Greg is a Platinum CSIP - Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot - which means that he is factory trained and regularly audited by Cirrus to … read more
Great trip to Las Vegas
Here’s a perfect “small airplane” story: it’s possible to get from San Jose to Las Vegas – and be walking the convention hall floor – in less than three hours. How? No “big airport” parking. No “laptop-out, shoes-off” security line. No late or delayed airline flight. Just you, your small airplane, and your instructor – showing you how to fly into Las Vegas McCarran International, parking the airplane alongside the high-roller business jets, and being whisked to your destination from the executive terminal immediately upon your arrival. That’s what Greg enabled a client to do on a recent flight!
Time is money, so if you don’t like wasting time, then “small airplanes” – better known as General Aviation – is definitely for you. GA enables you to go places for business or pleasure, to learn to do it yourself while enroute, and often times arrive at your destination just as fast as you might have on the big airlines.
Read about my flight instruction services and let me tell you how I can enable you to have more efficient and fun business travel.
It Feels Good To Fly Angel Flights
This past weekend, I proudly donated nearly 4 hours of flight time to charity. Sacramento Firefighters run the Firefighters Burn Institute which hosts an annual summer camp for children who are burn survivors. It’s called Firefighters Kids Camp and it’s a special one week program where children who have suffered a burn injury can experience challenges of the outdoors in an environment where they can just be kids instead of being singled out because they look different or have physical limitations.
My mission transported a little girl from Garberville (in Humboldt County) to Sacramento where she met up with a few other kids who had already arrived via Angel Flights. The Sac Firefighters greeted the kids, loaded them into vans, and off they went to camp. Their service is completely free to the kids.
Without the Angel Flight, she would not have been able to attend.
Angel Flight West arranges free air transportation in response to health care and other compelling human needs. Volunteer pilots donate their time, aircraft, fuel costs – there is no cost to the passenger or facility/organization. If you’re a pilot, consider volunteering.
I would be happy to get you in touch with Angel Flight in the Bay Area. Visit my website to contact me and get more information: www.gregwest.com
Coast to Coast!
Here’s my “how I spent my summer vacation” essay…
One of my former Instrument students took a job in New York and asked me to accompany him across the continent to help move his Diamond Star DA40. What pilot or CFI could refuse such a request?! We began planning the trip about a month in advance, carefully watching weather patterns especially in the week prior to the proposed departure date.
Diamond Star DA40 … from CA to NY! |
We departed San Carlos (KSQL) at 6am one morning with an aggressive goal for the first flight leg: 4 hours to the Salt Lake City area. After an uneventful trip across the Sierras and Nevada desert, we were looking at the Great Salt Lake and deciding that we could make it farther. Fuel burn was better (less) than expected, winds were favorable, and our bladders could wait another hour – so, onward to Rock Springs, Wyoming (KRKS). Hobbs time 5.0.
Departed KRKS with another ambitious goal of Omaha, Nebraska. No thunderstorms were building so it was entirely possible (although a long day of flying). Well, somewhere over Nebraska we again decided to press onward – beyond KOMA all the way to Des Moines, IA (KDSM). Another 5.2 hobbs logged, in uncharacteristically clear, calm midwest afternoon skies. A quick dinner and early lights out after a long day.
Downtown Chicago – Lakefront Tour |
Day 2: Des Moines to Chicago where we overflew Midway (KMDW) and then up and down the lakefront a few times, on a picture-perfect day in the midwest. Then eastward over Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. All the while- smooth air, no clouds. We lucked out. We ended this day by circling Niagara Falls (KIAG) and crossing the border into Toronto, Canada (CYTZ) after exercising our knowledge of the now-required eAPIS border crossing requirements (fun stuff!). This day was about 8 hobbs hours, made possible only by amazingly good weather and two pilots sharing the workload.
Day 3: Toronto to Buffalo (KBUF) to clear US Customs, and then just a couple hours more to New York City! One word: WOW. We flew the published Hudson River corridor on one of the most spectacular weather days I have ever seen on the east coast. Not only up and down the Hudson, but with a Class B clearance from LaGuardia tower, right over central park @ 2000′ and down the East River and around to the Statue of Liberty! Just. Completely. Amazing.
After NYC we took the plane to it’s new home at Danbury, CT (KDXR) and called it a day. The next day we did some sightseeing over Connecticut and Massachusetts (Martha’s Vineyard, lunch in Nantucket). Then I stayed in NYC for the spectacular July 4 fireworks show. Flew home on JetBlue and their main attraction (the DirecTVs) weren’t even working for the entire flight. Boooo.
This was an amazing few days of flying and an extremely rewarding experience. Look for a bunch more photos on my website at www.gregwest.com very soon.
Let’s go fly! If you live in the SF Bay Area, contact me for your flight instruction needs – from beginner to advanced. I specialize in instrument instruction in glass cockpits (Garmin, Avidyne) and in high-performance aircraft (Cirrus SR22).
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