Hi all
I plan to be travelling roughly between San Francisco and Salt Lake City in May, and I’d like to take a day to see some of it from the air. Ideally I’d like to do a sight-seeing flight around one of the many scenic environments out there (eg Las Vegas area, Sedona, Momument Valley etc inspired by Dan’s YLL on tour 
) but any suggestion is welcome in the area.
I have a piggyback FAA license (61.75) which is not current so I’m thinking to get the flight review done back home before the trip and just take a flight with an instructor riding along for the ride (or I could get the FR done as part of the sight-seeing trip itself but that sounds a bit more complicated).
Does anyone have suggestions for destinations and flight schools / FBOs willing to rent a simple SEP (calling it a checkout or whatever) for a tour of the area? I’ll be sure to get back to you all with some pictures
If you are going to be with an instructor, you won’t need to have a Flight Review, although if you have the time and are otherwise current with your flying, it should not be difficult to accomplish. The SF Bay area is great for a sight seeing trip. There are numerous GA airports in the area including Palo Alto (KPAO), Reid Hillview.(KRHV) and others. The same would be true at Las Vegas and Sedona. Most of these airports have flight schools and rent aircraft to the flying public.
The Bay Area and Grand Canyon are probably your best bets. For SF there are several GA fields with FBOs, just pick the most convenient. The Grand Canyon you could do from Vegas or Prescott. Neither Sedona nor Flagstaff have flight schools, although there may be some informal arrangements. Time permitting you could do your BFR at the same time, just make sure you mention that beforehand, as the instructor will need to schedule the ground portion.
Prescott AZ would be one place to look, to the west of Sedona. Embry Riddle is there, so lots of traffic at the airport but the scenery is really nice and the airspace is not complex. San Francisco airspace is congested and complex and while having a local instructor along would mitigate a lot of that, and the scenery is nice, the flying would be busy. Vegas will be hot although not extremely hot in May, maybe 32 C highs, and you could find something at North Las Vegas Airport.
Sorry I can’t supply more specifics on FBOs, I haven’t rented a plane in a long time.
If the Bay Area is of interest, then I would strongly recommend Advantage Aviation at KPAO. They have a great fleet, including several G1000 182s. I can put you in touch if you want – PM me.
Thx for the feedback!
If you are going to be with an instructor, you won’t need to have a Flight Review
Understood. My thinking was that with a current FAA PPL, it would be easier to fly where I wanted (within legal boundaries of course) as opposed to a discovery flight with an instructor, but perhaps I’m mistaken.
it would be easier to fly where I wanted
The US doesn’t have the same restrictions on “discovery flight” that e.g. France does. If the instructor is up for it, you can do whatever you want. That said, if you already have a piggyback PPL, you just need a BFR which is a 1 hour flight with (in theory) 1 hour of ground. I say “in theory” because if you obviously know your stuff it tends to be a fairly short hour. And the 1 hour flight can be anything at all, subject to the instructor. Chances are that if in the first 15 minutes it’s obvious you know how to fly, they’ll put you through the usual stuff of stalls, steep turns, maybe a bit of unusual attitude. It’s not like an actual checkride.
Depending on where you are, you may be able to find an FAA CFI to do this before you leave. There’s one down here at LFMD but that’s probably not much help to you.
I’ll PM you about KPAO specifically.
A discovery flight is not the same thing.
It can be done with any PPL who is on the club insurance to do so.
172driver wrote:
@Tango, IMHO flying with an instructor is your best option. Otherwise you have to do your BFR, potentially an additional checkout flight and carry renters’ insurance. Lots of pain for little gain and in the case of SF likely a rather stressful flight, given the airspace there.
That is what I do when I try to fly somewhere I travel to. Earlier, I was try to see how to get checked out, but in the end, that adds a lot of preparation work since you will be flying in an environment you are not familiar with, so if your travel goal is not primarily about flying, it’s a lot easier and in way better to fly with a local instructor, he might even give you some local information about what you’re overflying. I had that flying in Malta, the instructor was explaining pretty much every landmarks, that was really nice! If I had just gotten checked out and flew by myself I would probably not have known what is most interesting nor any of the relevant details about the places.
