Palo Alto Airport (KPAO) of Santa Clara County, CA September 29, 2021 Located close to Stanford Hospital and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, Palo Alto Airport (KPAO) is an often used Angel Flight West mission destination. Only a short distance from the San Francisco bay, this sea-level airport’s tower is in operation from 0700 to 2100 local. There are nine other airports within 20 NM, including Moffett Federal Airfield, just four nm SE, and San Carlos (SQL) seven miles NW. PA… wagadmin Read More »
Declaring an Emergency September 29, 2021 Gather a room full of pilots and ask them the following questions: How many of you have had an emergency while in flight? How many of you have declared an emergency? How many of you have had to complete any post-emergency “paperwork?” The answers are usually: A few, a few less, and zero. That’s right, most people who declare an emergency never face the dreaded “paperwork” that everyone fears. Take me, for example. Onc… wagadmin Read More »
Density Altitude September 29, 2021 All pilots learn about density altitude yet most pilots never experience the truly detrimental effect it can have. Brian, a friend of mine, flying a Piper Cherokee 160 and carrying all of his camping gear was on his way to OSH a few years ago. He landed at in Butte, Montana to refuel. It was a clear day and the temperatures was reasonable at about 85 degrees. The runway was much longer than the sea level airport he was b… wagadmin Read More »
Non-Tower Airport Operations September 29, 2021 Since there is a high likelihood that at least one airport on most missions is uncontrolled or non-towered, we’d like to share some thoughts on uncontrolled airport operations. If you haven’t flown into an airport before (towered or non-towered), familiarize yourself using all available resources including AF/M, Jepps, pilot guides, local instructors, etc.. Don’t forget to review all applicable NOTAMs as w… wagadmin Read More »
Required Reports September 29, 2021 In the course of my activities as a Flight Instructor and Mission Orientation Pilot, I take some time to review various pilot reporting requirements. One of the many things I’ve learned is that some pilots are somewhat reluctant to declare an emergency when the circumstances dictate, at least partially because of concern for “all the paperwork” involved. I have yet to talk to any pilot who has declared an emergenc… wagadmin Read More »
Be Prepared September 29, 2021 Angel Flight West believes that we should share what we learn about our missions and the airports we visit so that we can learn from each other. So, with that in mind… A couple of years ago I was flying a young man to Quincy, CA (2O1), an airport located near his home in the mountains of Northern California. Quincy has no weather reporting, no instrument approach, and is located deep in a narrow valley. The weather was ni… wagadmin Read More »
Personal Minimums September 29, 2021 All pilots, especially those who are instrument rated (those that are licensed by the FAA to fly in instrument meteorological conditions – i.e. clouds), are familiar with the term ‘personal minimums’. It speaks to being aware at any given time to what a pilot-in-command is comfortable doing. For example, although a pilot may be instrument current and legally allowed to fly a landing to minimums, they may not be co… wagadmin Read More »
Passengers First September 29, 2021 You may be aware that in 2008 there were three Angel Flight accidents with fatalities in other Angel Flight regions. To say this may be tempting fate, but to date Angel Flight West still has a perfect safety record while carrying passengers. An optimist would say that everything is working fine and we don’t need to change anything. A pessimist would say that we’re due and we need to do something immediately. A realist sa… wagadmin Read More »
AFW Safety News: Logging Cross-Country Time July 9, 2021 Logging Cross-Country Time It is probably easier to navigate through the fog without instruments than trying to determine how to log cross-country time. How you classify your flight time as cross-country depends upon the context of its use. As the FAA has written before, there are multiple ways to define the logging of cross-country time. First: The FAA defines cross-country ti… Wendy Weisenberg Read More »
Safety Above All Else April 28, 2015 Angel Flight West Command Pilots provide a great service for their passengers. They volunteer to provide transportation because they want to help others. Along with the desire to help comes the responsibility to ensure a safe trip. Angel Flight West wants all Command Pilots to keep safety at the forefront as they plan and execute their missions. With that goal, this section covers some of the key safety aspects… Jill Dannis Read More »
