Tag Archives: landings

Airport approaches

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Videos below of flying approaches into airports. The goal is to provide context of the surrounding landscape for the benefit of other pilots planning to fly into these airports for their first time.

California

  1. Angwin Airport-Parrett Field, Angwin, CA (2O3) runway 34, November 3, 2018.
  2. Auburn Municipal Airport, Auburn, CA KAUN runway 25, Oct 21, 2018.
  3. Bakersfield Municipal Airport, Bakersfield, CA (L45), October 19, 2024
  4. Bishop Airport, Bishop, CA (KBIH) runway 12, August 9, 2020.
  5. Buchanan Field, Concord, CA (KCCR) runway 19L, September 9, 2024, runway 19R, September 9, 2024
  6. Calaveras County Airport – Mary Rasmussen Field, San Andreas, CA (KCPU) runway 31, June 26, 2020.
  7. Castle Airport, Atwater, CA (KMER) runway 31, June 8, 2018.
  8. Charles M Schulz – Sonoma County Airport, Santa Rosa, CA (KSTS) runway 14, July 14, 2019.
  9. Columbia Airport, Columbia, CA (O22) runway 17, June 8 2018
  10. Daugherty Field, Long Beach, CA (KLGB) runway 26L, October 19, 2024
  11. Firebaugh Airport, Firebaugh, CA, (F34) runway 30, March 26, 2019.
  12. Franklin Field Airport, Franklin, CA, (F72) runway 27, June 26, 2020.
  13. Half Moon Bay Airport, Half Moon Bay, CA
  14. Lake Tahoe Airport, South Lake Tahoe, CA (KTVL) runway 36, August 9, 2020, August 14, 2025.
  15. Lincoln Regional/Karl Harder Field, Lincoln, CA, (KLHM) runway 33, April 13, 2018, runway 33 on March 27, 2018, runway 15 on Apr 30, 2018.
  16. Livermore Municipal Airport, Livermore, CA (KLVK) runway 7L, January 19, 2019, runway 25L on April 7, 2019. Takeoff from runway 25R on Jun 26, 2020. LVK3 (ODP) obstacle departure procedure through IMC conditions on Aug 14, 2025.
  17. Lodi Airport , Lodi, CA (1O3) runway 26, July 2, 2019.
  18. Los Banos Municipal Airport (KLSN) RNAV GPS runway 14 approach, August 21, 2025.
  19. Madera Municipal, Madera, CA (KMAE) runway 30, June 23, 2017.
  20. Mammoth Yosemite Airport, Mammoth Lakes, CA (KMMH) runway 9, August 9, 2020.
  21. Mather
  22. McClellan Airfield, Sacramento, CA (KMCC) runway 16, August 20, 2019.
  23. Merced-Yosemite Regional Airport, Merced, CA (KMCE) ILS approach runway 30, takeoff runway 30, August 21, 2025.
  24. Mesa Del Rey, King City, CA (KKIC) runway 29, June 23, 2017.
  25. Modesto City–County Airport, Modesto, CA (KMOD) runway 28R, June 8, 2019. This used to be a commercial airport and the terminal is still intact but no longer actively used.
  26. Napa County Airport, Napa, CA (KAPC) runway 18L, July 14, 2019.
  27. Nervino Airport, Beckwourth, CA (O02) landing Runway 8, then departing Runway 8. August 14, 2025
  28. New Jerusalem, CA (1Q4) runway 30, Sep 22, 2017.
  29. Nut Tree, Vacaville, CA (KVCB) runway 02, March 11, 2018, runway 20 May 20, 2018.
  30. Oakdale Municipal Airport, Oakdale, CA O27 runway 28 June 8, 2019.
  31. Metropolitan Oakland International Airport, Oakland, CA (KOAK) runway 28R July 14, 2019.
  32. Palo Alto, CA KPAO runway 31, Aug 26, 2018.
  33. Paso Robles, CA KPRB runway 19, Sep 22, 2018.
  34. Petaluma Municipal Airport, Petaluma, CA (O69) runway 29, July 14, 2019.
  35. Rancho Murieta Airport, Rancho Murieta, CA, (KRIU) runway 22, Jun 20, 2020.
  36. Reid-Hillview Airport of Santa Clara County, San Jose, CA KRHV runway 31R, Aug 26, 2018.
  37. Rio Linda Airport, Rio Linda, CA (L36) runway 35, April 13, 2018. This runway is very narrow at 2,625′ x 42′, so is the taxiway. You’ll need to back taxi on part of the runway to reach the threshold of runway 35.
  38. Sacramento Executive Airport, Sacramento, CA KSAC runway 20 April 7, 2019.
  39. Sacramento Mather Airport, Sacramento, CA (KMHR) runway 22R, November 3, 2018. Runway 22R, March 18, 2023.
  40. San Luis Obispo, CA KSBP runway 29, May 27, 2018. Takeoff San Luis Obispo, CA KSBP runway 29, May 28, 2018.
  41. Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, Santa Barbara, CA KSBA runway 15R, April 7, 2022
  42. Santa Maria Public Airport Capt G Allan Hancock Field, Santa Maria, CA KSMX runway 30, April 7, 2022
  43. Santa Ynez Airport, Santa Ynez, CA KIZA runway 08, April 7, 2022
  44. Shafter-Minter Field, Bakersfield, CA KMIT runway 30, September 28, 2024
  45. Sierraville Dearwater Airport, Sierraville, CA (O79) landing runway 21, takeoff runway 21. August 14, 2025.
  46. Stockton Metropolitan Airport, Stockton, CA KSCK runway 29R, April 7, 2019.
  47. Tracy Municipal Airport, Tracy, CA (KTCY) runway 12, June 26, 2020.
  48. Truckee-Tahoe Airport, Truckee, CA (KTRK) landing runway 29, takeoff runway 29, August 14, 2025.
  49. Turlock Municipal Airport, Turlock, CA O15 runway 30, January 13, 2019.
  50. University Airport, Davis, CA (KEDU) runway 17, March 17, 2021
  51. Watsonville Municipal Airport, Watsonville, CA (KWVI) runway 20, December 31, 2020
  52. Watts-Woodland Airport, Woodland, CA O41 runway 36, March 19, 2019.
  53. Westover Field Amador County Airport, Jackson, CA (KJAQ) runway 19, Jun 26, 2020.
  54. Whiteman Airport, Pacoima, CA (KWHP) runway 12, September 28, 2024
  55. Yolo County Airport, Davis/Woodland/Winters, CA (KDWA) runway 16, March 17, 2021
  56. Yuba County Airport, Marysville, CA (KMYV) runway 32 and 14, March 18, 2023

