I head down from Napa to spend a fun afternoon flying from Oakland to Salinas to Livermore and back to Oakland. For the pilot, this is a flight he needs to make periodically to maintain currency. For me, it's pure pleasure!
We take off out of Oakland and fly down the middle of the San Francisco Bay to Palo Alto, where we turn inland and cross the hills toward the Pacific, flying by Apple's donut-shaped campus.
Crossing San Francisco Bay
Turning inland, passing the Apple campus
Aircraft instrument panel
The clouds thicken inland, then dissipate as we cross the coast over the bay, a truly pretty sight as we fly above them, getting brief glimpses of the ground.
Over land and sea, Monterrey in the distance
We fly a few practice instrument approaches into Salinas, then head east, passing just to the east of Mount Hamilton (elevation 4,400 feet/1,340 meters), over Tracy, and turn west toward Livermore.
Crossing the hills, Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance
Filling up
From Livermore, it's a short trip across the hills back into the San Francisco Bay area and a right turn toward Oakland.
Entering the runway for departure
Crossing over into the San Francisco Bay Area
Approach Oakland
Here's the San Francisco Sectional aviation area chart showing the area we flew around today.
San Francisco sectional chart
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