Still having fun here... a little step back weather wise lately... we had a crappy Sunday with rain, wind and everything...

Last Friday, I finally decided it was time to pass my california driver's license... I had to go to the California Department of Motor Vehicle. I thought it would be terrible, given what I had heard about the DMV... but the people there were very nice... note quite like in this video from Family Guy (watch it before it gets pulled off YouTube, it's awesome !)

So anyways, I had to read the California Driver's Handbook to familiarize myself with the local traffic signs and everything... it was time I did that considering I had been driving for about 2 months before opening it hehe :-)

It turns out my so called "international drivers license" that I got in France is valid for a year if I'm not resident, and if I don't have a car of my own... but since I bought a car, it is only valid for 3 month... go figure...

Since I thought I would have to schedule another appointment for the "written test" I only browsed some of the pages of the driver's handbook... Actually, I didn't have to come back, I went from window to window, signing stuff, smiling at cameras, putting fingers on red things, and then a guy handed me a test sheet and told me "go there and good luck". wtf ?! I'm not ready pal ! Well, since I'm here, I might as well give it a shot...
There was 40 questions or something on that test sheet, and I made 5 mistakes out of the 6 which maximum allowed... Not that good but still enough to get my "Temporary License" that is valid for 60 more days, until I pass the "Behind the Wheel Test" in June...

That is so strange... I can drive for more 60 days, but I don't have a licence... but.... alright, nevermind...
Strange thing about the test too... I can still recall the day I took the written test for the driver's license in France... I was scared as hell, and everyone was freaking serious when the slides were shown on the screen... here I felt like it was just another information sheet I had to fill out, only difference was I couldn't talk to anyone... the room was not even secured or with some guy checking that you don't cheat... really strange...

I've been hanging out on youtube a lot lately... This is a place where ppl can upload videos... and you can find anything ... so here's a pick of a bunch of stuff I liked...

The Jackson Five (Don't ask... they are awesome on this vid...)

Eva Cassidy (Amazing singer... A shame she is no longer with us...)
What a Wonderful World
Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Not youtube, but still very funny video from Family Guy

Oh yeah and this one from South Park

South Park, very cool show... not as terrible as they depicted it when it came on air in France... Some people should have watched beyond the first five minutes of the pilot episode...

Well, time to go sleep...
Happy Landings !

I've uploaded 2 new videos on the website !

One of a landing at Half Moon Bay two weeks ago and another one of a landing in Palo Alto on a clear april day.

The second one is particularly interesting. I had set the airplane speaker on COM1 so that the camera would record the radio communications... It's nice to get the feeling of what it is to be up there :)

I think I'll film all my landings from now on... It's nice to be able to review it afterwards and see if i sucked or not ...
Don't worry, I'm not holding the camera while landing, I put it on top of the panel and leave it there...

So this week end, I flew twice on saturday, first with a guy from Epitech visiting from Oregon. We flew for about 45 minutes... weather was not very good... but still okay...

The second flight was with Glitch, and we flew over NVIDIA, Santa Clara, San Jose... The weather had cleared so it was way nicer... a little bumpy though... This time we went to Livermore (KLVK) for a touch and go.

Nice little week end here, besides the crappy weather on sunday...
I spent my whole sunday flying in Flight Sim, landing an Aeronca everywhere I could... and watching at YouTube videos...

Anyways, it's getting late...
Happy Landings

Last Thursday, Bruno came to my cube and asked if I wanted to take a tail dragger lesson with his instructor, Lou, on an Aeronca... I hesitated a bit, I only flew once on a tail dragger (with a little wheel in the back instead of a nose gear), and I always heard that it was difficult to handle...
But what the hell… this morning at 11:30am I drove to Oakland International Airport to meet Lou and his Aeronca.

Lou is a fascinating man... He has been flying for many years and like all the pilots with thousands of hours of flight time, he has a lot of aviation tales to recount... Like this one where he soloed on a T33... this solo being the first time he ever flew this aircraft... no dual flight prior to that... kind of a funny/scary story...
The aircraft we flew on is an Aeronca 7AC, build in 1946... Yes, nineteen fourty six :) After a short briefing on how a tail dragger differs from an airplane I'm used to fly, we got to the airplane...

