Angel Flight Command Pilot...and an overall great flying day today

I flew to Petaluma, CA today to complete my Angel Flight mission
orientation. I'm now officially an Angel Flight Command Pilot. It's
really a simple process but, for me, one that has been a goal for a
couple of years now. Now all I need to do is have the stars align and
I'll be able to fly my first mission.

After my orientation, I just had to eat at the "Two Niner Diner". It
was a nice sunny day and felt great to chow down on, of all things, a
hamburger, while watching planes come and go. After lunch, I pointed
the spinner West and was shortly over the Pacific coast at Point Reyes.
A left turn at the lighthouse then down the coast a bit until I'm over
the entrance to the San Francisco bay. Another left turn and I was able
to fly over the Golden Gate bridge for the very first time from the left
seat. San Francisco on my right, Marin County on my left...it was very
cool. I've been over these same landmarks as a kid in the right seat
with my Dad flying left seat. The only thing that would have been
better was to have Dad along in the right seat today. Hmmm, next time
he visits, I just may have to make this same trip.

I continued flying up the San Pablo Bay and past the mothball fleet. A
bit farther and I was over Travis Air Force base (lots of transports on
the ramp...sorry Jay B., not a fighter to be seen). I did manage to see
a KC-135 land though. Not quite the cool-factor as our AZ friend sees
*all the time*...but it was a nice touch. :-)

All was going great until I was at the point where I was about to exit
Travis's airspace. Normally, I'd get handed off to Norcal Approach as
the Sacramento International Charlie airspace isn't too far away. This
time, just as I was about to key the mic and ask, the Travis controller
tells me "squawk 1200, have a nice day, suggest Norcal Approach on
125.25". Hmmm, I'd better turn left in a hurry or I'll bust the Charlie
airspace...so I did, acknowledged Travis approach, then call up Norcal
and get a new squawk code. A good example of how ATC can, in certain
circumstances, set you up for failure and how not having your head stuck
in the sand (or elsewhere) can spot a problem and fix it. Lesson learned.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-IA Student
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

Outstanding trip, Jack. Flying the Left Coast is one of my "must do" goals
in life. (I did it on a motorcycle 19 years ago, and it was awesome!)

I, too, have recently been in contact with Angel Flight. I'll bet their
numbers are way up since Katrina...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"JA" == Jack Allison writes:
JA This time, just as I was about
JA to key the mic and ask, the Travis controller tells me "squawk
JA 1200, have a nice day, suggest Norcal Approach on 125.25".

Travis is notorious for being less than helpful. They don't even call
traffic reliably; one time I had to take evasive action to avoid a
near head-on collision with a Bonanza while on flight-following with
Travis; they never said a word. I'm told this is because of the
student controllers there.

Flying over the Bay and Golden Gate is a real treat and you don't even
have to talk to anybody. Examine the TAC and you'll see you can fly
over a big chunk of the city of San Francisco too. My all-time
favorite trip for guests is to follow I-80 to Berkeley, then over
Angel Island (pointing out Alcatraz Island) and the Golden Gate, turn
left down the coast to Half Moon Bay, land and walk into town for
lunch. Some of the most scenic flying on the planet and a half-dozen
great lunch choices; the $100 hamburger doesn't get much better than
that.

Jim Burns wrote:
Jack,
Can you tell me the difference between an AF Command Pilot and a "regular"
pilot? I just poured over my Angel Flight info and it doesn't mention
Command Pilot anywhere. And what was the orientation procedure?

As I understand it Jim, a command pilot is one that has gone through the
orientation process and is therefore able to fly AF missions. If you
haven't gone through the orientation, you could go on a mission but only
as an assistant (which is a good way to learn the process).

Maybe the Angel Flight West info. is more complete or maybe mine is more
current as I joined about a month and a half ago. How to become a
command pilot is mentioned on the first page of section 2, mission
orientation information. I'd bet that a few e-mails/phone calls to come
contacts in your region would clarify what you'd need to do. My guess
is that it is no different from what AFW does.

According to the AFW info, the orientation process is to get in touch
with one of the MOPs from the AF website Mission Orientation Pilot
directory. It took me a few e-mails to find someone that could do it
for me though. The process was a piece of cake. You have to fill out a
mock x-c plan, print up real weather and be ready to talk to go/no go
type decisions, do a W&B for the planned trip...all simple stuff really.
The MOP goes over a short presentation that walks you through the
process of setting up a mission, required paperwork, etc. It took about
an hour.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-IA Student
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

Jack,
Can you tell me the difference between an AF Command Pilot and a "regular"
pilot? I just poured over my Angel Flight info and it doesn't mention
Command Pilot anywhere. And what was the orientation procedure? I'm in the
AF Central region and the website doesn't mention command pilot other than
on the available missions page which says "the following missions are
available for Command Pilots." Nothing else mentions Command Pilot leaving
me to believe that all AF pilots are eligible for missions in the Central
Region.
Thanks
Jim

I emailed Angel Flight Central concerning the Command Pilot designation and
they informed me that they do not use the Command Pilot designation and do
not require any orientation. Once you register with Angel Flight Central
you are able to fly missions.

