Friends With Planes

We arrived at the airport, parked right outside the terminal and walked out onto the tarmac to find our pilot fueling up the single-engine plane.

We didn't pay any parking fees, take an airport shuttle, have our groins fondled by the TSA or listen to any overhead announcements.

Private aviation is such an incredible relief for those conditioned to the absurdity of commercial flight.

Having never been inside a plane this small,
I was fascinated by the controls and gauges.

Our friend and pilot went through a series of checks and fiddles and turning of important looking dials, shouted something out the window and started up the engine.

Our airport is pretty large, meaning there was someone to talk to on the radio to coordinate our take-off.  The pilot took care of that as well, and within a minute we were moving quickly down the runway and generating lift.

Our flight plan was pretty simple.  We would fly out to San Francisco, fly around looking at stuff, have lunch at Half-Moon Bay and fly around looking at more stuff.

Things went right according to plan.

Toll-Free

Fascinating City Views

I definitely enjoyed a new perspective
on this old bridge.

Giving this cargo ship a proper welcome.

Better than a tour.

Flying east towards the Sierras looking for a
view of Lake Tahoe.  We turned back due to
weather without a glimpse of the lake.