay Area, with hundreds of operations a day. With ongoing construction, new taxiways, complicated airspace, operating at Palo Alto brings a unique set of challenges. To help pilots navigate these challenges, San Carlos Flight Center has invited Brian Fisher, Air Traffic Manager, to talk about Palo Alto’s new airport layout, runway safety, and implementation of new procedures.

In this seminar, Brian will explain how to safely operate at Palo Alto Airport, including ATC expectations of pilots. Got a question about Palo Alto airport operations, procedures, or airspace? Brian will expertly address your questions with the goal of improving pilot/ATC communication.

With the  increasing popularity of Palo Alto airport, we encourage all Bay Area Pilots to attend this seminar to learn what to expect on your next visit to Palo Alto Airport. Don’t miss  this opportunity.

Brian Fisher is an Air Traffic Controller with over 30 years of experience, and Air Traffic Manager at Palo Alto Airport for the past 9 years. Brian has a surplus of experience controlling at numerous challenging and busy airports such as SQL, SJC, and SFO. Brian is a member of the San Francisco Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT),  and San Francisco Disaster Animal Response Team (DART). Brian has also graduated from the FBI Citizens Academy, is a HAM technician, and enjoys speaking with fellow pilots on how to become safer and more efficient in dense airspace.

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.

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 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 Chief Pilot Herb Patten investigates the different types of weather products available to pilots. In this seminar, we will take a look at what’s new on Aviation Weather Center, aka aviationweather.gov. We will explore some recent changes to the prognostic charts, turbulence forecasts as well as some other useful products. We will also explore the replacement for the Area Forecast, the “Graphical Forecast for Aviation,” which offers a wealth of features available for pilots.

Be more weather aware on your next flight, and join us for this safety seminar.

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.

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 welcomes back experienced check airman and training Captain Ben Taber, who has pulled together some of the most challenging electrical issues.  Capt. Taber will introduce us to “Electricity for Pilots” and review electrical use in everyday flight, static electricity buildup and discharge, and discuss possible failure scenarios and resolutions for each. With the introduction of Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA) outfitted with sleek Garmin’ G1000TM, Avidyne’, and other assorted glass cockpit panels and FAA/Industry Training Standards (FITS) scenario-based training techniques to help pilots fly more safely, the training industry has finally recognized that pilots must be trained to a higher level of understanding of the electrical systems that supports all that equipment. The level of sophistication of the electrical system in singles tells you just how important electricity is for safe flight. Pilots who are willing to fly in the clouds with only one engine demand backups and redundancy for the critical avionics and other systems powered by electricity.

Join us as Ben Taber dives deeper into your pilot knowledge bank of electricity in this informative and challenging seminar.

Capt. Bennett Taber is a check airman and training captain with over 20 years and 18,000 hours of air charter experience throughout the western United States. His first 500 hours of flying were conducted in Alaska. Captain Taber manages flight operations and charter sales for Dreamline Aviation in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a Dreamline Training Captain in Beech King Air aircraft.

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 has invited aircraft owner, James Sloan, to review the instrumentation he chose for the recent panel overhaul of his Cessna 182.  He will give an introduction to avionics like the Garmin G500 TXi flight deck display that integrates and controls other avionic components such as the G500 autopilot, and JPI engine monitor.  He will share the main similarities this system has with other avionics systems in our fleet, as well as the differences in startup and operation.  This is an important step in understanding the full capability of the avionics system, and it’s a great chance to hear it from someone very familiar with the details.

If you are interested in seeing what the benefits of integrated avionics can offer for instrument as well as VFR flying, join this riveting session and gain an insight into the benefits of flying with advanced avionics.

James Sloan earned his PPL in 2002 and flew around the East Coast for a few years.  After several years off he joined SCFC in 2017 and has since obtained his instrument, commercial, advanced and instrument ground instructor, and flight instructor ratings. He currently has over 1300 hours in single engine airplanes and own 1.6 Cessnas.

Do not fear the arc.  In fact, they can be quite fun and rewarding and will keep you proficient with the basic navigation instruments.  In this seminar, Brian Eliot will demystify the DME arc approaches found at Crescent City (KCEC), Fresno Chandler Executive Airport (KFCH), Tri-Cities Airport (KPSC), Yakima Air Terminal (KYKM), along with two right here in the Bay Area, Watsonville (KWVI) and Salinas (KSNS).

If you are an IFR, or interested VFR pilot, take advantage of the expert insight offered by Brian Eliot, IFR resident expert at 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 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.