General discussion for aviators

Flying clubs in Oakland or Concord?

I just moved up to Berkeley, CA to attend grad school. Before that, I
lived in Silicon Valley and flew out of Palo Alto. I’ve been flying
with a club there, Sundance, since ’99 or so and I’ve been pretty
happy.

But the drive to KPAO from Berkeley is a bit long. I’m looking to see
if anybody has recommendations for clubs at KOAK or KCCR.

About me: I’m an instrument-rated private pilot, with about 300 hours.
I was working on my commercial rating when I moved. I’ve got about 15
hours complex time, all of that in a 172RG. For fooling around, I’ll
take a 172 or an Archer, and for "trying to get somehwere" I usually
opt for a C182.

I’m looking for a club with a variety of aircraft, low rates, good
maintenance, decent enough avionics to make IFR practical, and
connections w/ good instructors so I might finish my commercial. (which
is admittedly on the back-burner with school on).

Any advice?

– dave
jacobowitz73 –at– yahoo –dot– com

posted by admin in Uncategorized and have Comments (3)

3 Responses to “Flying clubs in Oakland or Concord?”

  1. admin says:

    In article <1127278945.706102.123…@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,

    - Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

     jacobowit…@yahoo.com wrote:
    > I just moved up to Berkeley, CA to attend grad school. Before that, I
    > lived in Silicon Valley and flew out of Palo Alto. I’ve been flying
    > with a club there, Sundance, since ’99 or so and I’ve been pretty
    > happy.

    > But the drive to KPAO from Berkeley is a bit long. I’m looking to see
    > if anybody has recommendations for clubs at KOAK or KCCR.

    > About me: I’m an instrument-rated private pilot, with about 300 hours.
    > I was working on my commercial rating when I moved. I’ve got about 15
    > hours complex time, all of that in a 172RG. For fooling around, I’ll
    > take a 172 or an Archer, and for "trying to get somehwere" I usually
    > opt for a C182.

    > I’m looking for a club with a variety of aircraft, low rates, good
    > maintenance, decent enough avionics to make IFR practical, and
    > connections w/ good instructors so I might finish my commercial. (which
    > is admittedly on the back-burner with school on).

    > Any advice?

    It’s not a club per se, and it’s at Hayward (KHWD) rather than Oakland,
    but I now use California Airways, <http://www.california-airways.com/>.
    It’s been a pleasant experience — the prices are reasonable (for the
    Bay Area), the planes well-maintained, there’s a reasonable variety of
    planes available, and the people seem pretty good. I’m in a similar
    sort of situation as you — instrument rated and starting
    to do the commercial (or starting to think about doing it :-) ) — and
    it’s worked out well so far.

       Hamish  – California Flying —
    <http://www.ylayali.com/yafb/blog.html>

  2. admin says:

    Thanks, for the response, I’ll check it out. Otherwise, the response to
    this post has been sadly minimal. The rates at CA Airways seem okay,
    though. One reason I prefer a club is insurance. Club policies usually
    name the members, and so you can’t be subrogated against. At an FBO
    I’ll need a policy of my own.

    – dave j

    - Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

    Hamish Reid wrote:
    > In article <1127278945.706102.123…@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
    >  jacobowit…@yahoo.com wrote:

    > > I just moved up to Berkeley, CA to attend grad school. Before that, I
    > > lived in Silicon Valley and flew out of Palo Alto. I’ve been flying
    > > with a club there, Sundance, since ’99 or so and I’ve been pretty
    > > happy.

    > > But the drive to KPAO from Berkeley is a bit long. I’m looking to see
    > > if anybody has recommendations for clubs at KOAK or KCCR.

    > > About me: I’m an instrument-rated private pilot, with about 300 hours.
    > > I was working on my commercial rating when I moved. I’ve got about 15
    > > hours complex time, all of that in a 172RG. For fooling around, I’ll
    > > take a 172 or an Archer, and for "trying to get somehwere" I usually
    > > opt for a C182.

    > > I’m looking for a club with a variety of aircraft, low rates, good
    > > maintenance, decent enough avionics to make IFR practical, and
    > > connections w/ good instructors so I might finish my commercial. (which
    > > is admittedly on the back-burner with school on).

    > > Any advice?

    > It’s not a club per se, and it’s at Hayward (KHWD) rather than Oakland,
    > but I now use California Airways, <http://www.california-airways.com/>.
    > It’s been a pleasant experience — the prices are reasonable (for the
    > Bay Area), the planes well-maintained, there’s a reasonable variety of
    > planes available, and the people seem pretty good. I’m in a similar
    > sort of situation as you — instrument rated and starting
    > to do the commercial (or starting to think about doing it :-) ) — and
    > it’s worked out well so far.

    >    Hamish  – California Flying —
    > <http://www.ylayali.com/yafb/blog.html>

  3. admin says:

    Not a club, but to finish your commercial, I can highly recommend
    Pacific States Aviation, based at CCR.  
    I was living in Claremont and it was 30 minutes door to door.

    Did my private there with their chief pilot, Doug Draper, who I highly
    recommend.  Bob Bretz is good as well.

    925-685-4400

    Jonathan

    In <1127420198.049795.160…@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com> jacobowitz73@

    - Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

    yahoo.com wrote:

    > Thanks, for the response, I’ll check it out. Otherwise, the response
    > to this post has been sadly minimal. The rates at CA Airways seem okay,
    > though. One reason I prefer a club is insurance. Club policies usually
    > name the members, and so you can’t be subrogated against. At an FBO
    > I’ll need a policy of my own.

    > — dave j

    > Hamish Reid wrote:
    >> In article <1127278945.706102.123…@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
    >>  jacobowit…@yahoo.com wrote:

    >> > I just moved up to Berkeley, CA to attend grad school. Before that,
    >> > I lived in Silicon Valley and flew out of Palo Alto. I’ve been
    >> > flying with a club there, Sundance, since ’99 or so and I’ve been
    >> > pretty happy.

    >> > But the drive to KPAO from Berkeley is a bit long. I’m looking to
    >> > see if anybody has recommendations for clubs at KOAK or KCCR.

    >> > About me: I’m an instrument-rated private pilot, with about 300
    >> > hours. I was working on my commercial rating when I moved. I’ve got
    >> > about 15 hours complex time, all of that in a 172RG. For fooling
    >> > around, I’ll take a 172 or an Archer, and for "trying to get
    >> > somehwere" I usually opt for a C182.

    >> > I’m looking for a club with a variety of aircraft, low rates, good
    >> > maintenance, decent enough avionics to make IFR practical, and
    >> > connections w/ good instructors so I might finish my commercial. (
    >> > which is admittedly on the back-burner with school on).

    >> > Any advice?

    >> It’s not a club per se, and it’s at Hayward (KHWD) rather than
    >> Oakland, but I now use California Airways, <http://www.california-
    >> airways.com/>. It’s been a pleasant experience — the prices are
    >> reasonable (for the Bay Area), the planes well-maintained, there’s a
    >> reasonable variety of planes available, and the people seem pretty
    >> good. I’m in a similar sort of situation as you — instrument rated
    >> and starting to do the commercial (or starting to think about doing
    >> it :-) ) — and it’s worked out well so far.

    >>    Hamish  – California Flying —
    >> <http://www.ylayali.com/yafb/blog.html>

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