Oregon

  1. Crater Lake-Klamath Regional Airport, Klamath Falls, OR KLMT runway 14, August 03, 2019.
  2. McNary Field Airport, Salem, OR KSLE runway 16, August 06, 2019.
  3. Rogue Valley International – Medford Airport, Medford, OR KMFR runway 32, August 06, 2019.

Washington

  1. Renton Municipal Airport, Renton, WA KRNT runway 34, August 03, 2019

 

Patterns in 737GM

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The weather continues to be unusual. It is the middle of April and it rained overnight into early morning. Winds are expected to start howling in the afternoon. I woke up at 6am to notice calm conditions so I was eager to fly this morning. 906MD’s starter had finally gotten so bad that it was nearly impossible to start it up. Also, COM2 hasn’t been working for a while so the plane has been grounded for maintenance. Fortunately 737GM was available but since it has been almost two weeks since I last flew, I texted Steve to see if he will join me for a couple of patterns around the airport before I fly solo to Byron, Tracy and back. He was available and we decided to meet at 8:30am. On the way to the airport, I checked AWOS to note that there was a 7kts wind from 240 at Livermore, 9kts from 220 at Byron and 11 its at Tracy from 260.

737GM wasn’t easy to start either. It took a number of primes and then a number of throttle primes. We pushed the throttle fully in and kept pumping it while the engine continued to sputter. It gradually picked up RPM and was finally able to idle around 700rpm.

We did 4 patterns around Livermore before Steve declared that he had had enough and decided to get dropped off at the northwest tiedowns while I kept the engine running and continued on a solo. Two things I noticed are (1) that the throttle lever is significantly shorter compared to the one on 906MD and (2) that the throttle lever slips out very easily when the friction lock is not engaged. A couple of times I took my hand off the throttle to adjust trim and the engine rpm dropped as indicated by a change in the hum. Steve and I both lunged for the throttle at the same time to push it back in.

I got a clearance for right downwind on 25R and as I flew towards Brushy Peak, it got significantly bumpier. Clearly the winds were stronger the higher I flew. I chickened out and asked Tower to bring me back in for 25R. I appreciated that the Tower thought there might be a problem and asked if I need any assistance. It continued to be windy and bumpy but not terribly problematic so I did 4 touch and go’s back at Livermore before calling it quits.

