Feb 14th 2003 - Oakland (OAK) Bay Tour

Most of my flying in the Bay Area based out of Oakland has been north- and east-bound so far. It's easy to slip out of Oakland's class C airspace and get on route or fly below San Francisco's class B for some city sightseeing. This time the route was set for a Bay Tour heading south crossing the Bay to the west.

Tower cleared me for a right-downwind departure on 33 that would place us over the approach-end of 29. After crossing the field at 1400' I was switched to south-tower and I was heading out for the bay. Pointing to the mid-span of the San Carlos Bridge the incoming commercial traffic on 29 passed to my left wing. Oakland said 'bye' and I squawked VFR before contacting San Carlos airport. They cleared me through their airspace above 1200' which left me wedged above that minimum and under the SF class B airspace.

Once clear of San Carlos airspace it got simpler. Heading south-east Stanford and Mountain View passed by. Keeping a safe distance to the airports Palo Alto and Moffet to the east the course charted took the plane right under the busy San Jose class C airspace @ 2500'.

Then heading south the Pacific came into sight. A couple of miles from the water lies Watsonville airport which I let pass by the right wing heading for Moss Landing. I know this spot from driving by with a car while heading for Monterey. Attempts to contact Monterey approach for a class C transition failed. I found out later that the handheld microphone's plug had loosened - transmitting voice didn't work until plugging it in securely again - just in time before getting to the next airport. For now I was heading north following the coast. Palm Beach is a strip of houses by the sea followed by Santa Cruz with beaches, surfers, pier and amusement park.

Next airport (also the alternate in case the radio problem wouldn't be resolved) was Half Moon Bay around 20 minutes away. The radio contact with traffic worked out fine and I joined the circuit downwind-12. After a touch&go I announced a right-downwind departure and headed further north after turning 180 degrees.

Knowing about the San Francisco airspace reaching out to the sea above I kept to 1500' then 2000'. A peek over the hills to the right again showed the bay again then the Golden Gate Park.

Next landmark - the Golden Gate Bridge. I crossed it nicely in the middle and listened in on Oakland ATIS. Switching to Sierra Approach revealed a very busy controller on the other end. He was giving instructions to airlines literally without breathing :)

Slowly passing the marina, the piers and downtown I managed to squeeze my request for "Landing Oakland" into approach. "Traffic 12 o'clock Airbus" was the first information for me. Apparently runway 11 was now active in Oakland (which I haven't seen before) so all traffic came in above the Bay Bridge. I was routed straight-in runway 27L and now gazed at the commercials overtaking me on the right. One nice landing later I stopped at Kaiser for fuel and minutes later tied down the plane. I was happy and the co-pilot, too - nice flying ;)