San Carlos Pilot Resources
Notices and resources to help you fly friendly and safe into KSQL
San Carlos Airport is surrounded by noise sensitive areas. By using your aircraft’s quietest departure techniques and following the guidelines and procedures below, we can reduce the noise impact on our neighbors. The San Carlos Pilot’s Association has adopted a Good-Neighbor-Policy and requests that resident and visitor aircraft comply with the voluntary noise abatement procedures.
Grounded Part II – After the Engine Starts
You would think that taxiing an aircraft is a relatively low risk proposition. We follow painted lines. We move at slow speeds. Ground traffic is often controlled by ATC. We have signs, rules, radios, and space to maneuver and yet this seemingly innocuous phase of...
Gearing Up for Trouble
One of my early claims involved a pilot who was flying his recently purchased Beech Bonanza and could not get the landing gear to extend. He conscientiously tried everything he could think of to extend the gear, but finally resigned himself to the fact that he was...
Enlightenment
Last week while flying back to the Bay Area, the topic for this article came to me in a flash. Well, actually several flashes. Over on the west side of the San Francisco peninsula nature was putting on one of its most dazzling shows. Brilliant bolts of lightning arced...
Don’t Go There
It was a beautiful summer's day as the pilot and his family were flying back in the late afternoon after visiting friends in Sacramento. Over Concord the pilot could see that the marine cloud layer was blanketing the Bay Area with the coastal stratus just touching the...
Zero Doesn’t Always Mean Nothing
It was 109 degrees on the ramp at Sacramento International. My preflight was a half-hearted walk around the plane and an oil check. I must confess my mind was more on getting the prop started to get some air circulation than it was in a detailed aircraft inspection....
Grounded Part I – Before the Engine Starts
"Ouch!" I muttered after turning around too quickly and banging my head on the leading edge of the wing during preflight. I haven't even started the engine and I'm already an aviation casualty. The reality is that you don't have to be airborne to have trouble...
Canceling VFR
Last week I planned a flight from San Carlos to a crop duster airstrip in the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley.  The weather forecast seemed pretty consistent on my route with occasional rain showers and cloud bases ranging from 3000 to 5000 feet thanks to an...
The Big Bang
It is easy to feel relatively secure in dealing with known aviation risks.  We can plan for potential hazards such as bad weather or systems failures and then apply an alternate course of action to insure the safe outcome of a flight.  The prospect of a mid-air...
KSQL METAR from NOAA Weather
[adds_weather apts='KSQL' hours=2 show_metar=1 show_taf=1 show_pireps=1 show_station_info=1 radial_dist=100 title='']
Safety Always Supersedes Noise Abatement Procedures
San Carlos Airport is surrounded by noise sensitive areas. By using your aircraft’s quietest departure techniques and following the guidelines and procedures below, we can reduce the noise impact on our neighbors. The San Carlos Pilot’s Association has adopted a Good-Neighbor-Policy and requests that resident and visitor aircraft comply with the voluntary noise abatement procedures.
What’s the live weather cam seeing right now?
See a view of the area around KSQL from Emerald Hills.