Patterns after another hiatus

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It has been a while so Srinath flew dual today with Steve. School kept getting in his way. The day started off with calm winds and clear sky. It was a day of doing patterns around the airport and Srinath’s rustiness showed.

The variety today involved following a Champ which was significantly slower than us, and a jet that was faster and ahead of us. On one pattern, the Champ was so slow that Steve requested a right 360 (while downwind for 25L) to increase separation. The wind then shifted significantly and that indicated runway switch was impending. Sure enough, tower asked if we can take a 9kts tailwind or if we wanted to wait to land until the runways were switched. Steve decided to take the tailwind to show Srinath how that feels for ground roll. Then after turning crosswind on the next pattern, the tower changed direction and gave him instructions to turn right for 7R.

On that last approach a jet was turning base for 7L while Srinath turned right base for 7R and they both touched town almost in parallel.

First solo to another airport

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Today was my first solo flight taking off and flying outside of Livermore. I went to Byron, then Tracy and back.

As I requested frequency change approaching brushy peak, tower alerted me to traffic in the opposite direction which I never was able to locate. After touching down at Byron, I taxied off to reset for the leg to Tracy. On the way back to Livermore as I approached Altamont, tower first alerted me to a traffic 1mi south for straight in to 25R and asked me to report for a 2mi  right base implying I had to turn right towards brushy peak. Then tower changed the instructions to make a right 360 and then straight in for 25R.

March 24 solo track log

First flight on 737GM

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Srinath and I flew dual with Steve today on 737GM. It is a Cessna 172 modified with STOL capability and 40 degrees of flaps. The goal for today is to get us a feel for the aircraft especially with full flaps so we can fly that whenever 906MD was unavailable.

As we took off on a left downwind departure, the guy who was just ahead of us encountered a bird strike and declared an emergency (“Mayday”) and wanted to return for a precautionary landing. Srinath overflew Tracy at which point he practiced slow flight with full flaps and a couple of stalls in the landing configuration. He then proceeded to New Jerusalem to practice landings with full 40 degrees of flaps. The last two landings were short approaches. It was incredible how slowly and with a tight turn we could approach for short landing.

We taxied back to Rwy 30 at New J, watched a plane do a couple of touch and go before Srinath and I switched on the left seat. I had a chance to the same air work that Srinath did previously, then we headed back to Livermore.

As we radioed the tower over altamont, we were asked to follow a Mooney and then tower asked us to join downwind midfield for a landing.We later figured out this was because there was somebody behind us on an ILS approach. This was very unusual and it took me a while to regain my situational awareness. Essentially we turned north after crossing the altamont, west and then south towards midfield. Then turned east for right downwind pattern landing.

 

Radio trouble

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Srinath flew his first full solo at Livermore today running patterns to practice takeoffs and landings. We used two GoPro cameras today for the very first time, one mounted in the usual spot at the back of the aircraft looking forwards and the other one on the copilot’s window facing the PIC. They both had audio inputs from the radio.

It was a busy day and Srinath was asked to follow other aircraft, extend the crosswind and once even asked to come to a full stop to sequence other departing aircrafts. The solo was uneventful except for a brief period (9:07) on the downwind leg.

I had driven to the hangar to see Srinath fly the pattern. The club’s other plane 733BE had just gone through a 50-hour maintenance and our test pilot conferred with Steve on the maintenance items before he took it out for two touch and go patterns. He was in the pattern behind Srinath. On the ground, Steve and I were watching Srinath.

Tower communicated with Srinath that he was #2 behind a Pitt. No response. Tower tried twice more and still no response from Srinath. I was tuned into LiveATC listening to the ATC and mentioned to Steve that I was worried Srinath didn’t respond to the calls. Within a minute, I heard Srinath check his mic and soon he told tower that he might have a radio problem.

He called it quits after that pattern to my relief. Was there a problem with the headset? We squawk’ed that there might be a problem with the radio. Our club’s maintenance team looked into it and didn’t find any problems. The audio feed into GoPro caught the radio communications just fine. We have not encountered any issues with the headset since. Did Srinath simply get distracted for a while and missed the calls?

Dual Cross Country to Salinas

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It is Srinath’s turn to fly cross country to Salinas (KSNS) and back. It was an exercise in using the VOR and sectional chart to identify landmarks along the way for navigation. En route as we flew to the west of the mountain ranges, downdraft from the winds over the hills caused us to descend even though we were powering our way through. Lick Observatory on Mt.Hamilton was a sight to see along our course. There was an aerobatic Extra 300 practicing along our course and we hoped and prayed the pilot was aware of our presence.