Jim

"Jack Allison" wrote in message
...
Jim Burns wrote:
Jack,
Can you tell me the difference between an AF Command Pilot and a
"regular"
pilot? I just poured over my Angel Flight info and it doesn't mention
Command Pilot anywhere. And what was the orientation procedure?

As I understand it Jim, a command pilot is one that has gone through the
orientation process and is therefore able to fly AF missions. If you
haven't gone through the orientation, you could go on a mission but only
as an assistant (which is a good way to learn the process).

Maybe the Angel Flight West info. is more complete or maybe mine is more
current as I joined about a month and a half ago. How to become a
command pilot is mentioned on the first page of section 2, mission
orientation information. I'd bet that a few e-mails/phone calls to come
contacts in your region would clarify what you'd need to do. My guess
is that it is no different from what AFW does.

According to the AFW info, the orientation process is to get in touch
with one of the MOPs from the AF website Mission Orientation Pilot
directory. It took me a few e-mails to find someone that could do it
for me though. The process was a piece of cake. You have to fill out a
mock x-c plan, print up real weather and be ready to talk to go/no go
type decisions, do a W&B for the planned trip...all simple stuff really.
The MOP goes over a short presentation that walks you through the
process of setting up a mission, required paperwork, etc. It took about
an hour.


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-IA Student
Arrow N2104T

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

Jim Burns wrote:
I emailed Angel Flight Central concerning the Command Pilot designation and
they informed me that they do not use the Command Pilot designation and do
not require any orientation. Once you register with Angel Flight Central
you are able to fly missions.

Jim

"Jack Allison" wrote in message
...
Jim Burns wrote:
Jack,
Can you tell me the difference between an AF Command Pilot and a
"regular"
pilot? I just poured over my Angel Flight info and it doesn't mention
Command Pilot anywhere. And what was the orientation procedure?

As I understand it Jim, a command pilot is one that has gone through the
orientation process and is therefore able to fly AF missions. If you
haven't gone through the orientation, you could go on a mission but only
as an assistant (which is a good way to learn the process).

Each of the 7 Angel Flight groups has similar but not exactly the
same requirements. For example, an IFR is required by some of the
groups on the east side of the Mississippi River, but for Angel Flight
West, it's only a "nice to have".

As for flying missions, AFW requires each of us to go thru the
orientation. Perhaps it's just to ensure we understand the paperwork
and procedures and keep the insurance company happy?

As for me, even with an IFR, I still wouldn't fly a mission in
IMC. All to often out here (Colorado), IMC translates to ice,
Tstorms and more ice. Altho today it's merely a light fog that
will dissipate by 10 am (or sooner).

Jay Honeck wrote:
Outstanding trip, Jack. Flying the Left Coast is one of my "must do" goals
in life. (I did it on a motorcycle 19 years ago, and it was awesome!)

I, too, have recently been in contact with Angel Flight. I'll bet their
numbers are way up since Katrina...

that'd be a good reason to finish up that instrument rating.

Jim wrote:
I emailed Angel Flight Central concerning the Command Pilot designation and
they informed me that they do not use the Command Pilot designation and do
not require any orientation. Once you register with Angel Flight Central
you are able to fly missions.

Yeah, this changed a few years ago - I did the Orientation Flight and quite
frankly it just seemed like a "jump through this hoop". When they did away
with the orientation portion, they also changed various requirements.
Numerous pilots left the organization. I didn't. I don't fly Angel Flights
because of Angel Flight or to support their policies - I fly them because of
the young kids and other folk. Some of the flights with young kids were
quite emotional and even more so now thinking after the birth of my kids.

When the change happened, AFW (not sure about the others) put stricter
'minimums' on hours in make/model, recent hours etc...

Hilton

Jack,
I used to be an Angel Pilot checkpilot instructor back when we actually
did a brief flight check. The lawyers finally decided there was too
much liability in that and decided to move the liability over to the
check pilots by asknig us to sign that the pilot has good judgement
based on a reading of his log book. In any case, Angel Flight is a
great organization and I continue to donate to them.

-Robert, cameron park