Funny thing is that this plane doesn't have a starter... Lou hand-started it from outside while I was holding the brakes on !
Engine started, Lou hopped in and we taxied to runway 15... Man what a nice feeling ! It changes from the pipers, DR400 and all those comfortable planes I know...
Lou did the first takeoff and landing, and then I got to try a few... This aircraft is very light, and it reacts vividly to the wind gusts... The stick was kind of hard to manipulate but overall it was alright :) The trickiest part was of course, the landing...
We had a little crosswind from the left, so the first landings were all done with offset to the right of the runway, until I figured out how much pressure I had to apply on the stick to keep this baby on the center line… The stick was not the only part… On a Piper for example, you need to work with the feet to control the rudder and do proper landings and turns, but on a tail dragger, it’s a way bigger deal… you have to plan ahead and see what the aircraft is going to do, and counter act with the feet… well, you get the picture…

After these tail dragged adventures, I got a call from Bruno, he was a Rio Vista with his friend Mike and his Pulsar, an experimental airplane…
He said they were coming back to Oakland and that I could get a ride with Mike ! Sweet !

While waiting for these guys, some sort of Pitts, that belonged to a friend of Lou landed… They were coming from Livermore to visit him… Two guys were in the airplane, the owner and a friend of his… We chatted a little bit, interesting guys :)

Then when Bruno and Mike landed, I sat in the right seat of the Pulsar and we went for a spin in the pattern of the 27R at Oakland… Mike’s Pulsar is a nice plane, a little small for a tall guy like me, but still, nice machine, quite fast and flies well !
Man I’d like to get my own plane…

Anyways, I had a great deal of fun today, great airplane, awesome weather, nice instructor…

Here are the pictures for today and last week end’s flights !

It was back in 1998, I used to fly a lot with Flight Unlimited II… Going from airport to airport and sometimes spending hours just flying around in the Bay Area, from one spot to another… I liked this feeling of freedom I had back then in this simulator. I was making up stories in my head like picking up stuff at an airport and flying it to another… I really had great times…
After all these hours of flight in the same region, I knew my way around the bay…
I’m pretty sure that the flight I did today, I practically did the same one back then in the Flight Unlimited days…

Since I couldn’t fly yesterday, I booked a plane for today and had to decide between that and a friendly beach/surf trip… Well, I wanted to train with the radio and the weather was too beautiful to not fly…

The aircraft I took today was a Piper PA-28 161. I decided after calling 1-800 WX-BRIEF (the weather briefing…) that I would go to the east towards Livermore, Mount Diablo and then fly according to my likings :)
I took off and headed east to Livermore. Over at Sunol lake, I started monitoring Norcal Approach… and man the frequency was busy! Lots of airliners coming in, people talking freakingly fast… I managed to say something after a few minutes and requested flight following. I flew south of Livermore and to the edge of the Central Valley and headed towards Mount Diablo.
That was just great, the air was very calm, not a single bump, not a single cloud within a 30 NM radius… a pilot’s dream hehe :-)
I then flew overhead Concord Buchanan to avoid Travis Airspace, and this is where I changed my plans. Originally, I was supposed to go back to Palo Alto by staying clear of Oakland/San Francisco Class B Airspace but I decided I would make a tour of the San Pablo Bay instead…
I passed Napa County, Somona Skypark, Sonoma Valley, Gnoss, Hamilton Airforce Base… I landed to these places so many times in Flight Unlimited, that is really cool to fly over them and see them for real hehe ?

And then, change of plans again… the ocean didn’t look as bad as they said, no low stratus of any kind… just a little haze but still very fine…
A few minutes later, I was approaching the Pacific Coastline !
Couldn’t go any farther in that direction so I headed south and got cleared through the Class B airspace as long as I stayed at 3500 feet and west of San Francisco Airport.
I did so and flew along the coast leaving San Francisco and the Golden Gate on the left… That was really an amazing sight there… I want to go back !

After passing SFO, I got transferred to Palo Alto tower. I didn’t even have to contact them; they knew I was coming... Sweet !

They told me to hold over the SLAC and remain clear of Class D airspace… I circled over my position and waited patiently to be cleared… Apparently, a Cessna had a problem with its landing gear and was circling over Stanford trying to fix it… too bad… (I heard later that they landed in San Jose and everything was alright)
Tower called me back and told me to enter downwind Runway 31…
There was a looooooot of traffic. When I was circling over the slak, I heard “Cessna 1234V, Number 6…”
Well downwind, long downwind actually, all the way to Moffet where I turned base over Google Headquarters hehe :)
The landing was alright and I was observed by four of five airplanes holding for takeoff....

Man what a flight! I just love to fly like that and wander in the sky aimlessly :-)
Next time I’ll go south, or more to the north ?

Click for More Pictures

Happy Landings