The return flight was bumpy all the way due to the winds streaming over the mountain range. You can find the track log here.

Solo touch and go

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I’m exercising my solo privileges today. For the first time, I drove to the Livermore airport and flew 906MD entirely by myself and parked it back in the northwest tiedowns.

Weather was perfect; calm winds and very good visibility. I started off with right closed traffic clearance for 25R. Soon I was asked to extend downwind and then switched to 25L. Even though I landed fine on 25L, I was uncomfortable making left traffic. I requested traffic control to switch me back to 25R and while they initially asked me to make one more touch and go on 25L before switching me, they soon put me on 25R.

After 5 touch and go, I called it quits. The landings were all pretty good today!

Headwinds & Tailwinds

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Srinath was on the left seat today and he started with a soft field takeoff and left downwind departure. At Tracy, winds were from 310@7kts where he did a soft field landing. The sink hole just past the threshold of rwy 30 is to be respected. There is usually an appreciable downdraft as the plane passes over the sink hole so anticipate it and increase the power a little bit. As you clear the sink hole and approach the threshold, ease back on the power and the word I keep hearing Steve repeat is “patience…patience” to wait for the runway to approach the aircraft. In other words, descend slowly for a gentle touchdown.

Next we headed for New Jerusalem by making a left 270 over the runway and passing over mid-field. The runways at both Tracy and New J were slick and wet from rains and that calls for extra caution while using brakes. We landed twice at New J, the second landing took up quite a bit of runway so we turned around. And since the winds were low (estimated 8-10kts), Steve asked Srinath to take off on rwy 12 so he can see how the tailwind leads to a significantly longer ground roll before takeoff.

Next, we headed to Byron against stiff headwinds from 310@15kts. We heard a Piper (58K from our club) on the radio practicing patterns and a glider coming in to land at the airport as well. This was a great practice session anticipating where the traffic would be as we executed a straight-in approached for rwy 30. Steve had a little fun on the radio with Mike (CFI on 58K) when he recognized the voice. Srinath and I both had questions for Steve as we were trying to figure out the spatial locations where the three aircrafts would be as we approached further. Since 58K was on final and we were coming up on 5 miles, we anticipated that we’ll land before 58K comes around for its next pattern. What we didn’t factor into the equation was the fact that we were going against a stiff headwind in a low power setting for landing and 58K would be gunning its engines for takeoff, followed by a stiff tailwind towards us on the downwind leg. Our ground speed was only 40kts and then 35kts as we got lower and closer.

Mike couldn’t spot us so we announced that we were a quarter mile shy of the second canal. What Steve meant was the second canal seen from our approach the runway i.e. the closer one to the airport. Mike understood that we were on the second canal from the airport i.e. the farther one from the airport. So he announced that he was turning base in front of us. We were all taken by surprise when he announced that and saw 58K turn directly towards us. Steve immediately took evasive action by banking left and as soon as we turned, Mike was able to see us and apologized for the mixup.  We let Mike land and in the meantime we did a left 360 and lined up to land on rwy 30.

Srinath capped off the training with a few touch-and-go’s at Livermore performing short approach landings.

 

Pattern work is never routine

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Steve asks, “What would you do if the door opens in flight”? First off, the wind will push the door back towards the frame. It will be a distraction but the right action is to focus on flying the plane and land it as soon as possible to secure the door once again.

We started with soft field takeoff. On the turn to crosswind, we noticed that the clouds were very low. The ceiling was barely enough for pattern work so we stayed right around 1000′ MSL for the entire pattern. But the second time around the pattern it was already a little bit better. We then focused on soft field landing, precision landing and a high performance takeoff to clear a 50′ obstacle.

Steve offered a glimpse into what he likes about flying – that it is different each time making it interesting and challenging. The winds change in direction and intensity, sometimes with no notice. The winds referenced in ATIS wouldn’t match reality and that injects an element of surprise. Then there are birds, especially around Livermore and especially when a weather front was approaching. They seem to materialize out of nowhere and throw in an element of surprise at exactly those instants when one wishes to be 100% focused on lining up in the pattern. Then there is traffic, which suddenly seems to become hectic and quietens down as quickly as it surged. Controllers would suddenly change sequence, or extend a pattern, or re-route to a different runway with an opposite pattern, or speed up a turn throwing a wrench on one’s plans for the landing.

And today we encountered a new surprise – unexpected clouds at low altitude. Patterns around the airport are not routine.