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Preventative Maintenance is often a topic that is confusing for most pilots, including who can perform the work, what work can be done, and how to make it legal. Mechanics work on airplanes daily and are familiar with all types of maintenance, and it’s crucial that pilots are aware of how to properly perform preventative maintenance.

San Carlos Flight Center invites A&P Tim Davis to discuss what preventative maintenance actually is, how pilots can actually perform it, and how to do so safely. In this seminar, Tim will discuss what tools you should have and how to use them safely, along with providing example scenarios based around the limitations of preventative maintenance for pilots. Furthermore, Tim will cover the basics of how to perform simple maintenance on aircraft including how to remove and install cowlings, install safety wires and cotter pins, put clamps on hoses, and including the all important logging procedure.

If you have ever wondered about how to perform preventative maintenance, or want to have a strong understanding of 14 CFR 43, this is the seminar for you.

Tim Davis is an 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 licence shortly after.

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.

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, SCFC CFI’s introduce and explain 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.

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 [email protected]

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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We can observe the ceilings, look at satellite images for cloud tops and check the new graphical forecast tool aviation (GFA), but what’s happening in between? You can now find this in the GFA but reviewing each altitude for each time frame can be a bit cumbersome.  The Skew T Log P diagram is still one of the best kept secrets in aviation.

Now you can view the vertical profile of the atmosphere including its stability and wind profile based on weather modeling from a plethora of weather observations including soundings, radar, weather stations, satellites and aircraft. You can now review direct soundings and interpolated models of the vertical atmospheric profiles with a high degree of reliability.  This concise format will really aid in your mental construction of winds and cloud and freezing levels.

Join Dave Kramer, weather enthusiast, private pilot and ground instructor for a seminar on how to interpret Skew T Log P diagrams to further enhance your awareness of the weather around you

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.
 

With over 20 years of flying as a charter pilot, Capt. Ben Taber has had numerous unforgettable moments in the cockpit. In this seminar, he will discuss his memorable times as a charter pilot, often when something did not go as planned and he was forced to adapt to a situation.

If you have ever wondered about the daily experiences professional pilots face, this is ought to seek your interest.

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. Space is often limited so it is important to sign up early. SCFC members may choose to watch the seminar live over the web at home, or recorded at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access.

San Carlos Flight Center invites Young Eagles Chapter 20 Coordinator, Michael Chang to cover the procedures a pilot must take to safely conduct an EAA Young Eagles Flight. In this seminar, Michael will provide an overview of the Young Eagles program, review passenger management techniques, and share ways other pilots can get involved within this organization.

Inspire the next generation of pilots by partaking in this program, and refresh yourself on ways to handle passengers in complex situations.

Michael Chang is a naval architect/marine engineer.  He holds a Sport Pilot Certificate and has been flying for over six years.  He is both EAA Chapter 20’s Technical Counselor and Young Eagles Coordinator.  He is presently building a Zenith Cruzer 750.  He is also a docent at the Hiller Aviation Museum.

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. Space is often limited so it is important to sign up early. SCFC members may choose to watch the seminar live over the web at home, or recorded at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access.

“Ops 1, Ground…” is a radio call heard every now and then at a towered airport like San Carlos. From conducting runway sweeps, to chasing geese away, from fixing taxiway lights, to assisting distressed aircraft, the Airport Operations team plays a fundamental part keeping the airport running smoothly and safely.

San Carlos Flight Center invites Airport Operations Specialist Michael Dutton to give a behind-the-scenes view on what it takes to keep an airport like San Carlos running. This seminar will cover the routine checks that make up the day-to-day lives of the specialists, as well as some of the more special occurrences that operations specialists respond to. We’ll examine the training, equipment, and responsibilities given to the operations personnel, along with investigating safety measures implemented to ensure the airport runs smoothly.

We encourage any pilot to attend as they can now be more vigilant while operating in and around the airport.

Michael Dutton is a commercial pilot with a private rating in helicopters. He’s been flying and working at the San Carlos airport for over seven years, first working for the Flight Center before moving on to Airport Operations. In his off-days, he’s still at the airport as he continues his flight training.

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. Space is often limited so it is important to sign up early. SCFC members may choose to watch the seminar live over the web at home, or recorded at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access.

Join an experienced SCFC CFI as they review 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.  They 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.

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. Space is often limited so it is important to sign up early. SCFC members may choose to watch the seminar live over the web at home, or recorded at a later date. Click here or contact a SCFC member service rep at (650) 946-1700 for more information about online access.

San Carlos Flight Center invites CFI Russell Bowerman and private pilot Brandan Dadoun to provide a walk-through of how they use ForeFlight to plan a cross-country flight. In this seminar, they will investigate what it takes to accurately plot checkpoints, calculate performance values, and ensure that you as the pilot are familiar with “all available information concerning a flight.”  The presenters will start the session with a sample flight mission so that viewers/attendees can follow along in real-time using ForeFlight on their own device.

ForeFlight offers a wealth of features that can sometimes be overwhelming.  We hope you will join us for this seminar to see a practical aspect of this app towards real-world flight planning.

Brandan Dadoun is a Private Pilot and SCFC’s Seminar Coordinator. He has completed the majority of his flight training at SCFC with over 200 flight hours and has extensive flying experience throughout all of California in both piston and turbine powered aircraft. He is actively involved within many aviation programs, and is currently pursuing his instrument rating. When he’s not flying, he enjoys playing the saxophone and staying active.

Russell Bowerman has always maintained an interest in aviation, visiting aviation museums, taking sightseeing flights, and staying up to date on all the newest fighter jets and airliners.  After receiving his Private Pilot Certificate in 2018, he decided to make a career of it, attaining his Commercial and CFI ratings. Russell has been teaching and loving it ever since. Beyond flying, he really enjoys travelling and feels lucky to meet new people and learn about their diverse backgrounds in the process of flight training.